Prisoners of Hope

Prayer wall!

Introduction:

Well I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving Holiday.

But can you believe it. The advent season is here again.

Christmas is my favorite time of year because it forces us to really slow down and look at what it means for God to become flesh among us.

I always think of Christmas as something of a divine block wall. The more you run into it head on, the more it forms you.

Well A few weeks ago Desiree and I started watching “The Chosen”

We had been told by so many people that we should watch it...

And you would think that would be really appealing for a Pastor to watch, but sometimes, when you have studied the Bible and its context like repeatedly. watching an “artist rendition” of the bible is hard to watch…Its almost a chore...

But WOW…I am so glad we started watching it

and I would recommend that you all download the app and start watching it too.

It is powerful, and very well thought through. They did an amazing job of setting the gospels in their context...

One of the themes that they show really well is the just the oppression the Jews lived under in Rome.

That oppression brought out a desire and a longing a hope for the messiah.

One of the things that if you watch this TV series you will begin to see over and over again is that they portray all of Israel praying for the day that the Messiah would come.

And we know this is accurate because of rabbinic records

they believe the messiah would be a military leader

and it makes sense: The Jews in Israel in the first century were an oppressed people.

Rome was collecting taxes and some historians say that the rate of tax by Rome would have been 65% to even 80% of their income.

Rome kind of worked like the Mafia. They came in to Israel and said…Good news, we will protect you from the threat of invasion...

when in reality, they were the invaders...

So what “The Chosen” does really well is to portray a sense of messianic hope

In Hebrew the word Hope means to wait, it is to expect something greater…Hope was a deep sense of longing..

This Messianic hope was built over generations

generations of turmoil

Three Exiles:

In the Old Testament there were three exiles…That is Israel was away from its true home 3 major times..

3 rd, Exile to Babylon: This one might be the most famous…You’ve read about it through the story of Daniel. In 587 AD King Nebuchadnezzar took Israel’s best and brightest into captivity. It should have lead to the death of all of Israel. but God used a Pagan king named King Cyrus as a deliverer to send the exiles home…Some of you might have read about this in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah...

2nd, Exile in Egypt: The second exile in the Bible is when Israel was stuck in Egypt in slavery for 400 years. And there were many times that Israel should have died but it didn’t. They should have died through the waters of the Red Sea but those waters of death became waters of new life. God would raise up Moses to take Israel out of exile and back to their true home

But as people over the centuries have looked back over and over again at the Bible…They have said wait! There is another exile!

1st, Exile of creation: This is when the sin of humanity caused darkness to reign and for humanity to lose its place with God in the garden. It is the exile from the Garden of Eden…

Judah was set free by Cyrus

Israel was set free by Moses

But who could possibly lead all of creation out of exile?

This question set a longing a desire in the hearts of men and women to find the one who wasn’t just a political deliverer or a prophet…But the one who would be the true king…The one who could extinguish the darkness of sin...

Each year at Christmas, the church celebrates that in Jesus Christ, God has heard the world’s cries. and that he has sent a king, a prophet, a savior to redeem all of creation.

The sin of the garden plunged the whole earth into darkness…But in this time of advent we celebrate that our deliver has come. and is still coming...

We celebrate the coming of the true king

And if you are here and you follow Jesus, the Bible says that your exile is over.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says

The New International Version Chapter 5

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

So if your here today and you are a follower of Jesus, He has made you new. Exile is over for you.

And yet we are still in a world of pain and suffering...

We still need Jesus to set the rest of creation free

You don’t have to look further than the news this week to see that our world and our nation is still in turmoil

The court cases happening this week were the result of an extended period of racial pain and violence that happened in America

The headlines last Sunday in Waukesha, WI..A man who was out on bail, drove through a Christmas parade killing 6 people and inuring dozens more

A virus has polarized our country more than we have seen in decades

And maybe for you: Thanksgiving hi-lighted some family pain and elbow deep in mashed potatoes you just uttered a prayer, “Come lord Jesus come!”

and I can go on…But it all points to a reality

While many of us have found new life in Jesus…This world still is reeling from the effects of darkness.

addiction

Homelessness

Spousal abuse

poverty

Hunger

This first Sunday of advent points to the reality that our world needs the Hope of Jesus

The church in community proclaims a hope that one day, the darkness to cease and a new world to break through the old one.

The apostle Paul wrote my favorite verse in the Bible

Romans 8:19 is one of my favorite verses

The New International Version Chapter 8

19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed

Eager expectation is the same condition as hope.

What Paul was saying is that all of creation is groaning from the darkness and the sin and is waiting for you and for me to take on the character of Christ

Church you get to bring the hope of new life…The hope of eternal life…the hope of redemption to a world filled with darkness and pain.

I am utterly captivated by not only the hope for a messiah but for the meaning that it holds...

Now I want to take you back…To the book of Zechariah, chapter 9

The context of the book of Zechariah happens after the return from exile.

The exiles returned to heaps of rubble..

There was an overwhelming amount of work ahead of them.

Besides the fact that they needed to rebuild all of Jerusalem…other questions came up too.

Who would lead us? Will there be a king to lead these redeemed people?

We are Prisoners of Hope:

Zechariah 9:9

The New International Version (Chapter 9)

9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

lets pause here for a second:

Zechariah envisions a new king coming to Jerusalem...

Gentle and riding on a lowly donkey. A calm and healing presence...

Every year on Palm Sunday we read about when Jesus did just this and entered Jerusalem on a donkey.

So we know that this has to do with Jesus…But I don’t think that we always see how revolutionary this verse is because we don’t read what comes next:

Zechariah 9:10

10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken.He will proclaim peace to the nations.His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.

These lines are dealing wit the complete disarmament of Israel and its neighbors

This new king will not use war the way nations use it

This new king will break the instruments of war

The mention of Ephraim and Jerusalem means that both of Israel’s kingdoms, north and south will be united.

And literally the peace of Israel will have a reverberation effect all over the world…

What if the hope of this new king had a reverberation effect in your life? In the lives of your family and friends?

From the Red Sea to the Mediterranean and to the ends of the earth.

Usually the reference to the river here is to the Euphrates but most scholars believe that because of the way the Hebrew works with this word, it is in reference to this cosmic river…A river that was flowing from Eden to feed the whole earth.

So imagine that you are standing on a heap of rubble in what used to be your home and the prophet Zechariah is giving you this new vision…with a new king

A king who will bring real justice to the earth. Then he goes on to say this

Zechariah 9:11

11 As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you,I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.

These words that Zechariah uses are so special…He says the “blood of my covenant” which is a phrase only used one other time in the Hebrew Bible...

But the king who zechariah was talking about would one day sit around the passover table with his disciples and hold up a cup and talk about the cup representing the blood of the covenant.

Somehow the new king that would come would make a new covenant with all of humanity in blood!

Which was not uncommon.

They made blood covenants in those days with goats and heifers and rams…so maybe the people were thinking that this new king would sacrifice an animal on behalf of the people...

But what they would probably never expect is that the new king would be God and that he would be enthroned on a cross and that by the kings own blood we would be set free....

More specifically…what Zechariah is saying is that somehow…Through the blood of this covenant. That one exile…Not the one that Cyrus delivered people from…Not the one that moses delivered his people from

But that one exile from the garden. That cosmic exile will finally be dealt with by this king…who rides on a donkey and is enthroned in blood...

The Gap

And between verse 11 and verse 12, many commentators argue that there is a gap in the Hebrew...

As if you are supposed to just sit and meditate on this vision of what the new king will do.

So let’s just do that for a second:

In the context of when Zechariah is preaching this message

You had just returned home from exile

You’re standing on the remains of what once was your home. Everything around you is in ruins..

The last time you saw your home you were just 10 years old and now you are 80…Seventy years have gone by

You are weeping at the sight of what once was a busy town with a lot of life and is now in ruins...

And this crazy preacher named zechariah is literally telling you all of this will be reversed

The kind of war that created this mess will one day be abolished

A new and a good king will come…

One who will make a new blood covenant with the people

Set your hearts on it...

But when that preacher is done preaching…The only home you have to go back to is rubble

There are no more city gates. There is no stronghold or fortress to keep you safe...

All you have is this vision of Hope...

That one day all things will be made new.

So after that blissful dreaming about God can do…Zechariah says this

Zechariah 9:12

12 Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.

These people didn't have fortresses!

The phrase return to your fortress would have been laughable because there was just ruins all over the place

Their only fortress was their hope in this distant and coming king

their fortress was their longing

their eager expectation of what God could do.

Its almost as if Zechariah is saying...

Go back to your rubble and hope and pray for this day

God back to your rubble:

And treat it like a fortress: Because a king is coming

and be captured by this hope that by the blood of the king you will be set free from the cosmic exile

And the question strikes me this morning church.

Are we prisoners of hope today?

see hope is for desperate people

people who are standing on the rubble of what was once their lives and lamenting over it …people who will pray, “Oh God that you would tear open the heavens and come down!”

Hope is for a desperate people

A people who are willing to walk into the darkest corners of life and to bring the hope of this king

Church I am utterly captivated by the redemptive possibility of Jesus in this world

I am captivated by the potential of a church who are prisoners of hope…Who just cant let it go…Who will go into this world and proclaim the hope of Jesus.

Church I am hopeful that the God who started a good work in you will bring it to completion

I am hopeful in the child who stepped into creation...

I am hopeful because it was God in the manger

I am hopeful because light drives out darkness...

John 1:1-5

The New International Version Chapter 1

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The coming of Jesus in this world brings out the redemptive hope.

-That darkness can drive out light

-The the creator God is among us.

Church maybe your here right now

And you are standing on the rubble of life...

The rubble of a broken marriage

The rubble of loneliness

The rubble of anger in relationships

The rubble caused by addiction

The rubble of body image issues

Maybe its the rubble the success has caused in your life

Hope is for a people who are standing on rubble but looking forward to the redemptive possibilities of the king of creation

Hope is when that king of creation in the person of Jesus comes and stands on your rubble pile with you

Maybe your here today and you feel hopeless

And you need to come to the alter

The father’s arms are open wide

Jesus is calling

Bring your pain to the alter. Leave as a prisoner of hope

Bring your shame to the alter…leave as a prisoner of hope

Bring your success to the alter…leave as a prisoner of hope.

Prisoners of hope: Your king is here

Prisoners of Hope: Let Earth Receive her King