There is a better hope

The coming of Christ the first time and His sacrificial death and subsequent resurrection ushered in a better hope than the Jews had known at that time.  It also was a better hope for the rest of the world, which had been held at a distance from the God of the Israelites.  The ancient world was divided as Jews and Gentiles (at least in the Jewish mind).  Today we find our world divided into us-versus-them in just about every facet of life. 

The conversation of the world almost requires everyone to have an opinion on everything, and if you remain silent, then you are relegated to one side or the other.  I want to remind you that at the death of Christ, the veil was torn from top to bottom, opening and making access to the presence of God through the work of Christ, no matter which side you choose to follow.  The dividing wall built into the Temple that kept the Gentiles away was torn down in the work of Christ.  You can come into the presence of God.  The manner of coming into God’s presence, though, isn’t lip service to the existence of God — nor is it mere belief in God that does not result in change. 

What change, you ask?  The change of who sits on the throne of your life, whose will is in charge of the way you think, and therefore the way you act.  Coming into God’s presence requires our acknowledgement that He is God and we are not.  That His ways are right and, left to our own devices, ours always end up a mess and wrong.  Being able to come into God’s presence requires our plea for Jesus to save us from our sin and give us His righteousness to cover all our sin that separates us from God and keeps us from the presence of God. 

So whatever side you find yourself on today, there is a better hope.  It is best summed up in Jesus’ response to Thomas in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No man comes to the Father except through me.” 

Don’t you want a better hope today?

Pressing on…

Ron Tipton, Senior Pastor