The Long Awaited Hope
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Introduction
I truly believe we live in such a time when hope seems best described as...
All too often, hope is pessimistically defined as the little boy did when he said: “Hope is wishing for something you know ain’t gonna happen.”677
I think for some of us that’s how we feel when we look around us. We hope for a better future, we hope for a calmer world, and we hope God is truly with us. You wouldn’t be the first to live in a time when we smile and say we believe in hope, but down deep like the little boy we believe hope is “wishing for something you know ain’t gonna happen.”
Throughout history man has faced hopelessness, and they have often looked up at the sky and say if you were up there God this wouldn’t be happening.
Setting aside for a moment that the majority of hopeless situations are created by man, Isaiah the prophet wanted God’s people to know who their God was and what the long awaited plan was.
God’s Faithfulness
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Isaiah has been prophesying in chapter 24 of the destruction of the enemies of God. We come to chapter 25 and we see that Isaiah worships God. Isaiah worships God because of what God has done, things that were not spur of the moment decisions, what God has done and will do has been planned before man ever made an appearance.
This is difficult for those who believe man is the center of the universe. The really proud shake their heads and say “God didn’t plan very well” but I disagree.
The plan was perfect, until free will entered the picture in the form of Adam and Eve. What is so hard for our human understanding is that God already knew the outcome, and a plan would be put in place to restore the creation with the creator.
God’s Provisions
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We also see God’s provision, his destruction of wickedness, and His provision for the Gentiles in verses 2 & 3. In 4 & 5 we see God’s heart for the poor and needy.
Isaiah shifts to the great feast of God, and I love the imagery, in Old Testament times the people believed that God would reside on a mountain, so what you need to picture after time has stopped and all believers from all time will enjoy and celebrate a huge family reunion. Picture a wedding banquet of the Lamb.
The Best Part
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This shroud that God lifts is all the evil, all the fear we live with every day will be gone. It sometimes feels like a heavy blanket that we can’t escape, the hopelessness all around us, but that sheet will be removed. We will finally see life as we were always meant to see it before the fall, before we put Satan on his throne.
And one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible is found right here, “he will swallow up death forever, our tears that we have shed will be wiped away, our sin blotted out by His son.
And in verse 9 the people will will say that we trusted Him and He came through.
Trust, faith. Faith in a child born in the humblest of places. Faith in a God that would send His son that His people would experience true life.
I know there are days when life is hard, the holidays can be a very joyous time, but for some it can be a lonely and hard time. Every day it seems mankind sinks to a new low, any more we seem to expect it. But when you get low in your spirits remember where your hope is, turn to these verses and read them again and again until you sing praises to His name!
