HUMAN hopes are proverbially fallacious, often never realized; or, if realized, often ending in disappointment. But “the hope of our calling” is most certain, and can never be disappointed. It is, moreover, both definite and precise, so that in the midst of trial we can “rejoice in hope.” The hope of our calling is one, and the same to all who are called of God. Connected with, and flowing from this one hope, there are many things most legitimately “hoped for;” but these very things are themselves best realized, when “the one hope of our calling” is kept vividly before the soul.
This hope is immediately linked with our calling, and our calling immediately linked with the purpose of God. Hence the certainty of hope.
The apostle prays (Eph. 1:18,18The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, (Ephesians 1:18)) that we “may know what is the hope of His calling;” that is, what God has called us unto, as well as called us from. It is a hope worthy of God, and which the highest thoughts of man never could have conceived. (1 Cor. 2:99But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9).) Human thoughts must necessarily be grounded on what is possible with man; but what heart could conceive the thought, that God should have called any man “unto His kingdom and glory:” yet such is the hope of our calling. (1 Thess. 2:1212That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. (1 Thessalonians 2:12).) But it is well to see how every step unto this blessed consummation is so linked together by God, as to preclude all doubt and uncertainty; and to give to the one hope of our calling such a fixedness as to render it secure from all contingencies. “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the First-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified.”
This, then, is the one hope of our calling, when we regard ourselves. Every one now called of God into the knowledge of His Son Jesus Christ, shall be made like Him in glory. It is the purpose of God to bring many sons to glory; and in order to this, there was “a needs-be” to make Jesus, the Captain of their salvation, perfect through sufferings. “The Son” could have challenged admission through the everlasting gates, (Psa. 24) in His own indefeasible title as the King of glory. But since it was settled in the eternal counsels of the Godhead to bring many eons to glory, it became Him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, to bring the Captain of their salvation to glory through sufferings, in order that His sufferings might be to them a pathway to glory. Jesus went the way of suffering―even suffering the death of the cross―unto the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, that He might be the way, the open living way, for the many sons to reach the same place which their Captain has reached, to be with Him and to be like Him. This is perfection. This is our hope. And this our hope is thus linked with the sufferings of Christ. It is only as we realize what Christ suffered for us, and the divine suitability that He should so suffer, that the one hope of our calling is maintained without wavering. “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?” (Luke 24:2626Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? (Luke 24:26).) The hope of being among the “many sons” brought to glory, among the “many brethren,” of whom Jesus now at the right hand of God is the First-born, has its strong warrant, not only that such is the purpose of God with respect to those whom He has called, but that Jesus is now where He is, because He has “by Himself purged our sins.” (Heb. 1:33Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; (Hebrews 1:3).) Look at the perfection of Jesus in this aspect. Perfect in Himself, even the delight of His Father; the One in whom the Father could rest with perfect complacency. Jesus has another perfection. He was made perfect through sufferings, and has reached a summit of glory in this way, which He is enabled to open as an object of hope to others. “Continuing in the grace of God,” calmly reposing on that once finished purgation of sin by the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God; the “one hope of our calling” of being with Jesus, being like Him, and beholding His glory, fits in most suitably with such a standing. But if we go a step further, and look at Jeans where He is now, inside the veil, how greatly does this view of Jesus confirm our hope. He is there as “the Forerunner.” He is called up to the right hand of God, because He has finished the work of purging our sins, and there He takes the place of the Forerunner. With the eye steadily fixed on Jesus in this character, our hope becomes as “an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.” He is there for us, and He is there to be followed by us; for to be with Him there is the one hope of our calling. The holiest of all is now our place of worship, because God has called us with the hope of being with Him there forever. We draw near now on the certain warrant, that our hope of being there will never be disappointed. Hence the connection (Heb. 10:22, 2322Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) (Hebrews 10:22‑23).) between drawing near with a true heart, and holding fast the profession of our hope (see Greek) without wavering; for He is faithful that promised.
But the Lord Jesus Himself most touchingly and distinctively teaches us what the one hope of our calling is. He speaks from His own heart to ours; making, so to speak, the hope to be mutual, even His as well as ours. “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.” The earnest of this hope in the presence of the Holy Ghost the Comforter we have now for our comfort; for ere we are in the mansions prepared for us, we have this sustaining promise. “If a man love Me, he will keep My words, and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make our abode [mansion] with him.” That which gives such distinctiveness to the one hope of our calling, is that it is personal, not circumstantial. It is the hope that a Person deeply interested in us, will not have the full joy of His heart till we are with Him where He is. It is the hope, therefore, of being forever with a Person who abidingly loves us, and whom we love in return; in whose presence there is fullness of joy. We can understand, at least negatively, what rest, cessation from conflict, and absence of all care about this “earthly tabernacle house” must be. We can understand, by contrast, the immense difference between living in a world where confession of Jesus necessitates the cross, and being in a sphere where His name is universally acknowledged. The thought of being in glory, or of reigning with Christ, is more vague and indefinite; but to be with Jesus because He desires to have us with Him, is a hope that must touch the heart of every one who has tasted that the Lord is gracious. The Lord touches on the same topic in John 16, “Ye now, therefore, have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.” Of this, again, we have the earnest in the presence of the Holy Ghost. Jesus knows what He Himself is. He was waited for by a feeble remnant, before His incarnation, as “the consolation of Israel;” and in the days of His flesh, He Himself was everything to His disciples. When they are toiling in rowing, He comes to them, their toil ceases, and immediately they are at the desired haven. (John 6:20, 2120But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid. 21Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went. (John 6:20‑21).) “I will see you again”―that is all, nothing else was needed. The blessing did not consist so much in what He would do for them, as in what He Himself was to them. Their life, their light, their joy, their sun, their shield, their exceeding great reward would be with them when they saw Him again, and that joy never should be taken from them. Again, how conspicuous is the personal element in the wonderful intercourse of the Lord with His Father. (John 17) It is not enough for Him to say, “The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them (John 17:2222And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: (John 17:22)); but He adds,” Father, I desire that they also, whom thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world. “The blessedness of such a request can alone be known to the heart that delights in the honor of Jesus. The human thought of blessedness is rather brought out in the request of the mother of Zebedee’s children.” And He said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto Him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on Thy right hand, and the other on Thy left, in Thy kingdom.” (Matt. 20:2121And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. (Matthew 20:21).) Our own personal glory is a legitimate object of hope―it is that to which we are predestinated. But to “behold the King is His beauty,” to see Jesus “as He is,” to see everything in Him to which we have so feebly and failingly confessed most illustriously displayed―to find that His delight is to exhibit to others the glory He Himself has given to us, whilst our joy is to behold the glory which the Father has given Him―what hope can be more blessed or more glorious? And to know that His given glory is in consequence of His having loved us and given Himself for us, sad washed us from our sins in His own blood, makes it a hope in which we can rejoice. The hope of our calling thus becomes very distinct, and formative of our character. “So shall we ever be with the Lord.” Can our hearts desire anything higher or better?
“We are saved by hope,” (Rom. 8:2424For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? (Romans 8:24)) but there is no uncertainty in it, it is only that that which is already ours is not manifested, it is only that God’s purpose is not publicly displayed. To meet the legal tendencies of the Galatians, the Apostle writes, “We through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” We do not hope for righteousness―that is already ours, even the righteousness of God by faith in Christ Jesus, ―but we wait for the hope to which such a righteousness is entitled; and who can tell the amount of its blessedness? The Thessalonians are set by the Apostle in the posture of “waiting for God’s Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come.” It is no Jewish hope of a Messiah to do something for their deliverance, but the hope of the presence of One whom God hath raised from the dead, because He hath finished that work by which we ate delivered from the wrath to come. Even the appearing of the Lord Jesus as the Righteous Judge is held out to us as an appearing we can love. (2 Tim. 4:88Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:8).) Will not everything in that day be adjudicated in reference to Himself? and will it not be the joy of our hearts when His appearing shall vindicate our confession of His name? The saving grace of God now made known to us is directly linked with our hope, “looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us.” (Tit. 2.)
The apostle Peter exhorts us to “hope to the end for the grace to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:1818Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; (1 Peter 1:18).) Yes, the grace we already know in pardoning love, in the gift of righteousness, in prevailing intercession, and in shepherdly care, we shall then know in glory, glory to us will be grace, for grace reigneth through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord. How shall we then, in the highest sense, “behold His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth!”
In the same line of thought the apostle Jude writes to us. “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” To have obtained mercy is now to be a saint, and a vessel already prepared unto glory. (Rom. 9:2323And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, (Romans 9:23).) Is it not a sweet thought to us that glory shall come to us in the shape of mercy, and whilst we are in it as our element, still the mercy that has brought us there shall be our theme. God is rich in mercy, and He has riches of glory, and these riches of glory shall make known how rich He is in mercy. “Bless the Lord, O my soul!”
The beloved disciple connects the manner of love already bestowed upon us, with the one hope of our calling. “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God; therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be (or what we shall be hath not yet been manifested): but we know that when HE shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And every one that hath this hope in Him, [i.e. in Christ,] purifieth himself, even as He is pure.”
With such a hope, if He says, “Surely I come quickly,” shall not our hearts respond― “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus?”