Hope for the Future (Part 1)

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (Romans 8:18-25 ESV)

In Romans Paul expounds the doctrine of justification by faith (chapters 1-4). Though all have sinned and are guilty before God, they may be made righteous before God on the basis of faith in Christ’s atonement. The great example from Scripture of being justified by faith is Abraham. Since Abraham was justified apart from the works of the Law, even before he was circumcised, this means that justification is by faith in Christ alone and can even include Gentiles.

But Paul does not stop there because salvation includes more than justification. What are the effects of being justified? Paul begins in chapter 5 to argue that justification is actually the beginning of a new kind of life in Christ. Jesus is the beginning of the New Humanity, just as Adam was the beginning of the old. Those in Christ take on His characteristics just as those in Adam take on his. Obviously, those in Christ are not like those in Adam.

Those in Christ have died to the old Order in Adam and have been raised to life in Christ. This passage is depicted in baptism, which is like a death, a burial, and a resurrection. So those in Christ are not going to be dominated by the old order, or the Flesh, but have been given a new life and nature. However, while still in the body there will be a tension and a conflict between the Old and the New.The only way this struggle between the Old and the New can be successfully fought and won is through the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit who has taken up residence in every believer. The presence of the Spirit helps believers in their weaknesses and enables them to effectively keep their bodies in check and serve God rather than sinful desires.

Paul is seeking to build the confidence of the children of God. This struggle is not a sign of death and condemnation, but is actually a sign of life and acceptance by God. Where there is a struggle there is a new life. So God’s people should not become discouraged while still in the world and in the body. Living to please God and overcoming the Flesh is really preparation for the future. Having been justified, the believer is now being sanctified, through the Spirit, in order to one day be glorified.

Salvation includes a three-fold process of justification (saved from the penalty of sin), sanctification (saved from the power of sin), and then future glorification (saved from the presence of sin). So we have been saved (justified), we are being saved (sanctified), and we will be saved in the future (glorified). The believer’s hope for the future is this full salvation which is called “glory” by the apostle Paul! (Hope is not the world’s wishful thinking, but is really just faith looking forward into the future that God has promised to His children.)

Tension and Struggle a Sign of New Life

So from one perspective the believer in Christ is saved. We have been justified by faith. The righteousness of God has been imputed to our accounts. This is the basis for our confidence moving forward. If we are not convinced of our justification then it will be very hard to move forward into the next phase of salvation, which is sanctification. It will be difficult because we will probably think that because we still feel the presence and the pull of sinful desires that we must not really be justified.

It is important that we do not confuse justification with sanctification. We are not justified because we are sanctified. We are justified by faith. But this does not remove us from the realm of sin and it certainly does not remove us from our bodies and the influence of the Flesh.

What are some of the liabilities that a believer in Christ must overcome while still in the body and in a fallen world? Obviously we are not transported to heaven the moment we are saved. We are still in the world and in the body. And that means we are in a kind of war-zone!

But it is crucial for the believer to understand that he is not alone in this fight. The believer has some help. But we must be aware of the Divine resource available to us. Sanctification, or the separation of the believer from sin, takes place in the very realm where sin still has power or influence. But it is not something that takes place apart from our knowledge or involvement. What resources do we have to live a life that is pleasing to God while overcoming the pull of the Flesh? We are mistaken if we think that the Christian life can be lived on a kind of auto-pilot mode that does not require our active involvement. We are not alone, but there is a lot to engage us as we move forward in our new life.

The first step involves the mind and our understanding of ourselves as we are now in Christ. We must understand what happened when we were united with Christ. Something really did happen and there was a real change. But it was a spiritual change and not something that could be observed externally or physically. The only thing we experienced physically was the water used at our baptism. And this was an important moment that marks that change from the Old to the New. The Lord gave us these physical ordinances like baptism because it depicts visibly what actually happens spiritually and is invisible. We died with Christ to the old life and were raised to walk in the newness of life with Christ (6.1-4).

But the believer in Christ must come to realize that he is a new man who is still in an old world and an old body. This is why we have to live by faith. We have to believe that God has given us new life with Christ. Sometimes it is hard to believe!

The Old is still with us and sometimes it seems more real than what we have in Christ! But that New Life is there, like a smoldering ember which must be fanned into a flame. The believer will discover that this new life in Christ is very different from the old life. The Old and the New are like two very different people trying to occupy the same house! There is going to be a struggle because someone has to rule the house.

This introduction of new life in Christ creates a struggle and tension with the Old Order. It is important to understand that the newness of life in Christ cannot be mixed with the old life that follows the principle of sin. Adam and Christ are two different kinds of men who have two different kinds of children. The believer in Christ has the life of Christ in a body that is still in the likeness of Adam. But this does not mean that the two natures can be merged into one. There can be no compromise between Adam and Christ. One man has to dominate. Either the life of Christ must rule or sin will have the dominion. In other words, there is no peace treaty between the principle of sin and that of new life in Christ. There is a constant struggle in which one Principle or the other must come out on top. Think of your life, or your body, as a nation that is undergoing a civil war. The two sides have irreconcilable differences and therefore one must dominate the other.

This is important because it is not possible for a believer to make peace with sin and allow it to continue to exert influence. Sin must be defeated and kept under control by a greater Power. But this is not a once-for-all-time act. The believer must keep the sinful nature under control, like a man with a live snake under his foot. There is a constant struggle for control. Sin is always there in our members, like a snake in the grass, waiting for an opportunity to raise its ugly head and strike, taking control of our lives.

The Old Order is constantly trying to pull the believer down. The old nature is of the earth. The new nature is from heaven. One is pulling toward the earth and the other is pulling us toward Heaven and to God. This does not mean that believers are or should become detached, starry-eyed mystics who just want to escape from life in the world. Spirituality is not detachment and the denial of all physical things. If we follow that kind of thinking to its logical conclusion it will lead us to some very unbiblical, unchristian, and pagan destinations. It is pagan, not Christian, spirituality that teaches that everything physical is inherently evil. (This is why some ancient heretics called the Gnostics denied that Jesus actually had a physical body. They believed that everything physical was inherently evil. Therefore, God would never have come in an evil, physical body.)

But the Bible says that God created the physical and that the Word Himself became flesh. So the material, physical creation is not inherently evil. God said it was good and He doesn’t make anything evil.

So when the Bible speaks about the Flesh it is not simply referring to what is physical. Rather, the Flesh is referring to a quality or the nature of something. That is why some version of the New Testament translate this word “flesh” as “sinful nature.” This is referring to something that is in a sense alive and active rather than referring to things that are just inanimate objects. Things do not separate us from God. But an inordinate DESIRE for something can separate you from God! So we must draw this distinction between physical things and the sinful desires that might cause us to love those things more than God.

So the tension is between two competing desires which are pulling the believer is different, actually opposite, directions. The old order, which is associated with the earth, or the world, is known by its lust (strong desire) of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life (1 John 2.15-17). The New Life is also marked by strong desires, not for things, but for the will of God. These strong, opposing desires are the source of this inner struggle in the believer.

This tension/struggle is actually proof of new life and acceptance by God. If there is no struggle then there is no life. The struggle itself should not be misinterpreted. Struggling with sin means there is new life. Being dominated and ruled by sin is another matter altogether. If a person is dominated by sin then there is no evidence that there is any life from God. This is why I believe Paul is making the case in Romans 5-8 that those who are in Christ WILL NOT BE UNDER THE DOMINION OF SIN. That is not the same as saying that it is IMPOSSIBLE for believers to sin. Believers can still be tempted to sin and may still occasionally commit sin. But that should not be the normal course of a believer’s life. And at no time is a believer obligated to obey the desires of the Flesh and sin (See Rom. 8.12). If that were so it would mean that the believer is still in fact under sin’s dominion.

Only believers in Christ are free from sin. The doors of the prison are opened in Christ and anyone who is still in bondage does not belong to Christ. If a believer does commit sin it is usually followed by conviction, repentance, and confession -- all of which are signs of life. The unregenerate person feels no such conviction and desire for restoration. The sinner commits sins because he is simply expressing his true nature and is at home in his native environment. But sin should be the exception, not the norm, for a believer and this should cause him considerable guilt and pain.

The believer who gives in to temptation and commits sin should not say that he is struggling with sin. At that point the struggle has been lost. He should confess that he has given in to sin’s control and immediately seek restoration and a return to the righteous control of the Spirit’s influence. The Believer should never grieve or frustrate the Spirit by continuing in sin. In this state there would be no reason for peace and assurance of salvation. How does a person know he has been saved from sin if he is continuing to be dominated by sin? What kind of salvation leaves a person under the dominion of sin?

But the ongoing struggle with sin should never be a source of guilt or doubt for the believer in Christ. On the contrary, the believer should sense that this struggle is actually evidence that there is New Life within him.

The Hope of Future Salvation

The believer senses that this struggle between the New Life and the Old Order of sin and death means that there is more to salvation than what he has experienced while in the body in this world. The children of God are never at home in this world and they sense that there is something more to come. Along with this inner conflict comes a sense of dissatisfaction. There is a sense of incompleteness in the children of God.

This does not mean that salvation is somehow deficient, but that salvation is not finished. We know that when Jesus died He cried out “it is finished.” So can we really say that there is something left undone? Was Christ’s death not sufficient for full salvation? Christ’s death was enough to accomplish what was required for salvation. But that does not mean that everything Christ died to accomplish has come to pass in actual experience.

There is an aspect of salvation that believers have not yet experienced. This is the hope of glory. What is the future hope of the children of God? What aspect of salvation is still in the future? What are the children of God waiting for and looking forward to?

Whatever this hope of glory is, it cannot be something that we can experience while in the body and in this present world. Something has to change before the children of God can experience the fullness of salvation. First, our environment has to change. We are living in a fallen world that has been cursed because of sin. Secondly, our bodies must change. Our bodies are also fallen and subject to sin and death. Obviously, these two changes are things we cannot bring about but we must wait on God to do His work.

So what do we do in the meantime? How does this hope have an impact on believers still in the world? We are not instantly translated to heaven when we are saved but are left in the body and in the world. But for what purpose? If everything we are hoping for is still to come in the future, then what should we be doing now? Actually, the time between our justification and our glorification is vital. This time is for our sanctification, which takes place in a realm that is fallen and filled with conflict. We are in a state of preparation for God’s glorious future salvation.

Full Redemption

Imagine that you entered a very difficult sporting event, like a marathon. You expect that there will be a starting line and a finish line. But what if it was announced that in this particular race, there was no finish line? You were just to keep running with no goal or end in sight. Would you even begin that race? Even if you enjoyed running and were in excellent physical condition, you could not and would not participate in a race without a goal and an end. Not only would your body give out, but not having an end would discourage you psychologically. You would have no hope.

Hope is essential to life. Without hope we soon give up. The same principle applies to the Christian life. We must have hope. Living by faith is like running in a race (see Heb. 12.1). There is a goal and a finish line where there is a great reward. The race is hard and it is a struggle to keep going. Hope is what keeps us going. While in this world we have to exert a tremendous amount of effort, just like a runner in a race, and there are obstacles, difficulties, and resistance to reaching our goal.

But the Believer lives in hope that this present struggle will not last forever. Eventually, if we keep running, we will reach our goal. Without this hope the race would be too difficult and we would either fail to start at all or we would soon give up.

The Believer lives with the hope of glory or the fullness of salvation. The term “glory” in Scripture has to do with the revelation of something, and usually has something to do with God Himself. The glory of God is when something about God is manifested, or made known. Sometimes this glory had to do with a visible manifestation of the presence of God, such as the glory of God that descended on the Tabernacle. This glory was usually accompanied by some kind of bright light and perhaps even a kind of fire that burned or a glowing cloud. Then everyone knew that God was present. Moses asked to see the glory of God, but was allowed only to see the afterglow of God’s glory. No one in the flesh can see the fullness of God’s holy presence and live.

The hope of glory includes being able to be in the presence of God’s glory without any separation caused by sin or the flesh. The believer looks forward to being forever in the very presence of God and seeing His face (Rev. 22.4). This is something that believers are actually seeking and wanting! The hope of glory is that day when the veil (which is the physical world and these mortal bodies) that separates us from God will be lifted.

But there is also an aspect of this glory that has to do with the Saved themselves. There is some glory that will be ours and will be manifested in us. This includes the redemption of the body and the removal of mortality. This new life in Christ is like a deposit of glory that God has made in us. But the glory is hidden by our mortal bodies. We have a treasure in jars of clay (2 Cor. 4.7). Someday the jar of clay that is the mortal body will be broken, like Gideon and his army broke their vessels, and the glory that is inside will shine forth.

The Redeemed don’t look like anything special in this world. Sometimes it is hard to believe that anything has changed with us at all! Our glory is covered by mortality. This was also true of Jesus when He was here in the flesh. But on the Mount of Transfiguration the disciples saw some of His glory “leak” out!

What we will be has not yet been made known (1 John 3.2). But we know we will be like Jesus. He is the first of our glorified Race! We are going to get a body like His glorious body (Phil. 3.20).When we get this new, glorified body, the true identity of the saints will be seen. What we are now in the body is not really who we are in Christ. What you can see belongs to the Old Order, which is going to pass away. What belongs to the Old Order is what is presently causing the children of God to be frustrated. These mortal “coils” severely limit us and keep us from doing what we really want to do. I am talking about our service to God, not just some kind of superhuman feats of physical strength. Simply dealing with the body, especially the desires Flesh, keeps us from really being what we were recreated in Christ to be. Most of our energy goes into keeping our bodies and desires in check. In a sense our bodies are working against us and great energy must be exerted to get them to work for us.

But in the future the believer will not have to deal with the downward pull of sin and the Flesh. Our new bodies will not be subjected to sin or death. We will find that we are incapable of even producing a contrary thought or desire! The New Body will be in perfect agreement with the New Creation that we have already become in Christ. Now we have a redeemed nature in an unredeemed body. Eventually the body will be made to match the spirit of the Redeemed!

This full redemption of the body will result in a glorious freedom to be what we were saved to be. There will be no more struggle or conflict. We have been so busy fighting there is a sense in which the Redeemed have never really even started to serve the Lord and do what He has saved us to do, which is what we really want to do. We would like to be rid of everything that is distracting us from the Lord. While we do serve the Lord even in this body, we are limited by our mortality. We probably don’t even realize how weak we really are!

That being said, we do what we can do while we would do much more. Our true service is still to come. We start serving God while still in this body. We are being trained for the true service. Some of God’s people get frustrated by how little they feel they can do for the Lord here in this world. This feeling of frustration should be expected because we are not fully redeemed. The desire to do more is evidence of New Life and is blessed by God. If we are good stewards of our talents now we will reign over cities in the future!

The Effects of Hope

This future hope enables the believer to continue to struggle against the Flesh, knowing that he can be victorious, and will eventually be delivered. For the Believer the future is now. We are already living in the New, even in the midst of the Old. We are like a person who just became engaged to be married. He or she is not actually married yet, but there are preparations going on so that in some sense the engaged person is living in the future now. What is going to happen in the future is influencing, even dominating, their thoughts, feelings, and actions even in the present. When there is something really good in the future, this provides a high level of motivation to do whatever is necessary to reach that future goal. Hardships are endured for the sake of that glorious future. Difficult work is done with the future reward in mind.

Of course, the future that God has promised is something we must believe since we have not seen it yet. However, it is not a vague hope or a completely unknown future. This is because we see Jesus in His glory. (We “see” Him by faith, of course, not by our physical sight! But we have the hope that we will actually see Him when He comes again!) Jesus in His glory, the glory of His resurrection and ascension into Heaven, is like a little glimpse into the future glory. It is like someone from the future has come back in time to show us a little glimpse of what things will be like! Did you know that the time in some places in the world is nearly an entire day ahead of us? They are already in the future, in some sense. If someone called you from Australia, for example, they would be calling you from tomorrow! On New Year’s Eve they would be calling you from next year! In the same way the Gospel is like a call from the future and we need to get ready for that future glory so when it is here we will fit in.

The Believer is preparing for the future by living to please God in the body now. It would be pretentious to say we are preparing for a certain future while doing nothing that is in harmony with that desired end. This would be like a college student who says he is working on a degree, but never goes to class or cracks open a book! Likewise, it is presumptuous for a person to claim to be a Christian yet appear to be making no progress toward the hope of glory.

This hope of glory includes a powerful, inward, moral motivation. This hope is what motivates and empowers holy living (See 1 John 3.3). Holiness is motivated by hope, not by Law. A person who is not sanctified is a person without hope. I mean that subjectively and objectively. A person who is not sanctified has no hope within himself and therefore has no hope ahead of him either. It is nothing but sheer delusion for a person to think that he is going to heaven when he dies while he has no connection to heaven in life. A person who does not serve God in this world will not serve God in the World to Come. In fact, I don’t think there is any evidence that people who have no interest in God here would even WANT to be in the presence of God there in the World to Come.

Preparation for inhabiting the New Body begins while we are still in these mortal bodies. I think this has to do with the great glory and high calling that is in salvation. We need a period of orientation, just like a person who is becoming a citizen of a new country needs a period of naturalization in order to fit in. Believers are being cultured to fit into the Kingdom of God that has come in Jesus Christ and will come in its fullness in the very near future!