Hope Does Not Disappoint

We started a series for Christmas at church entitled "The Gifts of Christmas"  The first gift we focused on was hope.

The thing that strikes me, and I think I am reminded of this each year at Christmas is the parallel between the ancient Jewish nation and the present day church.  Like them, we await our Messiah. Thousands of years of waiting.  Centuries of hoping, "will this be the year?"

The promised Messiah came as a helpless baby.  He came to sacrifice Himself for all of mankind, to open the gates of heaven to God's fallen creations.  God's promises were fulfilled in Him.  The Father's word was kept...and this is what fuels our hope now, what gives us not just hope, but assurance....my Pastor called our hope a "know so."  And so we know, as we await His return as the victorious King of all, that He will return again.  We too, like the Jewish people before us, wait thousands of years for the glorious coming of our Messiah and King.

Our hope does not disappoint.  It assures and fills us with peace, even as we long for His coming. And Christmas is always a reminder of God's plan fulfilled, His faithfulness to His promises.  I look at the world around me, chaos, pain, sadness, hate, and darkness....and a deep yearning for His return fills my heart....but the hope Jesus gives is the anchor that holds and steadies me.

Isaiah 7:14  All right then, the Lord Himself will give you the sign.  Look!  The virgin will conceive a child!  She will give birth to a son and will call Him Immanuel (which means God with us) 

Hebrews 6:18-19  So God has given both His promise and His oath.  These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie.  Therefore, we who have fled to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the HOPE that lies before us.  This HOPE is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls.  It leads us through the curtain into God's inner sanctuary.  

The first, a promise that has been fulfilled,  assures that the God's plans for the future will also be fulfilled.  God's visit this day was the assurance, once again, that His work and plans are still on track. And a reminded of what our focus is this Christmas season.  He came to us a couple of thousand years ago, He will return again in the future....both times physically, but now He is with us each and every day in the person of the Holy Spirit.  He never leaves nor forsakes us.  Past, present and future....Immanuel.

God thank You.  Thank You for being faithful.  Thank You for focusing our hearts on the beauty and hope of Christmas.  I forget so often, this hope that You give.

 Study "hope" today.  Let it be the anchor that holds you and the light that guides.