There is Hope in Christ

Whilst much is wrong with this wretched world, a ray of hope still shines forth. Just yesterday, I was contemplating the mortality of humanity and the shortness of time, how in view of this we still dwell in sin that I was gently reminded that God reigns in heaven, supreme and patient. Soon, He will judge the world and all its inhabitants and bring to finish His glorious plan which He had began since the creation of man. As the bible so describes this will be a time of great trepidation and the powers of all creation whether good or evil will utterly bow and declare the beautiful, loving and terrible majesty of God almighty. The supreme judge will have the final say and only He has the keys to heaven and hell.

I guess, if I were absolutely honest about it, a sense of fear about this terrible Day is very much aroused in my heart and all of us do well to pray for mercy on this great Day of the Lord. Yet similarly, there is a great hope, a hope that comes only when we are aware of this power and the severity of judgment that proceeds from the righteousness of God above.

This Hope is two fold. On one hand, all the evil that runs amok in this earth cannot last long. they are only temporal. That is quite a hopeful thought. In fact, much of the evil that flagrantly parades itself will be utterly exposed on that day. Nothing will be hidden from the eyes of God. On the other hand, there is much hope in knowing that I would also fail the standards of God BUT (and its the exciting and life saving BUT) I have an advocate in Jesus Christ.

And that is the nub of it. He has won me by His death, having experienced the judgment 2000 years ago and having drunk the full wrath of God on the cross, He has made me worthy of being counted as God's child on that day. The beauty of it is that I did not have anything valuable enough to pay for the terrible sins in my life. God won me by His grace and loved me even before I was born. And what that really means is that the judge who has all right to punish is also the Saviour who will bear this punishment. This God who is so powerful will Himself rescue and I'm just told to believe that it will be so. Of course this belief is a supernatural work that will utterly change my life and priorities, but Jesus has done it all!

Which really means that when the Judge sits upon the throne, He sees me as His child -pure- because He Himself has paid the price. He has inflicted His Son to rescue me and all who believe. We have been won with a great price. Its different from the world, which ranks people by competence, wealth, social standing and power (all crooked ways of differentiating people), He values us according to the depths of His unconditional love not by what we have in us, but what His love accords us. That is a really really hopeful thing to know.

So while i got rather melancholic about the mortality of man, God allowed me to remember the justice of His throne. Once it struck a fear of inevitable damnation, now it habours all the hope that I cannot yet imagine till I hear the words "This child is mine and all his wages are paid by My Son". I wish more people will preach Jesus and tell the truth about the condition of man. That way, we can all find the real hope, real love, real faith, real unity, real passion, real cross that will drive us to see our inability to have any of that on our own and lead us to our ultimate end - to know Him and worship Him for eternity.