It is a significant day in our country’s history. I doubt there are many of us here that don’t remember where they were the when they learned of planes hitting the world trade center, the Pentagon, and going down in a field in Pennsylvania. In the days that followed there was a palpable connection. I remember how eery it seemed when the skies were empty.

Church attendance swelled around the country.

It is in moments of tragedy that people tend to turn to look for something beyond themselves. They hold on to something that seems so tangible and yet so distant.

What is it about tragedy that causes us to do so? What is it about death that draws us to ideas of faith, of seeking God, of reminding others of God’s presence? Perhaps it’s because it’s then that we recognize our mortality and that there has to be something more. Perhaps it is only then that we see most clearly the image imprinted on us by our Creator.

In the fall of 2019 we began a series called Casket Empty, and we began a journey through the entirety of the Bible. The picture, you may remember on the Old Testament Study guide was a cross, and the acronym CASKET definitely reminded us of death. Well, we’ve finally made it to the New Testament! Please, please, try and contain your wild cheering, settle down, settle down. No, really.

Let’s take a moment and remember the Old Testament. It is the Old Testament that launches us into the New Testament. So as we studied it, we had the acronym CASKET:

C - Creation

A - Abraham

S - Sinai

K - Kings

E - Exile

T - Temple

C - Creation, it’s clear what that is. We see it in the first chapters of Genesis, and then we get to A.

A - Abraham - the calling of Abraham was the choosing of a people, that from this one the entirety of creation would be blessed.

S - Sinai - Mount Sinai is where God spoke to Moses. We have the Law, the 10 commandments and God leading His people to the promised land.

K - We had the period of Kings - good & bad, we continued to see God’s people struggle with their propensity towards abandoning God’s commands. We saw the split of the 12 tribes into two kingdoms.

E - There was a period of exile - a consequence of their rebellion.

T - Temple - the return into the promised land and the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem.

Now we get to EMPTY

E - Expectation

M - Messiah

P - Pentecost

T - Teachings

Y - Yet to Come

E - Expectation - clearly there was a period of expectation. But what were they expecting? What were they expecting their Messiah to be? We know many were not expecting anything like who Jesus was.

M - Messiah - we will look at what it means to be the Messiah, and of course into Jesus as the Messiah.

P - Pentecost is the birth of the church. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit. We’ll look at that in the coming weeks.

T - Teaching - there is a tremendous amount of teaching in the New Testament. Paul and others teach us through their letters.

Y - Yet to Come, - what is it that the future holds for us?

So, this morning we begin with the idea of Expectation.

I’ve title this morning’s Message: What Are We Waiting For?

What Are We Waiting For?

Our passage this morning that I chose is to remind us of what it is that we believe. Romans 1:16-17 “I am not ashamed...” It seems that despite our tendency to seek out an eternal hope when we’re faced with tragedies such as 9-11, or death in our lives the rest of the time it is not even second tier. It’s not something set away to the closet in our guest room, but something that is out of sight and out of mind in our storage locker.

Paul speaks out and says, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel...”

Lexham Theological Wordbook Gospel

A gospel is an announcement of good news. In particular, the gospel is the announcement that Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection have brought about salvation for Israel and the world.

The concept of Gospel comes from the Old Testament, the announcing of good news, such as a victory in battle.

“I am not ashamed of the Gospel...” Why?

Romans 1:16 (ESV)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, FOR IT IS THE POWER OF GOD FOR THE SALVATION TO EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

The Gospel is the POWER OF GOD. It is God who has attained victory in the battle of our salvation. Something that we could not do on our own mired in sin as we are.

At the end of the Old Testament, we have Malachi. Although the temple had been completed this had not produced the messianic age as expected. Malachi “called the people to repentance with respect to the priesthood, which had become corrupt; worship, which had become routine; divorce, which was widespread; social justice, which was being ignored; and tithing, which was neglected.” (ESV Study Bible).

During the period from 430BC - 6BC the expectation for a Messiah would build.

Israel had become part of the Greek world, and had suffered in wars of Alexander’s successors. You can find more about this in Daniel 11. In December 164BC the Temple is dedicated. and Israel is humbled by the return of Roman rule in 63BC.

Our Timeline here shows much of what was being expected in regards to a Messiah:

Zechariah 14:9 ESV

And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.

They expected the KINGDOM OF GOD to be ushered in.

ROYAL SON OF MAN and SON OF DAVID - they expected this Messiah to assume the throne, and become their King in the line of David.

ATONEMENT FOR SIN - You can read about this in Isaiah 53, and Daniel 9:24.

A NEW COVENANT, the pouring out of the HOLY SPIRIT, the Blessing of ABRAHAM. RESURRECTION, and Final JUDGMENT, and finally a NEW CREATION.

These are huge, ground shaking, nothing will ever be the same again, sort of changes.

This was the hope of the Jewish people between the Testaments.

There are about 400 years between the Old and New Testaments, and many think of that time as 400 years of silence. In fact I have often heard of it as a period of silence, but as you can see on our timeline much was happening.

This period of EXPECTATION contains those 400 years. It is clear that God continued to work. The world was not left alone, there was a time of preparation.

Today we sang some songs that we might normally sing during the season of Advent - a season where the church reflects not only this time we see in our timeline where the people waited for the Savior to appear, but we reflect upon the return of Jesus.

There is a difference for us today, we live in a time after the Messiah has come and before he will return again as promised. We know who Jesus is, we know the power he has, we know his promises, and we know the call to live by faith. We too live in a period of expectation.

Again, Paul wrote:

Romans 1:16–17 ESV

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

So, if the Gospel is Good News, if it is the Power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, if it is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, are we a people living by faith?

According to Paul we as believers are made righteous through our faith in God. Are we a people living by faith or are we cowering?