The Hope Laid Up in Heaven
To the Corinthians, the apostle Paul stressed faith, hope, and love (1Cor. 13:13). Here are three abiding things and three essential things. Man cannot be pleasing unto God without faith (Heb. 11:6), and all faithful service must be motivated by love (Gal. 5:6). Hope—real Bible hope— grows out of that faith. We note that Paul, writing to the Colossians, mentions those same abiding three things in Colossians 1:4-5. He speaks of having heard of their faith in Christ, their love toward all saints, and the hope laid up for them in heaven. How great is that word hope! So great that in earlier editions of the song “Whispering Hope!” the author’s final three words, after the chorus, is the exclamation, “O Blessed Hope!” We desire to comment on hope for the benefit of all who read. Those in Christ should rejoice in the hope they have. Those not in Christ should see how truly deprived they are and their awful prospects for eternity. We in Christ, seeing the plight of those with no hope, should likewise be motivated to teach these lost ones the truth of God that they might have hope.
What is to be said of that hope set forth before us? (1) It is a real hope. It is not imagined, and it is not the product of man’s wishful thinking or wisdom. Peter speaks of it in 1 Peter 1:3 as belonging to those who are in Christ: A lively (living) hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The apostle Paul spoke of those who have no hope (Eph. 2:12) and later mentioned those who mourn the loss of loved ones who were not in Christ, and said it was a case of no hope (1The. 4:13). There is such a thing as is called hope and it has no Biblical substance. It is vain, empty, profitless, imagined, dead, etc. What an awful hurt Satan renders to men to cause them to think they have hope when they have none!
(2) It is hope found in Christ. Our God is pictured as the Lord who is our hope (Psa. 71:5). The Christ is said to be “Jesus Christ, which is our hope” (1 Tim. 1:1—KJV). Concerning our prospect of being with the Lord eternally, the Colossians were pointed to “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). Men obedient to the Lord’s will are baptized into Christ to put on Christ (Gal. 3:27) that this hope might be theirs. Our hope—the hope that is real and of God—is in Christ. All spiritual blessings are thus found in Him (Eph. 1:3).
(3) It is revealed in the Gospel. Here, in Colossians 1:5, Paul mentions that they had heard of that hope when the truth of the Gospel was presented to them. The Holy Spirit moved men of God to make known God’s will (2 Pet. 1:21), and this will was revealed to these select men in words (1Cor. 2:13). Hence, God has used that which we use constantly—words, and thus the message can be comprehended by man. Human philosophy uses words also (and sometimes that which the ordinary man cannot comprehend) and therefore offers man hope, but it is a vain, empty, and meaningless hope if based on man. The hope revealed in the Gospel is that which is significant. The hope will be realized when, one day, it gives way to complete fulfillment. Centering on the hope we have in Christ, right on through the hope of the resurrection we have because Christ Himself was raised, the apostle said, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (15:19—KJV).
Here is the basis for heralding forth the Word of Truth, the Gospel, and being content with that message. Here is the reason for proclaiming the Christ and abstaining from all other messages. Here is the reason for holding steadfast, and thus “be not moved away from the hope of the gospel” (Col. 1:23). To tamper with the message of God is to tamper with hope. To leave the Gospel is to leave one’s hope. Paul’s great statement causes us to realize that our hope is revealed in the Gospel!
(4) It is reserved in heaven for the faithful. Paul says, “Hope…is laid up for you in heaven.” We, indeed, live by hope. That is certainly true of the child of God, but in terms of temporal things, men in the world embrace hope—a hope that does not promise the blessings of God. Men cling to a hope that centers on other men, the promises of other men, the things of men, the desire for future things of men, etc. Moreover, men can present a false religious message and cause other men to place their faith in false teachers and words of error and then try to grasp hope thus based, but it is a vain and empty hope. It is not the living hope Peter speaks about, and because men are thus deceived by things of the world and things of the religious world, there is no hope laid up for them . The apostle Peter speaks of the future of the child of God in these words: “a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Pet. 1:3-4). Of tremendous blessing to the child of God is that the joys received now are a mere smattering of benefits compared to that which shall afterward be revealed. The child of God always has a future and the future promises that which surpasses his wildest dream. The child of God has hope!
Let us be reminded that His hope is made known in the Gospel and is made a real and living thing to be possessed by one as that one is obedient to the Gospel of Christ. Faith, repentance, confession of faith, and baptism into Christ are the terms of pardon set forth by God, and living hope is obtained. It is not realized and cannot be realized in any other way. It is revealed in the Gospel and is obtained by obedience thereto!
Bill Jackson – deceased –
Article borrowed from the Oct. 2023 Bellview Beacon – Pensacola, Fla.
