This is a copy of the first of four Advent devotionals I wrote for First Baptist Church, Aurora, IL.
Advent Candles
Week 1
HOPE
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
Hebrews 6:19
“I hope it doesn’t rain today.”
“I hope things at work will slow down soon.”
“I hope there’s not a quiz today.”
When we say that we hope for something, it is usually the same thing as wishing.
“I wish it wouldn’t rain today.”
“I wish things at work slow down soon.”
“I wish I knew there’s not a quiz today.”
But when we see the word hope in the Bible, this is very much NOT what it means. In the Bible, hope means trust, faith, and waiting with sure expectation. The meaning of these words is so connected, so overlapping, that sometimes Bible translators find it a challenge to find the right word to use. Look at how three different (good, true, and trustworthy) translations translate Jeremiah 14:22b:
- “Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this.” (NIV)
- “Only you can do such things. So we will wait for you to help us.” (NLT)
- “Only you control the rain, so we put our trust in you, the Lord our God.” (CEV)
Hope is not about wishing for something that may or may not happen. Hoping in the Bible means waiting for what is absolutely certain to happen. It is having absolute faith that the things God has promised will actually, really happen. Hope is faith pointed to the future.
So why talk about hope during Advent? Advent is the time we set aside to prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ, the Messiah, at Christmas. Israel waited for the Messiah for hundreds of years, and throughout all those years the prophets, who spoke for God, kept assuring the people that God always keeps his promises and so will most surely keep this promise, too. “The Messiah is coming,” they said. “We know this is true, and so we are just waiting for it.” That’s hope.
Hope is the feeling I got when Grandma and Grandpa were coming for a visit and they were going to arrive that day. I knew they were coming—I had no doubts even though they had not arrived yet—and so I was just waiting for them to actually be there. But it wasn’t an casual kind of waiting. I waited expectantly; I waited with excitement; I waited knowing that once they came great and fun and exciting things were going to happen. I waited with longing. It was the type of waiting you do when you turn the handle of a jack-in-the-box—you know it’s coming, you don’t know when, but it’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming… . It’s the “it’s almost here!” type of waiting. …any minute now—it’s coming.
This is how Israel was waiting for the Messiah. “Any day now,” they said. Yes, it was hard to keep waiting, to keep hoping, throughout all those many years, but that is why God again and again sent prophets to remind the people what was absolutely true. “The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8, NLT)
Yet even with all of their faith and trust and sure expectation, they missed Jesus when he came. They were not prepared for the Messiah God would send to them. They didn’t see him. “He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him.” (John 1:10-11, NLT) Jesus Christ, the long-awaited Messiah, the hope of Israel, slipped into the world, being born to a nobody girl, in a small town, in a stable or cave where only animals lived.
During Advent, this time of preparation, we try to experience the kind of trust and expectation and hope that Israel had while waiting for Messiah. We try to put ourselves in their place, to feel how they felt, so that when Christmas comes we can celebrate it with the enthusiasm and joy it deserves. Then we realize: we are in their place. They were waiting for the Messiah to come, and we are waiting for the Messiah to return. Jesus told his disciples: “I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:3b, NIV) We have faith, trust, hope that Jesus is coming back because he told us he would, and we believe what he says. We are waiting with absolute certainty and active expectation. We hope in Christ. “Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.” (1 Peter 1:13b, NLT, emphasis mine)
Advent is a time to look back and look forward. We look back to when Jesus was born, and we look forward to when Jesus will come back. We need both. We need to remember why this coming day of Christmas is so special, and we need to remember that this story is still going with us. We take this time so we don’t forget that we should be hoping and preparing for Jesus’ return. Advent is a time of preparation.
Will we be ready when Jesus comes? He’s coming, he’s coming, he’s coming…
God of hope and promise, give us faith to let go of empty hopes and put our trust only in you. Be with us during this season of Advent as we prepare to welcome Jesus into the world and into our hearts. Draw us ever closer to the stable of Jesus’ birth. Turn our eyes and hearts to the waiting and wanting for Jesus’ return, when the time for faith and hope is ended and replaced with sight and fulfillment. We ask these things in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who came and dwelled among us. Amen.