The Promised One

Sunday, November 27th was the start of the season of Advent. Traditionally advent has been the 4 Sundays prior to Christmas and Christmas Eve. It represents a time of waiting or anticipation for the coming Messiah. As believers we can also see this as a time to anticipate the return of Jesus. Each Sunday we light a new candle to represent an important part of the Christmas story. On the first Sunday the candle is the Prophet candle. I think it is perhaps the best candle to explain why this time of waiting, this time of anticipation, was seen and continues to be seen as a Season of Hope.

The English poet Alexander Pope wrote, “Hope springs eternal,” but where do we turn when hope dries up? A terminally ill young man who came in for his usual treatment was seen by a new doctor who was on duty. This doctor said to him casually and cruelly, “You know, don’t you, that you won’t live out the year?” 

As the young man left, he stopped by the front desk and wept. “That man took away my hope,” he blurted out. “I guess he did,” replied the director. “Maybe it’s time to find a new one.” 

“Is there a hope when hope is taken away? Is there hope when the situation is hopeless? That question leads us to Christian hope, for in the Bible, hope is no longer a passion for the possible. It becomes a passion for the promise.” (adapted from Our Daily Bread, December 19, 1996)

People that are hurting need to know that there is something better. They need to know that there is a hope for tomorrow. When everything is going well, people often don’t see a need for God. It is during those difficult times that they finally turn to God for help.

God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts to us in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world. - C. S. Lewis

Our hope is based on the Promise of God. Since the first few moments after Adam and Eve first sinned, God promised that there would come One who would defeat sin; One who would strike the head of Satan. Throughout the Old Testament and the first few chapters of the Gospels, prophets shared about this great Promise.

Isaiah was sent by God to share his prophecies in a time when hope was needed. He proclaimed the message of God. It was a time when the people no longer had a passion for the possible. They needed to have a passion for the Promise. Through Isaiah, God was shouting to His people, “I have not forgotten you. I still love you. I am sending you the Messiah, the Promised One. My Only Son who will save you.”

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14, ESV)

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6, KJV)

Isaiah is often seen by many as the primary Messianic prophet in the Old Testament. Many of his prophecies are the ones we go back to when looking at the Christmas story. Isaiah lived about 700 years before Jesus was born. John the Baptist, who was alive during the time of Jesus, was the final prophet to proclaim the Messiah before Jesus Himself revealed that He was the One that God had sent, the Promise that had been foretold, God Incarnate (God in human flesh).

But prophecies about the coming Messiah had been made for thousands of years before Jesus was born. In fact, the first prophecy about Jesus was made by God just moments after Adam and Eve first sinned. In Genesis 3:15, God told Satan that the seed of Eve will strike his head. God let him know that there will be a descendent of Eve’s that Satan will try to defeat (strike the heel), but that it will in fact be Satan that will be defeated (strike the head). A foot wound might be annoying, but a head wound is usually fatal.

This first prophecy sets up the hope of the Bible. It gives us our first glance at the Promise of God. Even as God was about to enact punishment on Adam and Eve, He begins by proclaiming that He already has a plan to save them from their sin. This was not some spontaneous plan. This was God’s plan from the very foundations of the world. God is omniscient (all-knowing) and knew long before the fall of Adam and Eve that they would sin. Even in their weakness, God showed that He was in control, that He had a plan, and that He would make a way for Adam and Eve and for all their descendants to return to God.

Why is this a season of hope? Because it was through the birth of Jesus Christ that God’s plan became a reality. We live in a world that desperately needs hope. They need to know that there is something better than what they can see with their own eyes.

We live in a world filled with hatred and greed where people will kill others just so they can secure some turf for their drug trade. We live in a world where angry mobs will riot, burn, and kill because they see no hope when an unarmed man has a greater chance of being shot by police just because he is black. We live in a world where people will destroy property and threaten the life of the newly elected president because they fear what he might do to minorities and people with alternative lifestyles.

We live in a world filled with such selfishness that people will stampede over others just for the chance to get that special toy at Christmas. We live in a world where religious zealots will kill thousands of their own people; people that believe in the same religion, but not to the same degree. We live in a world that refuses to protect the rights of unborn children because a fetus cannot care for itself and must therefore not be life, while at the same time punishing as a federal crime anyone that harms the egg of a bald eagle.

We live in a world that celebrates every belief and demands that we all accept their choices, while at the same time telling churches that they need to keep their religious beliefs within the walls of the church building. We live in a world that is divided by political parties, racial barriers, socio-economic boundaries, cultural differences, nationalities, and even 

We live in a messed-up world. People need to see that there is hope for them. They need to know that there is something better. They need a passion for the Promise because they see no possibility for a better life than what is around them day after day. They need to know that one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of lords and King of kings. They need to know that the Kingdom of God will include a vast number from every nation, tribe, race, and language.

They need to know that our hope is in Jesus.

Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus,
who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God
as something to be used for His own advantage.
Instead He emptied Himself
by assuming the form of a slave,
taking on the likeness of men.
And when He had come as a man
in His external form,
He humbled Himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death—
even to death on a cross.
For this reason God highly exalted Him
and gave Him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow—
of those who are in heaven and on earth
and under the earth—
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11, HCSB)

We do not need to exist in a world living without hope. We can be a people that live in the light. It doesn’t matter what you have done, Jesus loves you and came to save you. The worst that you have done is nothing compared to the best that Christ has done for you. He gave His life for you.

The story of hope is all about Jesus. He is our hope. He is our salvation. He is the way, the truth, and the life. This can be a season of hope for everyone in our community. We just need to proclaim to them the Promised One of God. All we need is found right here in God’s Word.