Advent: Transforming Hope

Posted By Michael Breznau on Dec 7, 2018

“Busy, busy, busy.” This is the phrase I’m hearing from most everyone these days. Folks are busy with holiday parties at their workplace and with extended family. Christmas concerts at local schools and professional venues fill up the evenings.

And don’t forget all the shopping that “must get done!” Small gifts, large gifts, medium-sized gifts, and stocking stuffers pile over the top of our carts as we rush to and fro from store to store in an effort to find the best deal. UPS and US Postal employees are squeezed to pump out more overtime hours to meet the demands of online shoppers.

We’re all so busy, focused, and invested in preparing for Christmas and New Year’s celebrations…and there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, I suppose. But how are we preparing and living for the hope of Christ’s return and His coming kingdom? Herein lies the heart of Advent. Christmastide is more than just remembering Christ’s birth but also a season of worship focused on Christ’s return.

Reflecting on the first Advent prepares us for the second Advent. In our Christmas-season worship – full of anticipation, waiting, and longing – we find hope that lasts beyond the leftovers. How we view the end changes how we live in and understand the present.

Like so many of the Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament, Isaiah 9:1-7 gives us a glimpse of what has already occured in the first coming of Christ, but also a picture of what is to come at His glorious second coming:

“The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them. . . . For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. there will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.” (Isaiah 9:2, 6-7)

The Holy Child arrived (Luke 1:35, 2:1-11). Yet He is not yet seated on the throne of David ruling over the earth with justice and righteousness. One day our King will come again. In Him we find hope because He Himself is our hope. Our hope is not found in a government program or a financial projection but in a Person: Jesus Christ.

The enduring hope in Jesus is not static or stagnant but transformative. Hope does something within us and through us. Hope produces joy in the midst of suffering (1 Peter 1:3-7; Rev. 21:1-5). Hope produces comfort in the midst of grief (1 Thess. 4:13-18). Hope produces peace in the midst of chaos (John 14:1-6; 26-27). Hope produces holiness in the midst of brokenness (1 Peter 1:13-21).

So let us walk in hope, brothers and sisters. Walk in hope.

To find out more about Transformative Hope, click on the image below to watch a brief Advent season video-devotional I produced with my kiddos: