The One Hope
In order to obtain the unity for which Christ prayed and when "endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" we preach: "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." (Eph. 4:3-6).
One New Man
"There is one body." "There is but one body" (1 Cor. 12:24). That one body is "one new man." It is made up of both Jews and Gentiles who have been converted to Christ. "For He is our peace, who made both one, and brake down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; that he might create in Himself of the two one new man, so making peace; and might reconcile them both in one body unto God through the cross, having slain the enmity thereby." (Eph. 2:14-16). This one new man, this one body, has but one head. Christ is "head over all things to the church, which is His body." (Eph. 1:22, 23).
One Man-One Hope
Before the Ephesians were converted to Christ, they were without hope (Eph. 2:12). A Jew without Christ, or a Gentile without Christ, is without hope. For hope is in Christ (Eph. 1:12 R. V. and 1 Cor. 15:19). "And ye are called in one hope of your calling." (Eph. 4:4). One hope for the one new man, for this one new man has but one mind. "Be of the same mind." (1 Cor. 1:10). Two hopes would be doubled minded, "a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." (Jas. 1:8). If you think that the Jew out of Christ has any hope at all, you are wrong, for hope is in Christ, and "he that believeth not shall be damned." If you think that the Jew in Christ has one hope while the Gentile in Christ has a different hope, you are wrong, for this one new man, made of both Jews and Gentiles, was "called in one hope of your calling." If the hope of Israel is to "go to Palestine when Christ comes and live with Christ on earth there for a thousand years, then it must be the hope of the Gentiles to do so too, for there is but one hope. If you say that there is a hope of Israel and another hope for the Gentiles, you make two hopes. The Bible says there is "one hope." We say with James "Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded." (Jas. 4:8). There are no more hopes than bodies, no more bodies than Spirits, no more Spirits than Lord's, no more Lords than Gods and Fathers. No more hopes than faiths. No more hopes than baptisms. There is but one hope.
The premillennialists talk of more than one hope. Do they are not fellowship with many bodies also? Do they not thus allow that there are many baptisms? And do they not, thereby accept the claims of the denominations that there are many faiths? No wonder James said that a double minded man" is "unstable in all his ways." When they claim that there are at least two hopes, is it strange that they often claim to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, while contending for water baptism. I would no sooner say that there are two hopes than I would that there are two baptisms.
Anchored To Heaven By Hope
What is the "one hope?" If the one hope is to go to Palestine and live with Christ a thousand years on earth, after He comes and before the judgment, I find myself unable to give a reason for it. That is not the hope. The scriptures fix the object of our hope. They locate the anchor of our hope. The anchor of the church is above us and not east or west or north or south of us, and certainly not below us. Our hope is anchored in heaven. "God, being minded to show more abundantly unto the heirs of the promise the immutability of His counsel, interposed with an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us: which we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and entering into that which is within the veil; wither as a forerunner Jesus entered for us." (Heb. 6:17-20). The promise of God to Abraham involved our hope. The hope is anchored in heaven where Jesus entered within the veil. The promise to Abraham therefore had to do with our going to heaven, and not to Jerusalem. We all know where Jesus went when He entered within the veil: He went to heaven. That which anchors my soul and by which I am encouraged is the hope to go there where He is. Set your affections on things above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Pet. 1:3-5): We hope for an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled and that fades not away. It is reserved in heaven for those who have been saved by the power of, God (the gospel); and who are kept by the power of God (the gospel) through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed at the last day. Heaven is where our hope is anchored.
Jesus said, while standing in Jerusalem, "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if
I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." (John 14:2-3): Where did Jesus go to prepare a place? He went to heaven. He was in Jerusalem when He made this promise. He was not talking about preparing that City as a place where they might be with Him. Again, and in Jerusalem, Jesus said to the Jews, "I go away, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sin: whither I go, ye cannot come." (John 8:21). There is no hope for any one who does not believe and obey Christ. There is but one hope for all who do. That hope is to go to heaven and be with God and Christ and all the redeemed of all the ages. Where Was Its Shadow
The tabernacle of the Old Testament was a type of the church and of heaven. (See Heb. 9). The Holy Place foreshadowed the church. The Most Holy Place: typified heav en itself. Jesus was the great High Priest entered as a forerunner within the veil into the Holy of Holies.
Now, we are told by the premillennialists, that the church was not in the original plan of God. That a kingdom of Christ on earth was His plan, promise and prediction. How then could the tabernacle have been the type of the church for 1500 years if the church was not then intended ever to be? How could it have been the shadow of the church, when the church was not intended' ever to exist? And, if there is to be a millennial reign between the church age and heaven, where is its shadow in the type? Will the premillennialists tell us that it was foreshadowed by the thin veil between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place? Guess they will call in the "then" stretchers who have been overworked on 1 Cor. 15:22-24.