Saved By Hope For Eternal Glory

"For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?" (Romans 8: 24)

Hope is based on something that has not come to pass yet.

Hope is based on something that we do not see.

Yet it is coming to pass.

Often, when we read passages like this, discouragement may set in.

Why do we have to wait for something good to happen in our lives?

God's prayer for everyone of His children, recorded toward the end of the New Testament, will give us insight:

"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." (3 John 2)

The deciding element in this passage, as your soul prospers, is very important.

Too many of us want to have the full promise of redemption realized in our lives. Wealth and health in full abundance along with the inherent reality of eternal life.

Yet many of us still hold onto our flesh, our selves, our efforts, our prior successes.

There is still too much of us, and God cannot flow where we insist on going it alone in our efforts:

"26For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29That no flesh should glory in his presence." (1 Corinthians 1: 26-29)

Now, why is that no flesh may glory in His presence? Sin, for one:

"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." (Romans 7: 18)

Also, God wants us to have eternal life and to enjoy His life. Our flesh is not eternal, but temporal, not fit or able to enjoy eternal things:

"For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:" (1 Peter 1: 24)

God wants us to have everlasting glory: His glory.

For this reason, also, God does not want us identifying with our flesh, for we are Spirit, and fleshly things do not last:

"15Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." (1 John 2: 15-17)

Moreover, God delays the redemption of our bodies because He wants as many people as possible to be saved:

"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3: 9)

We are saved by hope, by something that we cannot see, so that we can enjoy his glory eternally.