Only once do we find in the Scriptures the expression, "Christ our hope." "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope." 1 Tim. 1:1. But although the term itself is not repeated, the thing signified by it is found in almost every book of the New Testament, and in some books, almost in every page. For the characteristic of every Christian is that he is waiting for the Lord Jesus, who will return, according to His own promise, to receive us unto Himself, that where He is we may be also (John 14:3). It belongs therefore to our position, as left in the world, that we are waiting for Christ, because it is at His coming that we shall enter upon the full fruits of our redemption. For it is then that our bodies are also redeemed (Rom. 8:23); "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself." Phil. 3:21. Hence we are said to be saved by (rather, in) hope (Rom. 8:24). Even now we receive the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls (1 Pet. 1:9); but we look forward to the moment when our bodies likewise shall be redeemed from the power of death and the grave; for God has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren (Rom. 8:29).
Accordingly, it belongs to our present position that we are waiting for the coming of our Lord, for it is at His return that this consummation of our blessedness will be effected. He is our Hope, therefore, because it is Himself for whom we wait in connection with it. And not only so; it is for Himself we wait, because the One who has redeemed us is He on whom our hearts are set. Apart therefore from every other consideration, Christ is our Hope- Christ in His coming—because we desire to be with the Object of our affections. We are thus brought into fellowship with His own desires; for if we wait for and desire to be with Him, He waits for the moment when the desires of His heart will be fulfilled in having us with Himself (John 17:24).
We shall find therefore that during His sojourn with His disciples He continually prepared them and exhorted them to watch for His return. Sometimes He presented this truth—the hope of His coming—in relation to their responsibility as servants. "Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh I shall find so doing" (Matt. 24:46); and again, "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching." Luke 12:35-37. Sometimes He presented His coming as ushering His waiting ones into fullness of blessing, as bringing them into His own presence to be with Him forever. For example, in the scripture already referred to, when His disciples were plunged into sorrow at the prospect of His speedy departure, He says, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John 14:1-3. The Lord here not only presents Himself to His sorrowing disciples as the Object of their faith in His absence from them, and as One who was departing in their interests to prepare a place for them, but also as the Object of their hope in returning to receive them to Himself.
In entire accordance with this is the teaching of the epistles. The Apostle says of the Thessalonians that they "turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven" (1 Thess. 1:9, 10). This scripture is exceedingly important, inasmuch as it shows beyond dispute that the coming of Christ was no advanced truth imparted to a few of the spiritual, and no peculiar doctrine adopted by a class, but an essential part of the Christianity of these early believers. It may also be well to remark that this was the Apostle Paul's earliest epistle, and that it was written therefore to very young converts; and it is these that he reminds that, by their conversion, they were not only turned to God, etc., but that they also were brought upon the ground of waiting for God's Son. His coming was their hope.
Evidence of the same character might be adduced from almost every epistle. A few citations will suffice. Writing to the Corinthians, the Apostle says, "So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. 1:7. To the Philippians, he says, "Our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." Chap. 3:20. James also says, "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord" (Chap. 5:7). And in the last chapter of the inspired canon, the blessed Lord Himself announces three times His speedy return (Rev. 22:7, 12, 20). But it is the Apostle Paul who was especially commissioned to reveal this truth in its specific character as the hope of the Church; and he does it with precision and fullness in his first epistle to the Thessalonians. He says, "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." He then proceeds to explain how it comes to pass that the saints will return with Jesus; that is, at His appearing; for if they return with Him, then they must have been with Him previously, and he is specially charged to unfold this mystery. Hence he adds, "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [an old word, signifying to go before, or anticipate] them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thess. 4:13-18.) Two things plainly appear from this scripture: first, that the Lord will return for His saints, both those who have fallen asleep and those who may be alive at that time on the earth before His appearing; and, second, that when He comes back to earth, His saints will be with Him. (See also Col. 3:4.)
There is another class of passages which speak of our looking and waiting for the appearing rather than the coming of Christ. One of these has been cited (1 Cor. 1:7). We add another: "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing [rather, the appearing of the glory] of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ," etc. Titus 2:11-13. There is a reason for this. It will be found that whenever believers are looked at as under responsibility on the earth -as, for example, in service- the "appearing" is the goal rather than the "coming."
Thus the Apostle Paul says to Timothy, "That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Tim. 6:14. Some have concluded from this and similar passage s that the Church will be left down here until the appearing and have to pass through the sore tribulation of which our Lord speaks in Matthew 24. This is, however, an entire mistake, as seen, indeed, from the scripture already cited (1 Thess. 4:13-18). The fact is, the appearing is spoken of in connection with responsibility, because as earth has been the scene of the service, earth also shall be the witness of the displayed recompense. Hence in 2 Thessalonians, after the Apostle has unfolded the proper hope of the Church in the coming of Christ, in writing to the same saints, and speaking of their patience and faith in all their persecutions and tribulations that they were enduring, he points them on to the time when they should have rest, "when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power; when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe" (have believed). 2 Thess. 1:7-10. This is in no way inconsistent with, but is rather the complement of, the truth of the Lord's coming for His saints being our proper object of hope.
It may perhaps tend to make this, if possible, more evident if we show that there is nothing, as far as the Scriptures reveal, between us and the return of the Lord-that He may return at any moment to receive His waiting people. If indeed there were a single event which must necessarily, to our knowledge, intervene between us and His return, His coming would not be our immediate hope. In that case, we should look first for the predicted event or events, and after that we might be able to expect the coming of the Lord. Two or three scriptures will show that it is our privilege to look at any time for the return of the Lord.