Titus 2:13 (a) — Gospel Train

… while we wait for the blessed hope …

Summary: Waiting for heaven is a bit like waiting at a train station. We are hoping for something that has yet to happen. 

This passage presents a challenge. For me, it represents the most difficult topic I have to write about. Why? Because it deals with the subject of salvation. 

Some people are prone to believing that we can know we are saved. After all, we have God’s assurance of salvation in his Word. Yet here, Paul says we are waiting for a hope. Can both be true? 

The short answer is “Yes,” they can both be true. We can have the assurance of salvation, and at the same time, we can wait for the hope of that salvation. 

Let us imagine for a moment that there is such a thing as a “ticket to heaven.” Once you get your ticket, you can ride the Gospel Train all the way there. All you have to do is get your ticket and get on the train. While we are imagining, let us come up with an example; someone named Lou. 

Lou’s friend has just told him about Jesus. The price for admission to heaven has already been paid. You pick up your ticket at the Gospel Station and then climb aboard the next train bound for glory. 

Excited, Lou heads over to the Gospel Station. It is a modest little train station like you might see in the British countryside. The building is small and sided with light green clapboard. Inside the station, it is warmly lit. Behind the ticket counter is a short man, balding, wearing a green visor. His white shirt is neatly pressed. The grey color of his suspenders and trousers match the color of the bushy mustache smiling just under his nose. 

Lou walks up to the counter and says, “I’d like a ticket to heaven, please.” 

“Certainly,” replies the man behind the counter. “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?” 

“Why yes,” says Lou, “just this afternoon in fact.” 

“Wonderful!” says the ticket master as he pulls a beautifully printed blood red ticket out of the drawer behind the counter. He hands the ticket to Lou and tells him to step out onto the station platform and wait for the next train. 

— — // — — 

I am going to interrupt our imaginary story for just a minute. I want to point out that Lou is not actually in heaven yet. He has a ticket for the next Gospel Train, but he is not yet on the train. He has every assurance of being able to get on the train of course. Yet, the fact remains that he is still not on the train. We can now return to our story. 

— — // — — 

Outside on the station platform, Lou begins to wonder if he should have brought a coat. The weather seems to be changing, and it is getting chilly. Lou starts thinking about other things he might need. Should he have thought to pack a bag? Are there people he ought to have told? Maybe he ought to have thought this through a bit more. 

Lou is seriously thinking about going home to take care of a few things when the train pulls up. It is pulled by a magnificent old steam engine puffing smoke from the stack at the front of the boiler. Steam billows from the release valves on the driver pistons by the big wheels. Two short toots of the train whistle sound as the train pulls into the station. A smartly dressed conductor leans out the door of the passenger car. He looks up and down the platform and then directly at Lou. 

“All aboard!” he yells. 

Lou hesitates for half a second and then timidly steps up to the car door. 

“Welcome aboard!” says the conductor. “Ticket, please.”

Lou is distracted by the people already in the train car. The conductor repeats himself. 

“Ahem! Ticket, puh-leaze.” 

“Oh, yes,” Lou says, as he fumbles in his pocket for the ticket. Where is it? After all, he just had it. He searches through all his pockets until finally, the conductor has pity on him. 

“Misplace your ticket, did you?” the conductor intones. “Let me help you.” 

He reaches up and behind Lou’s left ear, and with the flair of a magician he draws the ticket out. Lou is surprised and a bit embarrassed. 

“You have got to keep your eye on your ticket at all times,” instructed the conductor. “You cannot lose this, or you might not get in. Keep your eye on it.” 

Lou thanked him and went into the well-lit car to find a seat. 

— — // — — 

At this point in the story, a million questions come to mind. Does Lou make it to heaven? What happens if he becomes impatient or gets angry? Perhaps he sees something out the window? Suddenly he feels the need to be somewhere else and he finds himself off the train. Can he get back on? And where does Jesus come into the picture? 

Jesus, of course, paid for the ticket. Jesus wants Lou to be with him in heaven. He wants you and me to be there with him, too. Yet things happen. Satan does not give up trying to enslave us just because we give our lives to Jesus. 

There is a reason Paul wants us to learn to live as he instructs us through Titus. It is not because we need to earn our salvation in any sense of the word. Rather, it is because we need to stay focused on our Savior. We are confronted with a choice every minute of every day; serve Jesus or serve ourselves. We cannot do both. 

Yes, we have the assurance of salvation. But until we find ourselves there with Jesus, we wait for the blessed hope. 

Application: Keep your eye on your hope in Jesus by staying in the Word every day. 

Food for Thought: What is the danger of taking salvation for granted?