Christ is Our Hope

I am reading the book Christ is All by David Bryant. Actually, I am reading it with 9 other men and we get together on Wednesday mornings to discuss it. (By the way this is an open group and I have books on hand. So, if you would like to join you are welcome. We have only done chapter 1 so you would not be that far behind.)

As I was reading chapter 2 last night, I was completely in awe and reverence of Christ as I read these word from Mr. Bryant.

Jesus by taking on human flesh, by abandoning Himself to be the Servant of servants, Christ actually renounced any claim to final control over His own destiny. He placed Himself totally at the Father's disposal. He left in the Father's hands completely the fulfilling of covenant promises. The Son made Himself "nothing" (Phil. 2), because He chose to wait for the Father to vindicate Him, for the Spirit to raise Him, and for lasting lordship to be bestowed upon Him. To be sure, the glory he received as He ascended on high was the same glory He had with the Father and the Spirit from all eternity (Jn. 17). Still, by lifting Him up out of disgrace and despair and destruction, and by giving Him a name above every other name along with a throne above every other dominion, God sealed irrevocably every promise Christ proclaimed (Eph. 1).

The faithfulness of the Father to the Son incarnate, who surrendered so unconditionally to His will, was ultimately displayed when He presented to Him the nations as His inheritance (Ps. 2). The Son has become the heir of all for which we could ever hope (Heb. 1). Even so, the Father will manifest the same faithful commitment to everyone who sets his or her hope on the Son and "kisses" Him (as
Psalm 2 puts it - an act expressing full allegiance to the crown He wears).

The incarnation provides irrefutable proof that our God is personally committed to the future of humankind. Why? Because, through endless ages a Man, delivered from death, will occupy the Praises of Heaven - a Man who is at the same time, God- One with the Father and the Spirit. As a Scottish theologian once noted: We have hope because "the dust of the earth sits on the throne of the Majesty on High". For the Father to renege on even one of His promises to us is for Him to renege on His promise to glorify His Son. Quite rightly, the old hymn boasts: "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!

Awesome! What a grand God we have. Let's make this God known to the "unchurched." Let's not spend all our time in fellowship with other Christians. Let's get involved with non-Christians to expose them to this grand and glorious God. Besides we will have all eternity to spend in fellowship with Christian people. We only have a short time here (James 4:14) to persuade people of the grandeur of God. So, live today with a priority to touch the life of the unsaved.