My thoughts keep coming back to this hymn, by an unknown author, published in 1799 in Gospel Mag. Gadsby’s Hymns points us to Hebrews 6 and Titus 1 as the scriptural source for the text.
“The Christian’s Hope Can Never Fail”.
We travel through a barren land,
With dangers thick on every hand ;
But Jesus guides us through the vale;
The Christian’s hope can never fail.
Huge sorrows meet us as we go,
And devils aim our overthrow;
But vile infernals can’t prevail;
The Christian’s hope shall never fail.
Sometimes we’re tempted to despair
But Jesus makes us then his care;
Though numerous foes our souls assail,
The Christian’s hope shall never fail.
We trust upon the sacred word –
The oath and promise of our Lord;
And safely through each tempest sail;
The Christian’s hope shall never fail.
What great assurances that our hope in Christ is not hope as we usually use the word, but is actually a sure thing!
For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 6:13-20, ESV)
for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began (Titus 1:1-2, ESV)
