Advent Meditation - Hope
Neither you, no one else, nor the world is hopeless.
The 1977 blockbuster Star Wars: A New Hope contains one of the most often quoted lines of any movie. Princess Leia Organa sends a desperate message to Obi Wan Kenobi in hopes that he will hear it and come to her rescue. “Help Me Obi Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.”
The first week of Advent focuses our attention on the theme of HOPE. Many people are looking for someone or something in which they can place their trust. So many are looking for an Obi Wan to come and rescue us from this mess.
Such was the case in the culture into which Jesus was born. Times were hard then as they are now. Lots of questions. Few answers. Jesus came to earth like a ray of hope in a dark and dismal world. There is nothing or no one in our day that can promise what God has done for us in Christ. He TRULY is our ONLY hope.
The Promise of Hope
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness — on them light has shined. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” – Isaiah 9:2, 6-7
Advent is a celebration of the coming of Jesus the Messiah into the world to redeem lost sinners. The world into which He came was a dark world. God had created a very good and perfect world. But when Adam and Eve sinned, the curse of their sin corrupted God’s creation. As the years, centuries, and millennia passed, the effects of sin grew darker still.
Those who worshipped God looked with expectant hope for the Messiah who would come to rescue His people from the darkness. For years they looked. For years they hoped. Finally, at the right time, God sent His Son, Jesus, into the sin darkened world. John 1 tells us that life was in Jesus and this life was the light of men. Jesus is the light that cannot be overcome by the deepest darkness. Their hope was realized with the coming of Jesus.
That Was Then, This Is Now
We, too, live in an incredibly sin-darkened world. So many people are looking to so many sources for a glimmer of hope. Some expect government to offer us hope. Others think they will find hope in more financial freedom, a better job, or a more meaningful relationship.
Some have given up together on the notion of finding hope. Many live with a day to day resignation that things just aren’t going to be any better, and they probably will get worse. Others contemplate accomplishing their own exit from this world, and sadly some follow through on it. More this time of year than on the average.
If you are one who has given up on the notion of finding real hope in this life, I have good news for you. There is true and lasting hope in Jesus Christ. He is the only one who can redeem and rescue people from the darkness of sin.
Advent is a season to look for and wait with expectant hope for the Second Coming of Jesus. Jesus promises not only to redeem lost sinners, but to transform us into His likeness to restore what sin has corrupted.
Jesus promises to make all things new. That process has begun on the lives of those who believe and trust in Him by faith. And Jesus promises to complete that work when He returns a second time.
Let’s hear again from God’s word in 1 John 3 verses 1 and 2:
1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.
So as we remember those who expectantly awaited the coming of the Messiah the first time, let us with hope await and look for Him to return to restore His glory to His creation. We can endure the mess of today because we are assured of the hope of the future.
Who needs a fictional Jedi when you have the real Jesus?