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Without Hope, there simply is no cure. Hope is one ingredient that God uses to keep the faith alive in men. It is this Hope, this oil being supplied by The Lord himself which has kept man going for centuries. It is the hope we have in Gods mercy and his love. It is that hope we have, coming from the scriptures, being brought alive by God himself. Jeremiah had a mission to warn Israel of their impending disastrous judgment by God for their forsaking him. It was Jeremiah who called the Lord, the “hope of Israel”. He further went on to say that those who forsook the Lord would be written in the earth and shall be ashamed because they have “forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters”.
Jeremiah 17:13 Â O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.
The nuggets of prophecy are embedded in the Old Testament. It was this embedding which gave a people something to look for. Without it, people find themselves lost, without God, and without hope. This hope propelled itself through centuries as the prophets in Israel gave the vision of God to not only Israel but to the Gentiles. For it would be through this Word that the Gentiles would come to know salvation.
This hope was clearly seen when Jesus Christ, Messiah Yeshua was born. When his parents came to the temple as was the custom of the law, bringing the Messiah babe, one person was waiting. This person, who was waiting for the ‘consolation of Israel’, was called Simeon. He lived in Jerusalem. He was a just and devout man. The Holy Ghost was upon him and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Ghost that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Simeon had been led of the Spirit to come to the temple that day. As he did, so the family arrived with the Messiah in their midst, carrying the small babe with them.
Simeon took the small babe up in his arms, realizing that this was the ‘Hope of Israel’, the ‘Hope and comfort for his people’ and also the ‘salvation of the world, including the gentiles’, blessed God and said: “Lord, now let thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou has prepared before the face of all people.” Luke 2:25-32. This was indeed the Messiah, Simeon had been given hope. He finally saw the hope fulfilled in the Messiah.
That is why Christ came. To bring us hope. Being that hope, only the sinless Son of God could die for our sins, blotting out the transgressions against all of us. He re-united us to our God. Today, this hope is alive in literally millions upon millions of believers in this Messiah Yeshua. Yet, if we have hope just in this Messiah for this life only, we are most miserable. That is, Christ died to save sinners, and to lift us up out of our despair and sin. But our life in Christ is not about just this life only. Ours is a hope beyond all other hope. This hope is eternal.
1 Corinthians 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
At one time we were all, those who now believe, were without Christ. We were aliens from the true Commonwealth of Israel. We as Gentiles and even Jews were strangers from the covenants of promise. There was no hope and we were without God in this world. Then Christ came, fulfilling prophecies and gave hope at the same time.
Ephesians 2:12 Â That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
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It is that hope today, in those who believe in Christ, which supplies oil of gladness through the Holy Spirit. It is that Spirit which reveals to us this Christ, leads us to God, makes us in his image, and bears witness with our spirits, we are indeed the ‘Children of God’. It is that hope we have today amidst all the turmoil in the world which keeps us going. This hope does not make us ashamed, but rather it reveals the ‘love of God being shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given to us’.
Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
As men and women today vainly try to create world peace, we have another hope. As people work to keep global warming, pollution, control population growth, fight plagues and pestilences, and even terrorism, our hope is in the Lord. The truth of the matter today is, ours is a home which has hope. This hope we have is laid upon the foundation of Christ Jesus and forms in heaven, where no rust can corrupt. It is not a man made hope, nor does it lay in man. No matter what man does or the devil, our hope in Christ is secure.
Colossians 1:5 Â For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;
Our hope as Paul told Titus is in God, “who cannot lie”. It is this God who promised before the world began, that there would be eternal life with him”.
Titus 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
Paul considered himself an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God. This God, Paul said was ‘our savior, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope’.
1 Timothy 1:1  ¶Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;
In the midst of the shipwrecks, persecutions, fasting, beatings, and imprisonment, Paul had hope. He saw all the things he faced as dung compared to the faith and future with Christ Jesus. His was a hope of eternal life with God. So too, ours must be a hope of eternal life with God. For all of us, our hope says that God “cannot lie, as he promised this before the world began”.
Your hope today, nurtured and taught in you by the Holy Ghost, brings you to this fact. You must be ‘looking for that blessed hope’. This hope is the ‘glorious appearing of the great God and savior Jesus Christ.’
Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
For when this Savior appears again, the second time, it will not be as a babe in a manger. He is not coming to die on the cross again. His is not a duty to conquer sin, death, and hell, for he already has done that. Bringing salvation to its final and full completion in the children of God is what is coming. This is why you have hope today. This is why, as Simeon looked upon the babe in his arms and said “mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou has prepared before the face of all people”; so too, your eyes will behold the literal embodiment and presence of the True Savior and God, Jesus Christ. He is coming as True Lord of Lords and King of Kings. This is your hope today, tomorrow, and for eternity. So, look up, your redemption draws nigh, even as the turmoil in the earth gets worse and worse, your hope and future only looks better and better.
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