GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
COLOSSIANS 1:5
5 springing up from the hope stored up for you in heaven. You have heard about this before in the word of truth, the gospel
The faith we have in Christ and the love we have for one another spring from the same place: they spring from the hope stored up for us in heaven. What is this hope? In the Bible, “hope” is used in two ways. It can be a feeling of hope, like a wish, but it can also be the thing hoped for. Hope as a wish or a feeling is the hope of Job 30:26, “When I hoped for good, evil came.” There are other verses like this: Jeremiah 8:15, Daniel 2:9, and Herod’s wish in Luke 23:8.
The other kind of hope is the hope Paul is mainly talking about here in Colossians 1:5. This is the object of our hope, being saved through Jesus. This is what he means when he talks about his call into the Christian ministry as “an apostle by the command of… Christ Jesus our hope” (1 Timothy 1:1). This is also the hope of 1 Thessalonians 1:3: “your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” And in Romans 8:24 he says: “In this hope we are saved.” One cannot be saved by a wish, although a wish can carry along an effort for a while. In the end, a wish to be rescued is only a wish, and finally the rope or the life ring must be thrown—and Christ is the rope thrown out to us by God.
So faith springs from hope, but not from a wish. Faith springs from the object of our hope: Jesus our Lord, the source and subject of the gospel. Can we be sure this is what Paul means here? Listen to the rest of the verse: “You have heard about this before in the word of truth, the gospel.” Not only are we confident that this is what Paul means, but it’s clear from the verse that he cannot mean anything else.
So why call it a “hope” at all? This is clear to anyone with a mirror or a memory. Our sins threaten us from all around; our guilt stains us and drags us down. The doubts and accusations of sin are forgiven in Jesus’ blood, but we live them and we are infected by them throughout our lifetime.
Our hope will be fulfilled in the resurrection on Judgment Day. This is when Christ’s eternal reign will permanently destroy death, sin, temptation, and the power of the devil. “For as long as we live,” Luther says, “sin still clings to our flesh; there remains a law in our flesh and members at war with the law of our mind and making us captive to the law of sin (Rom. 7:23). While these passions of the flesh are raging and we, by the Spirit, are struggling against them, the righteousness we hope for remains elsewhere.” (Luther’s Work Vol. 27, “Lectures on Galatians,” p. 21)
This is why Millennialism is such a dangerous teaching. By directing people to look for a worldly reign of Christ, millennialism fights against and even destroys true Christian hope, which looks for the glory of heaven (Matthew 25:34). The time of the New Testament will be a time of persecution and suffering for those who love the Lord Jesus. “All men will hate you because of me,” Jesus said, “but he who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Mark 13:13). Also, the kingdom of Christ is not earthly and external, but spiritual and eternal. “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is’” (Luke 17:20-21).
This brings us back to hope, and to Paul’s words in Romans. “We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Romans 5:2-5).
Faith, hope, love are all gifts given by God. Cherish them, because they all come from God’s own grace and his love for you. In Christ, you are forgiven. By grace, you are saved. Through faith, you have everything Christ offers as your very own. And hope focuses you on the victory of eternal life in heaven.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota