Hope of the Gospel

"BUT sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." 1 Pet. 3:15.

We have already shown that eternal life is one feature of the Christian's hope, from the fact that we must be made immortal before we can inherit the kingdom of God. But, if we are immortal by creation, and have a principle in us that cannot die, and that is ever conscious, how can we be said to be hoping for eternal life? If man is in possession of such a principle, an immortal soul or spirit, he must then live eternally. If he already actually possesses eternal life, how is it that he is hoping for it. Paul says, "What a man seeth why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." Rom. 8:24. As eternal life is a matter of hope, the Christian is waiting for it. This is all plain, for eternal life is yet a matter of promise. John says, "And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life." 1 John 2:25

And at this juncture, we will look at some of the promises of eternal life. Paul says of the righteous judgment of God: "Who will render unto every man according to his deeds; to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory, honor, and immortality, eternal life." Rom. 2:6,7. To evade the force of such testimony, some have said, "Eternal life means a holy life." The above text shows that eternal life is a reward to be given to the obedient. Patient continuance in well doing is a holy life, while eternal life is the reward for leading a holy life.

The lawyer who came to Christ inquired, "What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" Matt. 19:16. Or, as Luke records it, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Luke 10:25. Jesus answers, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." What the saints receive by inheritance is their reward, and that is not bestowed here, but beyond the Judgment; "Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance; for ye serve the Lord Christ." Col. 3:24. Jesus emphatically states that eternal life belongs to the world to come. "And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundred-fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life." Mark 10:29,30.

Paul speaks very explicitly on the time and manner of receiving eternal life. "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life; whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Tim. 6:12-14. They are exhorted to faithfulness till Jesus comes, because that is the time when the reward will be bestowed. He states farther down, in the same chapter, "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." Verses 17-19. The time to come, when they lay hold on eternal life, verse 19, is the same as the appearing of Christ, verse 14. That is the time, as we are showing, when the reward shall be given.

Paul, also, when speaking of his own reward locates it at Christ's coming: "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure [death] is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth [from the time of his death] there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." 2 Tim. 4:6-8. This shows clearly that the crown (reward) of righteousness, is to be bestowed at the appearing of Jesus Christ. This crown of righteousness is called "the crown of life." "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him." James 1:12. See also 1 Cor. 9:25; 1 Pet. 5:4.

Another clear promise of eternal life is recorded by the beloved John: "And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:39,40. Wherein lies the danger of Christ losing those the Father has given him? It seems from the reading of the above text that if he does not raise them up from the dead at the last day, they will be lost. But it is the Father's will that they should have eternal life, so they will not be lost, for Christ will raise them up at the last day, to give them eternal life.

In verse 47 we read, "Verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life." But, say you, this texts states that we already have eternal life. How, then, can it be a matter of hope? We have it by hope, or in prospect, the same as the apostle says, "We are saved by hope." Rom. 8:24. Some urge that this and similar texts prove that we have already entered upon eternal life and hence are a possessors of immortality. To claim from such texts that we have by nature an immortal part, is inconsistent; for the eternal life spoken of in these texts is obtained by believing. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life."

Verse 54: "Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." Here again, those who take hold of the merits of Christ's blood become subjects of eternal life and will be raised from the dead to receive that eternal life at the last day. If they are not raised up as before shown, they will be lost. See also John 3:36 and 5:39,40. But, it is urged if it is true that we only have eternal life by faith, why is it said so positively "hath eternal life"? We read (1 John 5:12), "He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." Let verse 11 explain "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." We now see how the believer hath eternal life. He is not said to be already absolutely in possession of it; but this life is "in his Son." As if a person should say he had a thousand dollars when he had only a draft for that amount, the money being in the bank, yet he says he has the money, because when pay-day comes he is so sure the draft will draw the money from the bank. So with those who comply with the conditions of the promise of eternal life, they have a sure promise that they shall have eternal life, if faithful, at the last day. They have eternal life, but it is their wealth in the bank of Heaven, while they have in their possession Heaven's draft (a sure promise) and the earnest of the Spirit, a witness of their acceptance by the Lord. When pay-day (the coming of Christ) comes, they will become possessors of the true heavenly riches, and receive "the crown of life"—the "incorruptible" inheritance. "Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in glory." Col. 3:3,4. Our eternal life is in God, because he "only hath immortality." He is the only source from whence we can receive life eternal. It is said to be "with Christ," because upon him has been conferred, by his Father, the right of bestowing immortality and eternal life upon all that accept and believe on the Son and obey God. "As thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." John 17:2. "As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man." John 5:26. Through Christ, then, we shall, at the coming of Christ, and the resurrection, receive eternal life from the Father, and in no text is it said that we shall receive eternal life at any other time or by any other means.

TIME OF REWARD.

The words of Christ recorded in Luke are very significant in their bearing on the time of reward. He had been bidden to a feast: "Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind; and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." Luke 14:12-14. The above is decidedly plain in its statement, without comment. It shows clearly that the resurrection is the time of reward.

Another testimony of Christ on the time of reward is found in his reply to Peter's inquiry as to what the disciples were to have. "Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold we have forsaken all and followed thee: what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily, I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Matt. 19:27,28. There can be no dispute but here was a plain quesion as to what should be their reward. If it was the design of God that they should receive a recompense at death, here was certainly a favorable opportunity to tell them so, for their minds were stirred up to the question. Does the Saviour's answer intimate anything contrary to what we have already presented? Nay, verily; but when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, they shall receive their reward.

But we learn more of this in Matthew's record of Christ's words, "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Matt. 25:31-34. We suppose this will be at his literal second coming, for that is the time when he comes with all his holy angels with him. See Matt. 24:31.

But we will note Paul's testimony to the Romans: "For the earnest expectation [hope] of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, [or that], but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting [to go to Heaven at death? no; but] for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." Rom. 8:19-23. The creature spoken of in these verses we understand to be the saints of God. It cannot be the wicked, they have no earnest expectation of what is here presented. Neither can the creature be the beasts, as John Wesley thought, for then it would prove that every beast of the whole animal creation that ever existed would be delivered into the kingdom of God. The saints of God are "waiting for the manifestation [revelation] of the sons of God," that is, for it to be made known who are the sons of God. As stated in verse 23, they are waiting for "the redemption of our body." That is, for the change of the body from mortal to immortal, at the coming of Christ, which, with the people of God will end creation's groan.

He continues, "For we are saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." Verses 24, 25. By the above testimony, Paul plainly represents that the saint of God is waiting and hoping for his salvation, and redemption of the body, by or through the resurrection.

Compare the above with Paul's testimony to the Philippians: "For our conversation is in Heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." Perhaps you are ready to exclaim that Christ comes at death. Where, in all the Bible, is there any authority for claiming that Christ comes at death? Sometimes, on funeral occasions, Matt. 24:44 is quoted and applied to death: "Be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." Thus the Son of man is made to mean death, while the book of God represents death as "the king of terrors." See Job 18:14.