It was in a state of lonely exile that the prophet, Ezekiel, found himself called of God to speak to the nation of Israel. Haunted by her broken unfaithful past with God and her current state of captivity, Israel now faced the future with fear and great despair. The only glimmer of hope some held onto was in the thought that the long-awaited king would liberate them, re-establish and return the nation to the seat of both political power and prosperity. This was Israel’s interpretation of their prophetic inheritance. Any hope for the future was linked to this plan, and the nation bitterly waited for the unfolding to manifest itself. And waited and waited…But God, always at work in their midst, did not raise up a fortune teller to confirm their plans, but rather in later years brought Isaiah who would tell forth the truth. He spoke of a comforter who would be among His people amid their despair. Isaiah brought the promise from God of a forgiven past. Deliverance from their sinful moral captivity and the bright hope of a future where all would be invited to share in lasting riches in a Kingdom ruled by the Prince of Peace Himself.
As we begin the Advent season, we are reminded as believers how vital hope is to the soul of every human being on the planet. But hope involves something we all struggle with, and that is the wait involved in the activity of hoping. Currently, the world is hoping for an effective vaccine to subdue the Coronavirus. Though our hope is weak and filled with doubt and fear, it’s the waiting that is tough as we watch once again, cases rise, and death tolls climb — Not to mention that we find ourselves in various forms of social and physical exile. At times, many feel God is silent in this time, but His word speaks His truth even now, promising only He knows the plans to prosper us and bring us to a good end (Jeremiah 29:11). Consider that between Malachi and the birth of Jesus, 400 years of silence on God’s part. The Israelite nation had become accustomed to words from prophets, even if they did not welcome the message. But now, God had retreated to the place of working behind the scenes without a prophetic update. Four hundred years is a long time; according to my calculations, that is about 20 generations. Think of all the folks that lived during that time. That is a lot of waiting, and what did hope look like in all the daily life of that period? I ask myself while writing this, what does hope look like for me today?
Today as we grow weary of the wait. We have the opportunity to exercise hope. This a faith act that commits that God will come through. Perhaps some wait for a job or a mate, relief or cure for disease or ailments. Some are crying for deliverance from abuse or poverty, but in this season, we can hope. We have the advantage of looking back and seeing that God kept His promise. He sent a Deliverer. In a world where almost everything is momentarily satisfied. We wimp out on the wait and hope aspect of living a life of faith and not focus on what we could be doing while we are waiting. What can I do while I wait? I can believe, serve, love, comfort, feed, clothe, keep believing, pray, share hope. Allow God to transform my character, forgive. For more suggestions, look to the scriptures. It is filled with waiting activities!
It is hard for us who live in the “information age” because we are used to being in the know (often armed with info that is not helpful) and not have the future’s inside track. As a people, we turn to “market experts” to forecast the future, like the dow average and the housing market, so we can be assured of the happiness and prosperity we so desperately want. Relying on prophecy by the world is often viewed as a religious ritual but not something to actually place hope in. For a world that has moved to a place where God has been left out of almost every equation of daily and national life, it would seem “prophecy” is no longer user friendly. However, some 2000 years later, we still stand in need, not in the foretelling of the future, but something that can bring hope in the wait; prophecy is telling forth of the truth. A truth-telling that can still relinquish mankind from a broken unfaithful past. The truth that can deliver us from our moral captivity and the evil in the hearts of men because it can transform us. Truth can do all this and more because as a follower of Christ, we do not believe truth just to be a set of edicts or literary applications, we believe the truth to be a person, and that person is Jesus. John announces the truth in the gospel as this “We beheld His glory, as of the only begotten Son,…full of Grace and Truth.”
As we enter this season of Christmas, let’s try and remember when we came to Christ in faith, we were given the sacred invitation to hope. As we symbolically or literally light the candle of hope, let it be with gladness; let us embrace prophecy! Tell it Forth! Emmanuel has come and will return, bringing our future with Him. Let us wait with expectancy and be reminded that He is the only hope of the world!
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