The Hope of a Christian

A young and brilliant student was once asked by his friend :  Johnny what are you going to do when you finish your high school ?  
Well, Johnny confidently said : well I will probably get the highest marks in my exam and so I will apply and get a scholarship to attend the best university in the world, maybe Harvard and become a very well-known doctor or scientist, was the reply.  But what will you do after you have become a doctor, well I will get married to the prettiest girl I can find and then settle down and make lots of money.   What then will you do after that asked his friend, well I will probably go visiting some of the most exotic places in the world in my private jet, and have a great time.  
What will happen after that ? his persistent friend asked
Hmm, I may then have 2 to 3 children bring them up and help them to become the best doctor likes me. 
What happens after that ? 
Well I will probably retire early and so I can enjoy a game of golf on my private ranch and fishing from my luxury yacht.  
What happens after that ?  asked his friend.  
Then I will grow old graciously in my comfortable villa next to the beach.  
What happens after that ?  
Well I will probably live up to a ripe old age and then die.  
What happens after that ?  
At that question, Johnny was taken aback…..  he had no answer…….   He did not know what will happens after he died;  he had not planned for that,  and for most of his life, in his better moments, he did not want to know.

Paul writing to the Ephesians 2:12 talk about them just like Johnny before they found Christ, as "people without hope and without God in the world". 
In contrast, in 1 Peter 1:3 ,  Peter tells of the living hope that Christians have because of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead :  "  Praise be to God and Father of our lord Jesus Christ !  In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you.
For the Christians, death is not the end.   Because Jesus has overcome death, so will we, and not only that beyond death we are given an inheritance that nothing in this world or in the world to come that can ever damage or destroy.
So what is this hope that Peter is talking about and what is this inheritance that God has prepared for his people ?   

The word hope that the Bible talk about is quite different from the word hope that we use in daily language.

We said before the Olympic games that we hope our athletes will bring back more medals than they did last time in Sydney:   We hope Sarah Ulmer will achieve gold….
or that the All Black will win when they played against the Wallabies,….
or we hope that we get to the airport before the plane leaves, 
or for a student : the parents and the teachers hoped that you will do well in the coming exam. 
The word "hope" as we use it has a connotation of an expectation of something in the future that may or may not come through in the way we hope for. It is something which depend on our effort, and something which depends on the circumstances, some of which we can control, and some which are well beyond our control. We are never a 100% certain of what we hope for.   The word hope carries a definite element of uncertainty.    Otherwise we change the word to "I know".

The word hope in scriptures however is used quite differently.   Yes, like the ordinary hope, it is referring to something that is in the future.   But there is nothing uncertain or unexpected or unpredictable with the Christian hope.   Over and over again, the word hope in the Bible means that it is not only something that we look forward to…. something that has been promised but unlike the worldly hope, it is something that is sure to happen. regardless of circumstances or other unexpected factors.

Colossian1 says : Christ in you the hope of glory…..   what it means is that the presence of Jesus through his Holy Spirit indwelling in us is a foretaste of the glory to come…..  it is the first installment of what will happen …..

We live today in a very significant time in the history of this world :  on the one hand we have some of the most amazing discoveries and advances in science and technologies of all times : 
In astronomy we are looking so far into space with our telescopes and discovering not only at distant planets such as Saturn but also the first bit of material that were thrown out at the dawn of time with the potential and the hope of discovering  the moment of time when the whole universe were put together….
In genetics we are identifying just about every single gene in the human body and knowing more or less what each one does.  This provides us the hope of dealing with a faulty gene and replacing it before a child is born.   Or being able to switch on and switch off genes that are causing problems to us…. which really means in future medicine we will be dealing with what causes the problem rather than the problem itself…..

In communication, with the advances in cell phone and text messages, we can just about reach everyone and anyone in any part of the world in a few seconds time and with the internet and the world wide web, we can get hold of all the information from virtually every library of the world, and every magazine that has been published…..

And yet we also live in a generation when many people are feeling hopeless and insecure as ever. Many of our young people looking at our world and environment are doubting whether the poor old world can itself survive let alone us. With the advance in technology , so come the depletion of our energy resource and material resource to sustain it together with the increase in the amount of pollutants in the atmosphere and the global warming which is causing havoc in our atmosphere which in turn create huge droughts or huge floods in various parts of the world

What then is the Christian's hope ? 
It comprises a number of things but first of all lets look at what Jesus said to his disciples just before he went to the cross. Jesus having told them that he will shortly be taken and died, and part from his disciples, he saw how sad and unhappy they were.  He comforted them with these words :  John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me.  In my father's house there are many mansions, I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go I will come again and receive you to myself so that where I am there you will be also…..

What is the hope for the Christian ?   
i.  Jesus is preparing a place for us.
ii.  Jesus will come back again to take us back there
iii. Our future will be spent with Jesus

First and foremost the greatest hope of the Christian is that Jesus will return. I will come again. This is a certainty and the NT has mentioned this for 318 times…..When you want someone to remember to do something, you will tell them three or four times.  But when we are told 318 times, then it would be totally inexcusable that we forget it.   I will come again.   Jesus is returning.   
But when ?  

Typically, the scripture does not say when.   Many people down through the centuries have predicted times and dates of Jesus return and they have always been shown to be wrong. In fact even some of the Christians in Thessalonica in the first century were so certain that Jesus was going to be back soon, that they quit their jobs, stopping doing anything useful or constructive and just waited.   So much so Paul had to reprimand them because they were a burden to the rest of the Christian community, and ruled that those who did no work will not be expected to get a free meal from the Christian community.  

Now nearly two thousands years ago Jesus said in the last book of the Bible : I am coming again soon.   Rev. 22:20.    How soon is soon ?   God stands outside of time. A 1000 years in God's sight is just like a moment that flies past. God dwells in eternity. He has given many signs for us which may indicate that his coming is fairly imminent. And one of the those signs are given in Matt. 24. But we need to be aware that this was written nearly 2000 years ago, and many times over, those signs will have been fulfilled many times over. v.36  is very significant : no one knows about that day, or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor even the son but only the Father.

While some people predicted Jesus will come very soon, then there are others who just scoffed at the idea that Jesus will come back at all :  

2 Peter3  :   First of all, you must understand in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say : where is this coming he promised ?  Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation. But do not forget this one thing, dear friends : with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.  The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be ?. You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. We are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

Two things we can learn from this passage :
i.  Jesus will definitely come, but the time will be unexpected
ii. we can speed up his coming by the way we live and witness. 

How will Jesus come ?   1 Thess. 4  According to the Lord own word we tell you that we who are still alive who are left till the coming of the lord will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with  a loud command with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first .  After that we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will be with the Lord forever.   Therefore encourage each other with these words.  

Why did Paul write this letter? This was to reassure the Christians in Thessalonica who on the one hand was really looking forward to meeting Jesus when he returns but were sad that those who have died will not be able to meet Jesus.   So Paul is saying, this is not a worry because those who have died will in fact first be raised to life, and everyone from the past and the present who belong to Jesus will meet him in the clouds.  

The same idea is amplified further in 1 Cor 15
 1 Cor 15:51   Listen, I tell you a mystery.  We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.  In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.  For the perishable must clothe itself the imperishable and the mortal immortality.   When the perishable has been clothed with imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then saying that is written will come true : death has been swallowed up in victory…..the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God !   he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
  

So to summarise :  Jesus will return one day, to take us to himself.   We do not know when, but it is a certainty that he will return and that is our hope.  
If he does return when we are still alive on earth, we will be changed, our bodies will be changed into a heavenly body, probably similar to Jesus resurrection body.
If we have already died, then we will not miss out, our spirit will have gone to be with Jesus but our body will also be resurrected at that time.  

So where is the place that Jesus has prepared for us ? 

This place that Jesus has prepared, I presume is called heaven :  or the New Jerusalem, or the New heaven and new earth.  It has always fascinated me to think and ask a number of questions about heaven, where we are to spend a whole eternity with Jesus. Now eternity is quite a long time.   So it had better be good.      

a.  Question is where is it ?   What does it look like ?  

b.  What do we do when we get there ? 

c.  How will we look like ?  Can we recognise one another in heaven ?  

Where is it ? 

Is there a secret place in the universe that is beyond the reach of space and time ?  Scientists have said that from all the evidence there is no end to the physical universe :  so is there a parallel universe that exists alongside this universe ?   Or is it a revamped earth and a revamped heaven ?   as in revelations : a New Jerusalem coming down from heaven…..  replacing the current earth ?    I am not sure ?   How can we be ?   On this side of eternity, with our limited mental capacity....our limited knowledge…. like an ant conjecturing what it would be like living as a human being…..  

What does it look like ?  
We have a description of the New Jerusalem in Rev. 21 :  then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the firs heaven and the firs earth had passed away and there was no long any sea…..  I saw the Holy City , the new Jerusalem coming donw out of heaven from God….

2 Cor.4:  16-18.    Therefor we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary  troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.    2 Cor. 5:1     Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have abuilding from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.   Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling because when we are clothed we will not be found naked.

The resurrection body :  
But someone may ask : how are the dead raised ?   With what kind of body will they come ?   How foolish ?  What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.  When you sow you do not plant the body that will be; but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else.  But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.   All flesh is not the same.  Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another……there are also heavenly bodies, but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind and the splendor of the earthly bodies is anohter.   …..so will it be with the resurrection of the dead.  The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised, impreishable.  It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.   It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.  

Some other points : 

Heaven is relational more than spatial, material, even though we will not be mere spirits.  We will have a heavenly body, not unlike that of Jesus.

Our transition from earth to heaven is, as indicated by the diagram, a gradual not dislocated or disjointed sort of transition.   Enoch walked with God….. and he was not….. 

When God created the world and planted the garden of Eden, his desire was for fellowship and relationship with his creation…..  Heaven is the second Eden…..  God will be real to us as he never be while we are still on earth.   We will not be lost in a crowd in heaven…. We will be right next to the one that we love, and the One who loves us so much that he gave himself for us….. 

Heaven is a place where our highest aspiration on earth, our highest joy, our greatest hope, our utmost striving is reached and surpassed…..  there will be no longer loneliness, for we will be next to the one whom we love,  there will be no longer tears, because every tear that we shed will be wiped away from our face by the one who sticks by us,  there will be no longer fear, for perfect love (and knowing full well that we are loved), casts out all fears………..    Heaven is not just an airy fairy sort of imaginary place for it is real… While we are in the transition between the two ages we catch glimpses of God and feel his hand upon our lives…. (and some of these experiences are so real that we always think back to them…. For me there are definite points of my life that I can look back and said : yes God was there…… e.g. woken up to pray for bikies in Christchurch during the Leighton Ford crusade,  God speaking to me about worship,  God healing someone's knees when I laid hands on him, God leading me to my friends house during my first mission trip )  But in heaven, each of these experiences will be reinforced by God's constant presence and God's constant reassurance that he loves me………    

1 Peter 1  : praise be to the God and father o f our Lord Jesus in his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that are to be revealed in the last time.  In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that your faith is of greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by fire may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.  Though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy…..for you are receiving the goal or your faith, the salvation of you souls.