The Advent of Hope!
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Luke 2:25-35 – The Advent of Hope!
In 2020 during COVID, Christmas Lights went up early. Some people were putting them up in March when the news spread and these people where encouraging others to do the same.
One CNN article said: “The idea is that twinkling, colorful lights will lift spirits during these dark times. And it doubles as a social distancing activity: people can admire the lights from the safety of their own homes or cars.”
People need something to look forward to. Having something to look forward to gives us hope. Hope gives us a reason to keep going. I have good news – Christmas season is HERE!
Today begins week one of the Advent Season.
The advent season includes the four Sundays before Christmas when the church looks back to Christ’s first arrival in Bethlehem and looks forward to His second and final arrival.
Advent comes from the Latin word “adventus” which means “coming” or “arrival.” At Jesus’ first arrival he was proclaimed as Savior. To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, He is Christ the Lord. This word “coming” is also a translation of the Greek word “parousia” which means “second coming.” In His second coming He will be Judge and will gather all those as Paul says 2 Timothy 4:8 “who long for His appearing.” So, Advent is the prayerful anticipation of the Messiah’s first coming Savior and the prayerful preparational anticipation of His second coming as Judge. We stand now between the two arrivals – waiting.
The circumstances of our lives are changing daily. The Advent season is an invitation for us to step back from our daily lives and to see the big picture of God’s great salvation. God has given us reason to hope but our hope is not dependent on a feeling but hope is in the person of Jesus.
Christmas lights tell us – Christmas is coming. All the stuff of Christmas can create in us a feeling of HOPE. We need the feelings, but today I want us to think about the reality of HOPE, not just the warm fuzzies of Hope.
Biblical Hope is a confident trust that God will keep his promises. Biblical hope is inseparable from faith in God. Because of what God has done in the past, particularly in preparing for the coming of Christ, and because of what God has done and is now doing through Christ, the Christian dares to expect future blessings. Hope, to be sure, is not a kite at the mercy of the changing winds, but ‘a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul’, penetrating deep into the invisible eternal world. And today, let us consider three dimensions of HOPE from Simeon in Luke 2. The Act of Hope; The Reason for Hope; The Object of Hope!
Simeon was a man of long life and close to death. Luke does not tell us about his position or occupation. Simeon viewed Himself as a slave to God. Like a slave, Simeon thinks of himself as totally responsible to and dependent on God. What does the Act of Hope look like in Simeon’s life?
The scripture says he is waiting. In the Hebrew language the word “Hope” means “to wait.” The root in Hebrew of wait is “stretched string.” There is tension on the string of a guitar waiting for someone to come along and create music. The potential for music bound up in the guitar “waiting” to be played. You’ve heard it over these last 4 weeks, that we don’t like to wait. But waiting on God is beneficial for us.
Simeon teaches us how to act as we wait… He prays… He watches, looking forward to God’s promise while living a devoted and righteous life. Live a righteous life – Simeon treated people rightly. He led a devoted life. Devout means he is careful to fulfill his righteous duties.
Peter instructs the church in 2 Peter 3:11 “Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness.”
Today, folk don’t want to talk about living devoted lives to Christ and for that matter to each other. People don’t want to treat people rightly, that’s part of the reason for all these senseless killings and evil in the world. Folk don’t want to live holy as the bible says. But if you desire to experience continually the true meaning of Advent, then you have to live holy and follow the recipe of God completely.
In past years I’ve tried to prepare some dishes from recipes I received. The food never really turns out the way it should. Probably because I did not follow the recipe correctly. That’s just like life in Christ in some way I believe. I’m not saying life with God is a recipe – a dash of prayer, a pinch of church, a smidgen of bible reading and you will have a beautiful life, but what I am saying is the life we have now can be a good life in Christ if we continue in our devotion to God following the instructions in his word.
1 Peter 2:1-5 “Therefore, lay aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” Ephesians 4:31-5:2 “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”
Will we be thankful in all circumstances or complain? I understand we are longing for something better and that something better will come, but will complaining speed it’s coming? Will we live distracted or devoted to God? Is filling my life with the most possible pleasure my primary goal while I wait? I’m not saying avoid pleasure so that you will be holy and devote. Everything comes from God. Pleasure is not the enemy. But don’t let pleasure replace the promises of God. Acting in hope is seeking to live devoted to Christ.
Here rests the Reason for Simeon’s Hope. God has made a personal promise to Simeon. The promise was, Simeon you will not die before you see the Messiah. God’s specific promise to Simeon fits within his larger promise to the nation of Israel. Simeon is waiting for the Messiah—The Anointed One! God made a promise to David. The promise was that there will be a King who would come from the line of David and would sit on David’s throne forever. That King is the “Anointed One” – the Messiah. King David dies. The kingdom of Israel is divided and eventually the people go into exile. After the Exile some return to Jerusalem and begin rebuilding the city in preparation for the coming king, the Messiah. The people wait 400 years between what we call the Old Testament and the New Testament. Slowly the prophetic hope for a Messiah turns into a pessimistic hope.
It seems as if maybe God has not kept his promise? But Galatians 4:4 “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son...” The Messiah has been promised but the people and Simeon have been waiting a long time. Why would Simeon think that God would keep his promise? What God has done for us in the past guarantees our participation in what God will do in the future.
Simeon is devoted and careful to keep his righteous duties. His righteous duties help him to remember the faithfulness of God. He knows the story of the Old Testament. God promised deliverance from Egypt and it came. God promised to provide in the desert and they had water and food. God promised a land to live in and the walls of Jericho fell. Simeon has Reason to Hope because he remembers that God is faithful and God keeps his promise.
You and I have Reason to Hope. We have Reason to Hope because God kept his promise to Israel, and he is faithful and still keeps his promise. 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” God promises: I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I will send the Holy Spirit – He will be a comforter and guide. I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against. Do not let your heart be troubled. If I go, I will come again. Ask in faith what you want I will give it to you. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Simeon had Reason to Hope. We have Reason to Hope. Because there is an Object of Hope!
The Object of Simeon’s Hope was Jesus. The Object of Hope determines the strength and certainty of the Act of Hope and the Reason to Hope.
Scripture says “He took the baby (Jesus) in his arms.” Simeon picked up an actual person. The hope for salvation is Jesus. The celebration of Jesus’ first arrival is not a fairy tale story. Christmas is a remembrance that God became man. Jesus took on flesh. He entered into space and time and experienced human existence. Joy, pain, laughter, food, sleep, prayer, walking, playing… all of it. The scripture says Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus knows all about our troubles, and he will guide till the day is done. When Simeon picks up the child Jesus he does not say this baby is a sentimental reminder of God’s love and our hope for a better world. He says…For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.”
Jesus is a light in the darkness. Darkness is the absence of light. We know that the world is not as it should be. Something is broken. But the Advent of Hope is that Jesus will fix all things in the end. How will He fix it. It started when He died on the cross. On that cross he paid the penalty for our sin. When we trust in Christ’s work on our behalf rather than our efforts, God forgives us and accepts us on the merit of Christ’s work on the cross. God implants the Holy Spirit into us and we live no longer under the shadow of death. The resurrection gives us a confident hope that Christ will come again. 1 Peter 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
We have a present hope, a living hope through the resurrected Lord. We have a future hope that because Christ has risen, Christ will come again. Jesus is the Object of Our Hope.
If you have looked to Jesus for salvation then you have HOPE. Coronavirus, mask, flu, vaccinations and all other things cannot stop your hope. Today you may not have feelings of hope but I want to remind you that you have HOPE. God has not abandoned us.
I asked myself the other day. What has believing in the Hope of Christ done for me? I really don’t have time to tell you everything but:
Hope in Christ has given me peace beyond measure.
Hope in Christ gives me a joy deep down that wakes me every morning.
Hope in Christ gives me a love that extends beyond anything that can happen toward me.
Hope in Christ has given me strength to deal with the ups and down of life and ministry.
Hope in Christ keeps me focused on fulfilling God’s plan for my life.
Hope in Christ leads me through the pains of humanity.
Hope in Christ encourages me that this world is not my home.
I’m out of here when I tell you; My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness, I dare not trust the sweetest frame but holy lean on Jesus name. When darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace, In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil, His oath, his covenant, his blood supports me in the 'whelming flood. When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay, When He shall come with trumpet sound, Oh may I then in Him be found, Dressed in his righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand.
Our Redeemer comes! Look for Him during this Advent of Hope.
May charge to every Christian Believer; my hope is that each of you would use this Advent Devotional and increase your devotion to God and His Word. It’s going to get busy in the next few weeks. But through the Word of God, the God of Hope is revealed.
My charge the those that are not believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome. We are glad you are here. If my admonition to the Believer is to increase your devotion to God, then my admonition to you my friend is the receive the free gift of eternal life through His son Jesus Christ who is our ultimate hope.