Special Insights No. 7
(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)
The Refiner's Fire: "Indestructible Hope"
I would like to share with you an article by E. J. Waggoner as supplementary
reading for this week’s lesson.—Paul Penno
“The Certainty of Hope”
[The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, June 24, 1902, p. 9.]
VERY few of the thousands who daily express themselves as hoping for
this or that, realize what hope really is. How often we hear of disappointed
hopes, of “hopes dashed to the ground,” of people who hoped
for certain things, but did not get them; and even while telling of
their “hope” for some desired thing, some will express the
fear that they will be disappointed. Such ones know not what hope really
is, and are deluding themselves with false hopes.
There is nothing true but God, for Christ, the revelation of God, is
“the truth.” He is also the reality, the fullness, because
He is the life—the whole of life. He is, and without Him there
is nothing. There is but one true God, and but one true love, “the
love of God,” because “God is love.” So there is but
one rightful Lord; but one faith—“the faith of Jesus;”
and but one real hope,—the hope of our calling in God (Eph. 4:4-7).
This hope does not disappoint. That is the force of the expression,
“hope maketh not ashamed,” in Romans 5:5. Real hope does
not deceive us; we are not made ashamed by being obliged to admit that
we have not received that of which we spoke so confidently. Often have
we been embarrassed when we have been asked where a certain thing is,
which we have with bright anticipation spoken about expecting to receive.
We were disappointed, and would be glad to have the matter forgotten.
We feel perhaps a little ashamed of our former enthusiasm, and do not
like to have it mentioned. But nothing of this sort happens when we
have “the blessed hope” which comes with the experience
of justification by faith.
Why is this? What is the reason that hope—all hope that is hope
indeed—“maketh not ashamed”? The reason is given:
“Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost which is given unto us.” True hope has its origin in true
love—the love of God,—because love “hopeth all things”
(1 Cor. 13:7). “Love is of God,” for “God is love;”
therefore love is as enduring and unchanging as God himself. He is “from
everlasting to everlasting,” and “the Lord hath appeared
of old time unto me, saying, Yes, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love.” It must be evident to all that hope that is based upon
such love can never disappoint one.
“God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
This was promised to Abraham, and the promise was confirmed by an oath,—God
swearing by himself,—for our sakes, that “we might have
a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope
set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure
and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil, whither
the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for
ever after the order of Melchisedek” (Heb. 6:17-20). All things
are assured to us in Christ, and only in Him (Rom. 8:32). There is nothing
in this world or the world to come that we can have except through His
cross. So the so-called hope for anything that is not to be found in
Him is sure to meet with disappointment; and the hope for everything
that is in Him, and that can be had with Him, is as sure of fulfillment,
as that He lives.
Even this is not all; for hope is so very real that we truly have the
thing hoped for. Thus: God’s work was finished from the foundation
of the world, and Christ was given before that (Heb. 4:3. 1 Peter 1:19,
20). On the cross He said, “It is finished.” Infinite and
everlasting love has bestowed everything. God asks: “What could
have been done more to My vineyard, that I have not done in it”
(Isa. 5:4). All heaven has already been poured out in the gift of Christ,
so that all that we can possibly hope for we already have in Him. We
“rejoice in hope of the glory of God,” and Christ in us
is “the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). He is the brightness
of the Father’s glory (Heb. 1:3), and the glory that was given
Him He has given us (John 17:22); therefore having Him we have all things.
He is the same today that He is in eternity; therefore all the joys
of eternity are ours in Him today.
This is the “lively hope,” the living hope, that we have
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3). There
is no element of doubt or uncertainty in it. The Christian’s hope
is no vague longing after something in the dim and uncertain future,
but a firm grasp of that which is, as well as is to come. This is not
simply “the larger hope,” but the largest hope, for we are
taught to believe that God’s mercy is upon us according as we
hope in Him (Psalm 33:22). Then let abiding hope abound, that joy may
be full.
(Note: A series of CDs on these lessons recorded
by this Robert J. Wieland is available from the office of the 1888 Message
Study Committee: 269-473-1888.)
Listen to the audio recording for Lesson 7 now in MP3 format.
Read Special Insights 8
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