Prisoners of Hope (4)The Eternal Hope

Youth and Hope

Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also

will rest in hope. Ps 19:6

For You are my hope, O Lord GOD; You are my trust from my

youth. Ps 71:5

Points covered in this talk

1) Introduction : Out of Time and Place

2) An Orthodox View on Eschatology

3) The Eternal Hope

4) The age to come has started

5) No longer aliens

6) Applications

Real hope :Out of Time and Place

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John……..  I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, 11 saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and , “ What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia…

Rev 1:1,10

An Orthodox View on Eschatology

Eschatology is the area of theology that deals with the ‘last things’, the ‘eschata’. Unfortunately, the ‘last

things’ has come to be viewed in very narrow terms: the antichrist, judgment day, heaven and hell. But as an area of theology it is much more profound than

this. It is unfortunate that eschatology is often viewed purely in terms of hell and judgment - when ultimately it is positive: it is, after all, the

fulfillment of God’s promises and as such, it is what all Christians are to look forward to.

The Eternal Hope

I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to

come. Amen.

We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age

to come. Amen.

The age to come has started

The Church is, in the words of Fr George Florovsky, “the image of eternity in time”. Thus it lives both in this age and in the age to come. The "eschatological" dimension of the

Church begins with Christ's Resurrection. This was the beginning of the end. The early Christians spoke of their

living in "the last days", not because they simply got it wrong, but because they understood that the age to come had

already broken through in this present age because Christ

had already raised human nature into the heights of heaven by His Resurrection and Ascension, and promised to

return in glory. 

David’s prayer : we are aliens

For we are aliens and pilgrims before You, As

were all our fathers; Our days on earth are as a shadow, And without

hope. 1 Chr 29:15

St Paul : No longer aliens

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and

foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household

of God. Eph 2:19

Prisoner of Jesus Christ

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles 2 if indeed you

have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, Eph 3:1,2

My Fortress

For You are my rock and my fortress;

Therefore, for Your name’s sake, Lead me and guide me. Ps 31:3

Applications1) Our past hinders us

2) Our present is not joyful

3) Our near future is vague

4) What about your eternal future ?

5) Resize your past, present and near future to your eternal future

Confession and Bi Oyek

Given for us for salvation (present) , remission of sins (past)

and eternal life (Future) to those who partake of him. I believe, I

believe, I believe that this is so in truth. Amen.

The Bread of life, which came down for us from heaven, has given life to

the world. Piwik `nte `pwnq

St. John Chrysostom "Homilies on the Treachery of Judas" 1,6; d. 407 A.D

It is not the power of man which makes what is put before us the Body and Blood of Christ, but the power of Christ Himself who was crucified for us. The priest standing there in

the place of Christ says these words but their power and grace are

from God. 'This is My Body,' he says, and these words transform what lies

before him.

St Gregory of NyssaThe Great Catechetical oration 37

For as the admixture of a poisonous liquid with a

wholesome one the whole drought is deprived of its deadly effect, so too the immortal body, by being

within that which receives it, changed the whole into

its own nature.