The Promise

I recognize that hope was the subject of our first advent. But with the understanding of advent being a time of expectant anticipation, the idea of hope seems to be a major part of this season.

What is hope? Hope is always an object and an expectation. You’re hoping in something and wanting something delivered to you. We tend to look for hope in all the wrong places. As a result, we’re often disappointed, frustrated and confused.

We’re going to be looking through Isaiah 59 today. This is a unique hope passage that is written in one of the darkest moments in the history of the nation of Israel.

The children of Israel had been in captivity in Babylon, and they have come back now to a devastated Jerusalem. There are no city walls, no more temple, no central government. There is no justice. There is violence in the street. There is massive poverty. There is complete social breakdown. And into that darkness, there is this sharing of hope. Because in those dark moments, is when your real hope will be seen. And your hope will either come through for you, or it will deeply disappoint you.

We’re going to discover several things about hope. The Christmas story is itself a hope story.

However, the path to hope seems to be hopelessness. The only way you will ever find true hope is to give up on all those places where you’ve tended to put your hope. For hope to have any real value, it must be able to fix what is broken.

The most obvious thing about hope is that it’s not a situation, a location nor an experience. Hope is a person, and His name is Jesus.

False Charge

Now let’s look at Isaiah 59:1 “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear.” God is answering a charge that God’s people were making against Him.

We can also find ourselves falsely accusing God at times. When life isn’t working, when we’re suffering in some way, when we’re disappointed in some way, when the comfort and ease that we so often enjoy is interrupted; it’s very tempting for us to bring God into our courtroom and question His faithfulness, His goodness, His wisdom and His love.

Here’s what is dangerous about this. Even if it’s subtle, any accusation against God is very dangerous spiritually. When you’ve convinced yourself that God is less than faithful to His promises, is less than loving, and that God is not as near as you thought He was, you’ll quit running to Him. That’s exactly what was happening here.

So God says, in essence, “No, you’ve got it wrong. What’s happening is not a sign that My hands are too short to reach you. Neither is it a sign that My ears are so dull that I can’t hear you. I’m not the problem.”

Look with me at Amos 4, which is essentially a poem that has this phrase that keeps repeating, “. . .but you have not returned to Me.” What God seems to be saying is, “I’ve brought these difficulties into your life in order to pry open your hands to let go of the things that you’re putting hope in, so that you would run to Me, so that you would place your faith and trust in Me, so that you would return to Me. These difficulties are not a sign of My unfaithfulness and inattention. In fact, these difficulties are a sign that I am near.” You might say that they’re actually tools of uncomfortable grace.

The Israelites had falsely charged God. Even within the walls of this building or those watching online, some of you sometime are tempted to question God, to doubt His goodness, to wonder if He hears you.

Divine Accusation

That false charge is followed by a divine accusation. Look at it, starting in verse 2. “. . .but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”

I’d like to think that my biggest problems in life are outside of me, not inside of me. I can convince myself that they’re problems of situations, of location or of relationships. It seems comforting to say, “I’m not the problem.” However, at the root of all of those things that we think are problems, what do you find? People!

Think with me for a moment. There is no such thing as a bad marriage. A bad marriage is a bad marriage because people in the marriage are doing bad things. At the bottom of a bad marriage, what do you find? Us!

There is no such thing as corrupt government. The institution itself is not the problem. The problem is people in the government who use their power for personal gain and don’t actually use their position for the benefit of the citizens. You get to the bottom of corrupt government and guess what you find. People!

We’re the problem. We have taken God’s wisely created institutions and we’ve made a mess out of them. And that means we can’t find hope by running to a new location, because guess what you find there. People. You can’t run to a new situation, because guess what you find there. People. You can’t run to a new relationship, because guess what you find there. People. You’ll never find hope that way.

You see, the problem is that there is inside of us that captures my thoughts, that twists my desires, that distorts my words, that drives my behavior. And the prophet here uses three words for this thing: iniquity, transgression and sin.

The first word is “iniquity.” We find this in verse 2. Iniquity means “moral uncleanness.” I’d like to think that I’m pure, but I’m not pure. My motives, my purposes, my thoughts, my desires, aren’t always pure. There is moral uncleanness inside of each of us.

The second word is “transgression.” This is found in verse 12. Transgression is arrogant rebellion. It is willingly stepping over the boundaries of God’s rules. I do it because I don’t care. It’s the moment when you park in the “no parking” spot even though you see the sign and don’t care. If you’re a husband and this week you yelled at your wife, you didn’t yell at your wife because you were ignorant that it was wrong. You yelled at your wife because at that moment, you didn’t care what was wrong, because there was something that you wanted. If you cheat on your taxes, you don’t cheat on your taxes because you’re ignorant that it’s wrong. You cheat on your taxes because at that moment you don’t care what’s right, you don’t care what’s wrong. You’ll willingly step over that boundary because you want something else.

The third word is “sin.” This is also found in verse 12. Sin is falling short of the mark again and again. It’s pulling back the arrow with the bow as far as I can, yet every time it falls short of the target.

So, because there is still iniquity, transgression, and sin inside of me, I make a mess of God’s good creations. You can’t blame situations, locations, or other people. Because at the bottom of all of that is People. Our greatest problem, the thing that most needs to be fixed, is inside of us, not outside of us. And you’ll never find hope if you don’t pay attention to God’s accusation.

Important Confession

That accusation is followed by a confession, in verse 9 and following. “Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us; we hope for light, and behold, darkness, and for brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope for the wall like the blind; we grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among those in full vigor we are like dead men. We all growl like bears; we moan and moan like doves; we hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.”

This is a description of people who have completely lost their way. It’s a picture of where you’re so lost, that all of a sudden it’s like someone has turned off the lights of your life and you’re in the dark. This passage is a picture of people who are groping along a wall.

When you’ve lost your way, you are at a very important moment of decision. You will either accusingly point the finger or you’ll make the confession. That’s actually what happens next in verse 12. “For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities: transgressing, and denying the LORD, and turning back from following our God.” “God, we accept it. I accept it. I’m the problem. It’s me.”

And once you’re there, you are now in an utterly hopeless place, because you’re saying, “I’ve got a major problem that I can’t solve. I can run from a situation, from a location, from a relationship, but I can’t run from me.” If you run from you as fast as you can, when you get to the other side, you’re always there with you.

This is hopelessness. This is, “God, I’ve got a problem that I can’t solve.” That is the opening to real hope. Because it tells you, not only is it hopeless to hope in you, but it’s hopeless to hope in anybody else too. Because everyone else suffers from the same condition. And all those locations, all those situations, and all those places where you would run, we find people who are as desperately hopeless as you are.

And it’s only when you give up on all of that horizontal hope that you’re ready to find real hope. We must realize that no situation, no location, or no person will be your answer, will be your messiah, will give you the life, the peace and the security that you’re seeking.

So some of you have to abandon false hope. You’re not going to meet a person who will give you life. You’re not going to get a job that will make life worth living. You’re not going to own a possession that will give you the happiness that you seek. You’re not going to have an experience that will fulfill you. It really is hopelessness that begins to reveal to us the path to hope.

Look at the second half of verse 15, “The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede.” God looks around and says this, “There is no horizontal place for hope to be found, none. No one is able to give you the hope that you’re seeking, no one.”

In the light of this disaster, the lostness, rebellion, transgression, sin and iniquity, look what God does next. He doesn’t turn His back, He doesn’t walk away, and He doesn’t say, “I’ve had it. I’m going to wipe you out.”

Divine Intervention

Here’s what He does. “Then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him.” God is saying, “Now that you’re at this moment where you absolutely have no hope, nowhere to look, I’m going to send you hope. But it won’t be a situation, it won’t be a human relationship, and it won’t be a location. It will be a divine person, and His name is Jesus. Hope is going to come.”

That’s the Christmas story. The Christmas story is hope coming. That’s why the angels sang those songs. That’s why the shepherds became such great witnesses. That’s why the wise men later came to worship. Because hope had invaded the earth in the person of the Lord Jesus. Hope had come.

And that promised hope would bring two things with Him: justice and grace. Look at the verses that follow. “He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, so will he repay, wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies; to the coastlands he will render repayment. So they shall fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come like a rushing stream, which the wind of the LORD drives.”

God is going to deal with evil. He’s going to punish wrong. The prophet is saying that this world was created by a holy God who takes sin seriously. Sin is evil, sin is disastrous, and sin leads to death. And this holy God will never say, “It’s okay for you to sin. It’s okay for you to transgress. It’s okay for you to have iniquity. As long as you’re happy, I’m fine.” No, this is a holy God who hates sin. He will not tolerate it. He will punish every sin.

You see, the problem with us is that we don’t always see sin as sinful. Sin doesn’t always look evil to us.

It is very clear that our God is a God who is absolutely committed to justice. Sin will be dealt with. But there is also comfort in these words. Here’s the comfort. You would not want to live in a world that was ruled by someone who didn’t care about justice. You wouldn’t want to live in a world where the person who is sovereign over all was incapable of being angry with evil. There is a way in which God’s righteous anger and His holy justice is the hope of the universe. God’s anger with sin and God’s commitment to justice means He will not rest until sin is forever defeated.

But He doesn’t just come armed with justice. He comes armed with grace. Look at these words. ““And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD.” “I’m going to send a Redeemer.” Redemption is a beautiful term. To redeem means to buy something back. “I’m going to send My Son and He is going to live on your behalf the perfect life that you could not live.” He is going to take your sin on Himself and die the death that you should die. But He dies as a perfect Lamb, a perfect sacrifice, and His death satisfies God’s anger. And then He’s going to rise again and conquer death so that He can give to you eternal life.

So, by His life, His death and His resurrection, His righteousness is now credited to your account. So you can stand before a holy God as if you never sinned, as He invites you into intimate personal relationship with Him. No longer does your sin separate you from Him. That’s redemption.

Verses 16-20 are a prediction of the cross of Jesus Christ. They are actually an announcement of the cross. Because on the cross of Jesus Christ, the holy justice of God and the amazing grace of God meet. Because in that moment, the justice of God is doled out against Christ, taking that penalty that was ours; and the grace of God explodes in abundant forgiveness and mercy. On the cross, the One who is hope brings together the justice and grace of God.

Conclusion

You see, these Old Testament saints were living in the messiness between the “already” and the “not yet.” Already they had been redeemed from Egypt, the Law had been given, the prophets had spoken, and the glory of God had lived in the center of the people of Israel, but not yet had the promised Messiah come. They were living in messiness and holding on to hope. We also live in the middle of the “already” and the “not yet.” Already Jesus has come the first time, already He has lived, died and rose again on our behalf, already the Word has been given, already the Spirit has been given, but not yet are we in that final kingdom.

If He has guaranteed for you a place in eternity, then He must have also guaranteed for you all the grace you need along the way. Now that’s reason for hope. Because no matter how troubling those situations are, no matter how difficult this location, no matter how hard those people are, you can wake up in the morning and say, “Hope has invaded my life in the person of the Lord Jesus. There is hope in my world. Hope has come and hope will come again and deliver me out of the messiness between the ‘already’ and the ‘not yet.’”