First week in Advent

HOPE

“…we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. But HOPE that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

~Romans 8:23b-25

It’s not always easy to wait is it? It seems like the whole month of December is all about waiting. When we were kids we started waiting for Santa Claus. If you’re in high school or college, you might be counting down the days until vacation! Then you wait for family gatherings or friends’ parties. After Christmas we wait for New Year’s. On New Year’s Eve we wait for midnight. Then it’s only a matter of time till its back to school.

Thousands wait in line at stores and airports. We’re still waiting to receive some of the gifts we ordered for people on the internet to be shipped to us…

But what does it mean to wait eagerly for our adoption? For the redemption of our bodies?

It’s part of the “Now-Not-Yet” principle of prophecy.

Jesus has come and has defeated death and Satan, yet He is still coming again and will remove Satan and eliminate death once and for all. Hitler was doomed as of D-Day (June 6, 1944), but WWII didn’t quite end in Europe until V-E Day (May 8, 1945). When the Marines landed on Omaha Beach, millions of people were still stuck in concentration camps, waiting to be freed.

We already have salvation and a reconciled relationship with God thanks to Easter, but we continue to hope for Jesus’ SECOND coming promised in Revelation 20: 3-4 when God will live with us. We will be His people, and God Himself will be with us, He will wipe every tear from our eyes.

That kind of hope can get us through the hardest times. When I was depressed and exhausted by the worst summer jobs or the most difficult classes in school, I KNEW that it wouldn’t last forever. The summer would end and I could go back to school to escape that awful job. The semester would end and I’d swallow the poor grade and get to take a different class, hopefully one I’d enjoy more.

The point is I didn’t WISH the bad times would eventually end, I KNEW they would. That’s what real hope means. A genuine light at the end of the tunnel, but just a light, not the end. If there were no light, there’d be no hope. But if it were the exit already, you wouldn’t need hope. That’s the “Now-Not-Yet” principle.

Advent and Christmas are all about hope. We celebrate them to remind us that we only have to suffer in this world for a little while longer, Jesus is on His way.

Prayer:

Dear Jesus,

This Advent, help us to remember that we’re not just waiting for Christmas 2004 to arrive.

We are celebrating the victory that You have already won,

while waiting eagerly for you to liberate us from this corrupt and dying world,

our own frail and fickle flesh,

and the taunts and temptations of the defeated Devil.

Come Lord Jesus,

Amen.