Hope For A Brighter Tomorrow
by Kay Arthur

During these challenging days do you wonder what your future holds? Do you wish for a little more joy? A little more hope for a brighter tomorrow? Or better still, do you wish for the quiet and sure confidence of a future that is not the fruit of your todays or yesterdays?

Have years of waiting for these things dragged on and on? Long years, seemingly never-ending years?

Oh, my dear friend, don't faint. Soon in the midst of the darkest of days, maybe even sooner than you think, your Day of Jubilee is coming-for the fullness of your redemption is yet to be experienced.

Your Kinsman-Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, will soon step to the throne of God and take the seven-sealed scroll from the hand of God Almighty as it tells us in Revelation 5:1-7. I believe that scroll is the title deed to the earth. And although the breaking of those seals will bring great calamity to the sons of disobedience who now inhabit the earth, this event will culminate in your total redemption and vindication!

Every unjust action, word, deed against your Lord and against you, as the Lord's anointed, will be brought into account. And all those who have scorned your Christ and your commitment to Him will acknowledge that God has loved you and will continue to love you for all of eternity. All this is seen for us in "picture form" in the responsibilities of the kinsman-redeemer-a blood relative-that's recorded in Leviticus, Numbers, and Ruth. We see the Old Testament shadow of the New Testament reality-a reality described for us in Revelation 5 through 22.

Let me share three awesome truths about your Kinsman-Redeemer!

Leviticus 25 describes the Year of Jubilee. Every fifty years those who had been sold into slavery could return to their families, and those who had lost the land they once owned would have it returned.

If you've ever felt like a slave to someone or something-you can imagine what it would be like to be free from that slavery. Or if you've ever lost your home or property because you couldn't pay a debt, you can imagine the hope this would bring! Your tears would be gone because the mistakes of your yesterdays-without their consequences-would be wiped away forever.

No wonder God called it a Year of Jubilee! The freedom they had lost and the land they had lost were at long last restored!

All this was a picture of what is promised when you receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Redeemer. And it was recorded in Romans 15:4 so that you might have hope-hope that can hold you through any dark night of your soul. It's a hope that is yours for the believing!

Thus, we have the first truth: Jesus, our Kinsman, redeemed us at Calvary. Revelation 1:5 tells us, He "released us from our sins by His blood." We are no longer slaves to sin. Sin does not have dominion over us. We've been purchased for God by God, and John 8:36 says: "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed."

Dear one, your Year of Jubilee came when you believed that the Lord Jesus Christ is God and received Him as your Savior.

But that's not all we have! Our Kinsman-Redeemer guarantees us that we will rule with Him over this world. Satan will no longer hold the position of the "prince of this world."

Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lamb of God, is about to break the seals of the title deed to the earth. He is about to get back what we lost through Adam in the Garden of Eden: dominion over this earth. Satan, the prince of this world, and his children of wrath are going to be defeated when Jesus Christ returns to rule as King of hings. Revelation assures us we will rule and reign with Him!

Stand strong in faith! Don't faint or lose hope in the day of adversity. There's more to the story of your redemption than just having your sins forgiven. Read the book of Revelation. It gives you the rest of the story-and it's glorious!

How crucial it is that you know and are secure in these truths. Difficult, trying days of testing are on the horizon. Yet whatever happens, we are not to fear.

Finally, our Kinsman-Redeemer is our blood avenger!

Life is sacred because man was made in God's image. Yet murder pollutes the land. In ancient Israel, the kinsman-redeemer acted as his deceased relative's blood avenger. The death penalty was instituted by God.

Satan was the one who plotted the death of Adam and Eve, and, thus, of all mankind. John 8:44 tells us he was a murderer from the beginning and is behind every murder since. Yes, Jesus will someday put Satan to death in the lake of fire.

You have a righteous and just God who will bring all this about in His perfect timing and way. So don't lose hope when it seems that the wicked go free and Satan moves forward unchecked.

Don't despair in the day of adversity! The night will be very dark, but joy comes in the morning. Remember, and don't faint.

Believe God, and live accordingly.

Determine to know your God and His Word-intimately! Take time to study God's Word, to be still, and know that He is God. We can help you find an inductive Bible study that will meet you wherever you are. Learn more at precept.org/Biblestudy.

Though others turn to their own ways, their own solutions, you live as the redeemed should live-for your redemption and your Redeemer draw nigh!

Read this passage in Romans 5:3-5. Read it over and over!

...knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Press on, don't lose heart, there is great hope for a brighter tomorrow!

Kay Arthur
Host, Precepts For Life
Co-CEO, Precept Ministries International

Wednesday, July 01, 2009