Neurosis, the plague of this age, has resulted in the loss of hope. Neurosis could be described as a disorder characterized by anxiety, depression, or hypochondria. Surveys have shown that one out of four people suffer one of these symptoms. We live in a world where humanism has eroded the one thing humankind needs to survive: that of hope. Education has not bettered the world and the society we live in. Secular education has produced educated sinners. The great lie of evolution has reduced humankind to a dismal meaningless future of “Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.” This loss of hope breeds unimaginable evil. PROVERBS 29:18 18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
Martin Luther King had a dream that eventually changed America. On August 28, 1963 when more than two hundred and fifty thousand people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. for a massive civil rights march, Dr Martin Luther King Junior was introduced as “the moral leader of the Nation, the USA.” This civil rights leader, scholar and Baptist minister took the stand and began his famous “I have a dream” speech: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character. “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.” That man had a dream.
President Obama despite his anti-Christian beliefs and his leanings towards Islam, and his anti-Israel stance, swept into power simply because he offered the people hope. Hope of jobs, hope of security, and hope of a better medical system. Even though it was a false hope, the people voted for him.
In the natural, the future of this planet looks grim. Nevertheless we have a blessed hope, a hope of a new world ruled by Jesus, a true new age of peace, love, joy and security.
The gospel of the Kingdom of God is the only hope of this world and the last message to be preached, a message of hope birthing a new era.
Abraham was a dreamer; he lived in a world that had reached its zenith in culture, science and prosperity. He lived in a great city that was the envy of the then known world. When Abraham was called to follow the Lord, it required him to leave behind all that he had formerly known. His friends and relatives must have thought that he was insane. Babylon was one of the greatest wonders of the world. It had magnificent gardens, homes, and a powerful army. It was the place to live. Abraham left it all to wander around a wilderness for a mere dream, a vision of another city made without hands. No wonder he became known as “the father of our faith”, and a “friend of God”.
If we do not have a dream, a vision, a hope of a new world of exceeding wonder and glory we will perish in the midst of the coming great darkness that is about to envelope this world.
We must see with the eyes of our heart a bright and shining new world, a utopia of mind-blowing grandeur. Biblical hope is different to what we generally understand as hope. Biblical hope is something that is certain, nevertheless still future. Abraham faced many trials. His sojourn was not an easy one. He faced many difficulties and his faith was sorely tried. He made some mistakes, but he learned by these mistakes and never lost sight of his dream. Getting back on course after failure requires some of the greatest levels of faith. Biblical failure is not defined merely in the falling down, but in failing to get back up again, and thereby failing to continue running the race. HEBREWS 11:8–10 8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Like Abraham, we too must have a dream, a vision of a coming New World whose builder and maker is God.
The final battle is about to begin in earnest. The battle is over who will control this planet, and it is heating up. This fight is not against flesh and blood; it is against another kingdom–a spiritual kingdom–the kingdom of darkness. It is a battle over who will be lord over this earth: Jesus or the Antichrist.
Humans are involved in this battle but our responsibility is to raid the enemy’s camp and set free those who have been taken captive. Our weapons are not natural. They are spiritual and our secret weapon is love. When they know the truth and accept the truth it will set them free.
We must have a vision. We must see with the eyes of our heart a new world, one in which the enemy no longer has any rule, having been defeated.
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit described in the book of Joel is accompanied by dreams and visions. We need vision and faith to see the vision through.
We were told to hang on until the rapture when Jesus would come to rescue us from this sinful world. This of course is the opposite of what God has in mind for the end-time Church. We are here under the Lord to rescue the people of this world and to destroy the works of the devil.
DANIEL 7:18 But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.
In this final clash between two kingdoms, it is the saints of God, under the Lord, who win. We are not here waiting to be rescued; we are here to do the rescuing..