Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: 25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; 26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:24-27
What or who is the Hope of Glory? We will endeavor to explain what or who the Bible is referring to when it speaks of the Hope of Glory.
Here’s how Merriam-Webster defines the word Hope:
Hope- to cherish a desire with anticipation: to want something or for a promise to be granted.
So, to Hope for something insinuates two things. One, that there is a desire for something and two, there is no guarantee that desire will be met.
If God is such a loving, kind, gracious God and the Creator of all things. Why would He allow such a thing to be a part of the human experience? I mean, hope can be a good thing when what you hoped for becomes a reality. But what about when the thing we hoped for doesn’t materialize and we are left seemingly holding the proverbial bag of emptiness. Is that a good thing? Does that accurately reflect the goodness of God? No, but it does manifest the Sovereignty of God. It's amazing to me how God can take our seemingly colossal failures, broken dreams and dashed hopes and cause those same negative experiences to work toward our good. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to His purpose.”
However, in the beginning hope was not a part of the human experience. In the Garden of Eden, before the fall took place, impossibility nor failure existed, therefore, neither did hope. Hope serves as a counter measure to impossibility and failure.
However, when Adam and Eve were beguiled or deceived by the devil to desire the one thing that God told them not to mess with, things changed.
Yes, it’s unfortunate that Adam and Eve jeopardized the gift of eternal life over some fruit, but God informed Adam and Eve of the consequences of eating the forbidden fruit before they ate it.
Nevertheless, their failure provided the Door of opportunity for God to reveal His love for mankind.
Although we disobeyed God and fell from grace, God promised that He would fix it and restore mankind to their first estate. This is where Hope enters into the human equation of Life.
We do not hope that God will keep His word. That’s an absolute. He has proven time and time again that He will keep His word. But the hope is will man do what God requires of us to be restored.
Well, here is the good news, the One that was sent to represent all of mankind pleased God on our behalf and successfully did all that God required of Him. The sin of rebellion that Adam and Eve committed in the Garden has been atoned. And as a result, we have been exonerated from the sentence of death and we have passed from darkness into His marvelous Light. O Happy Day!
The One that we speak of as being responsible for all of mankind having the opportunity to be restored to eternal life is the only begotten of the Father, none other than Jesus Christ, Himself. He is the image of the invisible God.
Jesus was sent by God to represent all of mankind. He is also known as the Hope of Glory! Without Him we would have no hope for living. But because of Him, we shall live again.
The point of reference that we want to drive home is, “Mankind needs God.” Jesus Christ is the Way God has chosen for mankind to reconnect with Him. Without God the soul of mankind will die and God does not desire that anyone should perish.
We admonish you to accept the Lord into your heart today. There is only One Way whereby we shall be saved. We must believe that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ to be a propitiation for our sins that we may be saved from the wrath to come.
#EvenSoComeLordJesus