Reveling in the Hope

40 Days of Prayer

Reveling in the Hope

"He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Luke 4:16-21 NIV

"Christ is not only a remedy for your weariness and trouble, but he will give you an abundance of the contrary, joy and delight. They, who come to Christ, do not only come to a resting place after they have been wandering in a wilderness, but they come to a banqueting house where they may rest, and where they may feast. They may cease from their former troubles and toils, and may enter upon a course of delights and spiritual joys. Christ not only delivers from fears of hell and of wrath, but he gives hopes of heaven, and the enjoyment of God's love." Jonathon Edwards, Safety, Fulness and Sweet Refreshment in Christ.

Many times our sole focus of our worship and discipleship is upon Christ as the remedy to sin. Remedy is an old-fashioned word which means treatment for a disease or a way of making something right. Jonathon Edwards uses the word 'remedy' because Christ is not just medicine which treats symptom for the human condition of sin, but rather he is the solution, the cure, and the restoration. Sin enslaves, corrupts, impoverishes, oppresses and separates us from God, but Jesus is the answer to our sickened state and the sacrificial fulfillment of the promises of God as prophesied by Isaiah.

However, Edwards' point does not stop there. Yes, Jesus' death and resurrection is the remedy that takes away our guilt and just deserved wrath, but He is also the reward through whom God gives in abundance - joy, delight, feasting, and reveling in the hope of our eternal enjoyment of His unfailing love. Jesus is not just the cure, He is the healer. He is not just the good shepherd who cares for the prisoner, He is the redeemer -- the One who sets us free!

May our daily discipleship in Christ be marked by the fruit of joy and delight in His amazing grace. May the display of our hope not just be as an answer from the torment of Hell, but as an invitation to His banquet feast.