I. The Character of Our Hope
As there is so much confusion and uncertainty
respecting this branch of our subject, and in order to clear away the rubbish
which human devisings have gathered around it, we will deal first with the
negative side of the character of our Hope.
We pray that these pages may be read by many
who will be startled by the above statement. A world which shall
eventually be saved by the preaching of the Gospel has been the expectation of
almost all Christendom. That the Gospel shall yet triumph over the world, the
flesh, and the Devil is the belief of the great majority of those who profess
to be the Lord's people. In the seminaries, in the pulpits, in the Christian
literature of the day, and in the great missionary gatherings where placards
bearing the words "The world for Christ" are prominently displayed, has this
theory been zealously heralded. It is supposed that anything short of a
converted "world" is a concept dishonoring and derogatory to the Gospel. We
are told the Gospel cannot fail because it is the power of God, and though the
Church has failed, yet, a day is surely coming when this captivating ideal
shall be realized. To believe other than this, is to be dubbed a "pessimist,"
yea, it is to be looked upon as a hinderer and traitor to the cause of Christ.
But what are the plain facts?
The Lord Jesus Christ preached the Gospel,
preached it faithfully, lovingly, zealously and untiringly. But with what
results? Was the world "converted" under His preaching? Should it be
said this question is not a fair one because He preached only locally,
we accept the correction, but ask further, Was Palestine converted under
His preaching? We have only to glance at the four Gospels to find an answer.
In the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord declared that the "many" were on the broad
road that leadeth to destruction and that only a "few" were on the narrow path
that leadeth unto life. In the Parable of the Sower He announced that out of
four castings of the good seed from His hand three of them fell upon unfruitful
ground. Again, we are told, "He was in the world, and the world was made by
Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own
knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not"
(John 1:10, 11). No; the Gospel as preached by the Son of God Himself held out
no promise of a world converted by the proclamation of it, for after three and
a half years' ministry such as this world has never witnessed before or since,
there was but a handful who responded to the gracious appeals of the Gospel
from His lips - there were but one hundred and twenty all told that
waited in the upper room for the coming of the Holy Spirit which He had
promised to send to His followers (Acts 1:15).
How was it in the days of the apostles? During
the first generation of the Church's history, wonderful things happened which
were well calculated to convert the world if anything could. Eleven men who
had been trained by our Lord Himself were now sent forth to herald the glad
tidings of salvation. The Holy Spirit was poured forth upon them, and in
addition to the Eleven, Saul of Tarsus was miraculously saved and sent forth as
the apostle to the Gentiles. But what success attended their efforts?
How were they received by the world? Again we have but to turn to the New
Testament Scriptures to find our answer. Like their Master, they, too, were
despised and rejected of men. The apostles were everywhere spoken against and
regarded as the offscouring of the earth. Some of them were cast into prison,
others were slain by the sword. One suffered death by crucifixion and the
last of the little band was banished to the Isle of Patmos. True it is that
their labors were not entirely in vain. True it is that God honored His own
Word and numbers were saved, and here and there churches were organized. But
the multitudes, the great masses, both of Jews and Gentiles, remained unmoved
and unconverted. The actual conditions, in the days of the apostles then, gave
no promise of a world converted by the Gospel.
How is it in our own day? "Ah!" it will be said
"times have changed since then: Christ and His apostles lived in the days of
Paganism and barbarism, but under the enlightenment of our modern civilization
this twentieth century is far otherwise." Yes, but all is not gold that
glitters. We do not deny, we praise God for the fact, that to-day there are
far more Christians upon earth than there were in the first century. But there
are far more sinners too! What we are discussing now is the Conversion of
the world. Has the growth of the Church of God kept pace with the
increase of the earth's population? We trow not. To-day there are probably
1,000,000,000 souls on earth who have never even heard the name of Christ! How
then can we talk about a converted world when upwards of two-thirds of
humanity is destitute of the Gospel? Moreover, what of Christendom itself?
How much of that which bears the name of Christ is truly Christian?
What proportion of those who term themselves the children of God, are really
entitled to that name? More than half of professing Christendom is found
within the pales of the Greek and Roman Catholic Churches! And what of
Protestantism itself? What of the evangelical churches filled with their
worldly, pleasure-loving, theater-going, Sabbath-desecrating,
prayer-meeting-neglecting members? No; my reader, be not deceived with
appearances or high-sounding phrases. God's flock is only a "little flock"
(Luke 12:32). There is but a `remnant according to the election of
grace" (Rom. 11:5).
Has the Gospel failed? Have God's
purposes been defeated? Certainly not. The Gospel was never designed
to convert the world. God never purposed to regenerate all humanity in this
dispensation, any more than He did under the Mosaic Economy, when He suffered
the nations to walk in their own ways. God's purpose for this Age is
clearly defined in Acts 15:14 - "Simeon hath declared how God at the first did
visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name." In full
harmony with this, the apostle Paul declared, "I am made all things to all men,
that I might be all means save some" (1 Cor. 9:22). Clearly then, the
Hope of the Church is not the Conversion of the World.
Having dwelt at some length upon the general, let
us now come to the particular -
In the New Testament the word "Salvation" has
a threefold scope - past, present and future, which, respectively, has
reference to our deliverance from the penalty, the power, and the presence of
sin. When we say, above, that our Hope is not the Salvation of the soul, we
mean that it is not our deliverance from the wrath to come which is the
prospect God sets before His people. To certain of our readers it may appear
almost a wearisome waste of time for us to discuss these points, but for the
sake of the class for which this work is specially designed we would ask them
to bear with us in patience. In these days when the Bible is so grievously
neglected both in the pulpit and in the pew, we cannot afford to take anything
for granted. Multitudes of those in our churches are ignorant of the most
elementary truths of the Christian faith. Experience shows that comparatively
few people are clear about even the A, B, C, of the Gospel. Talk to the
average church-member, and only too often it will be found that he has nothing
more than a vague and uncertain hope about his personal salvation. He is
"trying to live up to the light that he has," he is "doing his best," and he
hopes that, somehow, everything will come out right in the end. He does not
dare to say I know I have passed from death unto life, but he hopes
to go to Heaven at the last.
Nowhere does Scripture present the Salvation of
the soul as the believer's hope. Salvation from the guilt, the penalty, the
wages, of sin is something for which believers thank God even now. Said our
Lord to His disciples, "Rejoice, because your names are written in
heaven" (Luke 10:20). The present-tense aspect of our salvation is presented
in many Scriptures - "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word
and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not
come into condemnation; but is passed from death to life" (John 5:24).
How simple and definite this is! Eternal life is something which every
believer in Christ already possesses, and for him there is no possibility of
future condemnation in the sense of having to endure God's wrath. Again we
read, "Beloved now are we the sons of God" (1 John 3:2). We do not have
to obey God's commandments, walk worthy, and serve the Lord, in order to become
God's children, we are to do these things because we are, already,
members of the household of faith. The salvation or redemption of our
bodies is future, for it will not be until our Saviour's return that he
"shall" change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious
body" (Phil. 3:21). But the salvation of the soul, deliverance from the wrath
to come, is an accomplished fact for every sinner, that has received the Lord
Jesus Christ as his or her personal Saviour. All such have been
"accepted in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:6). All such have been "made meet
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light" (Col. 1:12). all
such have been "perfected for ever" (Heb. 10:14). So far as their
standing before God is concerned.
As another has said, "Salvation is not away off
yonder at the gates of Heaven; salvation is at the cross. The grace of God
that bringeth salvation hath appeared, and it brings salvation all the way down
to where the sinner is - right there. You know our Lord's own picture
of it. It is the illustration to which my mind recurs most instantly - that
illustration of the good Samaritan. You know how beautifully that shadows out
this blessed truth; that just as the good Samaritan went down the Jericho road
and ministered to the wretch who lay there half dead, pouring oil into his
wounds right there where he lay, just so the grace of God, that brings
salvation, has come to the sinner in the place where he lies in his sins. No
matter how great a sinner he may be, if he can be persuaded to turn the eye of
faith toward the cross, there salvation comes" (Dr. C. I. Scofield). Again -
Of all the extravagant and absurd
interpretations of Scripture which have found a place among sober expositors is
the belief that Death is the Hope which God has set before the believer. How
it ever came to find acceptance it is difficult to say. It is true that there
are a number of passages which speak of the Lord returning suddenly and
unexpectedly, but to make the words "At such an hour as ye think not the
Son of man cometh" and "Behold I come as a thief in the night" mean that death
may steal in upon the believer without warning is to reduce the Word of God to
meaningless jargon and is to make sane exposition impossible. Scripture says
what it means, and means what it says. True there are Parables in the Bible;
true there are some passages which are highly symbolical; but where this is the
case the context usually gives clear intimation to that effect, and where it
does not, the plain and literal force should always be given to the
language of Holy Writ. In Scripture "death" means death, and the coming again
of the Son of man means His coming, and the two expressions are not
synonymous. As we have said, the Return of Christ and death (sometimes) each,
alike, come suddenly and unexpectedly, but there all analogy between them
ends.
It is passing strange that Bible teachers should
have confounded Death with the Second Coming of Christ. The former is spoken
of as an "Enemy" (1 Cor. 15:26), whereas the latter is termed "that blessed
hope" (Titus 2:13), and surely these two terms cannot refer to the same thing.
At the Return of our Lord we shall be made like Him (1 John 3:2), but believers
are not made like Him at death, for death introduces them into a disembodied
state. That "death" is not the believer's Hope is clear from many
Scriptures. In 1 Pet. 1:3 the apostle returns thanks because we have been
begotten again "unto a living hope." The saint of God has a living hope
in a dying scene: a glorious prospect beyond this vale of tears. In 2 Tim. 4:8
the apostle Paul reminds us that there is laid up a crown of righteousness unto
all them that love Christ's "appearing," which is further proof that
death is not the Second Coming of Christ, for who is there that "loves"
death? Death is my going to Christ, but His Return is Christ coming to
me. Death is a cause of sadness and sorrow, but the Return of the Lord is a
cause of joy and comfort - "Wherefore comfort one another with these
words" (1 Thess. 4:18, see context). Death lays the body in the dust, but at
the Return of our Redeemer His people arise from the dust - "the dead in Christ
shall rise first" (1 Thess. 4:17). Death is the "wages of sin," which means
that death is the penalty of sin, but so completely has that penalty
been borne by our Saviour that we read, "So Christ was once offered to bear the
sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time
without sin unto salvation" (Heb. 9:28). Death was certainly not the
hope of the early Christians as is clear from 1 Thess. 1:9, 10 where we
read, "Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to
wait for His Son from heaven" - these Thessalonian saints were looking for
Christ not death. Finally; death cannot be our Hope, for death will not be the
portion of all believers as is clear from the language of 1 Cor. 15:51, "We
shall not all sleep." What then is our Hope? We answer -
"Jesus Christ our hope" (1 Tim. 1:1).
Jesus Christ is the believer's "all in all" (Col. 3:11). He is "our peace"
(Eph. 2:14). He is "our life" (Col. 3:14). He is "made unto us wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30). And, we
repeat, He is "our Hope." But hope always looks forward. Hope has to do with
the future. "We are saved in hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what
a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not,
then do we with patience wait for it" (Rom. 8:24, 25). This means that what we
hope for is that which we do not yet posses.[3]
As another has said, "Man was not made for the present, and the present was not
intended to satisfy man. ** It is for the future, not the present, that man
exists" (W. Trotter).
The Hope of the believer is clearly set forth in
Titus 2:13 - "Looking for that blessed hope and appearing of the glory
of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (R. V.). Our Hope is the
personal Return of Christ when He shall come back again to receive us unto
Himself. Our Hope is to be taken out of this scene of sin and suffering and
sorrow to be where Christ is (John 14:1-3). Our Hope is to be caught up
to meet the Lord in the air and be for ever "with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4:16,
17). Our Hope is to be "made like" Him, and this hope will be realized when
"we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2). This is the "one hope" of our
calling" (Eph. 4:4). This is the only Hope for everything else has
failed.
The hope of Philosophy has failed.
Philosophy was the beau-ideal of the ancients. When Greece and Rome were
the leading nations of the earth, the goal of every ambitious young man's
desire was to become a philosopher. Philosophers were respected and honored by
all. Philosophy set out to solve the "riddle of the universe" and to explain
the rationale of all creation. It was expected that philosophy would
find a solution to every problem and devise a remedy for every ill. But what
were its fruits? "The world by wisdom knew not God" (1 Cor. 1:21). When the
apostle Paul came to Athens - one of the principal centers of philosophic
culture - he found an altar erected to "The Unknown God" (Acts 17:23). The
only place the word "philosophy" is found in the Scriptures is in Col. 2:8,
where we read "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and
vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world,
and not after Christ." Philosophy proved a willo'-the-wisp. Never was
philosophy so thoroughly systematized and so ably expounded as it was in the
days of Socrates, and never was society more corrupt. The ruins of
ancient Greece bear witness to the failure and inadequacy of philosophy.
The hope of Legislation has failed. It
was the dream of the celebrated Plato that he could establish an ideal Republic
by compiling and enforcing a perfect code of laws. But a perfect Code of Law
was compiled a thousand years before Plato was born. God Himself gave
to Israel a Code of Law on Mount Sinai - with what results? No sooner was that
Law given than it was broken. The children of Israel declared, "All that the
Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient" (Ex. 24:7), but their words were an
empty boast. The truth is that imperfect creatures cannot keep a
perfect law, nor can imperfect men be induced to administer and enforce it.
There is not a land in all the world where all the statutes of the State,
or nearly all, are rigidly enforced. What then is the use of electing worthy
and able legislators and for them to enact righteous laws if their successors
refuse to enforce them? The present universal failure to do this testifies to
the impotency of Law while it is left in human hands.
The hope of human Government has failed.
The Roman Empire experimented for many centuries and tried no less than seven
different forms of government, but each in turn failed to accomplish the
desired effects, and the last state of that Empire was worse than the first.
Everything from absolute monarchy to absolute Socialism has already been
weighed in the balances and found wanting. Revolting at tyrannical yokes
imposed upon their subjects by the European rulers, our forefathers in this
country sought to establish a free Republic, a democratic form of government, a
government managed by the people and for the people. What have been its
fruits? Are economic conditions in the United States better than those in
England or Italy? Are relations between Capital and Labour more amicable and
satisfactory? Is there less political corruption in high places, and fairer
representation of the oppressed? Is there more contentment and satisfaction
among the masses? We fear not. When we witness the methods employed in the
average political campaign, when we read through the reports of the police
courts, when we behold the strikes and lock-outs in every part of the country,
when we peer beneath the surface and gaze upon the moral state of the masses,
and when we hear the angry cries of the poor laborer and his half-starved
family, we discover that the only hope for America as well as Europe is that
our Lord shall come back again and take the government upon His shoulder.
The hope of Civilization has failed. How
much all of us have heard of "the march and progress of Civilization' during
the past two generations! What an Utopia it was going to create! The masses
were to be educated and reformed, injustices were to cease, war was to be
abolished, and all mankind welded into one great Brotherhood living together in
peace and good will. Civilization was to be the agency for ushering in the
long-looked-for Millennium. Any one who dared to challenge the claims made on
behalf of the enlightenment of our twentieth century, or called into question
the transformation which the upward march of Civilization was supposed to be
effecting, was regarded as an "old fogey" who was not abreast of the times, or,
as a "pessimist" whose vision was blinded by prejudice. Was not "Evolution" an
established fact of science and did not the fundamental principle of Evolution
- progress and advancement from the lower to the higher - apply to nations and
the human race as a whole, if so, we should soon discover that we had outgrown
all the barbarities of the past. War was now no longer to be thought of, for
those cultured nations within the magic pale of civilization would henceforth
settle their differences amicably by means of arbitration. It was true that
the great Powers continued building enormous armies and navies, but these, we
were told, would merely be used to enforce Peace. But oh! what a madman's
dream it has all proven. The Hope of Civilization, like every other hope which
has not been founded upon the sure and certain Word of God, has also proved to
be nothing more than an entrancing mirage, a tragic delusion. The great World
War, with all its unmentionable horrors, its inhumanities, its barbaric
ruthlessness, has rudely wakened a lethargic humanity to the utter
insufficiency of all merely human expediencies, and has demonstrated as clearly
as anything has ever been demonstrated that "Civilization" is nothing more than
a high-sounding but empty title.
We repeat again, the ONLY hope of the
Church is the personal Return of the Redeemer to remove His people from these
scenes of misery and bloodshed to be for ever with Himself; and the ONLY hope
for this poor sin-cursed and Satan-dominated world is the Second Advent of the
Son of Man to rule and reign over the earth in righteousness and peace.
This is the world's LAST hope, for every other hope has failed it! We
turn now to consider -
[3]In Scripture, "hope" is something more
than desire or longing: it is a joyous expectation, a definite assurance.
Faith is that which lays hold of God's promises; hope is that spiritual grace
which sustains the heart until the promise is "received."