Ruins and Hope

Ruins and Hope

The streets are bare, cold and wide
In every corner, on every side.
Not a soul is seen anywhere
All looks like but a nightmare.

Ruins of castles huge and high
Ivy-grown walls tall and nigh
Cast-down rubble of mortar and clay
Which were once, but did not stay.

Not a bird sings in the shrivelled trees
Not a sound, no gentle breeze
Not a whisper, no living breath
All lies quiet as death.

The palace, a once-grand place
Lies still for countless decades
Dust covers the great banquet hall
Who would have thought of such a fall?

Until the King comes, all will be the same
The flowers will bloom at the glory of His Name
The birds will sing, the children will praise
The glory and wonders of His grace.

He will establish His throne here
His people will have no more need to fear
They will serve with joy in a thousand ways
And He will reign for endless days.

Many times I have thought about the condition of our home here on the earth. We don’t see much justice or relief to pain. Like the destitute imagery in the poem there is much sorrow and suffering all around us. Has it always been like this? Is there hope? These are the questions that I often ponder about. Scripture in 2 Corinthians 5:4 says “ For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.” It address our dramatic answers to some harrowing questions.

Has it always been the same?

No. It hasn’t. God created beauty. He admired and rejoiced in the work of His hands. But this
beauty was soon marred by the rebellious nature of man. Mankind disobeyed God and
dragged himself and all of creation down with him into complete darkness and ruin. Therefore, everywhere we turn we see shattered beauty, like the ruins of a majestic castle. The places where the feet of the King trod are now shrouded with the dust of time.

Can we even hope this will ever end?

Oh, Yes! The great promise of the Almighty is that He will come again. Christ will return. The first time He entered this world as a baby in a manger but He has promised that He will soon come again to restore order to darkness. But until then He has placed in us the light of His presence which brings life and hope. This is why Jesus said “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.” In this season of resurrection and hope, while we await the Creator of the cosmos who will wipe away every tear from our eye, we have the opportunity to bring hope and wipe the tears of others as well. Now that’s what I call ‘hope’!

– B. Yohan Varghese

“For the believer there is hope beyond the grave,
because Jesus Christ has opened the door to heaven
for us by His death and resurrection.”
-Billy Graham