O hope! Dazzling, radiant hope! What a change thou bringest to the hopeless; brightening the darkened paths, and cheering the lonely way. –Aimee Semple McPherson (1890–1944)
For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive. – Jeremiah 29:10-14
Oh beloved, it is true. Surely this passage is written to those Jews had been taken away into captivity because they had abandoned their first Love. But, just as surely, these Words apply to us today. They apply both to those who are in captivity to their sins, and those who are celebrating the hope that comes from calling upon Jesus to save them.
It is rare to see beautiful things. And this is perhaps why they are so wonderful. But one Saturday morning it happened. This fool of a writer saw one of the most beautiful things i’ve seen in my life. Way up there… i was in a Bible study with a bunch of guys and we were talking for a few minutes about the topic of eternal security. Each of us were sharing our views and talking about what we believed Scripture said about the issue.
Then it happened.
One of the elder-statesmen of the group, a man of about 80, weighed in. He is a tall, gentle, funny, dignified guy, with bright eyes and a beat-up Bible (already you gotta love guys like that). He started – then got quiet for a minute as he began to weep with joy. Instantly, the room was just filled with this gorgeous sense of wonder and anticipation. The man went on quietly, He said something like: I know it like it was yesterday. I was 40 when I found Him. He’s so real. He came in and just changed everything from that day forward. He’s so wonderful! How could it ever go away?
Case closed.
This had nothing to do with emotion. This man has walked in the Spirit now for 40 years. He’s been through plenty of circumstances both up and down. Yet, this morning, he spoke with a conviction not humanly possible. He just KNEW it was true. Jesus had saved him, and was NOT EVER GOING TO LET HIM GO. The 40 years since G_d invaded his life were just 1.2 billion seconds of G_d ever proving Himself able to save and fill and instill hope in a man. Nothing can get in the way of this when a man fully turns to the L_ORD. It is an overwhelming flood of hope. This guy was walking proof that the Bible is true.
Jesus saves! What a blessed hope!
— Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
