THE STORY OF JESUS: Acts 28:17-22
“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?
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, may I be a link in the chain of hope that ties everything and everyone together in You!