This Is Hope

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.  Isaiah 9:6 NASB

Amazing grace! And remember too this verse teaches there was once a hopeless people, and God spoke to them through the prophet Isaiah. 

Sounds amazing, but insert 700 years of waiting.  

This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.  Luke 2:12 NASB

From the time of Isaiah’s prophecy to the time of Jesus’ birth was about 700 years, not to mention from Abraham to Jesus being about 2,000 years. 

God makes a promise but doesn’t give a timeline.  And it is no different for each generation and this year has required vast amounts of hope from Christians all around the world. 

To hope in God is to be patient with God’s timing. It is believing all the facts are not yet in. It is believing the story isn’t done being written. It is believing there is something still yet to be revealed or uncovered. It is believing that, despite the waiting, there will be a child born, who is “true God of true God, Light from Light eternal.” 

Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.  Revelation 22:1-4 NASB 

Our lives are mapped by our hopes. The map is long, but it leads somewhere. 

This holiday season look towards the future promised to us by God, by looking at His Son, Jesus Christ,  What do you see? Just a baby in a cradle? Or a wooden manger holding Life itself, pointing to the ultimate tree of life? 

This is hope.