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The Hope Of Glory

by Dale Linton
2/02/2013 / Bible Studies

Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

A number of years ago a fellow Christian told me that a pastor once said of the church, "God's children will accomplish much when Christ truly becomes our hope of glory." Immediately I attempted to reason some understanding in the pastor's statement; but I was left with a definite void in explaining what he meant. I believe, in part, an accurate interpretation of Christ being our hope of glory lies in looking beyond this current age; knowing we'll be with Jesus in glory. That was the extent of what I could reason about "the hope of glory". I know now the Lord was allowing me to understand, that I didn't understand. So it is many times Gods word remains a mystery to His children until which time the Holy Spirit introduces greater depths of truth within it's context. God then began a process of revealing His word for me and have me to understand that this pastor had said something that contained a deeper knowledge of the truth. This article will be an attempt to communicate those truths.

Gods Decoding Provision

God seems to have designed His creation having this truth in His blueprint; God's life giving words have a perpetual operation. This is to say, words and created elements continue to provide life to other words and other elements. In other words, things give life to other things. For instance, what gives life to knowledge? The answer is truth; if information being communicated hasn't any truth in it, then real knowledge is non-existent. In our natural world, electricity serves as a life giving element or force to a multitude of modern devices. Our spirit would appear to be the life giving force within all human beings. See what comes back to the young girl as Jesus raises her from the dead:

Luke 8:53 And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead.
Luke 8:54 And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise.
Luke 8:55 And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat.

The pattern of one thing providing life to another will be incorporated in this article attempting to explain "the hope of glory".

What Is Hope?

Before applying the life giving pattern to hope, it's important to note that Satan uses this spiritual function, called hope, against us in a mighty way. Hope is expressed through our hearts consequently, Satans aim has the cross hairs of destruction on the heart of humans beings.

Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.

How Is Hope Deferred?

Decisions made that put our hope in the wrong things causes hope to erode or to be deferred........Hope is a function of the heart and as the heart sickens or weakens, the ability to express more hope lessens.........The decision making process is a function of the heart and so, as the heart sickens or weakens, wrong choices become more predominate.........Hope being placed in the wrong arena due to more wrong choices causes more of our hope being deferred, leading to more erosion of our hope.

So, the heart becomes more sick leading to more bad decisions and the cycle continues. This happens slowly and in an undetectable manner. This has been likened to carbon
monoxide poisoning in that the killer isn't felt, there's no odor, and it isn't visible.

The big picture is that hope goes down as deceit increases in a heart that doesn't recognize the progression. Eventually, hope gets so low and judgment calls become so bad, individuals whether by accident or purposefully self-destruct. This is the aim of the enemy behind this strategy. Always remember this tell tale characteristic in the strategy of the enemy; the victim will always be insidiously and deceitfully progressing in the opposite direction of their goals.

Supporting Scripture:

Job 14:19 The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.

As God allows water to wear away things that grow out of the dust, He likewise allows our hope to be eroded in the investment of things that come from or are connected to the
dust. The heart is a complicated spiritual mechanism and it stands to reason that material coming from the dust cannot fuel its spiritual needs. Natural fuel will not feed a spiritual machine. Consequently, God is communicating to us that as the waters wear the stones, so is our hope gradually eroded.

What Gives Life To Hope?

Hope may be equated to an investment. As we might invest money in the stock market, we likewise invest hope in decisions that are meant to achieve our goals. The driving
mechanisms in our decision making process are our thoughts and our feelings. Our thoughts and our feelings give life to our desires. Our desires give life to hope. Hopes life giving force is the desire we have to make choices in an attempt to experience, or stimulate life. See how Satan can derail us in the following explanation:

All humans are attracted to and stimulated by the things of the earth, or more specifically, the ground. The common denominator in this attraction and stimulation is this: these
feelings fade away and cease to excite us. A car is kept clean and polished for some time after we first purchase it. In time we're throwing french fries on the floorboard. It's
important to know that during those times of stimulation we are not thinking about when these feelings are going to go away. In fact it hasn't even occurred to us that these
heightened feelings have an expiration date. Why? We are "living for the moment" if you will. Let us reason together: if we are not thinking about the excitement fading then we
are unconsciously exercising a level of hope that it won't. We are living like these feelings of attraction will remain indefinitely, so our hope has been engaged to unconsciously
believe that everything will remain the same. When those feelings for that new car, house, girlfriend, boyfriend... etc go away; hope is deferred and eroded.

The next step in this parade are increased feelings of want or feelings of lack. Our natural reaction is to choose more of what ultimately didn't feed our desires; and so the process continues. Our hearts then sicken, even though the heart doesn't recognize any problem with the course of events. This is all under the influence of an enemy that knows we're not aware that our heart is hardening.

We may now surmise that in the phrase "hope of glory"; hope is speaking of and is connected to our desires . Furthermore, God's word is suggesting we allow Him to be the manufacture, not the world. See how in Romans 15 God doesn't promise to fill us with hope; He fills us with joy. Joy is an expression of our desires being met by God and those desires are giving life to hope. God then truly becomes "the God of hope" in our hearts as we are guided to invest continual hope in Him; hence, "that ye may abound in hope". God intends to author hope by and through a heart to heart connection with His children. This association of thought and emotion with God infuses us with life; on to experience desires we didn't know we had and bountiful hope.

Romans 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

Psalms 37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

What Does The Word Glory Mean?

Imagine not being educated in English and reading this English sentence that's been translated into your language: "Bob's cerebrum will be challenged to keep up with his classmates". The way to discover what might be lost in translation is by finding what the English root words are for "cerebrum". In that discovery one might see the word cerebrum is connected to the word cerebral; cerebral is connected to the word intellect. By one word giving meaning to another, the intended message of Bob's intellectual capacity is discovered in the sentence. This application can be used on the Greek word that's translated "glory".

The English word glory is translated from the Greek word "doxa". The word from which doxa is derived, or connected is "dokeo". This is a perfect example of how the translated
word glory, or doxa, has connection to another Greek word that gives us more understanding. Here is a Biblical outline of word usage for the Greek word dokeo:

1) to be of opinion, think, suppose

2) to seem, to be accounted, reputed

3) it seems to me

a) I think, judge: thus in question

b) it seems good to, pleased me, I determined

So the word glory is derived from a word that means to think or to be of opinion. More specifically this Greek word, dokeo, is translated "think" referring to one's reasoning; for example:

(Matthew 17:25) He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom
or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?

(Matthew 18:12) How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and
seeketh that which is gone astray?

(Matthew 21:28) But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.

So, the word glory used in the phrase "the hope of glory", carries with it the meaning of thought or reasoning. I once heard my pastor say " Your glory is your reputation". He was
exactly right fore; how we think or reason will determine our actions, and our actions plant impressions on others by what we say and what we do. We hence carve our reputations from our actions which is traced back to our thoughts.

What Does The Hope of Glory Mean?

This phrase is worded in a style that seems to be in a reverse order; at least in comparison to the English language. For instance, if one had power in what they spoke, the English
language would say "the power of they're word". God says it this way:

(Hebrews 1:3) Who 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;

See how God reverses the order by saying " the word of his power"? It means the same thing in general, but He has done something else here; which causes us to think a little
deeper. The hope of glory phrase has this style of penmanship. When God says the word of his power; which one, his power or his word, is the life giving force to the other? His word is the expression of His power. Remember knowledge and truth; knowledge is the expression of the power in truth. An electrically powered device is the expression of the power in electricity, and our souls are formed to be the expression of the power that gives us life, called our spirit. This truth is in us, it's all around us, and is evidenced in Gods word, which is His creative design.

Hope is the expression of the power in glory! It is Christ in us, which is to say truth, that empowers us to receive His knowledge, which is to say the knowledge of the truth. This is
the glory, our reasoning or what we think. Remember, thought and feelings give life to our desire. Our desires give life to hope. God stated in Romans 15 that He is the God of
hope; any other hope defers and is nothing more than a cheap counterfeit. In Psalms 37 God promised to create our desire. These promises are operationally hidden in the following verse:

Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

I have a desire to see the body of Christ edified. Within the broad spectrum of edification I feel there exists a great need and opportunity for spiritual education at foundational levels. Please contact me about speaking at your church. Dale Linton 410-378-5035 or [email protected]

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

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