The Arresting Witness of Hope

“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.’’ — Rom. xv. 138.

‘* THE God of Hope.’’ Does this mean the God Whose nature is distinguished by hope, Who broods over the dark regions of chaos with quickening confidence? Do the words describe an attribute in the Godhead, some quenchless optimism through ail the changes of the countless years? Or do they rather describe the source of our hope, the great luminary at which we light all our lamps for our appointed journeys? Some commentators emphasise the former and some the latter. But why should we separate the two interpretations? They are a wedded pair, and to divide them is a most unnatural

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divorce. They belong to each other as the convex and concave sides of a circle. Nay, they are like spring and stream; they are like fountain and issues. Hope dwells in God, and God imparts it. Light dwells in the sun, and every flame on the planet borrows its fire from the central altar. The God of hope kindles hope in the hearts of His children; they are lit up with light divine. “The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, that ye may abound in hope.” The sun is the primary explanation of all our lamps and firesides.

The Scriptures reveal God’s wonderful hope for the race, and for every member of it. What amazing vistas of possibility stretch before us in the Word of God, unveiled by Him Who is the light of life! If you would know what hopes our God entertains for you and me and all men, take time to look down those marvellous stretches of moral and spiritual distinctions which are revealed in His Word. There are corners in the Scriptures, points of view we may call them, which are like the head of the Gemmi Pass, where you come insight of the Bernese Oberland, or like the summit of the Col de Bahm, where Mont Blanc breaks into view, and overwhelms you with his glory. Stand at those scriptural heights — you can find them both in the Gospels and the Epistles — and gaze over the far-stretching landscape of grace beyond grace, and glory beyond glory — vast reaches of inheritance which the Lord of hope has appointed as our spiritual possession. And when you have looked long enough to be overwhelmed by it, and to be thrown upon your knees, then be very bold with yourself in Christ Jesus, and say to yourself, ‘‘ Mine, by the grace of God! Me, by the grace of God!” Lift up your eyes unto the hills, the hills of moral and spiritual attainment, and let your hearts laugh and sing at the vision of your splendid inheritance. Let the good Lord light up your spirit with a hope kindred to His own. Let the Father of lights light every lamp in your soul, until your whole being is aglow with the radiance of Christian aspiration.

And is there anything of which the world is in greater need just now than men and women who are clothed in the shining glory of unquenchable hopes? The world is confused, and disillusioned, and depressed. Our ideals have been smitten, and they are like quenched and broken lamps. And, therefore, of what unspeakable worth are men and women who have somehow got mysterious supplies of oil, and whose lamps have not gone out in the gusty night! I was reading a letter the other day from the city of Vienna, where pessimism hangs over everything like a dull and heavy pall of smoke. “If a man with hope in his face walks down the street people will stop and look at him, because he is such an exception to the rule.” That sentence is a revelation of tragic necessity. A man with hope in his face goes through Vienna like a man with a lantern on a dark road, where other folk are just groping their way in depressing gloom.

But isn’t this just one of the characteristics of a true believer in Christ — ‘‘ a man with

— — = ss. el hope in his face”? Is not this one of his most radiant distinctions? The Scriptures affirm and reaffirm that this is how he is really to be known as he goes along the common streets of life. He is to be known by the hope in his face. ‘‘ Once ye were darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord.’ They were once like the dull carbon filament before it is pervaded by the electric energy, but now they are like the same filament when the mysterious current has turned its darkness into light. They are spiritually incandescent, burning and shining lights, in the power of the Holy Ghost. A man with hope in his face! A man lit up! That is a man of the Lord’s own making, and every street ought to be illumined by His witness. 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.