Title: Towards the Promise of Hope
Contents
Today, our reality is getting dark all over the place. Our country's politics are very unstable. The same is true of the economic sector and inter-Korean relations. The world situation cannot be optimistic either. At this point, we think about the role and image that Christians should play.
People of faith are people who have received promises, so they can be defined as healthy people with hope and a future. God made a promise to Abraham. “I will surely bless you and bless you, and I will multiply you and multiply you” (verse 14). When Abraham heard the promise of descendants, it was a dark time because he had no children.
It was also a hopeless period when he and his wife Sarah's productive capacity stopped. However, in this time of trial, Abraham experienced the fulfillment of that promise through patience and not sluggishness (Hebrews 6:12). He held on to God's true promises and went forward in faith. I have been blessed with God's grace. “For he endured so long and received the promise” (verse 15).
Also, when God made a promise, he swore by himself. One word of God's promise is already certain enough that it does not need confirmation, but it was confirmed by an oath because people are weak. “People swear by one greater than themselves, and in all their quarrels it is established” (verse 16). I swear.
If we look at the book of Genesis, we can see that Abraham himself did the same and made others to do the same (Genesis 14:22, 21:23-24, 24:3). Man can swear by something greater than himself, but God swears by himself because there is no greater being than himself. You have guaranteed your promise, risking all the perfection of your being, because your promise is as sure as your very existence.
God's promise to Abraham was that firm and unchanging. He says, “God has sworn an oath to show to those who inherit the promise the unchanging meaning of his will” (verse 17). God has sworn an oath to show that His will is fixed and unchanging. Therefore, our hope for heavenly rest is certain because it is based on the fact that God's plan is unchanging. “For these two unchangeable facts, in which God cannot lie, may give us great comfort as we flee to obtain the hope that lies ahead” (verse 18).
The two facts that God cannot lie refer to God's promise and the oath that confirmed God's promise. “The hope ahead” refers to eternal rest in heaven. And the phrase “we who are fleeing for hope” reminds us of a person accused of murder running to a city of refuge.
The true form of a believer is to break free from the chains of sin and run to the world of heaven, the eternal city of refuge. The sure basis for our march toward heavenly rest is that God has promised Him who cannot lie, has promised Himself, and that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has taken the lead. Our hope is like the ‘anchor of the soul’, so it is strong and strong.
The Bible shows that God's promises are fulfilled through Abraham and his descendants, the royal family of David, Jesus Christ, and Christians. Believers who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior can overcome today's trials while looking forward to eternal rest with God's firm promise, and can fulfill God's promises through persevering faith.
Because Jesus Christ Himself became our High Priest and entered the Most Holy in the veil for us, and we are guaranteed to enter it too. That is why we must continue our bold voyage toward the light of hope in the darkest reality, and we must establish companions.