{"id":2400,"date":"2014-04-18T15:49:32","date_gmt":"2014-04-18T15:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/?p=2400"},"modified":"2017-01-05T16:42:40","modified_gmt":"2017-01-05T16:42:40","slug":"my-hope-is-built-on-nothing-less","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/my-hope-is-built-on-nothing-less.html","title":{"rendered":"My hope is built on nothing less"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"0278=278\"<\/a>“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope<\/strong> through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3 ESV).<\/em><\/p>\n

“My hope<\/strong> is built on nothing less<\/em>
\n Than Jesus\u2019 blood and righteousness.<\/em>
\n I dare not trust the sweetest frame,<\/em>
\n But wholly lean on Jesus\u2019 Name” (Edward Mote).<\/em><\/p>\n

In the dictionary’s definition of the word “hope,” it describes three aspects (I have put this into my own words):<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Its basis.<\/strong> That which makes up the foundation for our expectation\u00a0that our great desire will be satisfied.<\/li>\n
  2. Its nature.<\/strong> That which describes the quality and strength of our future longing and its affect on us in the present.<\/li>\n
  3. Its object.<\/strong> That which is the focus of our expectation. This is the future something or someone that we focus our desire upon obtaining.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I think Edward Mote (1797-1874), the founding pastor of\u00a0Rehoboth Baptist Church in Horsham, West Sussex, England must have been contemplating these three aspects of hope when he penned the words to that great hymn, “My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less.” Published in 1837, this hymn became an instant classic.<\/p>\n

    Mote declared, “My hope is built” on Christ! Mote sees Christ’s work on the cross, his “blood and righteousness” as the foundation, the basis of our hope. \u00a0I agree. But I would further add that which the apostle Peter proclaimed, that our hope is built on Christ’s resurrection. In other words, the basis for Christian hope is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our hope is built on the historical reality of Christ’s work.<\/p>\n

    Mote says that this hope is not mere “trust” in a sweet “frame” of mind. No, it is based on the firm foundation of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. This also speaks to its nature. Christian hope is a “living hope” as Peter described it. Its quality lies in its connection to the living Lord Jesus, who abides in those who believe on him. This hope is not merely an optimistic or positive “frame” of mind, but a strong conviction that all is well and that all will be well because of the living Christ. As Mote wrote in verse three of his hymn, “When all around my soul gives way,\u00a0He then is all my Hope and Stay.”<\/p>\n

    Christ’s resurrection\u00a0is the basis of our hope. Christ’s abiding Spirit within us is the nature of our hope. And Christ’s return is the object of our hope. As Mote wrote in his final verse and chorus:<\/p>\n

    When He shall come with trumpet sound,
    \nOh may I then in Him be found.
    \nDressed in His righteousness alone,
    \nFaultless to stand before the throne.<\/p>\n

    On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
    \nAll other ground is sinking sand;
    \nAll other ground is sinking sand.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Christ is our living hope!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3 ESV). “My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus\u2019 blood and righteousness. I dare<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2061,1,2062],"tags":[2069,2034,2095,2070,2274,2052,2275,2085,2105],"location":[],"class_list":["post-2400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion","category-uncategorized","category-weblogs","tag-christ","tag-easter","tag-gary-combs","tag-god","tag-hope","tag-jesus","tag-living-hope","tag-lord","tag-resurrection"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2400"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5072,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400\/revisions\/5072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2400"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=2400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}