PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Acts 28:17-22
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain.” (Acts 28:20)
The people of Israel were a people of hope.
From their origins as oppressed slaves, they hoped for freedom, land, peace and prosperity.
They had moments they were close, but again and again it slipped from their hands.
Yet they trusted God’s promise, that ONE DAY a Messiah would come to set things right.
Paul believes that Jesus is the fulfillment of all Israel’s hope.
Jesus is the appointed and anointed King, come to restore God’s kingdom.
What Paul doesn’t mention is that it was Israel’s leaders that put him in chains.
The people of the promise fail to see the fulfillment of that promise.
As Jesus followers we are now bearers of hope and the promise.
But are we truly a people of hope, and is the world experiencing hope through us?
Or are we chaining this hope, keeping it to ourselves, or keeping other’s out?
We are not promoters of religion, or church, or our own denominational beliefs.
We are part of God’s hope-chain, promoting Jesus as the anchor of hope!
Am I a chain that holds hope back, or a chain that links people to hope?
PRAYER
Lord, may I be a link in the chain of hope that ties everything and everyone together in you!
It was Israel the nation chosen by God by whom all nations would be blessed – the coming of the Messiah. That is what Paul is referring to: ” It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain.” The hope of a messiah – a Saviour! Jews and Christians share that hope. For Christians Jesus has come – for Jews who have rejected Jesus, they are still waiting. We are people of ‘living hope’ – because Jesus lives and gave us the HS- we have life and a companion in the Spirit who walks with us – draws us closer and helps us to be more like our mentor – Jesus! Jesus is my source of hope and strength each day! I am a messenger of that hope. A quote from From Barnes, Body and Soul, p. 65: “If Jesus Christ is our only high priest, then it does not fall to us to decide whether we want to be merciful or whether the church should forgive sins. We are anointed only to announce the forgiveness granted by the high priest. We add nothing to our salvation by burning ourselves out in ministry and mission. We participate in Christ’s anointing by confessing the sufficiency of his one sacrifice, living in the freedom it offers, and sharing its blessing with others. Human efforts at ministry can save no one. Saving the world is ultimately Christ’s work, not ours.” I have the privilege of being a messenger of hope!