The God of All Hope
Dearly beloved, Christ is coming! Only he can and will deliver us, the heavenly realm, and the earth from the bondage that exists today.
We have the first fruits of the spirit, the new birth spirit. Everyone who confesses Jesus as Lord and believes that God raised him from the dead is sealed for eternal life by this spirit of sonship. The spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in us. We are God’s habitations by the spirit.
When the Father gives Christ the command, he will return for us and he will give us glorious new bodies fashioned like his glorious body. Today our bodies are mortal, meaning they are subject to death because of the presence of sin. Our new bodies will not have the presence of sin in them; they will not be subject to death, nor will they will not be corruptible.
Beloved, we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. The sufferings of this present time are not comparable with the glory that is to be revealed to us!
In fact, the eager expectation of the creation waits for the revelation of the sons of God, because the creation was subjected to futility, not voluntarily but by Him Who subjected it upon a hope that the creation itself should also be freed from the bondage of corruption to the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
The whole creation groans together and travels together [as in childbirth] until now. Not only does it, but even we ourselves who have the first fruit, which is the spirit, groan within ourselves, waiting for the inheritance of sonship, that is, the redemption of the body. In fact, we were saved unto hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. Why would anyone hope for that which he sees?
On the other hand, if we hope for that which we do not see, then we wait for it with patience. Beloved, the light afflictions we face today, which are but for a moment, work for us a far, far more exceeding and eternal heavy weight of glory!
Faint not! He that began a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. His Word is true and faithful. He is faithful that promised, and He will make all things new as He has spoken! There will not be any more death, crying, sorrow, or pain: for the former things will pass away
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Dearly beloved of God, it will take God the whole of eternity to display the exceeding riches of His grace to us in Christ and He will do it with His loving kindness and tender mercies as our Father.
Until the day we see our Lord face to face and he changes us to be like him, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus our Lord, and look to Him Who called you to be your sufficiency. He is the One that determined His throne to be a throne of grace so that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Beloved, He called us to obtain the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ – nothing less. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory! When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory!
Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ; not tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword! Nothing in the realms of life or death, nothing in the spiritual realm, nothing in the dimension of time, nothing in the dimension of space; no created thing can separate us from His love for us. We are more than conquerors through Him that loves us and nothing will ever separate us from His love for us, beloved; not now - not ever!