JESUS AND HOPE #1 "HOPE IN CHRIST"

JESUS AND HOPE #1

"HOPE IN CHRIST" 

HOPE means: to cherish a desire with anticipation. In our previous series (last month), we were able to draw a line between Faith and Hope, and it was categorically stated that 'Hope' can be an enemy to 'Faith' due to its comparability and assumption to be the same. 

Paul made emphasis, that our focus should be anchored on Hope In Christ, not just in this present life only, but in the life after this present age. As a matter of fact, in his opinion, we are to be pitied and considered 'miserable' if our anticipation In Christ is only in this present life only. This is what he said; 

"If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." (1 Corinthians 15:19

PICTURES OF THE END TIMES (1 Thessalonians 4:16) 

The "Voice of the archangel" and the the "trumpet call of God" (1 Thess. 4:16) emphasize the divine authority behind Paul's description of Jesus' return. The images and pictures Paul uses for the end times overlap with those of other Jews of his time, though he omits most elements found in contemporary Jewish descriptions. What Paul does describe especially matches Jesus' picture of the end time (trumpet, clouds, angels, times and seasons, sudden destruction). 

Jesus teaching about the end times (Matthew 24) is probably the background for Paul's own teaching, which he claimed was by "the Lord's Word" (1 Thess. 4:15). As Jesus described the coming Son of Man, he applied to himself a variety of end-time descriptions that the Old Testament and Judaism normally reserved only for God. (Matthew 27:30-31). Similarly, Paul applies these same description to coming Christ.

Word-drill/JESUS and HOPE

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