Unwrapping Hope: Joining the Generations of the Hopeful
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Today, and for the rest of the Advent season, we will be examining some of the mysteries of Christmas. Our theme is “unwrapping the mysteries of Christmas”. And really, these mysteries are not hard to read about, for scripture clearly teaches about them. The mysteries we are examining are comprehended with the mind, but they are only revealed when God, through His Word, brings light into the hearts of people, bringing his regenerative work into their hearts.
I will be upfront with you. The people of Oasis Church have been, for many weeks now, praying for those they know. Neighbors, friends, coworkers, family. The prayers are for some of you who are sitting among us today, and the prayers are that God would draw you to himself, and cause you to see your need to be reconciled with Him, which can only happen through faith in Jesus Christ.
We say this without apology. You see, when someone has been gripped by the truth of the good news about Jesus, they feel compelled to share the reason for the hope they have. They have hearts that desire for others to find this same truth, the truth that will change your life, but more importantly, determines your eternity.
This morning we have lit the candle of hope already, and now we are going to look to God’s Word to see how the Christmas story reveals the hope of God given to all who follow Jesus, and put faith in him. To see why people are in such desperate in need of hope we have to go all the way back to the beginning. In Genesis 1, we learn that God created the heavens and the earth. Everything came from nothing. There was no material to work with, no laws of physics or chemistry or the other sciences. Not even time. In an instant, God spoke, and there was light. The bible tells us he spoke the world into existence, and that he considered it good, and he created the first man, and then the first woman, and they were completely innocent.
They didn’t have any violations of any law, at least not yet. God gave them one rule, a fairly simple one. Don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good & evil. Without that knowledge, they remained completely innocent. They were in a paradise. They had perfect health, perfect enjoyment, they had all their needs provided for. This they had because they did not yet have the knowledge of good and evil. Yet, you probably know the story, that the woman ate, and the man ate. Adam was the one given the responsibility by God, but both Adam and Eve found themselves guilty before God. Breaking a command of God is also called sin, a word most of you know, but I don’t want to assume everyone does. Sin is missing the mark. God gives us standards to live by, and we all miss the mark.
The other thing that was perfect before this broken rule was their relationship to God. They communicated with Him in a way that no other human to this point has. They experienced daily communication with God, and enjoyed him. It could be said that they, as God’s creation, were glorifying him and enjoying Him. But they ate the forbidden fruit. Everything changed in a radical way. Their relationship with God was immediately broken. The world they lived in began to rebel against them, having been cursed by God, so that disease, and trouble, and weeds, and painful child labor, were suddenly part of their reality.
They were people at first who did not need any hope. Scripture tells us no one hopes for what they can already see. We hope for things we cannot see or experience now. And as soon as Adam and Eve sinned, among all the uncomfortable feelings they were now experiencing for the first time, was loss. And yet, God himself offered them hope:
He cursed the serpent who had tempted Eve by saying: Gen3.15
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
Her offspring would crush the serpent. In other words, some future man would win victory over the serpent forever. So there was hope, but it was for the future. But God also showed his love and compassion for Adam and Eve, despite their violation of his law, and he made for Adam and Eve garments of animal skins to clothe them. This was to point to the system later used by God’s people, where sacrifices were needed to atone for the sins of the people. The Bible teaches us that without the shedding of blood, there cannot be forgiveness of sins, and God demonstrated this by shedding the blood of animals in order to grant forgiveness to the first sinners for their first sin.
In the sacrificial system, people usually the people had to provide their own sacrifice. But in this case, God himself provided the sacrifice. We will see as we unwrap this mystery of hope, that this would not be the first time God provided a sacrifice for the one in need, when we take a moment to consider Abraham, but first, let us move on to Noah.
We move forward in the generations of mankind, and we see that from that first sin, things got much worse. By the time of Noah, mankind had become exceedingly wicked. Gen6.5
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
And we know what happened. Noah built the ark in obedience to God, his sacrifice being that of obedience. We are told that once all the animals and Noah’s family entered the ark, God shut him in. The door was made secure. Later, Jesus would call himself the door. Whoever entered the ark by the door were saved, and Jesus said that whoever enters through him will be saved.
God gave Noah hope by the ark and through His promise, just as he gave Adam and Eve hope by sacrificing animals to make clothes for them, and also by his word.
Well, Noah survived the flood. Not soon after the flood, the population of people was growing rapidly, but they were not obeying the command of God that they go and spread out. Instead, they try to build a city and a tower. So God confuses their language. Gen11.7-9
Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.
Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
Once again, people needed hope. And soon, God would again give hope, as he gave it through a man named Abraham. While God gave his word and the animal skins to provide hope to Adam and Eve, and he gave Noah his word and the ark itself and the door that he sealed, Abraham had God’s word, and this was sufficient for him to have the hope. Scripture tells us that Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. In other words, his faith was salvation. His faith in the word of God.
A lot of accounts are written about Abraham, and one of those is another example of his faith. He was told to sacrifice his son. This was a test God gave Abraham. As he and his son, Isaac, were going to the place of sacrifice, that bright young man noticed that they did not have an animal with, and he asked Abraham about this.
Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
God will provide for himself the lamb. Isn’t that interesting language? John the baptist would later say of Jesus that he was the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. Once again, God was providing for himself the sacrifice needed to restore the relationship between sinful people and a holy God.
God had chosen to bring about the salvation of all mankind through certain people. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, also known as Israel. As well as the many stories of God’s faithfulness in scripture, we also find that he appointed prophets to speak to his people, constantly pleading with sinners to turn form their sin. But also through those prophets he offered hope, that one day, a messiah would come. That means anointed one. You have heard the word also translated as Christ.
One prophet who spoke of the coming servant of the Lord was Isaiah. Now, this Isaiah is one of the most respected of the Jewish prophets. And over 700 years before Jesus was born, he made this prophecy, speaking of the Messiah to come: Isa52.13-53
Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.
As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.
Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Now, I assure you, if someone knew even the basics about the life of Jesus and his persecution on the cross, they would probably conclude that Isaiah 53 is about Jesus, and it is! It was written around 700 years before Jesus fulfilled this prophecy, which is a reminder of how perfect and true God’s Word is.
At this point, you may be wondering, “when is he going to talk about Christmas?” I am almost there, I promise you. I want to make sure that you have seen this pattern. All throughout human history, ever since the first sin, mankind has desperately needed hope, and God has given reasons for people to hope. The hope is not that they could do enough good deeds to cancel out their sin. Remember, without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sins.
No good deeds can cover the cost of our sin. Blood must be shed. God is holy, and in his holiness, he cannot tolerate sin. And yet, he has shown that despite his anger towards sin, and the fact that wrath is being piled up on those who keep sinning, he is also a merciful God. He provided the sacrifice Adam and Eve needed, He provided the ark to save Noah, he kept his promise to Abraham, and many more stories are found of God’s mercy and graciousness towards even sinners. He himself can provide sacrifices for the sins of people. He is the giver of hope.
Before Jesus arrived on the scene, there was about 400 years where it seemed that God was silent. There were no prophets, the people were in great darkness. The last prophet to speak was Malachi, and he prophesied two messengers, one we identify as Jesus, the other as John the Baptist.
“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
And the very last chapter of the last prophet to speak in the Old Testament, tells us:
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.
“Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
Even though people’s hearts had grown cold towards God, yet He offered them hope! The prophet Malachi, then, had his prophecies fulfilled in John the Baptist and in Jesus, the Messiah of Israel.
In Luke, we find out that Zechariah the priest and his wife Elizabeth would give birth to John the baptist. The angel, or messenger of God, told Zechariah about his son. Luke1.14-17
And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,
for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God,
and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
Do you see? A fulfillment of prophecy. But that is not the only prophecy fulfilled in the Christmas story, and more hope is yet to be found in this good news. Next, we see the angel Gabriel speak to Mary about the baby she would give birth to: Luk1.32-33
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
In the birth of Jesus, God was keeping his promise to the many whom he had given hope to, all the way back to Adam and Eve. He provided the sacrifice for them, killing the animals to cover them. For Noah, the door of the ark was God’s provision for him to have salvation from the flood that was coming. God honored the faith of Abraham, who told Isaac with confidence that God would provide for himself a lamb for the sacrifice.
Today, we are in great need to examine ourselves agains the law of God. You see, every one of us is a sinner. We tend to think little of our sin. Even as Adam and Eve might have thought, “what’s the big deal? It’s just some fruit”, so we think little of our sin. Yet, let us remember that God is pure and holy, and perfection, and he is the creator and we are his creation, and he gets to make the rules, and breaking any rule, even those we may think are not so serious, is cosmic treason against our good God. One of the most important things we must come to conclude is that our sin is wretched, and horrible, and we deserve terrible punishment because of it.
God’s commandments are laws we have broken: lying, cheating, stealing, lusting. There is no one who has not broken the law of God, and in fact, if we are all honest, we have broken it many many times. If one single sin is cosmic treason against a holy God, how much more does a lifetime of sin cause us to be in a really bad position. We deserve death, because the Bible says the wages of sin is death. What are wages? What you are paid for the work you have done. In most jobs, the better you do, the higher your wages. How good are you at sinning? How much death do you deserve?
And perhaps you say, I can only die once. However, the wrath of God is being revealed. Sinners a heaping up wrath against them, and it will be poured out for all eternity. Hell is real. There is an eternal punishment for sinners. And you don’t simply burn away and cease existing at some point, you will live forever one way or another. Either comforted in God’s heaven, or having his wrath poured out on you for all eternity. Nothing could be more important or serious for you than to figure out whether what I am saying to you is true. Nothing is more paramount than how you will spend your eternity. this life is brief. Some in this very room will not be alive, for sure in ten years, but perhaps earlier. You could get in the car this very day and be killed in an instant.
Your life is short, it is fragile. And your sin is serious, and you have earned some mighty high wages for it. Your sin is heaping up God’s wrath. Perhaps you are wondering where the hope is. Well, you must understand the disease before you will look for a cure. I am trying to make you sense the reality of the seriousness of sin, so that you may flee to the mercy of God offered through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.
I knew a family once and the the son got leukemia. Within a very short time, these parents were experts on the disease. They were speaking like doctors. They knew the language behind the blood tests, and the treatment options. They were like encyclopedias of knowledge that only a few weeks prior they knew nothing about. People who were not normally readers, they became well-read on the topic of leukemia. Why? Because their boy was precious to them, they wanted to know everything they could in order to try to bring him back to health. But what if they had never received a diagnosis?
If you do not receive the diagnosis or believe in it, you won’t seek help. I pray God’s Spirit cause you to understand the guilt you ear before God, so that you will seek His mercy through Jesus.
You see, God kept his promise, he provided for himself a fitting sacrifice, the perfect, sinless Jesus who was indeed the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And the Bible teaches that all who will publically and clearly acknowledge him as Lord and Savior, and who truly believe in their hearts that He is risen from the dead, will be saved.
God has kept his promise,
For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself,
saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.”
And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.
For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.
So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath,
so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,
where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
This is our blessed hope, Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel, who came to seek and save the lost, who came to testify to the truth, who came submitted to God the Father as the sacrifice who could turn away the wrath God has towards sinners. Why? Because on that cross Jesus took the wrath of God, in full, onto himself. He deserved none of that, yet willingly went. And because the wrath of God has been poured out on Christ, we who put faith in Him have a hope that is a sure and steadfast anchor to our souls
With Jesus came the kingdom of God. Jesus said, “The time is now fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Hope is available to you today. It is found in Jesus. If you have never put faith in him, you should be very concerned. Yet my words will not convince you to have faith. There is only one way anyone comes to faith, and that is by the Spirit of God. I pray that the Spirit of God will cause you to fear the wrath of God because of your sins, that you will tremble at the thought of facing His judgment. That fear is your friend, if it causes you to turn to Christ.
I mentioned from the beginning, our prayers have been that people in our lives would be touched be this good news about Jesus. To fully love and appreciate the good news, though, you must first comprehend the bad news. The bad news is that you and I are sinners, and fully deserving of God’s wrath, and there is nothing we can do, no good deeds, no generosity, that will make up for our offenses against God. The bad news is that without some other provision for us, we have no hope. The bad news is that unless we find an acceptable sacrifice that God would receive on ur behalf, to turn his wrath away from us, we will face His wrath, and it will be terrible.
An eternity of hell. Hell is real and it is a terrible place. However, in the Christmas story we have unwrapped hope there is hope for us, because God established a pattern in the Old Testament, a pattern of providing sacrifices for sinners, a pattern of showing mercy. And in the birth of Christ, and the story of Christmas, we see again how God was preparing for himself a sacrifice, one that would be sufficient for all who would trust in it as their own. That sacrifice was his own Son Jesus, who lived a perfect life as an example to us, took our sin and the pain of the punishment and took all the wrath of God upon himself on that cross. In doing this He satisfied God’s wrath on behalf of all who put faith in Him.
This gives us hope that our relationship with God, severed in the garden by the first sin, and severed again each time we sin, can be restored through the blood of Jesus, shed for us in order that our sins may be forgiven. Jesus then rose from the dead, conquering sin and death, and showing us that He had the power over death, and as a proof that we who believe in Him, may have hope that the one with the power to raise Jesus from the dead also can live within us.
All of this was a gift, Eph2.8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
All you have to do is believe. Even the faith to believe is God’s gift. There is hope for you if you believe.
Communion
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.
So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.”
They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?”
He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters
and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’
And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.”
And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him.
And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves.
For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table.
For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!”
And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.