How excited do you get when you find out that your favorite person is coming to visit? When they’re on their way?
You look forward to seeing them. You anticipate their arrival.
That anticipation, looking forward to seeing your favorite person again — in the Bible that’s called hope.
Welcome to the Christmas season! Many believers call this season Advent, because Advent means arrival.
We look back to the first advent, the first arrival of the Messiah, whom we know is Jesus Christ.
And we look forward to Jesus’ second advent
Right now, we know Christmas is coming. We know we’re going to celebrate Jesus’ birth. We expect Christmas to arrive, we know without a doubt that it’s going to happen.
This is a season of expectation, a time of confidence. So it feels strange to call it a season of “hope”. In our world today, “hope” doesn’t sound very confident. “I hope it’s sunny today.” It might happen, it might not. No one knows. I’d like it to happen, but I’m not holding my breath. Like some people say, don’t get your hopes up.
When we hope for something, we don’t usually expect it to happen. But when people in the Bible hoped, they fully expected it to happen. Their hopes were based on promises — promises made by the most reliable being in existence, the living God.
The Bible tells us that through all of history, God kept every promise He made.
- He promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son, and they did.
- God promised Moses that he would lead the Israelites out of Egypt, and he did
- God promised Joshua that the walls of Jericho would fall, and they did
Time after time, God kept His promises. But as the centuries went by, there was one promise God had not fulfilled. God had not sent the Messiah, the Christ. God had certainly promised.
- God told the serpent “the woman’s child will crush your head” (Genesis 3:15)
- He told Abraham, “through your family, all nations will be blessed” (Genesis 18:18)
- Moses said “God will send a prophet like me” (Deuteronomy 18:15)
- Jeremiah said Messiah would be from king David’s family (Jeremiah 23:5)
- Isaiah said Messiah would be born to a virgin (Isaiah 7:14)
- Micah said Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)
God kept promising “Messiah will arrive”. And the people kept hoping. Every year, when they celebrated the many promises God had kept, the Israelites sang:
People of Israel, put your hope in the Lord
Psalm 130:7–8 (NCV)
because he is loving
and able to save.
He will save Israel
from all their sins.
Finally, the Messiah arrived! Jesus fulfilled all 60+ prophecies about Messiah.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, to a virgin, a descendant of David.
He grew up and started his ministry around age 30.
He later died on a cross to save us all from our sins, then rose back to life to live forever!
That’s what we celebrate during Advent — the first arrival of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
So what are we looking forward to today? What are we hoping for now? What one promise are we still waiting for God to keep?
Jesus said it himself:
“Everyone will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds in the sky. He will come with power and great glory.”
(Matthew 24:30, ERV)
“When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.”
(John 14:3, NLT)
“However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen. Only the Father knows.”
(Matthew 24:36, NLT)
So here we are, waiting for God to fulfill one last promise. Just like the Israelites didn’t know when Messiah would arrive, we don’t know when Jesus Messiah will return.
If that feels frustrating, remember — we all feel it, all of Jesus’ followers. It’s just like Paul, another Jesus follower, said:
We were saved to have this hope. If we can see what we are waiting for, that is not really hope. People don’t hope for something they already have.
But we are hoping for something we don’t have yet, and we are waiting for it patiently.
(Romans 8:24–25, ERV)
The Advent season reminds us that God kept all His other promises. He will keep this one, too.
Jesus will return!
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