Alien Nation

. . . remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Ephesians 2:12

Having No Hope – From the biblical perspective, there is no man without a country. If I am not a citizen of the commonwealth of Israel by faith, then I am a citizen of the Alien Nation. What’s the difference? A citizen of the Alien Nation is someone without hope and without God in the world. From the looks of things, there are a lot of citizens of the Alien Nation in this world.

“Having no hope” is a devastating remark. Sha’ul puts the emphasis on “hope.” “Hope not having,” reads the text. Elpida me echontes. Each word is worth considering. Elpis is the Greek noun that means desire for some good with an expectation of attaining it. Sha’ul tells us the citizens of the Alien Nation have no possibility of obtaining what they desire. Their dreams are shattered, evaporating before their eyes. Their lives are fruitless, performance without prosperous result. No matter what they do, they will fail to get what they want. Of course, citizens of the Alien Nation will strenuously object. “I have money. I have power. I have achieved my goals. I have wine, women and song.” Go read Ecclesiastes. It’s all havel havelim. Vanity! Wind! Worthless effort! Why? Because the only thing that really matters in life is peace with God. Unless that is the foundation of everything, all the rest is helpless hopelessness. Sha’ul is not evaluating life by the world’s standards. Of course, he knows all about shalom. He’s just like the rest of us. He would love to have health, wealth and happiness. But Yeshua HaMashiach changes things. The core of my existence is no longer the undomesticated and enslaving yetzer ha’ra. I am freed from myself.

Sha’ul uses the Greek negative me, not ou. There’s a reason for this. me is the conditional negative. It is “no” that is the result of actual circumstances, the experiential “no,” like “I will not do that today,” or “There is no change in the weather.” ou is the unconditional “no.” It means that there is never any other alternative. “2+2 is not 5,” and “Yeshua will not abandon those who hope in Him.” Do you see what Sha’ul is saying here? The citizens of the Alien Nation are without hope, but not forever. They are without hope as long as they remain strangers to God and separated from Israel. Their hopelessness is conditional. It can (and does) change. In the midst of hopelessness, there is a possibility for deliverance, but it won’t come without closing the gap. And that’s something no citizen of the Alien Nation can do.

Finally, there’s echo. It’s not just “to have.” It implies continuous possession. It is primarily about holding something in your hands. You’ve got it. It’s yours, and you’re going to keep it. But nothing that you accumulate under the banner of this world is yours to keep, is it? That’s the point of Ecclesiastes. You lose it all when the end comes. No matter what you do, it passes out of your hands. All those desires that you thought you had a reasonable expectation of retaining simply vanish with the grave. Qohelet, the author of Ecclesiastes, comes to the conclusion that what’s left is simply enjoying what you can – if you can. Qohelet suggests that even those moments are the gifts of God. You don’t have control of them either.

There are some things in life that you really can have. They are the things the Lord promises to His children, Israel. They are eternal because they are covenants from God. We can count on Him. All the rest is me (maybe) stuff.

Topical Index: hope, have, no, elpida, echontes, me, ou, Ephesians 2:12