“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for,
the conviction of things not seen.”
Hope is one of those words we use for a wide range of our emotions and affections. “I hope I find a parking space close to the entrance;” or “I hope the Browns win this Sunday;” or “I hope my mother’s illness will go away. Sometimes the way we use hope is for a wish. But what about “Advent Hope?” Is that just wishful thinking?
Hebrews 11:1 joins assurance with hope. We usually don’t associate hope with certainty. So, Advent Hope is not just hoping that everything will work out, or a hope that good things will happen. Advent Hope, biblical hope, is rooted in God. Advent brings our attention to the God of the Bible that works in time and history. It is a transcending assurance that God has more gifts to give, God has more promises to keep. The world order (or empire) is stuck in maintaining the present tense, and therefore has no future. The world order will eventually fail. Or as Paul says “For the present form of this world is passing away.”
If we see nothing beyond the present tense, we do not have hope. If we see the possibilities that God has promised us, then we have hope.
The sermon this week is the familiar of the “Three Hebrew Children in the Firey Furnace.” Hebrews 11 uses Daniel’s experiences as examples of faith, “stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness.” Advent Hope accompanied the three men into the fire, allowed them to proclaim “even if God does not deliver us we will not bow down to the golden image”, and hope brought them out.
How does Advent Hope help us to have the expectation that carries us in the face of the opposition to God?
Pastor Greg
