There is Hope

Intro

All throughout the Bible we read of different events, circumstances, and situations; ultimately leading up to the birth of Jesus. We can see that everything that occured before Jesus’ birth, was aligned to that specific moment. We can see how many tragic events occured, a lot of disobedience, and during all this time, one aspect we can see throughout the time span, was hope.

Examples of God’s control throughout history leading up to Jesus’ Birth

When we look at the world before Noah had to build the ark, everyone was corrupt. No one was faithful to God and satan was getting exactly what he wanted, a world turning against its Creator. But God had a plan, and was in control. He took the one family that was still faithful to Him, and saved them from destroying the world polluted with sin.

We can look to Abraham, who had the faith to follow God into the unknown, and was promised a nation was to come from his offspring. In some cases Abraham and Sarah may have been losing hope in God’s promise for them to have a child, and they tried taking it into their own hands through Sarah’s servant, Hagar, and yet God still had a plan for Abraham AND Sarah to have a child of their own, Isaac.

We see how God provided a way for His people to be free from Egyptian captivity, as He used Moses to bring them from their slavery and lead them to the Promised Land. And although many of the Israelites were impatient, ungrateful, miserable, and disobedient; God had a plan, and showed He was still in control, and He finally brought them to the land where they’d become a nation.

God provides a way through every challenge

Through each of these stories, although there was conflict, although satan was trying to deceive and manipulate and destroy God’s plan, He always was in control of it all. He provided hope for His people, keeping His promises, and fulfilling each and every one of them, and although not in ways they had hoped for specifically, God provided the best outcome and path for them all.

We can see through through Jesus’ ancestors, those who were before Him, although they didn’t seem like ancestors fitting for a king, God worked through all of them.

Jesus’ Birth

And now we come to Jesus’ birth. (Luke 1:26-38) God had a plan. He had spoken through the prophets of Jesus’ birth, that He would come to redeem His people from their sins. He had given them hope.

(Matthew 1:18-2:18) We see all these different circumstances and challenges coming up, yet God was providing a way through each aspect of it. He was watching over Mary and Joseph, He was directing the Wise men to see Jesus and bring Him gifts, and provided them a way out of Jerusalem so Herod couldn’t find out where Jesus was.

God protected and provided a path for Jesus to make way into a broken world

We see how satan tried to use Herod to kill Jesus, by going and killing every baby boy up to 2 years old, yet God provided a way for Mary and Joseph to bring Him out of Jerusalem into Egypt to be protected.

Conclusion

Jesus being born was a fulfillment of promises from God to the world that was enslaved to sin, and throughout all the trials, God provided a way for Jesus to come and bring us hope. God was, is, and always will be in control. He has always provided hope, and the biggest fulfillment of the hope we needed was through Jesus, and again, the circumstances were not very fitting for Jesus, God’s hand was in each part of the way.