The Advent of Hope

Hope: A People For His Presence

Introduction –

Romans 15:13 NASB95

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Today we prepare for Advent -

Advent means the coming of the Messiah

And by prepare, I mean we set our minds and emotions towards the Advent of Jesus. We remember, recall, give praise, and celebrate the coming of Jesus. In this our hearts are prepared with Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love as eagerly and confidently anticipate the second advent of Jesus.

We are living in times where institutions have lost their credibility, truth has become subjective, and our normal has been turned upside down. Tribalism is replacing the civic community and social media has separated us from those who are close to us.

Today, I want to give you hope.

Maybe you are dealing with a recent death – His Advent is hope

Maybe you have recently lost your job – His Advent is hope

COVID – Relationship Issues – Financial Struggles – His Advent is hope.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Setting the stage –

God creates the cosmos as His Temple / Eden the throne room.

God creates a man and woman to live and dwell in God’s relational Presence, for their benefit and for His glory.

Adam called to Expand the Presence of God from Eden to the entire world.

Genesis 1:28 NASB95

God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Expand the presence of God by fill the earth with your offspring – subdue the earth for God – Rule over creation as a priest and regent of God.

Adam and Eve sinned – Cursed

Kicked out of Eden the Temple of God – The local presence of God.

Spiritual and Physical death – Separated from the tree of Life.

To the woman – Pain in childbirth

To the man – No dominion over the earth – no ruling over creation – Everything you get will be through sweat and tears.

Yet even in the midst of cursing humanity God hints towards redemption, where man will be set free to be a People of God’s Presence.

-------------------------------------------------------------

God desires to fill the earth with His redeeming presence –

· Humanity, separated from the Presence of God becomes full of violence and hatred.

· God chooses one man and his family to start over – Noah – Yet, even there Noah and his family rebelled against the presence of God, they were fully unable to represent God and carry His presence into the new world.

· God chooses Abraham and His family – Even in all their faults God makes a covenant, where He swears by Himself to use this family to bless the nations.

Genesis 12:3 NASB95

And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

In Gen 12, 15, 17 God makes a three-point covenant – Promise of Land, promise of multiplication, promise of blessing all the people of the world through Abraham.

Covenant with Moses

Exodus 29:45–46 NASB95

“I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. “They shall know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them; I am the Lord their God.

God rescues Israel from Egypt to be a people of His presence.

God’s covenant with Israel calls them to reflect His presence in their lives through the following of God’s law.

Tabernacle of God’s Presence

A tent and an ark where God’s presence on earth resides. (He is back but not like Eden).

Tabernacle was designed as a microcosm of Eden (The Holy Place and the Holy of Holies was separated by a large curtain that had a cherub embroidered on it. The Tabernacle was 15 ft by 45 ft, the Holy of Holies was 14ft by 14 ft.)

Wherever, the Tabernacle and Ark went so did the presence of God

Israel continued to struggle, like Adam choosing over and over again not to be a people of God’s presence.

Yet God remained faithful to His covenant.

David

2 Samuel 7:11–13 NASB95

even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you. “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

God narrows his covenant from Israel to King David and his decedents.

God’s covenant with David is a Dynasty of kings over Israel

Most importantly God will use one of David’s decedents. This descendent will establish a dynasty for Yahweh’s name and Yahweh will establish his Kingdom forever.

Even though Israel will fail to be a people of God’s presence, God promises that through Israel / David one will come who will carry the presence of God and God will establish His eternal Kingdom. This King will build a dynasty for Yahweh, he will build a dynasty of kings and priests who will be a people of God’s presence.

Yet David and his children fail, from one tragedy to another the book of Kings records the depravity of Israel and their kings. God’s beautiful promises to David have not reached their fulfillment, instead they lie in shambles at the feet of the Assyrians and Babylonians.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Jesus and the new covenant and new hero –

o Out of the rubble God responds. He gives a new covenant and a new covenant hero.

o Not only does the new covenant fulfill the old covenants but supersedes them in all aspects.

Forgiveness of sins

Jeremiah 31:34 NASB95

“They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Ezekiel 36:29 NASB95

“Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you.

A wholehearted internal transformation

Jeremiah 31:33 NASB95

“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Ezekiel 36:26 NASB95

“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

A deeper intimacy between God and His people

Jeremiah 31:34 NASB95

“They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Ezekiel 36:27 NASB95

“I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

Goes beyond Israel to encompass the ends of the earth.

Isaiah 42:6 NASB95

“I am the Lord, I have called You in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You, And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations,

Isaiah 49:6 NASB95

He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

But how will God accomplish this covenant with a humanity of covenant breakers?

-----------------------------------

The First Advent – The Redeeming Presence of God is born

Luke 1:30–35 NASB95

The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Life –

(The word became flesh, humbled himself took the form of a servant, All authority in Heaven and Earth – dominion over evil spirits, nature, sickness and death.

He is expanding the Kingdom of God

Making a new people a new Israel (12 disciples)

He chooses God’s presence over earthly ambitions (Test in the wilderness)

He forgives sin as only God can do

He takes authority over nature as Adam was commanded to do but gave up

He takes dominion over sickness, death

He takes dominion over the rebellious spirits

In life he is everything thing Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and Israel was to be. He is the faithful servant.

Born a child of Abraham he becomes God’s covenant promise to bless the nations.

Born a child of David he becomes God’s promise to establish a dynasty for Yahweh, a people of the presence of God.

Born a child of Adam he fulfills Adam’s call to multiply a people that will take the presence of God to the ends of the earth.

Death –

In his death he becomes the righteous offering for the people of God and the scape goat that carries the sin of the people away from the presence of God.

Resurrection –

In his resurrection he becomes the first born of a people of God prepared for the new heaven and earth.

Ascension –

In his ascension He becomes King and ruler over all creation moving history towards the second advent – the new heaven and earth.

He pours out His Spirit on those who place their faith in Him as a down payment of the final reality of the relational presence of God for eternity in the new heaven and earth.

Outpouring of the Holy Spirit –

Through the outpouring of the HS – God moves into us His laws and character begin to be written on our hearts.

A new nature begins to be formed

His presence is redeeming – setting us free from sin and death

His people become the temples who hold the redeeming presence of God.

Through these temples of the HS His redeeming presence begins to cover the face of the earth.

The Redeeming Presence of God filling the earth – You are temples of the Holy Spirit.

Joy to the World the Lord Has come!!!

--------------------------------------------------------------

But the Messianic vision is not complete –

Sin and death must be dealt with

The redeeming presence is coving the earth

But God desires for his relational presence – to cover the earth.

God desires to live with His people – face to face

----------------------------------------------------------------

The Second Advent –

A redeemed people and the Personal Relational Presence of God.

God’s Glory covering the earth as the waters cover the seas.

The Completed Vision / The Future is full of Hope!

Revelation 21:1–8 NASB95

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Revelation 22:1–5 NASB95

Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

The Messianic Vision is, the full and total un-administrated relational, presence of God, covering all the world for the Joy of humanity and the Glory of God as its aim.

John Describes the End as The Fulfilled and Even Greater Eden

· No longer any sea – sea and waters were a Hebrew type for chaos

· God walked with Adam and Eve – NJ – God will permanently dwell with His people.

· Curse of sin brought death, pain and mourning – NJ Reverses this.

· Waters flowed out of Eden – Waters of life flow from the throne of God in a new Heaven and Earth.

· One tree of life in the garden – Trees of life for the healing of the nations.

· New Jerusalem is 1,400 miles square – perfection / The Tabernacles Holy of Holies was 14 foot square

· The Prototype was a garden the fulfilled vision is a city of a people in His presence.

· The NJ is made up of 12 gates – tribes of Israel and 12 foundations -apostles. The culmination of all of salvation history.

· Eden was the temple – God and Jesus are now the temple –

· The gold and jewels in Eden are now the building blocks of the NJ.

The Messianic vision fulfilled is the presence of God covering the world for all to enjoy to His Glory.

And this is the story line from Gen 3 to Rev 22 – How God redeems and restores a people for His Presence.

Nothing can stop God from fulfilling His desire for a people of His presence, not even the chosen people who time and time again fail.

God would become one of us to redeem us from sin and death and to redeem us to Himself and to a new Heaven and earth where His Relational Presence is not just our Hope but our life, joy, and beauty.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Conclusion –

In the middle of a world that feels out of control and in a constant state of chaos, we should be hopeful.

Our hope is based on history not fleeting emotions.

God is taking history and pulling it towards a new Heaven and Earth, a new Garden City, where his relational presence will cover the earth.

We hope because of what He has started in Jesus as the first Advent

· Reconciliation with the father

· The redemption from the penalty of our sins

· The redeeming Presence of God dwelling in His people – changing them from the inside out – holiness to holiness.

· The resurrection of Jesus guarantees it all.

· By scripture – by history – by our own experience with the redeeming presence of God.

· We know for a fact, with no shadow of doubt, Jesus will return, and He will dwell with His people in a new heaven and earth – all the earth will be His temple – His relational presence will cover the earth.

· Jesus will win, Jesus will reign, and we will enjoy His presence and he will be glorified for Eternity.

· The first advent is our guarantee of the second advent - Our Great Hope!

The future reality of all things.