Chapter 8: Finding Hope (Part 1)
If you knew with absolute certainty that you were "holy and without blemish before God," would that not be the basis of immense hope? Look at what is yours when God sees you as perfect in Jesus:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ; even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without blemish before him (Ephesians 1:3-4).
What would happen if we could meet God's design specification of holiness? The verse just before this one explaining God's design specification for us tells us that God will give us "every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" when we are "holy and without blemish before him." Before any of us were even born, we were designed so that we would thrive if we were holy. Just as Satan (also known as the Devil) lied to Eve and told her that her life would be better if she disobeyed God (Genesis 3:1-5), so he has lied to all of us, telling us that life would be better if we were not holy. But it is a lie[1]. We were designed to thrive as human beings when we are holy and can live to our full potential—living with no fear that God could find fault in us. That same holiness that Jesus can give us also guarantees that we will live forever with Jesus when he rules as the sovereign king in his perfect kingdom.
[1]Concerning the devil, Jesus said, "You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn't stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and its father." (John 8:44).
That is real hope!
But I can't be holy
You are correct. None of us has the ability to be holy.
Even the Apostle Paul did not have the ability to be holy. But he discovered that Jesus could make him holy. He said,
Romans 7:15 For I don't know what I am doing. For I don't practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do. 7:16 But if what I don't desire, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good. 7:17 So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me. 7:18 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don't find it doing that which is good. 7:19 For the good which I desire, I don't do; but the evil which I don't desire, that I practice. 7:20 But if what I don't desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me. 7:21 I find then the law, that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present. 7:22 For I delight in God's law after the inward man, 7:23 but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. 7:24 What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death? 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God's law, but with the flesh, the sin's law.
8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. 8:3 For what the law couldn't do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. (Romans 7:15-8:3).
Can you hear the Apostle Paul's shout of joy when he says that his inability to live a holy life is resolved through Jesus, "Who will deliver me out of the body of this death? I thank God [who does this] through Jesus Christ, our Lord!"
Now notice a parallel between God's design specification in Chapter 2: "even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without blemish before him," (Ephesians 1:4) and one of the verses just quoted: "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). The design specification for all humanity says that "He chose us IN HIM before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without blemish," and then we see that "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are IN CHRIST JESUS."
Being IN Jesus is the basis of our hope.
But I don't even want to be holy
You are not alone. Because of the devil's lies, none of us even want to be holy. But there is hope even here.
First, Jesus said he will draw all men to himself. His drawing us will include everything necessary for us to come into fellowship with him, including the desire to be made holy and to give ourselves completely to him. Jesus said,
If I am lifted up from the earth [and die on the cross, I ] will draw all people to myself (John 12:32).
Secondly, the Bible is clear that God can give us a will to do that which is best for us even when we do not have the ability to do it in our own strength[2].
For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).
[2]God gave human beings choice, and he will always honor the choice each person makes. If an individual asks God for holiness, and then God empowers that person to become holy, God is certainly not acting contrary to the individual's choice. Equally, however, when God gives an individual the will to become holy, it will, nonetheless, be dependent on the individual's desire to let God produce that willingness. It might well result from a prayer something like, "Jesus, I don't even want to be holy, but please give me a desire to be holy."
Finally, he can then empower us to do that which is impossible for us as human beings to do in our own strength. The following verses show what is promised to us after we have been redeemed in Jesus.
I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me (Galatians 2:20). Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us (Ephesians 3:20).
The truth is, none of us have the ability to be holy, nor do we even naturally desire to be holy. God permits each of us to choose to follow him or to be disobedient to him. However, within that area of personal choice, God has also made himself available to all who recognize their need for his empowering strength in any part of the process. (Again, refer to footnote 2 in this chapter.)
In the next chapter, Finding Hope (Part 2), we will evaluate the process of coming into a relationship with Jesus.
Before we go on to Chapter 8, however, we want to let the Bible tell its own story of Jesus' death and return to life, which is traditionally called the resurrection.
Jesus is taken to the Roman governor
Matthew 27:1 Now when morning had come, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: 27:2 and they bound him, and led him away, and delivered him up to Pontius Pilate, the governor.
Judas kills himself
27:3 Then Judas, who betrayed him, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, felt remorse, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 27:4 saying, "I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood."
But they said, "What is that to us? You see to it."
27:5 He threw down the pieces of silver in the sanctuary, and departed. He went away and hanged himself.
Pilate questions Jesus
27:11 Now Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, "Are you the King of the Jews?"
Jesus said to him, "So you say."
27:12 When he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. 27:13 Then Pilate said to him, "Don't you hear how many things they testify against you?"
27:14 He gave him no answer, not even one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.
Pilate tries to free Jesus
27:15 Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release to the multitude one prisoner, whom they desired. 27:16 They had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas. 27:17 When therefore they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, "Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus, who is called Christ?" 27:18 For he knew that because of envy they had delivered him up.
27:19 While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, "Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him." 27:20 Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes to ask for Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. 27:21 But the governor answered them, "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?"
They said, "Barabbas!"
27:22 Pilate said to them, "What then shall I do to Jesus, who is called Christ?"
They all said to him, "Let him be crucified!"
27:23 But the governor said, "Why? What evil has he done?"
But they cried out exceedingly, saying, "Let him be crucified!"
27:24 So when Pilate saw that nothing was being gained, but rather that a disturbance was starting, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this righteous person. You see to it."
27:25 All the people answered, "May his blood be on us, and on our children!"
27:26 Then he released to them Barabbas, but Jesus he flogged and delivered to be crucified. 27:27 Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium [Roman judgment hall], and gathered the whole garrison together against him. 27:28 They stripped him, and put a scarlet robe on him. 27:29 They braided a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand; and they kneeled down before him, and mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" 27:30 They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. 27:31 When they had mocked him, they took the robe off of him, and put his clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him.
Jesus is crucified
27:32 As they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, and they compelled him to go with them, that he might carry his cross. 27:33 They came to a place called "Golgotha," that is to say, "The place of a skull." 27:34 They gave him sour wine to drink mixed with gall. When he had tasted it, he would not drink. 27:35 When they had crucified him, they divided his clothing among them, casting lots, 27:36 and they sat and watched him there. 27:37 They set up over his head the accusation against him written, "THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS."
27:38 Then there were two robbers crucified with him, one on his right hand and one on the left. 27:39 Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, 27:40 and saying, "You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!"
27:41 Likewise the chief priests also mocking, with the scribes, the Pharisees, and the elders, said, 27:42 "He saved others, but he can't save himself. If he is the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. 27:43 He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now, if he wants him; for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" 27:44 The robbers also who were crucified with him cast on him the same reproach. (Note: one robber later asked for salvation. See Luke 23:39-43.)
Jesus dies
27:45 Now from the sixth hour [noon] there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour [3:00 pm]. 27:46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lima sabachthani?" That is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
27:47 Some of them who stood there, when they heard it, said, "This man is calling Elijah."
27:48 Immediately one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him a drink. 27:49 The rest said, "Let him be. Let's see whether Elijah comes to save him."
27:50 Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit. 27:51 Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split. 27:52 The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 27:53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they entered into the holy city and appeared to many. 27:54 Now the centurion, and those who were with him watching Jesus, when they saw the earthquake, and the things that were done, feared exceedingly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God."
27:55 Many women were there watching from afar, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, serving him. 27:56 Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
Jesus is buried
27:57 When evening had come, a rich man from Arimathaea, named Joseph, who himself was also Jesus' disciple came. 27:58 This man went to Pilate, and asked for Jesus' body. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given up. 27:59 Joseph took the body, and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 27:60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut out in the rock, and he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb, and departed. 27:61 Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.
The tomb of Jesus is guarded
27:62 Now on the next day, which was the day after the Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered together to Pilate, 27:63 saying, "Sir, we remember what that deceiver said while he was still alive: 'After three days I will rise again.' 27:64 Command therefore that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest perhaps his disciples come at night and steal him away, and tell the people, 'He is risen from the dead;' and the last deception will be worse than the first."
27:65 Pilate said to them, "You have a guard. Go, make it as secure as you can." 27:66 So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone.
Jesus rises from the dead
28:1 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 28:2 Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from the sky, and came and rolled away the stone from the door, and sat on it. 28:3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 28:4 For fear of him, the guards shook, and became like dead men. 28:5 The angel answered the women, "Don't be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who has been crucified. 28:6 He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come, see the place where the Lord was lying. 28:7 Go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has risen from the dead, and behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there you will see him.' Behold, I have told you."
28:8 They departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word. 28:9 As they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice!"
They came and took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.
28:10 Then Jesus said to them, "Don't be afraid. Go tell my brothers that they should go into Galilee, and there they will see me."
The soldiers report to the leaders
28:11 Now while they were going, behold, some of the guards came into the city, and told the chief priests all the things that had happened. 28:12 When they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave a large amount of silver to the soldiers, 28:13 saying, "Say that his disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. 28:14 If this comes to the governor's ears, we will persuade him and make you free of worry." 28:15 So they took the money and did as they were told. This saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continues until this day.
Jesus talks to his followers
28:16 But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sent them. 28:17 When they saw him, they bowed down to him, but some doubted. 28:18 Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 28:19 Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 28:20 teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 27:1-5, 11-66, 28:1-20).
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