The Answer for My Hope

Okay, here are a couple of thoughts I’ve had regarding how we might answer one who has been in this situation, particularly those who suffer such mass atrocities as the Holocaust…

Exodus Account
If we look back at Scripture, we see God’s promises made and fulfilled throughout. We see his rescuing hand all over the place. We see his people in distress and persecuted, but he always delivers them. If we look at the Exodus account as an example, we see the Israelites persecuted at the hands of the Egyptians.

We see God hardening Pharaoh’s heart resulting in Pharaoh’s refusal to let the people go and his harsh treatment of them while they are still in captivity (see Exodus 4:21; 7:3-4; 9:12; 10:1-2; 10:20; 10:27; 14:8; 14:17-18).

Why did God do this?
See Exodus 10:1-2 “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you [the Israelites] may know that I am the Lord.’”

Now check out Exodus 14:30-31 “Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.”

Read Exodus 15 for their song to glorify the Lord.

Awesome!!!! It is true that MANY individual Israelites and MANY individual Egyptians were killed during the whole ordeal. But what was the purpose in the end? To show BOTH the Israelites and the Egyptians that God is Lord. So what can we glean from Exodus 14:30-31? Here’s what I understand… that there were still some Israelites who didn’t believe until this point—and God demonstrated his power in such a way that they could not help but break and finally believe him. He did create circumstances that allowed for the death of many Israelites, but in the end he saved the rest so that they would believe and trust in him. He did this so that they would understand that when he made promises, he would keep them. They were to tell their offspring all about these things so that when hard times came, they would look to the Lord—their only hope--for deliverance.

Applications
So, with regard to the modern-day survivor, it seems like it might be helpful to cover the following topics….

• In the OT, God made promises and kept them
• The OT promise of the Messiah has been kept and has been fulfilled. (It would be cool to provide a list of OT prophesies fulfilled in Christ showing the OT scripture reference and the NT fulfillment reference—there’s a really great one in the MacArthur Study Bible, but they can be found in many other places as well
• Read the book of John, highlighting the signs of Jesus and the great revelation that he is indeed the Son of God, the Messiah. It would also be key to emphasize how one is saved—ONLY by believing in Jesus.
• A discussion of the assurance we have in God’s goodness and his ultimate wisdom no matter how hard our circumstances are—if we are believers. We can use Paul as an example. While the Israelites were still waiting for the Messiah—as are the Jews—Paul understood the truth of Jesus as the Messiah and was able to trust all the more in the fact that SIN HAS ALREADY BEEN CONQUERED, and we can rest assured that the Lord will vindicate those who are his people. If a Holocaust survivor later came to understand the glory of God IN JESUS, he could then pass this on and provide this has helpful encouragement for others who may be struggling with hard times. After all, the Lord is our ever-present help in trouble.
• A discussion of the sovereignty and ultimate and complete wisdom of God. He is in control at all times and he is also completely and supremely wise. There is no one who is wiser than God—even the Jews would attest to this statement. The Biblical account is full of references where God uses all sorts of difficult situations, even leading to many deaths, to demonstrate his power, glory, might, and ultimate worthiness of our praise. No matter what, everything that happens is happening in order to ultimately glorify God.
• Draw parallels between their story and that of the Israelites in the Exodus account. For example, Jews during the Holocaust were enslaved, persecuted, tortured, killed, etc. If they survived all this and were freed, it is crucial to help them see that God orchestrated all of these events. Admittedly, it seems difficult to understand that God could have hardened Hitler’s heart just as he hardened Pharaoh’s heart, but because we know that God is completely sovereign over all and never allows anything to happen that will not bring him the greatest glory in the end, we can trust that his wisdom is behind even these terrible acts. This is where it becomes important to focus on the great accounts of faith—possibly using Hebrews 11 as a platform for demonstrating what it means to have faith even when it seems ridiculous or even when it seems like God cannot possibly be good.

There are plenty of other ways we could discuss this with a survivor of such atrocities, but these are just a few that I came up with and some of the scripture I thought of to help in the endeavor. My brother is still in Sudan, but when he gets back in the states, I’m going to ask him what other examples would be helpful, seeing as how he’s had to have these very discussions countless times with those who have been persecuted and have watched their loved ones die in mass numbers all around them.

In the end, it seems like no matter whether or not someone is a Christian, the truth is the same, and it is the most comforting thing a person can hear. The truth is that:

• God is in complete control;
• He is ultimately out to bring himself the glory which is due him because he is the only one who is worthy;
• He is a faithful, promise-making and promise-keeping God;
• He is entirely good and wise and purposeful in all he does;
• heaven and hell are both real places, and we will all go to one or the other at the end of this life;
• the path to heaven is narrow, but he has promised to redeem those he calls his own;
• everything that happens must, therefore, be part of his plan for the unfolding of redemptive history;
• He has sent his Son as the Messiah;
• Jesus was born so that he could successfully and perfectly endure every type of temptation and suffering we endure as humans, sacrificed on the cross to take the punishment for all our sins, and rose again to conquer death and the power of sin in an amazing act of grace that saves all who believe;
• and, as Paul writes in Philippians 3, it’s worth losing it all if it means we end up coming into a relationship with Christ.
• Why? Because if we understand the glory of God and honor him as a promise-keeper who designs and perfectly carries out his plan of redemption, and if we believe the Gospel message, we will be glorified in the end with Christ. No matter what it takes to get our attention, isn’t that worth it?

Philippians 3:7-11 (ESV)
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith- 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Personal Note
I have to tell you all that, as I was searching the scriptures tonight and putting my thoughts together, I just couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with joy in the Lord. I mean, how amazing his His Word to us? If we were unable to put the scriptures together and read the whole story as one big story, it might not make sense and we would be left with many questions. But in the end, we have all the answers we need right here, and it’s AMAZING!!!! If we question God’s sovereignty or the fact that ALL THINGS work together to bring him glory in the end, then things like the Holocaust can’t possibly make sense because they wouldn’t seem to fit into the picture. But when we can read the entire scripture and understand the whole story of redemptive history, we can sit and marvel at the glorious things that the Lord has done and continues to do. Even if we are one day victims of some atrocity that is right up there with the Holocaust, we can have hope. And if we have the scripture hidden in our hearts, even if we’re in a dark dungeon all alone, we’ll still have hope—and we’ll have a reason for the hope that we profess. Let’s not take for granted the great gift of the scripture and the great privilege it is to have such ready access to read and study it here in our country.

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So, here’s another question… What if you were talking to one of the Nazis who persecuted people like Elie Wiesel? What would you say to him? Would this be easier or more difficult than speaking to a Holocaust survivor about the Lord? Why?