3
THAT BLESSED HOPE
Being the application of the principle of `right division' to the question: `What is the hope of His calling?'
To all who `look for the Saviour'.
Our object in this booklet is to answer the question: What is the `blessed hope' of the Church?
Is it to be found in 1 Thessalonians 4, or in Matthew 24, or in some other part of Scripture? It is impossible to
answer these questions until we have decided the preliminary question as to which church is in view. Hope cannot
stand alone and unrelated. We must hope for SOMETHING or SOMEONE, and, if it is to be fulfilled, the hope must
have a scriptural basis. Whatever our calling, whether that of the Body, the Bride, or the earthly Kingdom, we can
all say that `we look for the Saviour', but when we come to examine the calling of those represented by the pronoun
`we' it becomes necessary to `try the things that differ'.
If Israel became Lo-ammi (`Not My People', Hos. 1:9) at Acts 28, and if a new church then came into being
under the new terms of the dispensation of the Mystery or Secret (Eph. 3:1-13), it is reasonable to expect a
difference in the hope to be entertained by this new company. It is not, however, the apparent reasonableness of an
argument but `What saith the Scripture?' that demands the believer's assent. We therefore ask the reader's earnest
attention to the following evidence from the Word.
Hope, Promise and Calling.
Where we read of `hope' in the New Testament we often find in the context a reference either to a `promise' or to
a `calling'. For example, Paul before Agrippa says :
` And now I stand and am judged for THE HOPE OF THE PROMISE made of God unto our fathers: Unto which
promise OUR TWELVE TRIBES, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come' (Acts 26:6,7).
Here there is no possibility of making a mistake. Not only is the hope that is in view the fulfilment of a promise,
but it is the fulfilment of a specific promise `made of God unto our fathers'. Further, there is no ambiguity as to
those who entertain this hope; the words `our twelve tribes' are too explicit to permit of spiritualizing. Other
examples will occur to the reader, and will come before us in the prosecution of our present study. For the moment
it is sufficient that the principle should be clear, that HOPE LOOKS TO THE FULFILMENT OF A PROMISE. It is therefore
necessary to discover what promise has been made to any particular company before we can speak with
understanding of their hope. Another prerequisite is a knowledge of the `calling' concerned.
` That ye may know what is THE HOPE OF HIS CALLING' (Eph. 1:18).
` Even as ye are called in ONE HOPE OF YOUR CALLING' (Eph. 4:4).
The realization of our hope in the future will be in agreement with our calling now by faith.
` Now faith is the substance of things HOPED for' (Heb. 11:1).
Recent discoveries among the papyri of Egypt have brought to light the fact that the word `substance' was used
in New Testament times to signify the `Title Deeds' of a property. Every believer holds the title-deeds now, by
faith; the earnest and first-fruits of the inheritance that will be entered when his hope is realized. As every believer
does not necessarily belong to the same calling, and most believers grant a distinction between the earthly Kingdom
and the Church, while some realize the further distinction between Bride and Body, it follows that the character of
the calling must be settled before the hope can be defined.
Three spheres of blessing.
There are at least three distinct spheres of blessing indicated in the New Testament :
(1)
The Earth. - `Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth' (Matt. 5:5).