Some of you, I'm sure, have heard the term, "the Blessed Hope." At least, I hope you have, since it is a direct quote from Scripture (Titus 2:13). Paul wrote to Titus that we were "looking for the blessed hope." What is that hope? A lot of us think it's "heaven." You know ... the end of all tears, nothing but joy eternal, that sort of thing. And we do have that blessed hope, but that's not what Paul is referring to here. Paul here refers to "the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus."
Huh. The appearing of His glory is our "Blessed Hope," eh? How is that? First, God's primary concern is God's own glory, so it should be our primary concern as well (1 Cor 10:31). It is clear in Scripture that His glory exceeds our capability to grasp or even endure (Exo 33:20). So we need to be changed, and even then, being finite, we will not fully grasp His glory, but we surely will enjoy it. Beyond that, God's glory encompasses God Himself. That is, God's glory is God's self-expression. If we are truly lovers of God, His self-expression should be our greatest joy. Our Blessed Hope.
In the end, that Blessed Hope of the appearing of His glory does indeed include all those things we normally think about -- heaven, joy, eternal life ... all of that. But if all of that is your Blessed Hope and not so much His appearing -- His presence -- then you're missing out. If your greatest pleasure in heaven is the benefits of heavens and not the presence of Christ, you've missed the whole idea. Our Blessed Hope is to someday see Him as He is, face to face. At that point nothing else will matter. Is that your Blessed Hope?
1 comment:
Fear of Hell may be a frequent motivating factor for coming to Christ, but if you don't ever develop a desire to be in His presence, I fear you never had a right understanding of salvation and what He did.
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