Summary
Romans 4:13 “The promise to Abraham and his seed, that he would inherit the world (literally: Cosmos) did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.”
According to Paul, God promised Abraham and his seed that he would inherit the universe.
That would include everything good, without any bad, for bad is not “a thing,” but more like the absence of a thing. That would include sex without infidelity, alcohol without a lack of self-control, Judah without pride, Lazarus (Eliezer) without shame, Adolph Hitler without animosity, rage and fear, and Jesus—all in Abraham’s bosom, I would suppose.
Abraham will inherit all things, and his seed will inherit all things with him.
Paul reveals that Jesus is his Seed and we are his seed.
So “all things” belong to God, Abraham, Jesus, you, and me. . . which means we must share all things because we want to share all things; for we’re all filled with faith, hope, and love. Heaven must be an ecstatic communion of all things in one symphony, one community, one body, bound together in inexpressible joy.
And, of course, we don’t believe it’s possible.
We don’t believe “The Promise,” and we’re terrified to hope.
The bigger the promise, the greater the hope and the potential for pain.
Hope can hurt; hope is like an empty space that contains just a seed of faith.
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,” wrote Solomon, “but a desire fulfilled (being filled) is a tree of life.”
God is always on time, so perhaps he doesn’t defer hope, but I defer hope.
God has commanded me to hope, and yet he’s also told me that I must not “want.”
“Want for nothing, for I am with you.” “The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want.”
I’m to hope for “green pastures” and “still waters” but to trust that the Shepherd is the Way who will lead me in time. But I often defer hope by abandoning the Way and so become lost.
Perhaps all sin is seizing control of hope, so instead of hoping that God will give the good, we steal the knowledge of the good, in order to take all good things and then are unable to inherit anything . . . for a time.
Right now, hundreds of millions, are preparing for war over a piece of land in the Middle East and “Christians” are joining that fight, all because they don’t believe the Promise: “All things are yours… you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:21-22).
The ancient Israelites refused to hope, became “wanton,” and were unable to inherit . . . for a time.
According to Paul, Abraham had faith, but as we saw last time, he also didn’t have faith and the faith he had must’ve been about the size of a seed. He impregnated, Hagar, his wife’s servant, for he must not have believed the Promise. He was wanton.
Yet, Paul writes, “In hope, he believed, against hope (perhaps false hope, that is, ‘wantonness’)… He didn’t weaken in faith when he considered his own body… and Sarah’s womb.”
Paul speaks as if there are two Abrahams: One that has faith, and one that doesn’t; One that inherits, and one that earns; one that hopes, and one that wants; one that’s true and one that’s false; one that believes ‘God is Salvation,’ and one that believes “Abe is salvation.”
And he speaks as if the true Abe is growing in the false Abe, like a baby in a womb.
Abrahams old body is just like Sarah’s old womb, and the Promise is the seed.
Abrahams body and Sarah’s womb were dead, but the seed is Life.
On Mt. Moriah, that is Mt. Calvary, every bit of wantonness, every bit of hope in his own devices, would’ve told Abraham to run from the Judgment of God. But in “hope against hope,” Abraham surrendered the promise and his ability to fulfill the promise and received everything back; he inherited Jesus and all things with him, including himself. He was born that day.
The Promise is to Abraham and to you.
On the Holy Mountain, the Promised Seed is “delivered up for our transgression” (our wantonness) and “raised for our justification.” (Romans 4:25)
The Tomb is a womb in the sanctuary of your soul.
The New, True, and Eternal You is born of the old, false, and temporal you.
Faith, Hope, and Love in you is the Judgment of God in you, that is, the Spirit of Jesus in you.
You are His Body; “all things are yours… you are Christ’s and Christ is Gods.”
It begins as a Seed of Faith implanted in you as a promise.
And it grows into an eternal communion of endless Love.
And it all happens through Hope.
Hope in God and you will discover that he has always been hoping in you.
A friend once had a vision in which she saw that God created her just as he created the universe—he made an empty space, spoke his word into that space, and so he creates all things and pronounces them “good;” he creates in Hope; “in this hope, we are saved (Romans 8:24).” Hope is space in our souls for an entire new creation.
When a woman gives birth, she labors in hope. But when the baby is born, she knows that she didn’t create the miracle that is her baby. And so, she isn’t proud; she’s grateful.
Romans 5: 3-5, “We boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. And hope will not disappoint us…”
Abraham never hoped for too much, he only hoped in the wrong way, which actually is no way… and yet even that wrong way becomes the Way, in time.
So, Hope for all things, and want for nothing, for at this moment God is giving you exactly what you need: Faith that Hopes for all things bound together and filled with LOVE.
In you he has planted an indestructible Seed.