Bishop Sobrepena Memorial Church 01 December 2013 CHRISTMAS: HOPE OF GLORY 2 Thes 2:13-17 Rev. Dr. Samuel P. Fernandez Hope is a desire, a longing, a yearning, with expectation and anticipation of fulfillment. That is why people say, hope springs eternal. Let us have a sampling on how writers perceive hope. “Hope means expectancy when things are otherwise hope.” - G.K. Chesterton “Hope is the mother of faith.” - Walter Savage Landar “Hope is the dream of a waking man.” - Pliny the Elder “Hope springs eternal in the human breast; man never is, but always to be blest.” – Alexander Pope: Essay on Man, Epis, I “Religion is the mother of dreams. Over the gray world, ruined by deluge and death, it has sought ever, and found the arching rainbow of hope.” - Albert Eutuce Hayden, University of Chicago Press. “Life with Christ is an endless hope, without Him a hope ends.” – Anonymous “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.” – Jeremiah 17:7 Hope gives strength and stability, courage and character. Norman Vincent Peale wrote: “What is hope? Hope is wishing for a thing to come true; faith is believing that it will come true. Hope is wanting something so eagerly that – in spite of all the evidence that you’re not going to get it – you go right on wanting it. And the remarkable thing about it is that this very act of hoping produces a kind of strength of its own.” – Guideposts A person without hope is hopeless. We live by faith sustained by hope. No storm or storm surge, typhoon or tempest, tornado or twister, windstorm or whirlwind, can vanish our hope for a brighter future. As Apostle Paul would have it, “let us stand firm in our faith.” Let us meditate on the following Biblical passages: BIBLICAL REFERENCE “But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.” (II Thes 2:13-17, New International Version) REFLECTION Christmas is a season of hope, of expectation, of anticipation. As followers of the faith, the birth of our Redeemer is a welcome event. God, in His grace and mercy gave His Son that we helpless sinners might be rescued from our transgression and wrong-doings. Paulinian doctrine centers on believers’ hope not on unbelievers’ hopeless end. As the Psalmist sang: “But now, Lord, What do I look for? My hope is in you. Save me from all my transgressions; do not make me the scorn of fools.” (Ps 39:7-8, NIV) The unbelievers cannot hope for anything. Believers have all the hope of glory. “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.” (II Thes 4:13-15, NIV) Hope resides in the believer’s heart. “Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, do not be frightened. But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.” (I Peter 3:13-17, NIV) Hope strengthens the faith of the followers of Jesus. We can endure trials and tribulation with hope in our hearts. Meditate on this testimony of a Christian whose hope made him survive man’s inhumanity to man. “In recounting his experience as a political prisoner in Russia, Alexander Solzhenitsyn tells of a moment when he was on the verge of giving up all hope. He was forced to work twelve hours a day at hard labor while existing on a starvation diet, and he had become gravely ill. The doctors were predicting his death. One afternoon while shoveling sand under a blazing sun, he simply stopped working. He did so even though he knew the guards would beat him severely – perhaps to death. But he felt he just couldn’t go on. Then he saw another prisoner, a fellow Christian, moving toward him cautiously. With his cane the man quickly drew a cross in the sand and erased it. In that brief moment Solzhenitsyn felt all the hope of the Gospel flood through his soul. It gave him the courage to endure that difficult day and the months of imprisonment that followed.” (The Speaker’s Quote Book) Christian hope comes from God. Christ is God’s offering to mankind, His greatest gift to humanity. “For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw nigh unto God.” (Heb 7:19, King James Version) Author Leslie B. Flynn wrote: “A famous American cardiologist said in his auto-biography, ‘Hope can cure nearly everything.’ Another doctor commented, ‘If you lead a person to believe there’s no hope, you drive another nail in his coffin.’ ” Wrote O. S. Marden: “There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow.” To the early Christians of Colossus, Apostle Paul wrote: “To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.” (Col 1:27-28, The Devotional Study Bible) Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the day in which we recall the glorious hope we have in Christ. Advent is a penitential period beginning four Sundays before Christmas. It is a period of serious reflection, meditation and pondering on the significance of God’s sending His Son to us as Savior and Lord. Christ is our glorious hope, our Redeemer. Amen.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Dec 2013 04:49:48 +0000
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