Advent of Hope

Introduction

A school teacher in England tells a charming story. At Christmas time she supervised the construction of a manger scene in a corner of the classroom. The children participated happily in the project. They also enjoyed casting characters for the drama depicting the Nativity.

The teacher noticed one boy was particularly enamored by it all and was forever going back and forth to the scene. At last she asked him if there was anything bothering him. He said, “No.” She said, “Are there any questions you would like to ask?” “Yes,” he said, “what I’d like to know is—where does God fit in?”

Today marks an exciting time for us as Christians, it is the time of preparation leading up to Christmas, sometimes referred to as Advent - it is a time of reflection on ancient promises given by God. It is a time of reflection, to look at what God has done in our lives, and what God promises to do in the future (past and future prophecy). And it is a reminder we should never forget where our focus should be - on Jesus, and the Hope that He brings to each of us!

While it is a hectic time, full of parties, presents, programs, and decoration. A time where we should might need to ask ourselves, “WHERE DOES GOD FIT IN?” Many of us enjoy all the excitement of the season, especially if we have children, but we may forget what was given to each of us the day Jesus was born. Our Savior entered this world, to fulfill the prophecies given in the Old Testament of the coming Messiah (the chosen one): that He would be virgin born, in the town of Bethlehem, He would be of the tribe of Judah and from the family of David, that his family would flee to Egypt so they could escape Herods massacre of infants, and that He would be called Immanuel. Many things had been told in the Old Testament, leading up to the birth of Christ. Yet at times I wonder if we forget, just as Israel, what a great blessing Christ’s birth is to us as believers. Instead of looking to Christmas as a time of gifts, we should be looking at the blessings and promises we have been given.

As we look at the early time of Christ, we will see that we are Given a Prophecy, the Prophecy was Fulfilled, and the Prophecy was also Ignored.

Prophecy Given

Isaiah 7:10-14

Isaiah 7:10–14 ESV

10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

After Jeroboam died, the Northern Kingdom (Israel) had grown weak. The countries to the north had banded together to overthrow and replace King Ahaz, which troubled Ahaz and all of Judah. A little background about Ahaz, had ascended to the throne at the age of 20 in 735. To put it simply, he was young, arrogant, weak, and self-righteous much more than God fearing. This prophecy, given to Isaiah in 734, means Ahaz was only 21 - not much had changed about his demeanor or faith.

Isaiah had been sent to King Ahaz, who was becoming hopeless in the efforts Jerusalem and Judah could continue to fend off the attacks from the Syrians and the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He was to show the king that God’s protection was still with His people and they would be delivered from their enemies. But, one problem existed: God is by nature compassionate and caring, so when intimidating or frightening situations confront any of His people, He wants to deliver them. But He cannot act in their behalf unless they trust Him. King Ahaz lacked this trust in God, but Isaiah was sent with God’s Word for Ahaz to place his trust in the one and only God for their deliverance or there would be a consequence – total and complete destruction. In the end, Ahaz would not believe and continued to place his trust in man, their armies, and the alliances formed with others.

In an effort to prove, to convince, to solidify Ahaz’s faith, God is giving a second chance for Ahaz to believe. Ahaz could ask God anything – any question that he might be worried over, and God would give him a sign. Nothing was too big or too small, was what God told Isaiah to bring to King Ahaz. Notice the king’s response – even though he lacked firm faith, arrogantly shrugged off God’s offer, and in essence was a slap in the face to Isaiah. Ahaz did not have enough faith to trust God when he needed to, but was too scared to ask God a question even when God had invited him to do so. But in a turn of false humbleness, he would not ask anything of God. Whether Ahaz wanted a sign or not, the Lord was going to give a sign and the sign would be a supernatural one. But notice, the sign would not be only for Ahaz’s benefit but, rather, for the benefit of the whole “house of David” - it was meant for ALL Israel - and for all generations to come! This sign would be given by the Lord Himself. That sign was of a virgin who would bear a son who would be called Immanuel, meaning God is with us. The ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy, which is given to the people of all future generations is the ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ, who was born of the virgin Mary. While this prophecy would not be fulfilled for centuries afterward, the Prophecy would be Fulfilled.

Prophecy Fulfilled

Matthew 1:18–23 ESV

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

Why is this so amazing? No other religion has specific, repeated, and unfailing fulfillment of predictions many years in advance of contingent events over which the predictor had no control. The fulfilled prophecy is powerful evidence that the Bible is divine rather than human in origin.

This prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled around 5 B.C. – somewhere around 600 years AFTER God had announced the birth of Christ to King Ahaz.

Many things had happened during this time. Judah continued to be plagued with kings that did not follow God’s will or direction and as a result had been overtaken, redistributed to other countries, but a remnant of Jews would be preserved, as Scripture tells us. From the end of the Old Testament, there is approximately 400 years where God did not reveal new scripture to the nation of Israel through His prophets. This scriptural dry-spell is broken when Gabriel appears to Zechariah announcing the birth of his son- the forerunner who God named John– as described in Isaiah 40:3:

Isaiah 40:3 ESV

3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Shortly after the angel appeared to Mary and gave her news that would be hard for anyone to comprehend. Can you imagine, the parents had negotiated the arrangements of marriage and contracts were negotiated. The contracts were signed, and you were legally married - husband and wife. But, you would not live together during the time of betrothal - the wife would stay at home with her parents and the man with his for one year. It was a waiting period demonstrating faithfulness and purity of the bride. If she was found to be with child during this time, she had obviously not been faithful and the marriage could be annulled. However, if the one year period showed she was faithful and pure, the husband would go to the house of the bride’s parents and a great processional march would lead them back to his home where they would live as husband and wife. We should look at this story in Matthew with this background in mind.

Put yourself in Mary’s shoes; during this time of celibacy between the couple, prior to the consummation of the marriage, she receives a visit from an angel telling you the Holy Spirit will come upon you and you will become pregnant with God’s child. Prophecy was being fulfilled and this young teen named Mary was at center stage. When she tells Joseph, her betrothed, about this unplanned pregnancy he immediately does as any good man with sense would. He loved Mary so much he did not and would not publicly humiliate her, but sought to divorce her in private. He couldn’t think of public humiliation, or even worse for Mary, he LOVED her, and it was this love that helped him get through the thought of an immoral act: "Love shall cover a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8). A person who truly loves cannot be critical, judgmental, or censorious. The person who loves will not talk, gossip, or criticize. He will get alone with God and pray about the problem—just as Joseph did.

It was then that the angel came to Joseph and revealed God’s plan to him. Now men, think of us – our fiancé has just come to us and said I have never been unfaithful and furthermore I have not been with ANY man including you… but I am pregnant. What would have been OUR reaction to this news? Ha, yeah right!

It would have been catastrophic, and would have called into question the integrity and faithfulness of our chosen one. One thing we must understand here, even though we would be shattered – we could not have moved forward like Joseph if it had not been for a divine revelation to us. And move on Joseph did. They loaded up and went to Bethlehem, where the baby, Immanuel – God with us – was born. Mary and Joseph were living out the prophecy God had shown King Ahaz approximately 600 years ago, and we find many of the prophetic pieces falling into place. It was to be a virgin birth. Now, just as in the time of King Ahaz, Joseph had been given the choice – do you put faith in God’s divine purpose for their lives, and for this new baby to be born. There would be misunderstanding in the community and much gossip at the well, but Joseph knew the true story of Mary’s pregnancy and God’s will for his life.

It was not only one prophecy that was fulfilled in this promise, but many. Notice Joseph is called the son of David, and it gives a human lineage for this child. From Abraham, to Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Jessee and finally David. But wait! This wasn’t Joseph’s son! Oh, but God works out all the details – this lineage follows BOTH Joseph AND Mary! Even though God had worked out the tiniest details to perfection – given no one room to be able to doubt WHO this child was – the reality is the priests would not believe and would deny the prophecy foretelling who the Christ would be. But even with all this evidence, those who should have known, Ignored the Prophecy.

Prophecy Ignored

Luke 2:46–47 ESV

46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

As a 12 year old boy, Jesus and His parents had returned to Jerusalem for the Passover, He found himself in the temple speaking, and teaching to those who had been trained in scripture. These teachers who were sitting, listening intently to what Jesus had to say could not comprehend HOW he knew scripture as He did. Yet it is these same types of people that would deny His deity and would question Him intentionally trying to get him to make a mistake so they could bring charges against Him!

Luke 20:20 ESV

20 So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.

They had faith in their specific form of worship, but not enough faith to believe what Scripture was pointing them to – that this WAS their Messiah. And just like Ahaz, they missed the blessings God had in store for them.

Closing

Not only is this prophecy and it’s fulfilment a sign of God’s power, it shows His love for us. Immanuel – God with us – from the beginning, God knew there would be the to send His Son as a sacrifice for our sins. But just like King Ahaz, our belief in Christ must simply come from having faith that what we are being told is true.

Hebrews 11:6 ESV

6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

As we enter into the Christmas season, I want us to focus on God, His love for us, the great sacrifice made by Christ on our behalf and to truly BELIEVE in what the scriptures relay to us. Don’t ever forget God loves you so much that He sent you a personal Christmas present in the form of His son. The baby Jesus grew into a man, and died upon a cross for our sins, and God raised Him from the dead.

Not only are we reflecting on the past prophecies and their fulfillment, we are also living in a current time of Advent, the time where we as Christians should be preparing - as it is also the time leading up to the second coming of Christ.

Mark 13:34–37 ESV

34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

Christ’s ascension is like a man going on a journey, and he left home - this earth - and put his servants in charge - we as Christians have been given the job to take care of His tasks until He returns. We are to make sure everyone is awake and doing their jobs, as we do not know when He will return. We have a job to do, we must be about the Fathers’ business of spreading the gospel. That is what we can never forget, even when we are celebrating, we have work to do! Why? Because we love Him! We should worship Him, this season simply we love Him, because He first loved us!

On Christmas Day some years ago, a little boy was seen going in and out of his church several times. When asked, “What gift did you ask of the Christ child?” he replied, “I didn’t ask for anything. I was just in there loving Him for a little while.”

Ahaz missed the blessings God had in store for him, the teachers missed the blessings God had in store for them. This Christmas season, don’t miss the blessings God has in store for you. If you have never accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, give HIM the best gift that could ever be given - you.