Included in the hope of God’s calling is the hope of the coming salvation of our soul (1 Pet. 1:5, 9). If we lose our soul today for the Lord’s sake, suffering in our soul for His testimony, we have the hope of receiving the salvation of our soul at the Lord’s coming. Today our soul is suffering, but when He comes, He will bring our soul into His enjoyment. This is the salvation of the soul mentioned in 1 Peter. However, if we save our soul today, caring for its enjoyment instead of for the Lord’s testimony, the Lord’s coming back will be a loss and a judgment to our soul. But if we are always willing to lose our soul for His testimony, then His coming back will bring salvation to our soul, salvation that will usher our soul into His enjoyment. This hope is determined by how we live today.
Another aspect of our hope is the kingly enjoyment with Christ in the millennium (Rev. 5:10; 2 Tim. 4:18; Matt. 25:21, 23). This is also related to how we live today. In the Gospel of Matthew the slothful slaves are put into outer darkness, and the faithful ones are brought into the enjoyment of the Lord. Thus, there will be chastisement for some and a positive reward for others. We all are Christians, but we shall not all be dealt with in the same way at the Lord’s coming. The way the Lord deals with us depends on how we live today. If we are faithful, we shall be rewarded with the Lord’s enjoyment for a thousand years. But if we are slothful, we shall be punished. Whether or not the millennium will be a hope to us is determined by our attitude today. We need to be normal Christians who are faithful to the Lord. Then the millennium will be our hope.
Finally, the hope of God’s calling includes the consummate enjoyment of Christ in the New Jerusalem with the universal and eternal blessings in the new heaven and new earth (Rev. 21:1-7; 22:1-5). Hallelujah for this hope! We all shall be in the New Jerusalem. But in order to get there, we need to ripen and mature. If we do not mature in this age, we shall have to mature in the next. Everyone enjoying the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth will be mature. Do not ask me how the Lord will make all of us mature. He knows how to do this and has a way to accomplish it, either in this age or in the next. I realize that the theology popular among Christians today does not recognize this fact. Most Christians say that as long as we have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, everything related to us will be all right in the next age. But the day is coming when many will realize that not everything is all right. Yes, we are saved for eternity, but we still need to be dealt with in order to mature. Therefore, I say once again that we need to reconsider our ways. Nevertheless, for all of us the New Jerusalem is our hope. Second Peter 3:13 says, “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
Without knowing the hope of God’s calling, we shall not be willing to drop the distracting things. But if we see that Christ is coming, that we shall be taken up, transfigured, and glorified, and that we can share in the Lord’s enjoyment in the millennium, we shall spontaneously drop all other things. Otherwise, not seeing what is coming, we shall be deceived by the things that are present. We need to be rescued by seeing each aspect of our hope. For this reason the Apostle Paul prayed that we here would know the hope of God’s calling. God’s calling includes not only selection, predestination, redemption, sealing, and pledging, but a splendid future. His calling is related not only to the past, but also to the future. What a marvelous future we have!