12-20-05-Third Sunday of Advent-Hope
During the Advent season we are waiting with anticipation and excitement for the Light of the World to come. But there is a very important ingredient that must be mixed with our Anticipation and that is HOPE. For without hope, we can get discouraged and give up on God’s promises.
When we think about hope today, we see it as nothing more than a feeling or wish. In fact, Webster defines hope as “a feeling that what is wanted will happen.” To hope against hope is “to continue having hope (a feeling that what is wanted will happen) though it seems baseless.” Today, we want to see what the Bible says about hope—which is not the same as Webster.
Luke 1:26-35 (NIV) In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
Mary is given a great promise by Gabriel—she is to be the mother of the Messiah—the Light of the World. Yet, she still had to wait 9 months before the baby was born. During the first few days and even months, after Gabriel left her, she may have become discouraged and doubted that she had really heard the angel. She may have felt that it was a dream. But when she could feel the baby in her womb, then she knew that what the angel had spoken was real and true.
What was it that kept her believing in God even when she could not see the reality of it? It was her hope that what God had said was true would happen just as He had said it would.
Luke 1:45 (NIV) Blessed is she (Mary) who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”
How do we know she had hope? Because we see her faith in her willingness to accept God’s will for her that Jesus would be born in her womb. Now what does faith have to do with hope? Everything!
Heb 11:1 (NIV) Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
(KJV) Now faith is the substance (confidence)a of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
We see this faith in Mary’s statement of submission to Gabriel,
Luke 1:38 (NIV) “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said (according to your word).” Then the angel left her.
The evidence of Mary’s faith is that she had hope in what God said would come to pass would happen. Although she was a virgin, she believed that the power of God would come upon her and she would give birth to the Messiah. In the middle of all that we talk about during the Advent season, we must never forget the virgin birth. It is crucial to understanding that Jesus was fully God and the Son of God. He was not born in the natural way so that Joseph was his father. No, God was His Father—not Joseph.
Even more important after the baby started growing, was that Mary had to continue to keep her hope in God’s word and ignore what was being said around her. Surely the rumors were flying around town about her being pregnant yet claiming to be a virgin. She must have feared that Joseph would leave her and she would be killed. In that day if a woman was found pregnant outside of marriage, they were to be stoned to death (Deut 22:23-24). How many times must she have looked out the window expecting to be dragged into the city streets to be stoned to death?
Here is an amazing part of the story, that God not only took care of Mary, but He also told Joseph that Mary was not unfaithful to him and not to divorce her.
Matt 1:18-21 (NIV) This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Both Mary and Joseph were told that the baby’s name would be called Jesus. As soon as they heard this name, they would have known that in the Hebrew it means “the Lord is salvation.” So not only are they waiting on the birth of a baby (like all expectant parents), but they are waiting on the birth of the Messiah—the one who will bring salvation to them. Now they are waiting in anticipation with hope for their Messiah to be born.
What could be greater for them to wait on then the one who would be their salvation? Only a Savior could deliver them form the darkness of sin. Only a Savior could speak words of healing and redemption. Only a Savior could bring them eternal life. Only a Savior could speak words of hope in the middle of the darkest night.
What is the Bible definition of hope? W.E. Vine says it is “favorable and confident expectation.” Listen to what the prophet Micah said.
Micah 7:7 (NIV) But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
(NASB) But as for me, I will awatch expectantly for the Lord; I will bwait for the God of my salvation. My cGod will hear me.
Micah says, I know my God will hear me, so I’m going to watch and wait. That is waiting with anticipation—expecting God to do what He has said He would do—waiting with hope. Now, to truly understand this verse, you must know that when Micah wrote it, it was during a time when the Northern kingdom was being destroyed by Assyria and there was corruption everywhere in the Southern kingdom of Judah. Micah was greatly hated and violently opposed by “the powers that be.” He is highly respected by us today because of his prophecy that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2, Matt 2:5-6).
There is a power in hope that can help us to wait with anticipation and expectation. There is a connection between waiting and hoping that gives us strength. Yet, so many times we give up, we quit too soon, we stop waiting and hoping because we think that God is not answering our prayers. Or He is not answering them as fast as we want Him to. Israel waited for centuries for their Messiah to come. Some did give up, but there were a remnant, the faithful few, like Mary, Joseph, Simeon, Anna, Elizabeth, and Zacharias—who did not give up and continued to hope that one day the Messiah would come. Oh, to know like Micah “my God will hear me” no matter what, so I will watch and wait for Him!
This is what we see in Mary and Joseph—waiting with expectation and hope. Trusting God’s word in the middle of what seemed like an impossible situation. This is true faith that is based on a hope—not just a feeling or a wish—because God is the one who promised it. The whole Christmas story is filled with wonder and awe because of the impossibility of God becoming a man. Yet, as both Mary and Joseph discovered, God’s Word is true!
Rom 15:12-13 (NIV) And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in Him.” 13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The prophecy quoted in this verse comes from Isaiah 11:10 and refers to the Messiah (Root of Jesse)—Jesus who would come. So this prophecy ties the whole birth of Jesus to the subject of hope. Note especially it was to provide hope for the Gentiles, not just Israel. Not only can we see hope in the Christmas story, but we are told in the scriptures that God is the author of hope. Look at vs. 13 again, it says that as we are filled “with all joy and peace as we trust in Him,” we will overflow with hope. Are you overflowing with hope in your life? As we are filled up with God, we are filled up with His hope (“favorable and confident expectation”).
Paul describes pagans (unbelievers) as those who have no hope, because they are ‘without God’.
Eph. 2:12 (NIV) remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
We show others that we are true believers by the hope that we have in God. This shows them that are not without God in our lives.
Hebrews tell us that hope is an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
Heb 6:17-19a (NIV) Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
What do we need an anchor for? Is an anchor any good when it is in the boat? No, the anchor is what you throw over the boat, expecting it to lodge in the waters deep below to keep you from drifting or going in the wrong direction. The anchor is what keeps you safe and secure in the middle of the storm. Thank God, that when the storms blow, we have an anchor for our souls! That anchor is our hope in God that He has promised us as His heirs that He will not fail us — He cannot fail us— because He has confirmed it with an oath and He cannot lie!
Mary was called the highly favored one of God by Gabriel (Luke 1: 28, 30) because of her hope in God that He would keep His promise to send the Messiah. We are the favored ones of God today, when we believe in hope that He will keep His promises—regardless of how things may look. We must become like Micah, and “watch in hope for the Lord”, waiting “for God my Savior;” and knowing that “my God will hear me.”
As we wait on God this Advent season are we waiting on Him with hope in our hearts? Or have we stopped expecting Him to fulfill His promises in our lives? Does our situation seem too impossible for God to handle? If so, then let’s remind ourselves of Mary and Joseph and how in the middle of their impossible situation, they continued to hope against hope with expectation and anticipation that their Savior would come.
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a substance: or, ground, or, confidence
a Hab 2:1
b Ps 130:5; Is 25:9
c Ps 4:3