Christ, Our Eternal Hope. Golden Text: “Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I render double unto thee [for all you have lost]” – Zechariah 9:12. What a place to make a promise of hope and reward— and a double reward at that! Rarely is hope found in the prison house. The house of prison here is a metaphor for the limitations Satan places on us—in the form of sickness, poverty, debt and disease among other problems. But God assures us that in the midst of these Satan-imposed problems —the restrictions he places in our lives—there is hope of deliverance for us! That deliverance is in the Name of the LORD YAHWEH, the Strong Tower in which He has invited us to seek refuge (Prov. 18:10). Once we seek refuge under the Strong Tower of His Name, our hope in Him shall blossom into a double reward of blessing! The Name Yahweh is the Name that calls hope into existence—this He did for all the faithful saints from Abraham to Hanna (Ps. 34:5). And that same STRONG TOWER of a Name is what puts the devils in check so we are protected as are our blessings. At the mention of the Name, the Strong Tower, the devils tremble and all knees bow (Jam. 2:19; Philippians 2:9-10). This is the Name we have come to trust, and so our hope is secure (Ps. 118:10-12). It’s a Name that never fails nor disappoints. It didn’t fail Isaac, Jacob, nor Daniel in the lion’s den! The Name HaShem to which He prayed three times a day defended him in the den (Ps. 20:1). This is where we see the difference between the believer’s hope and that of the unbeliever. Whereas the believer’s hope is anchored in the Name of the LORD Who never disappoints (Ps. 124:8), that of the unbeliever is in a mortal man (a parent, a benefactor, etc) who can disappoint or even die. In Jer. 17:5-8, hope in man is juxtaposed with hope in the Eternal Name, and the distinction cannot be starker: Hope in man is fail-prone and leads to disappointment and ruin, but hope in HaShem is fail-proof and produces blessings that never fail, being rooted in the Hope of Israel, the fountain of living waters (vs 13). Our hope in God for deliverance, blessings, etc never fails because we have been born to a lively (living) hope in Christ--a hope that never dies (1 Pet. 1:3)! Such undying hope was manifested when Martha, bereft of all hope at Lazarus’ death, remarked, ‘Lord had you been here, my brother would not have died’. While humanly speaking the situation was indeed hopeless, the Lord Jesus soon demonstrated that with Him hope never dies or perishes! He went on to raise Lazarus from the dead (John 11:20-21, 40-44). That same Jesus is the Word of faith being preached today (Rom 10:8) and none who believes on Him shall be ashamed (vs 11). As the children of Jacob, He has not called us to seek Him in vain (Isa. 45:17, 19); the hope into which He has called us will endure and bear fruit—under His Strong Tower! Hope in the Lord (which implies not just faith but obedience to His commands) endures and rewards. Because the Word of Divine promise to us is Christ the Amen who lives forever (2 Cor. 1:20; Heb. 7:25), its fulfillment is always assured. The promise of healing, protection and other blessings does not return (to God) void until it has accomplished its good purposes in our lives. Accordingly Yeshua the Word assured Abraham at a time procreation/childbirth seemed impossible for both he and his wife: ‘By this time next year, Sarah will have conceived and given birth to a son’, and it happened on schedule (Gen. 18:14; John 8:56, 58). Looking to a hope that never dies should naturally fuel our faith (Heb. 11:1). The companion of an undying hope is faith. Once our hope is in Christ who never fails, we’ll continue to believe that God will make good His promises to us at the right time. Hard on the heels of faith is action. Faith should induce action. Having hope in Christ’s unfailing promises should drive actions that demonstrate faith in His Name. That’s how the saints of old triumphed. With their hope in the LORD having begotten faith in His promise, they took action to subdue kingdoms, quenched the violence of fire and escaped the edge of the sword (Heb. 11:32-34). Because David had hope that God His Strong Tower would deliver him from Goliath, he summoned up faith to confront the Philistine giant and prevailed! Faith vindicated and brought to fruition His hope in Christ’s victorious power. That same undying hope is available to us today, namely, Christ, the Fountain of Living Waters. HalleluYAH!
Posted on: Sun, 01 Dec 2013 09:33:55 +0000
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