Blessed Hope, Future Hope!

“It will be said on that day, ‘Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that He might save us.  This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” –Isaiah 25:9.  “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God:  for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.” –Psalm 42:11.  “But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells…You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.  But grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  To Him be glory both now and to the day of eternity.  Amen.” -2 Peter 3:15,17-18.  “In hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began” –Titus 1:2  “so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” –Titus 3:7  “Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life…Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.  Amen.” Jude 21, 24-25 (ESV).

Christians live in hope for three basic reasons.  First is God’s work of reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ.  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  According to His great mercy He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3, ESV).  The second reason Christians live in hope is that the Holy Spirit dwells within each believer:  “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16)  The third reason for living in hope is what awaits the Christian in the future.  God promised and His promises will always be fulfilled.  The anticipation of what is yet to be is the Christian’s future hope.  “But as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him’—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.  For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”  (I Corinthians 2:9-10).  Here Paul was referring to Isaiah 64:4 and Matthew 25:34 which tell of the glory that is yet to be.  Blessed hope sustains us in the present; future hope helps us anticipate the fulfillment of God’s promise of life everlasting and of the consummation of the Kingdom of God.

It is interesting to note that the future hope was both an Old and New Testament idea.  Scholars who have counted the references tell us that the Hebrew words indicating future hope are used repeatedly in the Old Testament.  For example, qawah (meaning wait for God) is used 26 times; yahai (long for God) 27 times; hakah (to wait for God) 7 times; sabar (wait and hope for God) 4 times [“Future Hope” in Holman Bible Dictionary. Nashville: Broadman, 2001, pp. 519-20].  Nouns that carry the idea of future hope are added to the strong Hebrew verbs to give at least 146 references in the Old Testament of future hope.  The references to future hope in the New Testament are numerous and frequent.  These are based upon the promise of the Lord to come again to earth, receive His own (his bride) unto Himself, and to establish His righteous reign.  In the meantime, while we await that day, Christians live in the present with confidence and face the future with courage.  Even if we have to suffer while awaiting the glorious consummation, we know “that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character; and character, hope (Romans 5:3-4).  Blessed hope and future hope—hope that fills our present and colors our future is not an ordinary hope.  Christian hope is a gift from God:  “we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.  We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul”(Hebrews 6:18-19).  Please reread prayerfully the focus verses given at the beginning of this devotional.  And as you reread them, let your heart fill with gratitude to overflowing for our blessed hope, our future hope.  Thank Him that some of these promises of God have been fulfilled and all of them will be fulfilled. To God be the glory!

Titus, God’s Man in Crete

To Titus, my true child in a common faith:  Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.  This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you…But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.” –Titus 1:4-5; 2:1 (ESV).

Another of Paul’s “preacher boys,” Titus was mentioned by Paul in Galatians 2:3.  He was likely converted under Paul’s preaching. Not mentioned in Acts, we find in Galatians 2:1 that he went with Barnabas and Paul to Jerusalem, probably when the hunger relief offering was taken from Gentile churches to the Christians in Jerusalem.  From the tough assignments Paul gave Titus, we can assume that he was mature and dependable. Paul calls him “partner and fellow worker” in 2 Corinthians 2:1-4.  Paul sent him to deliver the first letter to the Corinth church and to remain there for a while to help work with some of the problem areas of belief and practice.  Sometime in 62 AD, Paul was released from Roman imprisonment.  Although Acts ends with Paul being there in prison, and does not record subsequent journeys of Paul, extra-biblical evidence indicates that he and Titus went to Crete and that Paul left Titus behind to deal with some of the pressing concerns of the church.  Titus’ assignment was to help the church in these ways:

• Preach God's Word - (Titus 1:1-4) - to preach to the elect the knowledge of the truth
• To Ordain Qualified Leaders (Titus 1:5-9) - “those above reproach” and faithful
• To Silence False Teachers (Titus 1:10-16) -   “exhort and convince, and teach sound doctrine

For a younger minister, Titus’s assignment from Paul at Crete was charged with heavy responsibility. We could wish we had more information about this leader of the church in Crete.  He evidently had leadership capabilities or Paul would not have entrusted Titus with the major tasks he had him working on at Crete.  False teachers threatened the church.  In the letter we learn that “those of the circumcision party” were causing trouble.  Some of the Jews from Crete had been in Jerusalem at the day of Pentecost when Peter preached his great sermon and over 5,000 from all places were converted.  Cretans were in that group.  They probably went home to Crete telling the good news and a group of believers formed. But many of the Jewish Christians had a hard time giving up the theology they had learned while still in the Jewish faith.  One was the belief that circumcision was still a necessary part of any good Jews’ (or Gentile believers’) belief system.  Another hard task was finding and ordaining capable persons to lead the churches on Crete.  Qualifications are listed in Titus 1:6-9.   Paul wrote Titus to come to him at Nicopolis (Titus 3:12).  This town was located on the west coast of Greece.  When Paul was imprisoned for the second time in Rome (an imprisonment which lasted until his death), he asked Titus to go to Dalmatia (see 2 Timothy 4:10).  Tradition holds that Titus was the first bishop of the church at Dalmatia.

We can believe that Titus was a bold proclaimer of the Word, a person who worked well with people and one who could stand firmly while refuting false doctrine.  Such boldness and faithful witness are needed today.  Paul told Titus to preach at Crete to “renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:12).  Let us pray that each of us can be faithful in all aspects of Christian life and conduct as Paul admonished Titus and the Cretan Christians to do:  “waiting for our blessed hope”—the second coming of our Lord.