Prisoners Of Hope

“Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily.’” (Isaiah 28:16 NKJV)

Now, Jesus talked about Himself as that sure foundation for all who believe.

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24-27 NKJV)

And the Apostle Paul says in speaking about the good news of Jesus Christ, that he was laying a foundation that no one, or nothing else could take the place of.

“According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. (1 Corinthians 3:10 NKJV)

And then in the very next verse he defined that foundation as no one less than Jesus Christ.

“For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:11 NKJV)

Only a relationship with Jesus Christ can lay the foundation that we can truly place the fullness of our hope upon, and that is the hope we have not only for this life but eternal life as well, that, along with the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.

With Paul making this statement on how he laid a sure foundation through his witness of Jesus Christ leads me to the last point.

Message of Our Hope – The Gospel

The gospel, or the good news of Jesus Christ is filled with the knowledge and love of God towards us, but it is also full of hope.

The Apostle Paul said how that God desires to present us holy and blameless in His sight telling us of our need to continue steadfastly in the faith being firmly grounded in “the hope of the gospel.” (Colossians 1:23 NKJV)

The Apostle Peter says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3 NKJV)

And so, the gospel message of Jesus Christ reveals to us the great and living hope that is ours through faith in Jesus’s death upon the cross and His resurrection from the dead.

The gospel, therefore, is filled with hope, and is designed to not only give us hope, but inspire us with hope.

Conclusion

Therefore, we are held captive, not out of that which we have done, but because of our hope in Jesus as that place of refuge, that strong fortress. Therefore, it is to Jesus that we run in our time of need to find that hope to see us through our existence here on earth until that day that we are before Him in heaven.

It is to Jesus that we run, and He will pull us out of the waterless pit, filled with the miry clay of this world and into the glorious light of His everlasting love.

And this is where we move back to what we talked about at the start of the year, and that is how the Cities of Refuge resemble and speak of Jesus as our place of refuge.