God Comes to Us as Hope
Advent: God Comes to Us • Sermon • Submitted
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· 12 viewsThis series looks at different parts of the Christmas story and asks, “How does God come to us?”
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How does God come to us?
How does God come to us?
Advent refers to the four Sundays preceeding Christmas.
The word advent means “to come” or “to arrive.”
Advent can refer to Jesus’ birth or to His second coming.
Advent is a season of anticipation and preparation.
We would not know God if God had not revealed Himself to us.
Most religions are concerned with appealing to divinity or attaining to a superior state.
Christianity is the only religion where God comes to us.
God revealed Himself to us before we ever sought Him.
God comes to us in the person of Jesus Christ.
Even though the sermon titles in this series are abstract, God is a person, not an idea.
God does not come as we expect Him. He comes as He is and we may well miss Him if we are not looking.
This series looks at different parts of the Christmas story and asks, “How does God come to us?”
As we look at the story from different angles, we see different facets of God’s character.
We can say, “Immanuel - God is with us,” when each of these begins to manifest in us!
The prophet - the messenger of hope.
The prophet - the messenger of hope.
Prophets were people (men and women) who were moved by God to speak a message from God to the people.
In the prophecies that are recorded in the Bible, there are hundreds of statements that either predict or foreshadow the coming of Christ.
Prophets often brought a word when correction was needed to avert disaster.
The OT prophets used some very harsh and graphic language.
What is often overlooked is that prophets were really about giving hope.
Yes, they predicted wars, bloody invasions and disaster, but they also told people how to survive.
They called out the sins of the people and especially of leaders, but they also offered an opportunity for repentance.
They spoke of God’s anger and wrath, but they also spoke of God’s love and redemption.
Isaiah predicted that Israel would go into captivity before it happened; however, he also predicted the restoration of Israel.
So to set the stage for this passage, Isaiah has just declared that because the people are inquiring of occultists and witchcraft, that God is going to hide His face from them and they will be plunged into deep darkness.
16 Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. 17 I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.
Since they are seeking God through the occult, if God were to speak to them in that context, they would think that they had succeeded in conjuring up God just like any other spirit.
Sometimes we need to reach the bottom before God can lift us up.
So here comes the hope...
1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. 2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. 3 You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. 4 For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. 5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Do you see some specific prophesies in this passage?
Galilee, a rural fishing community is going to be made glorious!
God is going to break off oppression from Israel. (At the time of Christ they were still occupied by Rome.)
A light is going to shine in darkness - perhaps a new star?
A child, a son, is going to be born who will be an heir to David’s throne.
He is going to establish an eternal kingdom!
Imagine the hope it would bring to know that your legacy is going to be secure for all eternity!
In ancient times, as in many parts of the world today, having a son means that the family name will go on for another generation.
Your wealth, business and reputation will last beyond your lifetime.
At a time when the Davidic Monarchy looked like it may be falling apart, Isaiah prophesied about an eternal King and an eternal Kingdom.
Matthew quotes this passage from Isaiah in regards to Jesus’ ministry:
15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 16 the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”
Jesus brought hope to the world because He revealed God to us.
God came to us so that we could know Him and have hope.
What is hope?
Hope. An expectation or belief in the fulfillment of something desired. Present hurts and uncertainty over what the future holds create the constant need for hope. Worldwide poverty, hunger, disease, and human potential to generate terror and destruction create a longing for something better. Historically people have looked to the future with a mixture of longing and fear. Many have concluded that there is no reasonable basis for hope and therefore to hope is to live with an illusion. Scripture relates being without hope to being in the world without God: “remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12).
God came to us, therefore we have hope.
What does that hope look like?
Perfect Hope
Perfect Hope
1 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. 2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. 3 And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
Hope takes us from darkness to light.
Isaiah 60 is a reprise of the “darkness to light” theme that was introduced in chapter 9.
This time the prophet prophesies the final state of Israel as the center of worship with all the nations of the world making their contributions.
But there is a sense of “other worldliness” in this prophetic picture:
19 The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. 20 Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.
We know that there will come a time and a place where God will make everything right.
The Bible begins with a perfect world and ends with a perfect world. We live in the “in-between” state.
In this world we are constantly grieving over personal losses and injustice all around us.
Even though Christ has won the victory over sin and death, we are not promised that things will work out immediately.
We are not even promised that things will be resolved in our lifetime.
39 And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
What we are promised is an eternal hope- a perfect hope when seen from an eternal perspective.
Christians in the early church gladly offered their lives when persecuted because of the hope of resurrection.
Even today, believers in other parts of the world are suffering for their faith.
Their hope is a perfect hope which sees beyond this world. They are willing to sacrifice the comfort of today for the glory of eternity.
Present Hope
Present Hope
6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Some of you may be thinking, “What about now?”
What is my hope for today?
Am I just to be patient and know that everything will be better in heaven?
Peter Dyke speaks and writes about the the Mennonite immigration from Russia during the Soviet Era. Christians were allowed to practice religion under communism, but only as it regards the future hope of the believer. In Peter’s words, they could preach, “pie in the sky, by and by.” But the problem came when people began to say, “we want pie now!”
Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy will be done on earth as in heaven.”
Even though the Kingdom is fully restored in eternity, it is already begun in the here and now.
Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit to begin the transformation in us as believers.
18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
The truth is, that we are already moving from darkness to light by degrees.
The more we behold the face of Jesus, the more we are changed into His image.
The act of “beholding the face of Jesus” describes what we do with our thoughts, prayers and meditation.
It is our intimacy with Him.
Personal Hope
Personal Hope
78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
The sun will always rise.
This reference to Isaiah is spoken by Zachariah the father of John the Baptist at his son’s birth.
John was the first prophet to arrive after four hundred years of silence.
In fact, Zachariah, in a prophetic demonstration was silent until John was born.
Then he opens his mouth and quotes these verses from Isaiah.
Darkness will inevitably give way to light. The sun will always rise.
It’s darkest just before the dawn.
Sometimes God seems silent or hidden from our view.
Every day the sun plays “peekaboo” with us. It disappears and comes back again.
The Baby Laughter Project, which has surveyed parents from more than 20 countries, has shown that games like peek-a-boo are perfect for showing one fundamental development - object permanence.
The term describes the understanding that an object still exists, even if you can't see it.
Very young children don't know this, which is why babies under around six months can look shocked and startled at peek-a-boo.
They think that not being able to see mum or dad's face means that they've actually disappeared, making their sudden reappearance come as quite a surprise.
However once a child understands (at around six- to eight-months old) that their parent is just hiding, then peek-a-boo becomes all about the anticipation of when they're going to come back.
Peek-a-boo: A window on baby's brain By Anna Lacey, BBC Health Check, 11 March 2014
Even on a cloudy day, no one doubts the existence of the sun.
Even on a cloudy day, the sun is shinning, you just can’t see it.
The light represents the goodness of God.
Even if you can’t see God or feel His presence, you can know that God is there.
Why? Because God is good!
Hope is the confidence that we have in the character of God who never changes.
How does God come to us? God comes as hope:
A perfect hope that everything will someday be made right.
A present hope that God is with us here and now.
A personal hope that even though things may seem dark, the light is still shining and we will see it again.
Reflection:
As we light the first candle of advent, think about God who never changes.
He made everything good before the fall and He knows a time is coming when all will be made right again.
Most of all, He is with you now to comfort you in your fear and sorrow.
Even if you don’t see Him, He’s still there and you can have hope.