What is the blessed hope (Titus 2:13)?

The one article given to the two objects brackets them together, not at all as if they are identical, but as here expressly associated to convey the complex and combined outlook. "The blessed hope" is that which alone can satisfy the heart; it is to be in the presence of Christ on high, changed at His coming into His likeness and with Him for ever. "The appearing of the" divine "glory" is bound up with it, and follows in due time, as that display or the divine manifestation in power, which our renewed souls cannot but desire to the utter exclusion of moral and physical evil and of Satan's guileful energy. It is the Lord Jesus Who introduces the world-kingdom of the Lord and of His Anointed (Rev. 11:15). As He brought the grace of God here below, so will He bring the glory to appear in His day. He it is who is called "the great God" as well as "our Saviour" lest we might forget His essential nature, when He emptied Himself to become a bondman, and humbled Himself to the death of the cross, in accomplishment of the infinite devotedness of His love in redemption to God's glory. He is no little God, as Arians feigned, but our great God and Saviour.

But also, it presents a future prospect of immeasurable blessing, to which the believer looks forward with absolutely assured anticipation. "That blessed hope" is the coming of the Lord Jesus for His saints, that which therefore is unmixed blessing. "The appearing of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ" is His later manifestation to all the world in power and great glory. To many this will be blessing; but to many others solemn judgment.

And grace has made us expectant, the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost has given us a hope of which we are not ashamed. We are “LOOKING FOR THAT BLESSED HOPE, AND GLORIOUS APPEARING OF OUR GREAT GOD AND OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.” The blessed hope is the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ, to fulfil His own word, "I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am there ye may be also .” There are those who teach, that only those who are faithful and watching, will be taken when the Lord fulfils this word; they insist on what is called a “partial rapture” which will be a reward for faithfulness and labour. If that were so—which, thank God, it is not—this hope would no longer be A BLESSED HOPE; for who of us would care to lay his hand upon his heart and say, “I am one of the faithful”? If we have a true sense of our own frailty we confess that we are unprofitable servants, but this hope does not depend upon what we are but upon what God is; it has been given to us by the grace of God, IT IS ALL GRACE; but "to him that worketh the reward is not reckoned of grace but of debt .” is a blessed hope, not because it is acquired by fulfilled responsibility but because it has been set before us by sovereign grace.

And grace has made us expectant, the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost has given us a hope of which we are not ashamed. We are "LOOKING FOR THAT BLESSED HOPE, AND GLORIOUS APPEARING OF OUR GREAT GOD AND OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST." The blessed hope is the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ, to fulfil His own word, "I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am there ye may be also." There are those who teach, that only those who are faithful and watching, will be taken when the Lord fulfils this word; they insist on what is called a "partial rapture" which will be a reward for faithfulness and labour. If that were so—which, thank God, it is not—this hope would no longer be A BLESSED HOPE; for who of us would care to lay his hand upon his heart and say, "I am one of the faithful"? If we have a true sense of our own frailty we confess that we are unprofitable servants, but this hope does not depend upon what we are but upon what God is; it has been given to us by the grace of God, IT IS ALL GRACE; but "to him that works the reward is not reckoned of grace but of debt." is a blessed hope, not because it is acquired by fulfilled responsibility but because it has been set before us by sovereign grace.

This passage really contains a summary of Christianity, and, as may be readily seen, it is introduced here to enforce the previous exhortations - "the things which become sound doctrine." These concern the conduct of the aged men, the aged women, the young women, the young men, and the servants, the object being, though only given in connection with the last class, "that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things." This forms the transition to our scripture, as shown by the language used: "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation for all men" (we give the more approved rendering) "hath appeared," etc. In verse 13 a change in the translation is also necessary; it should read, "Looking for the blessed hope, and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ." There are then two appearings: grace has appeared, and the glory of our blessed Lord will appear, and it is between these two appearings that the exhibition of true and practical Christianity is to be made by those who have been brought into the possession of grace. No doubt the appearing of grace began with the incarnation of our Lord; it was seen in the whole of His life, for God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself; it was declared in the cross, for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son; and it has been continued ever since in the publication of the glad tidings of the gospel. It brings salvation for those whose hearts are open to receive it, and then it begins to teach them (v. 12). It should be said that the word "teach" here is not the same as "doctrine" (teaching) in verses 1 - 10. The word in verse 12 is often rendered "disciplining," and the reason for the change is that the character of the life enjoined is seldom displayed, excepting through discipline. Those then who are the subjects of grace are taught to deny ungodliness or impiety, everything that savours of indifference or opposition to God, and also worldly lusts, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. (1 John 2) They should, moreover, live "soberly," with self-restraint and chastened, subdued spirits; "righteously," having regard to what is due to one's neighbour, indeed to all men; and "godly," walking before God in humble dependence, confidence, and subjection to His will. Then, while so living, the attitude to be maintained is that of constantly looking for the blessed hope, and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Believers are caught up to meet Christ before the appearing; only, when in responsibility, the appearing of Christ is always the goal, because that is the time of the vindication of His own rights and claims, and of the displayed recompense of His people. (See 1 Thess. 4 and 2 Thess. 1) Next, the apostle leads us back to the death of Christ, and to His object in His death as furnishing an all-powerful motive to a holy life. The One who will soon appear in glory is the One who gave Himself for us, thus claiming our devotedness by the revelation in His death on our behalf of all His love, and in that death His object was to redeem us from all iniquity, and to purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. What an appeal to our hearts! May we all have the opened ear to hear it, that, constrained by His mighty love, we may seek grace to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

This is to be the character of our walk amid the seductions of this age; and, moreover, we have to maintain the attitude of expectation, "looking for that blessed hope," etc. The coming of Christ for His people is not found in these personal epistles, nor ever indeed when the believer is regarded as in service or under responsibility. The appearing of Christ is then the goal. (See 1 Tim. 6:13-15.) It is just possible, however, that in "the blessed hope" there is a hint of the coming before the reference to the displayed glory. If not this, it directs our attention to the truth contained in 1 John 3:2 — to our being like Christ, when we see Him as He is. The words, "Our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ," from their arrangement in the original, may, and without question do, refer to the same Person; that is, it is not God and the Saviour Jesus Christ, but rather He who will appear in glory is our great God as well as our Saviour Jesus Christ. What a presentation of the dignity of His person; yea, of His Deity! And what a glorious event it is that we await!

Here is a converted Cretian. This wild beast of a man is thoroughly tamed and now plods on serving his master in a sober, righteous and godly way. But suppose he had no prospect! Life to him might then wear a very drab aspect. But grace teaches him to lift up his eyes and look for the approaching glory; the glory being that of "our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ." The glory will be the fruition of all the hopes that grace has awakened. It may well be that by, "the blessed hope" the Apostle indicated the coming of the Lord for His saints, of which he writes to the Thessalonians in his first epistle (1 Thess. 4:15-17), and if so we have both His coming for and His coming with His saints set before us as our hope in verse 13.

It is the object before us which forms our character. The Christian object is the Lord in glory; we may say of it in this respect what David said of Goliath's sword, "There is none like it." Had it not done execution on him that had the power of death, that is, the devil? The essential thing for the soul's salvation undoubtedly is Christ and His work for us received in faith. But if the true hope be lacking to the believer, the blank even with that is irreparable. For the fact is so, even if energy of faith and love may do much to hinder the wiles of Satan; who would insinuate false hopes under fair pleas as a substitute for the "one hope" delivered to the saints. As Christ is the proper object of faith, and as the Spirit forms us practically by our beholding Him risen for us and in heavenly glory, thus transformed into the same image from glory to glory (as we read in 2 Cor. 3), so the right and divinely given object of hope is the coming of Christ to receive us to Himself.

The verse which follows opens this further: "If the fall (paraptoma) of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness?" The transgression of Israel has opened the treasures of Divine mercy to the world. The Gentiles are enriched by the diminishing of the now disowned seed of Abraham. But if so, he argues, how much rather will these results of blessing flow from their restoration; from the re-opening and filling with the fulness of blessing the channel through which, as we have seen above, the eventual enrichment of Divine blessing is to overspread the nations. The force of the apostle's à fortiori reasoning arises from this, that the present dispensation of Gentile grace is limited in its effects, and most precarious as to its continuance. It is the undefined duration of Divine long-suffering which alone postpones the second advent, in glory, of the Lord Jesus, whose coming will be for judgment upon that which in His absence has had the witness of His name. The present dispensation of grace to the Gentiles is administered by those, the urgency of whose persuasion, as ambassadors of Christ, is to induce men to escape out of a world already condemned by the rejection of the Son of God, and to flee for refuge to that Name which is now preached for salvation to every creature under heaven. The descent from heaven of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 4:15-18) to accomplish the salvation of His Church by the redemption, in power, of their bodies of corruption, has been from the day of His ascension the hope and promise of them that believe (Acts 11). While the Church stood fast in its unity, its attitude was patient waiting for Christ. To the isolated Christian, who may find himself in the last days of apostasy and ruin, the same blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and Saviour is ministered by the Holy Ghost as the sustaining power of his faith and patience. On the other hand, when Israel, instead of being, as now, "an empty vine" (Hosea 10:1), shall have begun to blossom and bud, the dew of that blessing which shall lie upon his branch will be the same saving knowledge of Christ in redemption which is now the life of the quickened believer in His name.

In Titus 2:11-13, we again have two appearings brought before us. In verse 11 we read, "the grace of God … has appeared"; and in verse 13 believers are said to be "looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ". Thus we have the appearing of grace, and the appearing of glory. The glory is going to appear where the grace appeared. Grace leads to glory. This passage does not speak of the believer appearing in glory in heaven; but of the glory appearing on earth. At the present it is the glory of man, such as it is, that appears: in yet a little while it will be the glory of God. Grace brings to us salvation. Being saved, grace teaches us how to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in view of the coming glory. The appearing of the glory of Christ is to govern the life.