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The Practical Influence of the Blessed Hope*
A.B. Simpson
"And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure"
(1 John iii. 3).
What is the practical value of the blessed Hope? Is it a speculation in theology, or is it a living and blessed hope and inspiration, linked in the Scriptures with almost every aspect of the Christian life?
An Incentive to the Unsaved
The apostles used it as an appeal to the careless and indifferent to urge them to decision for Christ. "Repent, and be converted, that your sins my be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and He shall send the Lord Jesus which before was preached unto you, whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things." And again Paul speaks of the Thessalonians as having "turned from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, even Jesus, which saved us from the wrath to come."
It must therefore have been presented to them as a practical incentive and message of warning. It is a message of awakening and conviction which we should use more freely and effectually than we do. It was the message of God's coming judgment which led to Nineveh's repentance, and the proclamation of Christ's coming to the heathen has brought many to bow at the feet of Jesus.
A Motive to Personal Holiness
So the apostle teaches in his letter to Titus, "The grace of God which bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men; teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present evil world, looking for that blessed Hope, and the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." So again in writing to the Thessalonians he presents the coming of the Lord as the great goal of holy aspiration. "The very God of peace sanctify you through and through, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
The beloved John likewise links this hope with the practice of holiness. "When He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is; and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as He is pure." Because we are going to be like Him then we wear His image now. We anticipate our coming glory, and like the Lord Himself, who began to wear the garments of His Incarnation long before He came to earth, so we try on even here the robes of our approaching coronation. The glory of the Holiest: shone through the curtains, and so the glory of our future state should cover us even here.
This is our peculiar preparation for his coming, and such a preparation on the part of His Church is the most marked sign of His Advent. When you see the bride arrayed in her wedding robes, you know the Bridegroom must be near. And could we see the Church of Christ robed in the beauty of holiness and putting on her wedding garments, we would know that day was near, and that the angel voices were about to proclaim, "The marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife hath made herself ready."
An Incentive to Heavenly Mindedness
Mrs. Stowe has pictured in her wonderful little tract, "He is coming to-morrow," the consternation of a millionaire, and the consolation of a poor suffering child of God at the announcement that had just been made to the waiting ones, "He is coming to-morrow."
This was what Paul meant when he said to the Philippians (iv. 20), "Our conversation (our citizenship) is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change the body of our humiliation that it may be fashioned like unto the body of His glory."
There is nothing except the love of Jesus that can so separate us from the world as the hope of Christ's coming. Dr. Chalmers describes the inhabitants of a pestilential marsh, who had again and again been urged to emigrate, but they could not be induced to leave a certain for an uncertain good. At last one day they saw approaching and slowly passing by a beauteous isle clothed with a verdure and loveliness they had never seen before, and breathing the balmy air of its glad and eternal spring over all their unhealthy plains. Then they began to eagerly enquire if they might enter its blessed harbor. They sent out their boats across the sea, they entreated permission to land upon its shores, and they gladly let go their old cabins and treasures, and hastened to the happy shores of this bright and holy Paradise. So is the vision of His coming. It falls like a withering spell on earthly ambition and avarice, and makes us cry:
My hopes are passing upward, onward,
And with my hopes my heart is gone;
My eyes are turning skyward, sunward,
Where glory brightens round yon throne."
It Keeps Us Close To Him
"And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming."When Elisha knew that Elijah's translation was near, he kept very close to his side. To every suggestion that he should leave his side, he answered, ''As the Lord thy God liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee." So, if we are waiting and watching for His coming, we will not let a moment separate us from Him. It was but one evening that Thomas was absent, but that very evening Jesus came.
An Incentive to Brotherly Love
"The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you, to the end He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints."
How embarrassing it would be for you and your brother to meet tomorrow at His right hand, and, looking in His face, to say, "Lord, I do not speak to him." There is a day coming when we shall all clasp hands and look into each other's eyes, and say, "Well, we did not understand each other, but it is all right at last.'' Why not assume that we may be mistaken, and love even His erring children for His sake?
A Call to Vigilance
"Watch ye therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of man cometh."
"Let your loins be girded about and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men who watch for their Lord when He will return from the wedding, that when He cometh and knocketh, they may open to Him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching. Of a truth I say unto you that He shall gird Himself, and make them sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if He shall come in the second watch or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.
"And this know, that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken through.
Be ye therefore ready also, for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not."
Here are two ways of receiving the Master. One is to "open to Him immediately." The other is to "leave his house to be broken through." Which will we have? Purposely the time is unknown, that we may be ever ready, but we know enough to know that it is near.
The late Dr. A. J. Gordon once sent word to his family in the country that he was coming to them some day the following week. Every evening his little children, washed, and dressed, went down to the one suburban train that came to the village to meet him. He did not come till Saturday, but his wife told him that the hope of his coming had kept them in garments clean the whole week. So may this blessed hope purify us "even as He is pure."
Patience in View Of His Coming
"Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruits of the earth till he receive the early and the latter rain. Be ye also patient, stablish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh."
"Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing." He whose hopes are above the world is not greatly tried by its passing clouds. Oh, how easy it will make our little worries, frets and conflicts to truly realize
A few more struggles here,
A few more partings o'er,
A few more toils, a few more tears,
And we shalt weep no more.
An Encouragement to Steadfastness
"Be ye therefore steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much, as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." "Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward, for yet a little while and He that shall come will come and will not tarry." Hold on, the end is near, the reward is great. Too much has been already suffered to lose the victory now. "Hold fast that thou hast, that no man take thy crown." Standing on yonder battlements He holds the crown in view. You can almost hear the plaudits and the shouts. Shall you falter now?
An Inspiration in Our Work
"Behold I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, even to give every man according as his work shall be." And so to the humble reaper, to the faithful pastor, to the soul winning evangelist the New Testament holds out evermore this great Hope as his inspiration and recompense. How ashamed some of us would feel if we received a crown! We would almost walk through the palaces of glory as if we had stolen it! Not so Paul. He will know the name of every jewel in his diadem. There is Lydia. There is Timothy. There is the jailer. There is Sosthenes, who attacked him at Corinth and was saved in glorious revenge. There is the soldier that was chained to his side. Are you forging your crown and gathering its jewels, or shall you be "ashamed before Him at His coming"?
A Consolation in Sorrow
"I would not have you ignorant concerning them that are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others that have no hope. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall be caught up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we be forever with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." This doctrine is the balm of sorrow and the consolation of bereavement. It gives us back our lost in immortal beauty and everlasting love, and it wipes every tear away. "Therefore, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."
There shall be no more crying,
There shall be no more pain,
There shall be no more dying,
There shall be no more stain.
Hearts that by death were riven
Meet in eternal love;
Lives on the altar given
Rise to their crowns above.
Jesus is coming surely,
Jesus is coming soon;
Oh, let us walk so purely,
Oh, let us keep our crown!
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