Hope in the Face of Death
“…waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us…” (Titus 2:13-14)
There’s a phrase that came into fashion in the late 1800s: “That’s the gospel truth!” This idiom was originally used centuries earlier in reference to Biblical truths. Since the 1800s, it has taken on a broader meaning to encompass all matters of indisputable truth. The teenager protests, “I wore a seatbelt while driving with my friends, and that’s the gospel truth.” The employee declares, “I worked an honest 8 hours from home, and that’s the gospel truth”. With such a broad meaning being applied to the phrase, “gospel truth”, one must pause and ask what is the actual substance of “gospel truth” as it relates to the Bible? The book of Titus holds the answer and it is glorious indeed!
“Gospel truth” is all about the hope of eternal life. In the opening verses of Titus, Paul emphasizes that his apostolic mission is grounded in the “knowledge of the truth...in hope of eternal life” (Titus 1:1-2). This is good news indeed. Death is the great crisis of the human race – it is the great tragedy at the heart of human existence. We all go through seasons in life when we can almost forget about death. And culture has been very good at ignoring or sanitizing the problem of death. We have extended life through wealth and healthcare and we have largely hidden the agonies of death from public view. But the ongoing global pandemic has brought home the problem of death in a fresh way to a new generation that never lived through a world war. Clearly, we cannot ignore or avoid death. To see loving relationships severed by the grave is agonizing. To see the beauty and lifetime of experience of a loved one snuffed out in a moment is all wrong. The Bible affirms that death is truly wrong. Death is the result of sin and it is not how God made the world. God created us to live and not to die. Is there any hope in the face of death? The answer is a resounding “Yes!”
Titus 1 tells us that the apostle Paul was sent out on a mission to proclaim a message that gives hope of eternal life. That’s what drove him – that’s what fired his passion. And this hope is at the core of all true gospel proclamation: the promise that those who believe in Jesus will have eternal life. Indeed, the grave is not the end. Jesus himself came and entered into the mess of this world and submitted Himself to death so that He might conquer death. He faced death for us – He faced the judgment we deserve for our sin – and He went down to the grave. But He did not stay there – He rose again in victory over the grave. The promise of God is that all who believe in Jesus will share in that victory – will share in His resurrection – and be ushered into eternal life. Now that is Gospel hope. That is apostolic truth.
Be encouraged today, if you have placed your faith in Christ, you need not fear death. Death has lost its sting. Is this the gospel you believe? Is this the hope in which you share? The Apostle Paul was captivated by this truth and exclaimed in Titus 3: “ But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us…so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” May this hope of eternal life fill you with peace and joy today.