The theme for the first week of Advent is hope. What is Hope? We use the word hope in an interesting way. We might say, “I hope we have lots of snow this winter.” “I hope my family arrives safely for Christmas.” “I hope researchers find a cure for cancer soon.” When we use hope in this way, we want something, but we convey a hint of uncertainty and doubt. We want something, maybe even something good; we are just not sure if we are going to get it.
Biblical hope is not like that. Hope is certainly a desire, but it is a confident expectation.Hope is expecting great things from God. However, there is an issue: hope involves waiting. We do not have what we hope for. Romans 8:24 says:
For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?
The apostle Paul is talking about the redemption of our bodies. Right now we have physical bodies that are subject to corruption. Ever since sin entered the world through Adam’s sin, we are subject to sickness, decay, and death. God, through Christ, has saved us. He has paid for our sins. He has adopted us as sons of God. Because Christ is raised from the dead, we too will be raised from the dead. We look forward to the time when God will redeem our physical bodies, make them whole, new, and free from the corruption we currently experience. While we hope, we have not seen what we hope for. So we wait. We wait with anticipation. We wait with expectation. We wait in confidence.
We have hope for the future. We have hope right now. Romans 5:1-5:
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
We rejoice in our sufferings, not because we enjoy pain, but because they are the way that God shapes us here on earth and prepares us for eternity. Suffering produces endurance, which in turn produces character, which in turn produces hope. Each builds on the other. Endurance is the ability to continue to be faithful, to grow in the midst of suffering. Endurance does not bypass suffering. Growth takes place in the midst of suffering. Endurance leads to character. We do not grow through comfort; we grow through adversity. Character leads to hope. Hope looks to the future. Hope is looking to the future, but it waits with great anticipation. This hope never disappoints. The hope of the believer in Jesus is to be free from the shackles of this sinful nature we carry with us. We struggle now with indwelling sin; we grow, and stumble, falter, repent, and grow some more. In the future we will be freed from the sinful nature that follows us and hounds us. Because of the work of Christ, this hope is not a fragile wish, but is an absolute certainty.
Why is our hope so confident? In the past, God has been faithful to His promises. He has always kept His word. For example, ever since Adam sinned, God’s people have longed for the coming of the promise of God – the Deliverer, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. God promised to send a Deliverer to defeat Satan and sin and death. Immediately after Adam’s sin, the Lord said to Satan:
Genesis 3:15 says,
“And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
This is such good news for sinners. God did not promise a special weapon or tactic. God promised a Person. The Promised One would defeat Satan. The Promised One will undo the sin and death that inhabit our world because of the sin of Adam. He will bruise the head of Satan. Satan will be defeated. However, this rescue will come at great cost. The Promised One will die as a sacrifice, will substitute Himself for the sins of others. God kept His promise and sent His Son, Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem.
But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Galatians 4:4-5
When the time was just right, God sent His Son. God became man. He would be born of a virgin, live a sinless life, die a sacrificial death on a cross, and be raised to life three days later. Christmas is about God becoming man to be our Savior. Because of what Jesus has done, we have hope. Therefore, our hope at Advent is not an uncertain wish, but a confident expectation. God is faithful. Jesus has come. Let us worship and adore Christ the Lord!
Mark Cymbalak
holds an BA from Bob Jones University with additional class work from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He served as a part time paid elder at Black Earth Congregational Church/Curtiss Street Bible Fellowship. In 2006, Mark became a full time paid elder and pastor at Curtiss Street Bible Fellowship until his retirement in 2020.