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Christ's Kingdom and the End Times

Month: April 2019

HOPE: The Who, What, When, How and Why

April 26, 2019 /

By Steven J. Hogan

~ A Saturday Morning Post #115 ~

WHO has true hope? The Christian, the believer, the child of God, the one who has been born again. God knows you can’t live without it. You have to have it, for this is how He made you, how you are spiritually wired. You need to know that God has good things in store for you. You need to know there’s a reason for living, that He will reward you in the future for your work in the present. Having hope for the next age helps you to persevere in the present age, and successfully make it through this life. Now I’m not talking about worldly hopes, I’m talking about godly hope, a God-promised future, what He clearly tells us in His Word.

WHAT is this hope? What are these things God wants you to be excited about? It’s being with Jesus (John 14:3). It’s being in heaven (Hebrews 12:22-24). It’s being with fellow Christians (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). It’s having a new body (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). It’s experiencing no pain or sadness (Revelation 21:4). It’s reigning with Christ (Revelation 5:10). It’s eternal pleasures (Psalm 16:11). It’s being greatly rewarded (Matthew 5:12). But more than anything else, it’s being able to wholeheartedly worship God (Psalm 84:4). I can’t wait! “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

WHEN will this hope be realized? When will you begin to see all these good things take place? At the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. “… in Christ all will be made alive… those who are Christ’s at His coming.” 1 Corinthians 15:22-23

HOW do you get hope? First, you need to be saved. As soon as you are made right with God and are forgiven of your sins, you have hope. That’s when you know you are going to heaven to forever be with Jesus and all the saints. 1 Peter 1:3-4 says that God “has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance … reserved in heaven for you.” Once you are born again, you have hope, this present certainty that you will receive a heavenly inheritance, this confidence that you will be incredibly and eternally blessed.

Second, you need to know what God’s word says about hope. Romans 15:5 tells us, “through … the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” The Scriptures describe your hope. I just mentioned nine different aspects of your glorious hope, all explained in God’s word. But it’s not just knowing what God says, it’s also believing it. It does you no good to know your future if you don’t believe it to be true. The saints of old had faith-based hope, for they believed what God told them about the future He had planned for them. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for.” Hebrews 11:1

Third, God gives you trials to increase your hope. Now God gives present grace to get you through these trying situations. “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). But God also gives you the hope of future grace. “Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:13). This hope of a perfect future helps you get through your present trials, for you know that God will greatly bless you in the ages to come. Your momentary light afflictions are producing for you “an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Fourth, it’s good to ask God for hope. Here is Paul’s prayer: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 2:18). It’s a work of God in the heart of a Christian that enables him or her to have hope. We can easily set our minds on earthly things, but it’s a God-given hope that sets our minds on heavenly things, on a wonderful future He has already prepared for us. So how do you get hope? By being saved, by reading God’s word, by learning through trials, and by prayer.

WHY do I say all this? Why do I keep writing about hope? Because it’s vitally important for your life, a quality that is lacking in the lives of many Christians. Think of the five essential nutrients for the growth and health of the physical body – proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. Each of these are critically needed, or else your body won’t function properly, will get weak and sick. So too, hope is needed for you to be a spiritually healthy Christian. When you have hope, you’ll be able to persevere (1 Thessalonians 1:3), you’ll grieve rightly (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17), you’ll have a godly perspective (1 Thessalonians 5:9), you’ll be more holy (1 John 3:3), you’ll be spiritually anchored (Hebrews 6:19), and most importantly, you’ll be more excited about seeing and being with Christ (1 Timothy 1:1). Indeed, the gospel message is hope-full, for it is good news, not just now, but forever. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

P.S. I strongly encourage you to read my two recent posts on hope, for they go along with this one. “You Need Hope to Get Through Life” and “Your Great Hope and Most Glorious Future.” I cannot emphasize enough the importance of godly hope for your life, and for all Christians.

How to Defeat Death and Live Forever

April 19, 2019 /

By Steven J. Hogan

~ A Saturday Morning Post #114 ~

Death isn’t a popular subject. Who likes to think or talk about it? But it’s a reality that most people have to grapple with, and eventually face. I was 7 years old when my father died, and in the next 18 years, three grandparents and three uncles also passed away. Those were difficult times, both mentally and emotionally, having an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach, and wondering where they had gone. When I was a freshman at college, God enabled me to see what life, and death, are all about. I realized that sin is the root problem and that death is the result. “The soul who sins will die” (Ezekiel 18:4). I saw that death is physical in nature, but first and foremost, is spiritual in nature, in that people are spiritually cut off from God, and can’t experience and enjoy His life and love.

What is the answer to this problem of sin and death? God made it clear to me that either I pay for my own sins by being punished forever in hell, or that I believe His Son, Jesus Christ, died to pay for my sins, and then was raised from the dead. “Christ died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).  I understood that Christ’s death and resurrection was the only answer, the only way I could get victory over my greatest problem, over sin and death. By God’s grace, I repented of my sins, and put my trust in Christ, believing that He died for me, that He personally paid the penalty for my all sins. Romans 5:8, Mark 1:15, Ephesians 2:8-9

Now if Jesus Christ hadn’t died, there’d be no forgiveness; and if Jesus hadn’t risen from the dead, there’d be no hope for the future, no life after death. But Jesus did die and rise again from the dead, and that was the best news I had ever heard. I knew I was no longer guilty, but was forgiven and holy in the sight of God, for my problem of sin had been forever dealt with by Christ. My problem of death was also solved, for Christ, by rising from the dead, had defeated and obliterated death. Not only were my sins taken away, but I didn’t have to worry about dying and what came after it. Amazingly, I had been given eternal life, a personal and permanent relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. I had a brand new life on earth, I had hope for the future, and soon enough, I’d be in heaven with Jesus and all the other believers. God “has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” 1 Peter 1:3-4

During my early years as a Christian, I knew I was forgiven and going to heaven. As time went on, I realized there was much more than just going to heaven after I died. God was increasing my hope, and I could say: I can’t wait to be with Jesus; I really want to be with loved ones who have already gone through death’s door and are in heaven; I’m excited about seeing Christ reign perfectly over this earth and reigning with Him; and now that I am older, and am feeling more aches and pains, I am looking forward to getting that brand new, perfect, immortal body! 1 Corinthians 15:42-44

But if the future is so good, and God loves us so much, then why are we still here? Philippians 1:21-27 tells us why. We are to live on earth for the Lord, which means we are not to live for ourselves, but for others. In particular, we are to reach out to those who aren’t saved. Think about the lost, about all those who live for sin, self and Satan, who love worldly things, who have no hope, and are without God in the world. Oh, they have food, a job, a home, a car, pets, games, sports, movies, video games, and a few friends. But they are in a sad and sorry state if this is all they are living for, if they have nothing more than this to look forward to. People and things may give a little happiness and satisfaction, but they do nothing to save a person’s soul, make him right with God, and enable him to escape death and get to heaven. “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). People need the Lord!

Might you see that the lost are harassed and helpless, distressed and downcast, like sheep without a shepherd. Might you pray for them, love them, and share the good news with them. Tell them about Christ’s 1st coming, that He died to pay for people’s sins and rose again, defeating both sin and death. Encourage them to repent of their sins, to trust in Christ alone for forgiveness and a future in heaven. “Deliver those who are being taken away to death” (Proverbs 24:11). Tell them that only Jesus can give them real love, joy and peace, in this life and in the ages to come. Warn them, that if they don’t trust in Christ to pay for their sins, they themselves will have to pay for them by being punished forever in hell. “These will go into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life (Matthew 25:41, 45). Tell them it won’t be long before Christ’s 2nd coming, and if they don’t repent, they will miss the rapture of the church, and greatly suffer when God’s righteous wrath is being poured out upon this earth.

What a needed and wonderful message is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you don’t know the Lord, if you are not saved and on your way to heaven, then turn from your sin, and trust in Jesus to forgive you of your sins and give you eternal life. If you do know Jesus, then thank Him, love Him, live for Him, and look forward to seeing Him. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26). I pray you do!

P.S. We are celebrating Easter this weekend, or as some say, Resurrection Sunday. Might we all thank the Lord for His incredible and eternal victory over sin and death. Two previous posts that also speak of this amazing victory we have through Christ are: The Resurrection and Rapture of the Church, and Christ’s Resurrection Means the Best is Yet to Come.

Your Great Hope and Most Glorious Future

April 12, 2019 /

By Steven J. Hogan

~ A Saturday Morning Post #113 ~

Think of your life on this earth as one single dot on a piece of paper, and the rest of your life as the distance from that one dot to the end of the universe. That’s a long, long way, impossible for your human mind to really comprehend. I use this analogy to help you visualize the never-ending length of your life, but more-so, the supreme and godly character of it. Your finite life on this earth is very small compared to the infinite and incredible future God has planned for you. As Christians, we often focus on our present life, and therefore are short-sighted, failing to rightly see the rest of our eternal life. What we need is Biblical hope, for it speaks about our amazing, magnificent, awesome, perfect, wonderful, spectacular and heavenly future. Romans 5:1-5, 8:29-30, 15:13

How do you get this hope? First, you need to read God’s word to know what this hope is. Second, you need to believe what His word says about this incredibly blessed future. That is, you need faith, for “faith is the assurance of things hoped for” (Hebrews 11:1). Third, you need to be looking forward to your hope being fulfilled. Remember when you were a child and you were looking forward to Christmas, and you couldn’t wait for it to come. What we are talking about is better than a billion Christmases! How do you know that you have this godly hope in your heart? When you know, believe, and are looking forward to the glorious future God has in store for you! Hebrews 11:10-16

Titus 1:2 also talks about this, for it says, “in the hope of eternal life.” Your Christian life starts when you are saved, but the fact that it says “eternal” means it never stops, but goes on forever and ever. That it says “hope” means God wants you to be actively thinking about your eternal life, your life after this life. He wants you to be interested in, and excited about, this magnificent future He has designed for you. He wants you to be looking ahead to the best life you could ever imagine. Yes, God has perfect plans for your present life, but you need to live your life in light of eternity, in view of His perfect future for you. This Son-brilliant backdrop of your life on earth is an all glorious and most-blessed eternity. Having this perspective of your eternal life will undoubtedly and dramatically affect how you live your important, but short, life on this earth. Colossians 3:1-4

Let me give you a preview of this fantastic future God has for you, for you need to think about your life after you leave this earth, when you will not be cramped or hindered by your flesh. In the future, your life will always be for God the Father, with Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Spirit. You will never sin, never mourn, never get tired, and never get sick. You will fully know the wonderful love of God, and you will always and perfectly love Him. You will always be experiencing His abundant joy, peace, goodness and strength. You will always and perfectly love every person, and continually be blessed by sweet, soul-satisfying fellowship. You will be most-encouraged by your time with Christian friends from earth, as well as time with all of God’s children, and angels too. Life will be full of purpose, pleasures, and more than anything else, praise to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It will be eternal life, for it will be eternal and it will be life; and it will be glorious, life like God always intended, for you and all His people. John 17:24

I have saved the best for last. 1 Timothy 1:1 speaks of “Christ Jesus, who is our hope.” Your life in the coming ages isn’t just about seeing people, going places and doing things. It will primarily be centered and focused on Jesus Christ. This verse says Christ is your hope, which means Christ is your life, in the future and forever. This is the most important reason why God wants you to be longing for your heavenly future. Yes, life is good now for “to live is Christ,” but “to die is gain” means life will be supremely better because you will be with Christ. Might you be hoping, might you be expecting to, soon and forever, be with Jesus, your Savior, Lord, King and Friend, the One who loves you more than anyone else in the world. I encourage you to be looking forward to that time when you will be with Jesus, and be with Him forever. “Eternal life is this, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” John 17:3

Let me conclude with a key command about hope: 1 Peter 1:13 says, “Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Why does God tell you to fix your hope on Christ’s return? Because:
* that is when all that you have hoped for will begin to be fulfilled;
* then your salvation will be complete, for you will be immortal and glorified, that is, fully saved;
* you will finally see Jesus (unless you physically die before the rapture);
* the church age will be over, and for the first time, all the saints will be with Jesus;
* “to die (or be raptured) is gain,” which means the next and better phase of your eternal life will begin;
* you will be given a special measure of grace, enabling you to be all that God wants you to be in heaven and on earth, and for all eternity.
* then “… I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23:6

P.S. I am in the middle of a series of posts on hope, which is essential for your Christian life. I encourage you to read my article on hope, “You Have to Have Hope,” as well as the post I just put up last week, “You Need Hope to Get Through Life.”

You Need Hope to Get Through Life

April 5, 2019 /

By Steven J. Hogan

~ A Saturday Morning Post #112 ~

Every person has challenges, difficulties and pressures. Life is not easy. It can be hard, extremely hard, and at times, seem impossible! That’s why you need hope! A person can only keep going if he has hope. People who are sick look forward to getting better. People who are hungry are anticipating their next meal. People who work hard all week can’t wait for the weekend. To be honest, you can’t live without hope. But for you, as a Christian, I’m talking about godly hope; and God knows you need it, otherwise, you will become discouraged, lose heart, and want to give up and quit.

But what is hope? It’s a reason to live. It’s a present certainty about a future reality. It’s what you don’t have now but are convinced you will receive in the future. It’s the promise of the gospel that speaks about your life after this life. It is the confident expectation of God’s future love for you. It’s a present faith in God’s promises resulting in a sure realization of His future blessing upon your life. But more than anything else, it’s longing to be with Jesus, knowing that you will soon see Him in heaven.

My fear is that many Christians don’t have this godly hope in their heart. Focused on this present life, they are thinking about this world, but are not setting their hearts on things above. A believer cannot live rightly for God in the present if he is not longing for the future, for that time when Christ is revealed, and he will be with Him in glory (Colossians 3:1-4). You need hope, for it helps you to be holy, strengthens you during trials, and anchors your soul when you are in troubled waters (1 John 3:3, Psalm 62:5-6, Hebrews 6:10). To have hope, you need to meditate on God’s promises. Think about Psalm 23:6 (“I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever”), and God will give you hope.

All godly believers who have gone on before us have lived with hope in their hearts. They had an assurance, a “conviction of things not seen.” Abraham “was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God… all these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance” (Hebrews 11:1, 10-13). But now that we live in the end-times, we are seeing prophesied signs being fulfilled, which means it won’t be long before the coming of Christ. More than any other generation, we ought to be “looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:13

This Titus verse, as some wrongly think, does not imply there won’t be great tribulation before Christ’s coming. The Bible makes it clear that before Christ’s return and the rapture of the church, there will be birth pains, economic difficulties, food shortages, family members hating us, great persecution, and the Antichrist ruling the world. Some of the most difficult days for the church still lie ahead, which means that the way to heaven will be a rough road for many of us. I am not saying we are to be looking for the tough times, but we do need to hear and heed Christ’s warning: “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.” Matthew 24:9

This is when “looking for the blessed hope…”, will not just be a nice idea, but a necessity. This is when hope will be essential, when we cannot, at least in a godly way, make it without it. When life gets real hard, we need to know that Christ is coming soon, and be “fixing our eyes on Jesus… who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of God.” The greatest example of One who had hope is Jesus. “Consider Him who endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:2-3

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). Are you abounding and overflowing with hope? Are you excited that you have a God-planned future, an amazing and perfect future in the ages to come? No matter what happens in the present, your future will be infinitely better. It’s well worth it to live and suffer for Christ on earth, for yours “is the kingdom of heaven… your reward in heaven is great.” Matthew 5:10, 12

What is this hope God wants you to be looking forward to? You will be with Jesus, your Lord, Savior and King (John 14:3). You will be in a heavenly home, a place prepared by Jesus just for you (John 14:2-3). You will receive an immortal, glorified, spiritual, powerful body, perfectly suited to love and serve God forever (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). You will be with all the saints, including loved ones who have passed away before you (1 Thessalonians 4:14). You will obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled (1 Peter 1:5). Finally, there will always be fullness of joy, along with eternal pleasures. Psalm 16:11

Godly hope is greatly encouraging and extremely motivating, and will energize you to keep persevering to the end of your short stay on this earth. Look forward to being with Jesus, and to the fulfillment and realization of all your hopes. “Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:13

P.S. I encourage you to read this article, “You Have to Have Hope,” for it greatly expands on this important and needed subject.

© Steven J. Hogan and ChristsKingdom.org, 2018. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Steven J. Hogan and ChristsKingdom.org with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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