The Hope of Advent

Is it too soon to begin saying, Merry Christmas?

Is it too soon to begin saying, Merry Christmas?

Today is the kickoff of a short sermon series that will be taught literally throughout thousands of local churches in the world. We don’t all look at the same passages of Scripture or have the exact same titles, but many will observe the Advent season.

The word that describes the appearing of someone or something. In our particular context, the appearing of the Messiah, Jesus the Christ.

The Advent candles are lit each week as the passages of Scripture and the sermons follow a trail from Hope, to Love, to Joy, and Peace.

Often the first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke is taught and we’ve been there before, but this year, we’re going to look at a few passages in the Prophetic books of Jeremiah and Micah.

Four powerful words. Not particularly religious, but all very well known and spoken of especially this time of year.

And each week so we are all on the same page we’ll start with a basic definition of the word and then we’ll look at the passage.

What is Hope?

Of course we all use the word with a slightly different flavor to it, but hope (Biblical hope) is certainly not a wish. When I say, that “Simeon hoped to see the arrival of the Messiah” I do not mean, Simeon was crossing his fingers and making a wish that he would see the arrival of Christ. That means that Simeon had an expectation that was based on a promise that he would see the Messiah before his death.

Hope is an expectancy, an eager anticipation.

Now, hope can be lost. The sense of expectancy and anticipation can be lost. How? Well, because you are hoping, expecting, and anticipating based upon someone or something else.

One of my favorite Psalms to pray is the 42 Psalm where the sons of Korah sing, “As the deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.” And it’s one of my favorites because he/they talks to himself. He says, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” And then he preaches to himself and says, “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation, and my God.” The refrain is repeated at the end of the Psalm as well. And my point in citing that particular Psalm is that it shows us how to use the term, “Hope in God.” That’s an imperative. It’s active. But, how do you hope?

Built in to the concept of “hoping” is waiting. Waiting with expectancy, waiting with anticipation.

Think about the last thing that you hoped for. Maybe it was for something that you ordered that was coming in the mail. Perhaps it was a special event in your life. I imagine those expecting parents and those with babies went through that nine month stretch, and you’re hoping for the arrival of that child. Home owners, do you remember that expectancy as you prayed your financing would go through, the inspection would pass, the house would close.

So, in a way, Hope is built upon promises and guarantees. The tracking number, the invitation has a date, the doctor said, your due date is this day, your loan officer said, your house will close on this date…

I want you to think about two things before we open up to Jeremiah:

When was the last time you made a promise? Did you keep it?

When was the last time someone made a promise to you and didn’t keep it?

The reality is, we make promises almost daily, but they’re pretty small ones. Like swiping a piece of plastic at a store, and then signing it. By signing it or swiping it you’re making a promise that you’ll pay that establishment back for the goods or services that they’ve given to you.

But almost every major event in our lives has a similar scenario to it:

When you financed your first car you were making a promise

A purity ring is a promise to keep yourself pure

An engagement ring is a promise to keep yourself for a specific person

Wedding vows are a promise that you make to your spouse to love, honor, obey, stay faithful, take care of until death parts you

Is there a promise you make to your children? Yes. When you consummate those marriage vows and become intimate with your spouse, you are promising to take care of the child that you both together reproduce.

Foster care and adoption is a little more visible in that you are required to fill out all kinds of paperwork and make all kinds of promises.

I’m sure you’ve thought of a dozen or more landmarks in our lives where we make promises or are on the other end of a promise that has been made to us.

When a politician wants your vote, what do they hook you by? A promise.

Why is that? Why does so much of our life revolve around promises? And why do we keep making them and keep believing that people who make promises are going to keep them even though people are so bad at it?

It’s because we were hardwired to be a hopeful people, because deep down inside everyone knows that we live in a universe created by a God who makes promises. And surprisingly, a great case for the existence of God, is the fact that when someone makes a promise, everyone expects that person to keep it, and will call them out when they don’t. How in the world is it possible to exist on a planet where from a very young age human beings are given hope and they have faith that that hope will show up, but when it doesn’t become outraged—if we were all one great big accident? Who told you that you should become outraged when someone doesn’t keep their word? What gives you the right to become outraged when someone doesn’t keep their promises?

In his book, “Biblical Theology” Michael Lawrence states that:

“In a very profound sense, the story of the Bible is nothing more than a story of a single promise, made by God himself, and how he kept and will keep that promise.”

The section of the Biblical story that we’re going to look at this morning is all about a promise. And how a faithful God was going to keep His word, in spite of the fact that the people on the other side of the promise failed to hold up their end.

Jeremiah 33:14–18 ESV

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ “For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.”

Before we get ahead of ourselves, what is going on?

I don’t know how much you know about this prophet, Jeremiah. But I’ll tell you his nickname and you can try to put the pieces of the puzzle together. His nickname was “The weeping prophet.” But it really wasn’t just that he was a crier. Jeremiah was the mouthpiece of God to the people of God for quite a few years.

When Jeremiah first began his prophetic ministry, was when God anointed an eight year old to be the King of Judah (the southern region of the divided kingdom of Israel). So now you know why he was the weeping prophet, do you know any eight year olds? All kidding aside, Josiah at age 8 was one of the better kings that ever sat on the throne in Judah.

Jeremiah was God’s prophet for the five final kings of Judah. His ministry spanned about forty years. And for the most part, Jeremiah strongly disliked the politicians in Judah. The first 30 chapters of Jeremiah are filled with warnings of God’s wrath and judgment.

Why? Because when given the opportunity to choose, the kings gave in to the temptation of the serpent. They despised the commands of Jehovah and opted for their own version of peace, love, joy, and happiness. They were not interested in listening to the prophet, turning from their ways, or anything of the sort.

What was God’s big problem with the kings?

Jeremiah 21:11–12 ESV

“And to the house of the king of Judah say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O house of David! Thus says the Lord: “ ‘Execute justice in the morning, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed, lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of your evil deeds.’ ”

Jeremiah 22:1 ESV

Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word,

Jer

Jeremiah 22:3

Jeremiah 22:3 ESV

Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

God gave them the expectation as Kings and as Priests (shepherds) that they ultimately were to be just, to show mercy, to stand up for the poor, the orphan, the widow, the immigrant.

Jeremiah 23:1–8 ESV

“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord. “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”

These were not new expectations either. If we took a field trip back to the beginning of the Bible when God first gave authority to humans to oversee the earth it was their task to be God’s image bearing creatures. Well, they failed to be God’s image-bearers as they choose to be the ones who would get to decide what was good and what was evil.

When God called the family of Abraham to the bottom of the mountain he told them virtually the same thing; “You’re going to be a kingdom of priests.” In other words, you’re going to reflect my character to the world, you’re going to show the rest of humanity what I am like.

After Moses and Aaron, the leadership was delegated to Joshua, after Joshua the leadership was given judges and to each one God’s orders were the same: I want justice and mercy for all people, and especially toward those who are the poorest and weakest in society.

Jer 23:

The problem here is that the Kings after Josiah did not repent of their self-indulgent ways and therefore the promise that was made to the people of Judah was in grave danger of being broken.

What is the promise?

What makes this promise so significant?

Who is Jeremiah? What do we know about him?

When was this prophecy given?

What were the events surrounding this prophet and prophecy?

Why is the LORD repeating these promises?

God made a promise to Israel’s most well-known and perhaps greatest king, David was this:

So what?

- “I will raise up your offspring after you… I will establish your kingdom forever… Your throne will be established forever...”

1 Samuel 12:24–25 ESV

Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

However, prior to this promise, God spoke to Israel through the prophet Samuel:

“If you (Israel) still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

So what Jeremiah sees all throughout his ministry is that God is doing what he said he would do centuries earlier. If they kept doing wickedly, God was sweeping his people away. God was bringing judgement on his people by raising up the army of Babylon who took the entire nation of people into captivity and destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple. The final king of Judah, King Zedekiah’s rule ended with his sons being slain in front of him and the Babylonians blinding him so the image of his sons being killed in his presence would forever burn in his mind. He died in the prison of Babylon.

To the people of Judah, this was the end.

But for Jeremiah, the guy who prophesied all the doom and gloom, all the terror and dread of God’s just judgement, all of the sudden he’s preaching words of hope.

He said, “God is going to fulfill his promise, he is going to cause a righteous branch to spring up for David...”

The prophet Isaiah had a similar picture that he tried to portray to the Israelites in the eleventh chapter of his prophecy:

Isaiah 11:1 ESV

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

Arboreal images of trees symbolically echo back to the garden of Eden where the the blossoms of hope represent flourishing, abundance, and renewal.

What is renewed in Jeremiah’s vision:

The promise that God made to David. That there would be a king from his offspring to sit on the throne. But this king was not like the kings and leaders that the world has always seen, but it is the image of the King that the world has always longed for and quite frankly the ruler that we all for some reason expect:

If you haven’t been paying attention, the world, the US is tired of the lies, we’re tired of the power trips, the scandals, we all regardless of party, want a leader who is going to do what is best for the people. This longing is embedded into the hearts of every human being from California to New Zealand. Everyone hopes for this King:

Jeremiah 33:15 ESV

In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

Jer 33:

One that executes justice and righteousness.

Advent is all about the hope of this King. The expectancy, the eager anticipation of the Son of David, the righteous executor of God’s good character.

And he has come. In the midst of one king’s zeal for his own glory, a king afraid of being overthrown. He came at a time where one of the most powerful empires the world has ever seen seemed that it would never cease her expansion.

Yet, he came in a weak frame, to a poor family, from a ghetto city, unimpressive in every way. But that’s how God intended to break into time and space and bring fulfillment to his promise.

This promise of hope, this incredible renewal is so often misunderstood. Jesus did not come, offer his kingdom and because the Jews didn’t want it, take it back. No, Jesus came demanding allegiance to the people that God called to himself, and in their rejection, God’s plan was that at that time, the Gentiles would be welcomed into the family of God. And it would be through the Gentiles, it would be through us that he would continue to offer not only His salvation, but the blessing of living as a people a part of a Kingdom where flourishing and abundance and renewal did not always look like material prosperity, but in fact, His Kingdom looked much like a people from all races, classes, and backgrounds, loving each other and loving the least of those in society. And in that love and care for one another they see flourishing, abundance, and renewal from the righteous branch.

So where does this put us, today?

If the study of prophecy does not produce sanctification, it is being studied wrong. If gazing into the future hinders our responsiveness to present needs, we may be sure that we are not gazing with the eyes of God. -John Piper

If we’re honest, we are not better than the kings and people of Judah, we are the bad kings and the bad priests. We have poorly modeled God’s good character and in some cases have led people away from God. That’s the bad news. The good news is:

Romans 15:8–9 ESV

For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”

Romans 15:8

Romans 15:12–13 ESV

And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.” May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Romans 15:

Jesus Messiah has come to the Gentiles. We hope in this King!

Paul’s prayer is that God would fill us with hope. Because of the PROMISE KEEPING, NEVER FAILING, trustworthiness of God, we know that a promise that was made thousands of years ago is not dead, but God has kept HIS word and extended it to us, so that we (Who are waiting on this side of the return of the KING) would ABOUND in an expectancy. What of you life reveals an eager expectation of Christ’s return? May God fill us with HOPE this morning!

And then, and only then, when we’re sitting in spiritual sackcloth and ashes, in full recognition that even in God’s goodness towards us, we have failed to reflect His glory—that’s when He comes and says, “I know that you have broken my command to be my image bearer, I know that you have worshiped what I have created more than me, but I have sent my Son to pay the debt of your sin if you trust in Him and rely on my Spirit to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before me.

We, the people of God, live in a time period reflecting back at the first arrival of the King and rejoicing in the good news of His coming. For it brought us salvation from sins clutches. But we look forward to the second Advent with the same eager anticipation. BUT we do not wait, sitting on our hands.

There is one part of this promise, that should be no

We are ambassadors of our King, and agents for His Kingdom. May we lead lives of holiness where the expectations that all human beings have--is seen in us - expectations of right judgements, expectations of loving our neighbors, expectations of integrity in our society.

This is not some robotic, unemotional charge this morning. We spent last week in the Psalm learning of God’s knowledge, presence, and power — he knows us, sees our struggles hurts, frustrations and pain, and yet, He does not offer us an exit, He offers us the power of His presence through the pain, and struggle.

This bread and cup are here today for those of us who recognize our failure to be God’s image bearers, failure to wait for him with eager anticipation, failure to love him with our heart soul and mind. It is here to tell us, we have the forgiveness of God.

Those of you who are not willing to admit your need for God’s mercy and grace, this will be a mere exercise and we ask that you refrain from coming to the table in vain.

And for those of you who you see your need for this King like you’ve never seen it before, I want you to come and join me or one of the elders in prayer.