Titus 2:11-14

Romans 8:18-39

1 Peter 1:3-9

Hebrews 10:23-25

What do these verses tell us about the return of Christ?

In what ways do the passages describe the need to be ready?

What actions accompany those who believe in and are preparing for His coming?

In what ways does hope fuel these actions?

What is the Spirit showing the Church or ourselves regarding our need to live awake and embrace the hope of our calling?

It is easy to misunderstand hope. It is also easy to misplace hope. We often lose hope when a desired outcome does not occur. The disciples on the road to Emmaus give us one glimpse in scripture of those who, like us, have wrestled with misunderstood, misplaced hope. We read the account of their conversation in Luke 24:13-27 as they walk on the road accompanied by the unrecognized, risen Christ. As they recount to their companion all that had occured, how Jesus was delivered up to death by the chief priests and rulers, they sadly add, “we had hoped that he was the one to deliver Israel.” Even though they had received the report from the women and the disciples of an empty tomb, they are nevertheless crestfallen that what they had hoped for was not fulfilled. Jesus then takes them on a journey through scripture; “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”

One of the scriptures that I am sure he shared with them was in Daniel 7:9-14. The scene that is portrayed in these verses is of a heavenly courtroom with the Ancient of Days seated on his flaming throne. “The court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.” Before Him were those to be judged, ten thousand times ten thousand standing before the awesome magistrate. But just then the courtroom door bursts open. Another enters in, one like a son of man, who approaches the Ancient of Days just as his books open to begin to render judgments. The son of man presents himself before the Ancient of Days. What is it that he presents?

To answer that question, let’s look at Hebrews 9:24-28 where we read, “For Christ has entered not into a holy place made with hands … but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” And what did he offer on our behalf? Picture if you will, an altar of sacrifice at the entrance of the courtroom. “He entered once for all into the holy place by means of his own blood” in order to “purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” I believe the son of man, in Daniel 7, paused as he entered to present his own lifeblood on that altar, so that when the books of judgment are read, for all those who have put their faith in the Son, their record is completely cleared. Paid in full.

So returning to the men on the road to Emmaus, after Jesus tells them about himself in the scriptures and joins them at their home, blessing the bread and giving it to them, he vanishes. Suddenly their hope is revived and properly placed upon the crux of lasting hope, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. They return immediately back to Jerusalem to share with the disciples their new found hope, “The Lord has risen indeed!”

   The apostle Peter writes to the suffering, persecuted saints in Turkey to remind them that they have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The words of this old hymn capture the same sentiment:

Our hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus blood and righteousness

On Christ the solid rock I stand

All other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.

The resurrected Lord Jesus, presented the offering of Himself on behalf of all those who would surely have been found guilty according to the deeds that were recorded in the book of judgment. His sacrifice was acceptable to the Ancient of Days for all people for all time. He was then given dominion, glory and a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. He invites all those who believe in Him by faith to be participants in His everlasting kingdom. 

These are the unshakable pillars of our hope.