Introduction
The Bible presents an optimistic eschatology. The Kingdom of the Lord will start small but eventually spread to the whole earth (Mk. 4:30ff). The nations are ruled by the Lord and over time they will remember him, turn to him, and worship Him (Ps. 22:27ff; 86:9). Christ will sit at the Father’s right hand until his enemies are under his feet (Mk. 12:35-37). Yahweh’s rule will be from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth (Ps. 72:7f; Zech. 9:9f). All the kings of the earth will bow down before Him and all the nations will serve Him (Ps. 72:11). The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Is. 11:9). In the last days, the Mountain of the Lord will be established as the highest of mountains, to which all the nations will stream. God will judge between the nations and they will learn war no more nor lift their swords against each other (Is. 2:2-4; 1:6-9; Micah 4:1-4).
What’s the use of kingdom truth if it is not embodied by those of the kingdom? How should Christians live the biblical principle of kingdom optimism? Just like salespeople should refrain from contradicting customers if the company motto is “the customer is never wrong,” so should Christians refrain from hopeless despair if the Kingdom motto is “Victory in Jesus.”
Jesus was the most hopeful person in the world
Jesus Christ was not a man of despair (Mk. 9:30-32). He believed all is ordered for the best (Mk. 10:6f). He was not put out when things failed (Mk. 9:14-29). He doubled evil with good (Mt. 5:43-48). It was not easy to get a rise out of Him (Mk. 12:13-17) because He listened to the sensible (Lk. 2:46) and ignored the flatterers (Mk. 12:14f). He didn’t overthink the extenuating details (Mk. 8:4-7) or convolute the simple (Mt. 22:34-40). Jesus didn’t inquire into peevish humors (Mt. 5:27-30) nor embody stodgy severity (Mk. 10:13-16). He was even-tempered (Mk. 10:35-45) and excelled at friendship (Jn. 21:9-14). He obliged patience in the extreme (Mk. 12:32-42) and regarded people as capable of God-designed improvement (Mk. 10:46-52). He thought the best of people (Lk. 19:1-8) until he couldn’t (Mk. 10:22-31). Pride and vanity were always kept at a distance (Mk. 1:43). He worked indefatigably (Mk. 1:32-34; 5:21-43) and rested prayerfully (Mk. 1:35). He didn’t care about being in fashion (Mt. 6:1) or where he would lay his head (Mt. 8:20). He was approachable in manner (Mk. 5:21-24) but inflexible in the truth (Mk. 2:23-28). He was a man of grace (Mk. 6:34) who was willing to confront (Mk. 11:27-33).
Christians should be the most hopeful people in the world
Optimism is not just an eschatological principle. It is a doctrine that translates into the virtue of hope. Christian hope doesn’t mean Christians are never depressed, anxious, or lonely. It means they do not receive affliction like those who have no hope; they are not anxious like those who have no hope; they are not lonely like those who have no hope. This is only possible because of faith in the Actuality of things as opposed to what merely seems. Affliction is braved by the knowledge that God has a perfect plan that isn’t yet fully understood. It is crucial to acknowledge there are many bad situations. It is also crucial to acknowledge that many bad situations are manifestly bad. Life consists of temptation, depression, pretension, self-love, forgiveness, lust, laughter, fake laughter, hope, duty, and delight. Evil occurs. People are hurt. Destruction triumphs. Friends are betrayed. Money is chosen rather than love. An innocent man is crucified.
But it is also manifestly not the case that wickedness should lead Christians to despair. Christ left death in the grave and was resurrected to walk in the newness of life. This is the meaning of the world that causes Christians to live in triumphal procession.
“We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”
Romans 6:4
“For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.”
1 Corinthians 15:21
“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?”
2 Corinthians 2:14-16
Hope isn’t just a virtue. It’s a life habit by which Christians “serve in the new way of the Spirit” (Rom. 7:6) Christian hope is joyfully expecting to receive the promises of God through faith in Christ by the power of the Spirit. It’s an outlook on the world that is eager to be convinced by God. The hopeful person endures affliction because they take it to God (Phil. 4:6), ask for grace (Rom. 1:5), and trust that God is good (Ps. 34:8-10). They thank God so frequently that gratitude is encoded deep into the soul. This guards against the default setting of the sinful nature that doubts God’s goodness.
Christian’s find hope because they’ve drawn water from the wells of salvation (Is. 12:2-3). There is a “joy unspeakable” (1 Peter 1:8-9). The one who has been forgiven much hopes much. They overcome fear (Job 39:22). They surmount adversity (Proverbs 31:25). They rejoice at revilement (Mt. 5:11f). They count it all joy when they meet trials of various kinds (James 1:2). They even laugh at the flapdoodle of the wicked (Psalm 52:6).
Hope is a uniquely human thing. It belongs to the image-bearers of God. God made humans with the capacity for hope for two reasons. The first regards how man relates to God. Giving thanks in all circumstances is a virtue (1 Thess. 5:18). There is a certain way of seeing the world that preserves God’s good purpose in all things (Rom. 8:28). Just after his death penalty was repealed, Dostoyevsky said that the task of life was to “be a human being among people and to remain one forever, no matter in what circumstances, not to grow despondent and not to lose heart.” God gave his image-bearers the ability to see the brighter future as a reminder that the end is better than the beginning and that Joy has the final say. At its best, hope produces a letabund diagnosis of the world that knows God’s people don’t end up condemned or forgotten. It not only stiff-arms deteriorism, but it causes the faithful to rise above the onerous situation, testifying to the better world.
The second reason God made humans with the capacity for hope has to do with how man relates to himself. Everyone must overcome the temptation to beadledom—the baneful sense of self-importance. Chesterton warned about the danger of pride dragging people into the “easy solemnity” of “selfish seriousness.” Yet even the tallest pride bends under the assault of humble hope. The right outlook on God and his world humiliates sinful pride. It is always a religious experience when a man takes himself lightly. Pessimism is Satanic. When the jokes are about him, Satan never laughs. Pride is fundamentally the sin of false cosmology. When a man thinks about himself a great deal, he is trying to be the center of the universe. Egos need to be pricked. Know-it-alls need to be humiliated. Agelasts need a new perspective on life. Hope is an ever-renewable resource for perseverance not available to other creatures. To be hopeful is to be human, in the way God intended.
If the joy of the Lord is our strength (Neh. 8:10), then serving the Lord with joy is an unstoppable play. The enemy knows this, so he tries to eliminate Christian joy. Maybe he throws you into a fiery furnace. Will you despair? No! You remain faithful because the Lord is not pleased with the one who shrinks back (Heb. 10:38) but delivers the faithful from flame-fueled kilns (Dan. 3:17f).
Hopeful living doesn’t avoid negative people at all costs, “since then you would need to go out of the world” (1 Cor. 5:10). Jesus went into the temple to confront the Scribes and Pharisees, the most negative, pessimistic humans in Israel (Mk. 11-12). He went out to meet Judas and the arresting party (Mk. 14:42). The truth of Christ invites the scorn of those who refuse “to love the truth and so be saved” (2 Thess. 2:10). Faithfulness requires remaining hopeful when surrounded by hopeless negativity. This kind of faith is only possible when the supreme object is Christ.
Conclusion
The problem of the pessimist is he is not pessimistic enough. He ought to go further until, by the light of God, he may begin to feel a terrible and tingling pessimism about his pessimism. The hopeful life admits that not every nasty thing will be explained. Divine grace enables saints to embrace God’s goodness without the need for comprehensive elucidation. The world is a much stranger place than human rationality can comprehend. Jesus received the biggest curse not because he was the worst man, but because he was the best man. It’s enigmatic that there is meaning in the grotesque. It’s part of the holiness of God to make his love as clear and exquisite as sunshine. This requires that the light defeat the dark. Did you think ancient wisdom like this would have nothing mysterious about it?
Trinity Reformed Church 