The Hope of Christmas

THE HOPE OF CHRISTMAS Spring Valley Mennonite; December 13, 2020; Isaiah 9:6, Galatians 4:4, Acts 1:9-11 The school system in a large city had a program to help children keep up with their schoolwork during stays in the city's hospitals. One day a teacher who was assigned to the program received a routine call asking her to visit a particular child. She took the child's name and room number and talked briefly with the child's regular class teacher. "We're studying nouns and adverbs in his class now," the regular teacher said, "and I'd be grateful if you could help him understand them, so he doesn't fall too far behind." The hospital program teacher went to see the boy that afternoon. No one had mentioned to her that the boy had been badly burned and was in great pain. Upset at the sight of the boy, she stammered as she told him, "I've been sent by your school to help you with nouns and adverbs." When she left she felt she hadn't accomplished much. But the next day, a nurse asked her, "What did you do to that boy?" The teacher felt she must have done something wrong and began to apologize. "No, no," said the nurse. "You don't know what I mean. We've been worried about that little boy, but ever since yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He's fighting back, responding to treatment. It's as though he's decided to live." Two weeks later the boy explained that he had completely given up hope until the teacher arrived. Everything changed when he came to a simple realization. He expressed it this way: "They wouldn't send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?" What incredible power there is in hope! The world recognizes the power of hope, especially in the medical field. A famous American cardiologist said in his autobiography, "Hope is the medicine I use more than any other. Hope can cure nearly everything." In contrast to the healing power of hope, another doctor commented, "If you lead a person to believe there's no hope, you drive another nail in his coffin." Hope is one of the most important themes found in the Bible. But in the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, as one Christmas Carol states, "The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight." As we think about Christmas hope this Third Sunday of Advent, it is crucial to remind ourselves what is meant by "hope." I. WHAT IS HOPE? Hope is commonly used in two main ways: first, it is a synonym of "wishing." There are a lot of "hopeful" kids at Christmastime! We "hope" the vaccines for Covid-19 will effectively end this world-wide pandemic. We "hope" the KC Chiefs will repeat as Super Bowl Champions. And in line with this definition, the vast majority of people "hope" they will go to heaven when they die-but such hope is nothing more than strong wishing. And although there is something attractive about blind optimism, this brand of hope lacks real substance. By contrast, we find that Biblical hope is vastly different than just wishing. The second meaning of hope is "the sure certainty of something happening, a confident expectation." The Christian can be filled with this type of hope, for we can say with the Psalmist, "And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You." The hopes of the Old Testament righteous were fulfilled at the birth of Christ; likewise, our hope has its basis in the incarnation of God the Son, the fleshing-out of God's love to us. Standing at the center of history is the reason and foundation of our hope, the baby in the manger, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Hope does not come from merely wishing for good things to happen; hope comes from the realization that God keeps His promises-every single one of them! At the very beginning of mankind, after Adam and Eve had sinned, God gave them the hope of salvation. God promised that One would come who would "crush Satan's head." With ever increasing detail, God gave His people Israel hope through giving promises of a coming Messiah who would deliver them from sin and death. Abraham was given the promise that through his family "the whole earth would be blessed." Abraham's grandson Jacob, in blessing his own sons, prophesied that the entire world would someday obey a ruler coming from the descendants of his son Judah. King David spoke of the future Christmas Day when God would say, "You are My Son, Today I have begotten You." The hope of the righteous of Israel grew as the prophesies piled one upon another: This Savior would be of the family line of Jesse, of the descendants of King David. He would be born in Bethlehem, although the regions of Galilee would "see a great light' as Jesus would live in Nazareth. The hope grew with promises that a mighty King would come, described in Isaiah 9:6: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulders; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end..." But for the Israelite, this hope was not just a principle dealing with the future, but the sure certainty that God also loved and cared for them and would daily sustain them. God remained their constant and only hope through successive troubles: through oppression by Assyria, Babylon, the Greeks and Romans. The hope of a deliverer-a Messiah-sustained them. It enabled them to "hold on" while they waited. Hope always deals with the future. Then... II. THE SEED OF HOPE THAT WAS PLANTED BORE FRUIT! "In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, born of a virgin." (Galatians 4:4) It was a dark period in Israel's history. No prophet had spoken for over 400 years. They were oppressed by the Romans who laid heavy burdens of excessive taxes upon the people. And Caesar Augustus had just instituted a census so he could tax them further! The legalistic Jewish leaders had intensified Moses' laws to extreme levels. Greek pagan culture threatened to attract the youth. But there were some who still cherished the hope of a deliverer, the Messiah. Then one ordinary night in the small town of Bethlehem, all the hopes of the righteous from Adam forward were fulfilled! The Messiah was born! Jesus is a light to both Jew and Gentile. You see, we need a universal Savior because we have a universal problem. Every person who ever was born has inherited the terminal disease of sin, and the Bible is crystal clear that everyone who sins will die, eternally separated from God. "For all have sinned and fall short of God's perfection; the wages of sin is death." We are in a hopeless situation! We are broken and we cannot fix ourselves. On our own we are lost and without hope. But God made promises that He would send a deliverer, a Savior. That Bethlehem night the angel's message to shepherds was, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord. The promised Messiah had been born! The Deliverer has come from heaven to earth! The most amazing thing is that God the Son stepped out of heaven and put on a fleshly body. Why? Because God loved the world so much that He gave us His Son, that by believing in Him we might live eternally with our sins forgiven. For that baby in the manger grew to be a young man; He walked the roads and pathways of this sinful earth without sinning; He voluntarily became the perfect required sacrifice, crucified on a Roman cross. He died, was buried, but rose again on the third day. And the hope of eternal salvation became a reality. God kept His promise. This is why meditating on the events of that first Christmas renews hope within our own lives. A crucial element in the Christian life is understanding this principle of hope. Those short 33 years of Jesus' earthly stay provide the pivot point of all history, all because Jesus came and died for our sins. But-listen to me-our hope was just beginning that first Christmas! The New Testament continues to speak of "hope." Just how does the hope of the first Christmas relate to a present hope? It relates on many levels; consider this: THE REALIZED HOPE OF THE FIRST ADVENT-WHEN JESUS BECAME MAN-THAT HOPE GIVES US THE BASIS OF THE HOPE OF HIS RETURN, HIS SECOND ADVENT! III. THE HOPE OF THE SECOND ADVENT Remember the words of the Angel when Jesus ascended back into heaven 40 days after His resurrection? Listen to Acts 1:9-11: "This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven." The disciples were reminded that Christ would return, just as He had promised. Our Lord said, "I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go, I will return to take you back with Me, that we might be together." Because Jesus fulfilled literally and completely each prophesy relating to His first Advent when He came to earth as the baby in the Bethlehem manger, we have the sure HOPE (the settled confidence) that every one of the prophesies of His Second Advent, His second coming, will likewise be literally and completely fulfilled! In his letter to Titus, Paul writes: (Titus 2:11-14) For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, (NOW LISTEN TO THIS,) looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus... The 'blessed hope" of the believer is the return of Jesus Christ. It is future, and it is certain. Jesus is coming back, not in His role as the humble servant, but as the conquering King to set up His kingdom of righteousness. All wrongs will be righted, and Justice will prevail. He will rule as King of the world, and-listen to me-as the Bride of Christ, all we believers will reign with Him! What a future awaits each of us! Although many aspects of this coming Kingdom remain shrouded in mystery, the veil has been parted just enough to allow us to realize that life will be more wonderful than we can imagine. Paul prays in Ephesians 1:18: "...that the eyes of our hearts might be enlightened, so that we might know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints... This blessed hope of a certain future with Christ has wonderful benefits today for us. IV. THE PRESENT BENEFITS OF THE BLESSED HOPE There are many verses that point out these present benefits of hope. I would point out three:The first benefit is comfort in grief. 1 Thessalonians 4:13: "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. Perhaps the most difficult part of life is saying "goodbye" to our loved ones as they die. Hope allows us to move on with life, grieving, yet continuing with joy and purpose in life. For we know that we only say "goodbye" for a short time; we will have all eternity together with those who die in Christ. Hope says, "keep your grief in perspective; it is temporary." Secondly, Hope also produces the present benefit of godly character. 1 John 3:2-3: "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. Let's think about this: how does hope motivate us to Holy living? If I told you that Jesus was coming back tomorrow at Noon, how would you spend tomorrow morning? Or what would you do this afternoon and evening? Maybe the question is "What would we NOT do?" Would knowing that Jesus is coming tomorrow change our behavior? Of course it would! Friends, the Bible makes it very plain that Jesus could return at any minute. That is a certain hope. What would you like to be doing at the moment Jesus returns? Is there anything in your life that you would be ashamed of doing when Jesus comes? "Everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself..." The certain hope of heaven should motivate us to clean up our lives-and keep them clean. One last benefit of hope is seen in Romans 8:24-25: "For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. Did you take note of the word perseverance? The things for which we hope lie in the future, for that is the nature of hope. We have the sure certainty that Christ will return, but that lies in the future. But such hope enables us to persevere through all things. 2020 has been a difficult year, but we who hope in Jesus understand that an eternity free from such trials awaits us. Lawrence Richards makes this comment: "No one who learns to hope in a biblical way will ever be overcome by disappointment, but will be filled with patience, encouragement and enthusiasm." Hope is invigorating! Life in all its trials and challenges becomes so much more pleasant for we know our future! We know how it ends! Folks, realize it doesn't get any worse that this! It will only get better after this life-IF you know the Savior. But for those who have not trusted Jesus as their Sin Bearer, this life is as good as it gets. How tremendously sad! For anyone who is contemplating facing eternity on your own without Jesus Christ as your Savior, clearly understand that God does not grade on the curve; He does not weigh your good works against your sins: with God either you pass or you fail. The Bible is extremely clear: Jesus Christ, God's Son, is the only way to heaven. Jesus said in John 14:6: I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me." These days of Advent provide opportunity for us to move closer to God as we think about how Jesus fulfills all our hopes by coming to earth to be our Savior. While much of the world He died to save does not recognize Him as Savior, that doesn't change the fact that He is the only hope of the world. One day all knees will bow to Him. The Hope of the world is Jesus. The Angels' announcement of the First Advent was magnificent, but it was limited to an audience of a few shepherds. But at the Second Advent, when Christ returns in all the magnificence of the glory of heaven, there will be nothing limited about it! He will come as conquering King! This is our blessed hope. Truly, "the hopes and fears of all the years" were met in Bethlehem that night. 1