One of the clearest articulations of hope is found in the bible. Reformulate the description of hope: problem, action, result/changed situation. This makes this chapter easier to introduce. It seems that all religion is based on hope.Christianity is very explicit about this. Let me tell you about it, how it makes sense of the world and what it promises.
The hope found in the Bible is nothing short of perfection. It looks forward to when everything is made right and death is removed. But to understand this we should really start with where we are, the present world and the problems in it.
The Bible open with a story of how everything started. God created it, and it was good. The refrain “…and He saw that it was good.” is repeated at the end of each step in creation. Then, once all of creation is complete, God declares “it was very good.” Everything had its place. Everything existed in harmony, each thing fulfilling its role in creation so that, in unity, a diverse creation came together to be “very good.”
God looking after His creation through His stewards, mankind. God had authority over us and we had authority over creation. The greater supporting and caring for the lessor, God for us, us for creation. Thus there was harmony, completeness, provision and prosperity.
But, somehow, evil entered the world. This evil was a creature that did not live in the created harmony, but rather worked against it. The Bible presents this evil first as a Serpent, and later as Satan.
The evil worked against the harmony of creation by trying to convince the first people to “break free” from God’s good rule, to be gods ourselves. Alas we they succumbed. Our great ancestors sought to define right and wrong for themselves, apart from God. Thus they listened to a creature instead of God, and put themselves above God. Doing this corrupted mankind.
Mankind’s corruption was complete. We no longer naturally submit to God. Nor do we naturally obey him. Rather we naturally rebel, even as our great ancestors did. It is an abomination, and exceedingly foolish, for a creature to define reality. Especially in opposition to the Creator, the one who sustains him.
The consequence of our corruption spread further than just mankind: as God’s stewards of the world we were given great authority. We were the link, in authority, between God and His creation. Yet we submitted to the creation and to ourselves rather than the Creator. And so the whole system of harmony was inverted and broken. It is no wonder that the promised consequence was death. How can we expect to keep on living when we reject the sustainer of life and trust instead in ourselves, mere creatures?
But God is merciful and did not cause our immediate demise. Rather He has allowed us to keep living but not in the good world as He created. Rather He has respected the authority He gave us and has left the world in the corrupted and broken state we chose for it. This is what we see around us now.
However this is not the end of the story. Rather the Bible proposes a hope. It does not merely inform us how we got here, and that this is not as it aught to be. No it promises a hope: the reversal of the corruption so that all things are again in harmony. Here good is harmony and bad is disharmony. This is not a whole picture and I fear to overemphasise it and so oversimplify the nature of Good: harmony, love, support, service…
I said that the Bible has a clear articulation of hope. Here I have given a brief outline of the problem and the hope. Lets look at these tow aspects in greater detail. They help us understand the world as we see it now and the beauty of the promise. This will help us appreciate just how big an action is required to achieve this hope.
Mankind was created as a part of the creation, yet given authority over it to nurture and care for it while the creation was to provide mankind with food and beauty. However the corruption has spread into the relationship between mankind and the creation.
The first consequence of the corruption is that the world no longer provides for us plentifully. This is stated in stark terms in
Cursed is the ground because of [man]; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
-Genesis 3:17 NIV [2011]
Thus our work is made tedious and painful. It is no longer a simple matter to be wealthy.
Additionally we see that we do not look after the world as we aught. Rather we pollute and abuse it. Thus the creation is frustrated in its beauty and life.
The hope in the Bible is a reversal of this: a restoration of our relationship with creation and the life of creation. It is stated most vividly in
The days are coming, declares the LORD, when the reaper will be overtaken by the ploughman and the planter by the one treading the grapes.
-Amos 9:13
The image is that the harvests of the world will be so rich that the season for planting will arrive before the harvest is fully gathered in. Here it will be difficult not to be rich.
The second consequence of the corruption is the disharmony in creation itself. We see this most clearly as the massive natural disasters: volcanoes and earth quakes, tidal waves and hurricanes, floods and droughts. We also see this disharmony in the enmity between animals: lions eat impala, foxes hunt rabbits and man hunts animals. This is stated in scripture with
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of child birth right up to the present time.
-Romans 8:22
The hope here then is that creation is restored to harmony and made whole again. This harmony is beautifully stated as:
The wolf will lie down with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion will feed together and a little child will lead them.
-Isaiah 11:6
No longer will animals pursue each others deaths or the death of people. Bo longer will natural disasters bring about such destruction. Rather there will be harmony and peace.
The Biblical hope is an end to hostilities and destruction between mankind and creation, rather harmony and peace and great prosperity for both the creation and for mankind who care for it.
Mankind was created in society, to love and care for each other, to provide each other with companionship and help. However our fall broke that. The three aspects of the corruption of this relationship are, first, individuals, second, society and, third, leadership.
The corruption has affected us as individuals. We find ourselves bont on evil or reluctant to do good, even though we know it is betteer. THis is beautifully articulated in
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do…For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing…What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
- Romans 7:15,19,24
So we find ourselves perplexed and frustrated because we insist on bringing destruction on ourselves and others when we would rather bring life and healing. Moreover we find ourselves selfish to the point of malice and so we are ourselves first among our own enemies.
The Biblical hope is not that we will get a little better, but still struggle with ourselves; again the hope is not that we will find out how to be content with ourselves. No, the Biblical hope is that we will be changed. We will be made perfect able to carry out the good we desire to do and delight in it. Spurning evil, seeing it for what it is, despising its destruction and deception. We will be made whole, not broken, and at peace within ourselves. Most wonderfully of all we will be able to trust again and love properly and fully.
The second aspect of the corruption, the staining of society, overflows from the first, the corruption of ourselves: because of our individual corruption our societies are distorted. We see this in the wars that are waged between countries, we see this in the wars waged within families and we see this corruption in injustice, the oppression of the weak, murder, theft and bribery. In short our societies, like us, try to be good but find they are a source of pain and evil.
Indeed I have found this in my own life on several occasions. School was deeply scarring. Supposedly innocent children make brutal societies. I have been robbed a few times, which caused its own pain, moreover justice is unlikely and my loss is not likely to be repaid. Yet in all of this I have had a comparatively gentle life. Many others, perhaps you, have had devastating experiences at the hands of society: both other individuals and the systems.
The Biblical hope here, then, is a new society. One that lives in harmony and supports the weak, This also flows naturally out of the transformation of individuals. If each, and every, person is seeking the betterment of others, with a true knowledge of good and capacity for love, how could society be oppressive? Where would there be a place for injustice?
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven…The city does not need sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light and the Lamb of is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendour into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honour of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
-Revelation 21:2, 23-27
The final obvious consequence of our personal corruption is that we have no perfect leaders. Such leaders are important for the ordering of society. Indeed a part of how society is corrupted is through the corruption of the people who lead it. Some leaders are outright evil, others simply incompetent and all of them die. This is devastating for society as leadership is what sets its direction. This is expresses succinctly in
When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
-Matthew 9:36
The Biblical hope is a perfect leader who serves 1 the people and understands them 2. A leader who is wise 3 and powerful 4. One who is both loving and just. In short a leader who will do all things well. In the Bible we are presented with just such a leader in Jesus. The Biblical hope, then, is his grand returning when all things will submit to Him and He will lead us well.
Mankind was created to image God , rule His world under Him and to be in relationship with Him. The breaking of this relationship is at the root of mankind’s corruption. It is here that it starts.
This relationship between us and God is the most fundamental of all our relationships, for it is from God that we derive life and for God that we exist. Thus breaking this relationship has the most severe consequences. The first is death. As it is written first in Genesis (2:16-17 and chapter 5) and then in
for the wages of sin is death…
-Romans 6:23
But this is more than just physical death, it is the eternal separation from God who is the source of life and goodness. It is put starkly in
[they] will be thrown outside, into darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
-Matthew 8:12
Further to being separated from life, we have acted choosing to act against God. This must be paid for, thus the consequence is punishment. As it is written
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness
-Romans 1:18
Another consequence, or perhaps a sign of this corruption, is that our lives become meaningless chasing after the wind. The book of Ecclesiastes is dedicated to exploring this idea, but it is also put succinctly in
but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
-Romans 1: 21
So we find all our endeavours and work to be meaningless and not quite fulfilling, we have this innate feeling of our guilt at our wrong doing and we are confronted with death: the grief of the death of those around us and the fear of our own death.
The Biblical hope is not simply that we find some purpose to life and happily live out our lives. Nor simply that death is done away with and we keep living as we are. Rather the Biblical hope is eternal life: a restored, perpetual and intimate relationship with God, the source of life and goodness. This is eternal, physical and intimate life with God. This is expressed as
Ans I heard a loud voice from the throne saying “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.”
-Revelation 21:3
and again
…but the gift of God is eternal life…
-Romans 6:23
Another promise is that God will somehow pay the price of mankind’s crime for us and so not hold it against us. This is stated as a blessing in
Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
-Psalm 32:1
Finally The hope is a life of purpose
As we discussed earlier there are three components to hope: the current state, the desired state and the action required to move from the one to the other. The distance between where we are and where we want to be will be reflected in the magnitude of the action required. So if we propose a small action, like taking five steps, we imply that there is not a lot of distance between where we are and where we hope to be, maybe 3 meters. On the other hand if there is a big difference between where we are and where we want to be, an unfit person to a marathon runner, we must have a big action, rigorous training for a year. The magnitude of the action must match the magnitude of where we hope to be.
As we have seen the Bible has a catastrophic view of where we are as well as a very high view of where we will be. What possible action could the Bible propose that will so fundamentally alter reality by its effect?
The answer the Bible gives seems small initially, indeed it is said to be seen as foolishness 5, but I hope that as we explore it we will see how Jesus is the fitting radical action needed for such a hope for such a present situation. The answer is Jesus the Messiah, risen from the dead, the descendant of David 6.
The story of mankind is that God created man to rule the world under His authority. God, mankind, creation. We rebelled listening to the creation rather than God, essentially perverting the order to creation, mankind, God, but more distorted. Mankind could no longer undo this.
Yet the original command and authority still stand, even though each of us put ourselves and or creation first. When Jesus came and did not succumb to temptation, but perfectly followed God. Thus he maintained the God given authority of mankind to rule. Additionally by His lineage and He can be the King of God’s people. By being King He is their representative and can act on their behalf and take responsibility on their behalf. Moreover as God He can take that responsibility on behalf of all of creation. He came and He loved mankind by serving us7. Thus He did not break His relationship with God, with the rest of mankind or with creation, but upheld them as they were supposed to be. So in Jesus all the hope can be fulfilled, but in Jesus only.
However Jesus then did something grand and mysterious and wonderful. As the innocent Man and as God the perfect representative He, who alone among men does not deserve to die, died on our behalf. Thus, though Jesus, our relationship with God is restored. Justice is done, yet we are not destroyed. Only God’s wisdom could devise such a marvellous solution to the conundrum of love and justice, and only God’s love would drive Him to such an action of self sacrifice.
As we have seen the problem is rather difficult. The hope is to have a vibrant community alive with God Himself. The problem though is dire. People have rejected Him and so cut themselves and creation off from life.
On one hand God has to judge us to declare evil evil. On the other hand He loves us and does not want to destroy us. But to say “it doesn’t matter” would destroy the very fabric of reality. It would rob beauty of its essence and drain and meaning in good. All would fall to dull average and so even love would loose its meaning. So what is to be done? To have any meaning in God’s love He must condemn evil, which means destroying His loved ones. Can you reference this? Or perhaps this should be a seperate peice of writing. Surely this is true, but it is quite a large (and unexplained) logical jump from saying it doesn’t matter to overthrowing beauty.
Humans were given responsibility to rule 8. We give this over to Satan when we obey him. Yet it is the nature of things for people to rule 9. So if a man came and did not submit to Satan he could claim back that authority. Additionally ruling implies responsibility for the ruled 10. Rulers become responsible 11. So if a human came and ruled all he could be punished for all. Though if he fell all men would fall with him (Indeed this is what happened in Adam. Be careful in who you chose to rule you!)12
The ultimate ruler is God Himself. So He could be judged for us. It is a bit weird having a judge pass judgement on himself as the representative for a people, but completely reasonable if you let him have different roles while being the same person.
This then is God’s conundrum: To maintain His love He must destroy what He loves because of their evil. This is God’s solution: He would become a man of a different line to Adam (the first representative who submitted to Satan) and win back humanities right to rule. He would also become the king of men to win the right to represent them. But He would remain innocent so earning the capacity to justly take on their punishment. Surely only the vast love and wisdom of God would devise such a plan!
This solves the great predicament: He can love and uphold justice by “simply” becoming a man and man’s king and dying for all their wrongs. Simple it is not! This is a grand act of love: “He would rather die than destroy us 13. He bore, not His own sin as each of us would, but all our sin. There has never been a death so dark as that of Jesus the God-Man-King.
So we see that Jesus is the great means of hope; to move from what is to what is hoped for. He is not small! His is the greatest act of intimacy and love. Go Almighty became a mud man, a tiny creature, so He could Die for them. Why? So that He could cause them to live, and that with Him.
Jesus is the only answer to the predicament. Any other answer where we work really hard or do enough good cheapens the evil we have done and so it dilutes the goodness of the good that we defiled. It makes everything less. Or to say it another way: any heaven I can work my way into will not especially wonderful, or even different, when compared to the present world. Or again any means of hope other than Jesus makes the hope less.
The only other option, without Jesus and with good being truly good, is total eradication. But that is also the option that defeats Love. So this humble death bearing God-Man-King is the only option. But how can we be sure that Jesus was this remarkable character? And if He was not, how can we have any hope at all?
(As explained in a different work if it is true that the God-Man-King was innocent and died on our place, it is only natural that He would soon stop being dead. If He stayed dead then death would not have been sated and so justice would not be complete. So if His death was suffcient for justice then it would be wholly sufficient and He would stop being dead. Moreover any He represents would have the same: death has no hold on them for justice is satisfied through Jesus for them.)
Jesus restors mankind’s relationship with God in three ways.
First He is a man, of a different line to Adam, who does not sin. Thus His relationship with God is not broken. So, in Himself, He represents a restored relationship. He need not die. But this does not help the rest of us. While this is a matter of joy that things are restored we are still on the wrong side of it all. We are still of Adam.
Secondly Jesus establishes a new line. He is of a different line, which is good in itself, but He also opens that up for others. Now there are two humanities: those of Adam and those of Jesus. Or to put it another way: Jesus is made King. A new representative with responsibility for those represented. This helps us if we can only have Jesus as our representative. However citizenship is not a small matter. Or to put it yet another way: Jesus comes as mediator between God and mankind. He intercedes for us, pleading and representing us. However justice still needs to be done. Payment needs to be made for the wrongs done.
Thirdly Jesus comes as that payment. Jesus the perfect, in a new line, comes as representativce to theose who should dies. Then He, as representative, dies in our place. Thus He faces the condemnation of humanity in Himself. Though Him all humanity is justified before God. The relationship is restored.
This should be moved to assurance of hope. The truth and effectiveness of this is shown in three ways. First the curtain in the temple is torn open. This curtain represented the divide between God and man. It was an important part of the temple as without it those who entered the temple would be destroyed. quote exodus with the wrong off earning It was a serious matter to go through that curtain. Only one person did went through and only once a year and with blood. Quote Hebrews here This curtain was torn open at Jesus death essentially inviting everyone into the presence of God.
Secondly, and most importantly, Jesus is raised from the dead. This shows that His payment for sin is complete. No more payment is needed so He stops paying, He stops being dead.
Thirdly the Holy Spirit descends on people. First on the Apostles at pentecost and later on many other people. Indeed Paul writes that the Holy Spirit comes on all those who trust in Jesus. This descent of the Holy Spirit is God living in people. This is the ultimate act of intimacy that not even sex matches (for the partners have to separate eventually, but the Holy Spirit stays from now forever.) Here truly we are assured that Jesus has restored the relationship between God and humanity. If not then the flames at pentecost would have been consuming fire and not an empowering and intimate inspiration. Quote some OT fire: perhaps the burning bush? Perhaps the false incense? Quote or reference Hebrews: you have not received a spirit of fear…
First Jesus is the new King. The leader, representative, law giver and example. So we now have a good, wise and incorruptible leader to follow.
Finally, through Jesus’ act, the Holy Spirit transforms individual people’s hearts from being primarily self loving to loving others. This transformation of individuals in this way flows out into transformation of communities at every level.
Secondly, because Jesus dies, facing wrath for all wrongs He enables true forgiveness. Not “forgiveness” that pretends that the wrong done is not actually all that wrong. But forgiveness that asserts the evil of the action but does not condemn. Forgiveness that insists on paying for the cost of the evil oneself instead of demanding payment from the perpetrator. Ultimately this is before God and man God forgives us, by making payment Himself in Jesus. But it is also between man and man. You wrong me and I charge it against Jesus’ account and not yours, so I can bear the cost (by putting it on Jesus) myself instead of condemning you, yet without denying the evil of the action. This frees us up to truly love.
Should this be in: living in light of hope? Further because of God’s love in sending Jesus we are assured of goodness in the grandest, wisest sense. This assurance of God’s goodness and favour towards us enables generosity for we have no fear of need.
Jesus also restores our relationship with ourselves. He shows us that we are worse than we think, but more loved that we know Find the quote of this. Moreover we are forgiven, our debt is completely paid and that without any regret or begrudging. Quote david and Absolum This frees us up to forsake pretense within ourselves. No longer do we need to strive to prove our worth or pay our debt, while secretly wrestling with our known inadequacy.
This truth and love frees us up to be us. We are forgiven we don’t “need” to be anything. We are loved and accepted as we are. Moreover we are promised to be made perfect and assured that our imperfections (and inadequacies) will be, and are being, worked out in their time. This assurance frees us to understand our inner struggle and to hope through it.
All of this frees us to accept reality as it is through affirmation, validation and promise: we are deeply loved and accepted as we are, evil is evil and worth morning, and we will be made whole.
Include some thought on fear: Jesus the powerful. Include some thought on shame: Jesus the perfect royal representative.
Our hope also gives us the strength to truly mourn, as mourning fully is no longer crushing, as it is without Jesus.
Our hope makes beauty more beautiful.
Our acceptance enables presence: we can live now.
Love makes our joy more full.
Jesus also restores humanities relationship with creation. Sadly the Bible is a little less explicit on how. But there are two ways: Jesus is the true Man, the king. This is seen in how He stills the storm. Second Jesus blood is spilled which sates the creation’s hunger for blood. Is this true? Investigate: speaks a better work than the blood of Abel
Finally, as we say earlier, Jesus will issue good commands bringing peace between creation and mankind: The child will play with the cobra. And peace between creation and itself: the lion will lie down with the lamb.