Hope.

Week One of Advent

I think we tend to overuse the word hope like we overuse the word love.

• We use it as a wish: I hope I get the sweater I want for Christmas.  

• We use it as a dream:  I hope to be a counselor one day.

• We use it as desire:  I hope the results aren’t bad news.  

That kind of hope is built on possibility and uncertainty.   That kind of hope can just as easily disappoint as delight.

As I was thinking about the Christmas story—of stables and angels and wise men, of the coming of our Savior, and of the meaning of hope—a verse came to mind.

Revelation 4:8 tells us of the praise endlessly offered by heavenly beings to the one true God. “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.”

This is hardly a verse I associate with Christmas, and yet there it was, echoing in my mind and joyously igniting my spirit with hope!

Friend, our God was, and is, and is to come (Revelation 4:8).  He is unchanging and His word is absolute (Hebrews 13:8, and Isaiah 55:11).  Therein lies our true hope, because  Biblical hope is a deep trust in and expectation of what God has already done and promises will be.

Christ died once for all, bearing our sins and offering salvation.  If we trust in Jesus, nothing can snatch us from his hand (John 10:29-30).

Peace that passes understanding (Philippians 4:7) and a Savior who lives to intercede for us right now (Hebrews 7:25) are our hope.

The end of sorrow and the reality of a future in Heaven are our hope (Revelation 21:1-4).

Real hope is in the Messiah born over 2000 years ago in poverty and obscurity.  That same Messiah declares in Revelations 1:17-18, “‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one.  I died, and behold I am alive forevermore.”   

Yes, friend—real hope is in Jesus, who was and is and is to come.  

Until next time,

Shelby