CITIZENS OF HEAVEN

"For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself." (Philippians 3:20-21, NASB)

Devotion 21 of 24

OUR HOPE IS IN HEAVEN

Salvation, in all of its aspects, is personal. Our names are written in heaven (Lk 10:20; Heb 12:23)! Our Intercessor is there (Rom 8:34)! Our Father is there (Matt 6:9)! Our treasures are there (Matt 6:20)! The Object of our hope is also there (Col 1:27)! Our reward is in heaven (Lk 6:23). Our citizenship ids in heaven (Phil 3:20). Our inheritance is reserved in heaven for us (1 Pet 1:4). There are even Three that bear witness to and for us in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit (1 John 5:7). Reconciliation involves "all things in heaven" being brought together with all things on earth (Eph 1:10). Salvation is truly "great" (Heb 2:3).

By God's grace, citizens of heaven have developed an appetite for what is in heaven! Faith enables them to look there, place their affection there, and seek the things that are there. Where these things are not fervently sought, a seriously deficient condition exists--and that is an extremely charitable way of viewing it.

HOPE is a critical factor in the faith-life. In fact, we are "saved by hope" (Rom 8:24-25). By this very circumstance, "hope" cannot be something vague or unsure. In Christ, "hope" speaks of something that is both known and anticipated. It is an aspect of assurance, and is faith in its forward posture. By its very nature, hope cannot remain in the background. If pushed there, it will soon die.

"Our hope" speaks of the thorough fulfillment of the longings grace has stimulated and nourished. Embodied in a Person, our hope is Christ Himself. He is, when "in us," "the Hope of glory" (Col 1:27). Jesus is called "our hope" (1 Tim 1:1).

Subjectively speaking, our "hope" is our inheritance--what we will possess in the world to come. Our hope is to us what the various "lots," or portions, of Canaan was to the Israelites (Num 26:55). By God's grace, you can set your eye on a large part of the world to come, which has been given to the saints of God (Heb 2:5). If Caleb coveted what he saw in the promised land, and was promised he would possess it (Deut 1:36), what may be said of those whose affection is set on things above, and not upon the things of the earth (Col 3:1-3).

The Gospel announces this hope, summoning men to appropriate it in Christ Jesus. As it is written, "For the hope which is laid up for you IN HEAVEN, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel" (Col 1:5). A gospel that does not apprise people of this "hope," is no gospel at all!

You see, our citizenship is in heaven. It makes perfect sense, therefore, that everything we hope for is also there.

PRAYER POINT: Father, through Jesus Christ I thank and praise You for a living hope that produces joyful expectation, and enables me to face the trials of life.

-- Tomorrow: A BETTER SUBSTANCE IN HEAVEN --