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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJohn Macduff Collection: MacDuff, John - The Christians Pathway (31 days): Day 23
TOPIC: MacDuff, John - The Christians Pathway (31 days) (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: Day 23
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"And has given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace." 2Th_2:16
The Christian's hope well deserves the appellation given to it here. It rests upon a good foundation, being built, not on the shifting sand—but on the rock of ages! O blessed hope! a hope that is sure and steadfast. It cannot be overthrown by all the malice of men, or all the rage of devils. The tempests of time cannot destroy it, neither can the waters of death quench it. It defies the war of elements, triumphs amid the wreck of matter, and smiles at the crash of worlds! Its most glorious anticipations will be realized on that great day, when the hope of the wicked will be extinguished in the blackness of darkness forever.
"And hope," says the apostle, "makes not ashamed;" but it is only to this good hope that the words will apply. Those who possess it will not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. Men may raise expectations which will never be accomplished; but "God is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent." How decisive are the declarations of His word as to the absolute certainty of those things which He has promised to His people. "In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began." "Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." Having such assurances, our language may well be, "It is enough!" How clearly do they show that the expectation of the righteous shall not be cut off, and that his hope will never be as the giving up of the Spirit.
Reader, it befits you to look well to the nature and grounds of your hope. For it to disappoint you at last, will be sad indeed. We ask then—
"What is your hope? Will it stand the test
Of nature's expiring hour?
Like armor of proof, will it shield your breast,
Against the grim tyrant's power?
Will it gladden your soul, and dispel the gloom,
The horrors of darkness which veil the tomb,
When the damps of death to your brow shall start,
And the life-blood ebbs from your freezing heart?
Away with it else!—it is worse than vain
To cherish a hope that will fail you then!
But you hope in Christ! to a dying hour
This hope sweet assurance brings,
When worldly preferments, and wealth, and power,
Shall all be forgotten things.
Yes, you hope in Christ, though a feeble worm,
And your soul shall be safe, and your confidence firm;
You shall traverse in triumph the gloomy abyss,
Which divides the eternal world from this;
And consigning in hope your frail flesh to the sod,
Your soul shall ascend to your Savior and God!"
The Christian's hope well deserves the appellation given to it here. It rests upon a good foundation, being built, not on the shifting sand—but on the rock of ages! O blessed hope! a hope that is sure and steadfast. It cannot be overthrown by all the malice of men, or all the rage of devils. The tempests of time cannot destroy it, neither can the waters of death quench it. It defies the war of elements, triumphs amid the wreck of matter, and smiles at the crash of worlds! Its most glorious anticipations will be realized on that great day, when the hope of the wicked will be extinguished in the blackness of darkness forever.
"And hope," says the apostle, "makes not ashamed;" but it is only to this good hope that the words will apply. Those who possess it will not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. Men may raise expectations which will never be accomplished; but "God is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent." How decisive are the declarations of His word as to the absolute certainty of those things which He has promised to His people. "In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began." "Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." Having such assurances, our language may well be, "It is enough!" How clearly do they show that the expectation of the righteous shall not be cut off, and that his hope will never be as the giving up of the Spirit.
Reader, it befits you to look well to the nature and grounds of your hope. For it to disappoint you at last, will be sad indeed. We ask then—
"What is your hope? Will it stand the test
Of nature's expiring hour?
Like armor of proof, will it shield your breast,
Against the grim tyrant's power?
Will it gladden your soul, and dispel the gloom,
The horrors of darkness which veil the tomb,
When the damps of death to your brow shall start,
And the life-blood ebbs from your freezing heart?
Away with it else!—it is worse than vain
To cherish a hope that will fail you then!
But you hope in Christ! to a dying hour
This hope sweet assurance brings,
When worldly preferments, and wealth, and power,
Shall all be forgotten things.
Yes, you hope in Christ, though a feeble worm,
And your soul shall be safe, and your confidence firm;
You shall traverse in triumph the gloomy abyss,
Which divides the eternal world from this;
And consigning in hope your frail flesh to the sod,
Your soul shall ascend to your Savior and God!"