Hope When Things Seem Hopeless

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Aubrey Walters
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1 November 27, 2016 Advent 1 Isaiah 2:1-5 COJLB Hope When Things Seem Hopeless by Mark Jarvinen 1 This is a vision that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: 2 In the last days, the mountain of the LORD s house will be the highest of all the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship. 3 People from many nations will come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of Jacob s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For the LORD s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem. 4 The LORD will mediate between nations and will settle international disputes. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore. 5 Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD! - Isaiah 2:1-5 (NLT) The Season of Advent is upon us once again! Today s Advent word is HOPE. We use this word in everyday language very differently than the Bible does. When we use the word, we re expressing our preference as to a future outcome, e.g. I hope it stops snowing tomorrow. But there s a lack of certainty involved. Hope in the Bible, however, has quite a different meaning. It is not just a preference for a future outcome, but an assurance that what 1

2 God has promised will come to pass. Hope is what theologians call the glad expectation of good things to come. Biblical hope is similar to something Emily Dickenson once wrote: Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops at all. But for many people, today, the bird of hope has stopped singing its song and has flown from its perch. Too many crises have robbed them of their song. They feel beaten down and disheartened. The future looks bleak and dismal. There s no longer a glad expectation of good things to come. Instead, the prospects look grim. For the people of Isaiah s day, the same was true. They had lost their hope at a critical time in their history, when war and conflict abounded. The Assyrian empire was expanding with great military victories in the region. At the same time, Israel was declining in power. The hearts of many of God s people had turned away from Him toward the worship of idols. Superstition and rebelliousness had taken over. People were indifferent to spiritual truth. Eventually, Judah, the southern Kingdom, joined forces with Assyria, bringing about the defeat of Israel (the northern kingdom). Isaiah warned Judah that this alliance was a sin against God and would eventually lead to a crushing defeat and captivity at the hands of Babylon. 2

3 It s true that God s people were living in a time of war and had drifted far from Him. Yet, the prophet Isaiah, who has been called the greatest of the writing prophets, and whose name means The Lord saves, came on the scene in chapter 2 with a message of hope and the promise of salvation. Isaiah, who wrote chapter 2 sometime before 700 B.C., saw a time that went even beyond the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. and its subsequent restoration 70 years later, to the coming of the Messiah, and finally, the great and final coming of Christ s eternal kingdom, which is still our future expectation today. Let s take a closer look at how this text from Isaiah 2:1-5 speaks to us about HOPE. Isaiah points out several realities designed to remind the people of his day, and by extension, our day, that all was not lost. When conflict, rebellion, and warfare seem to dominate, Isaiah s message is Take heart! Things will not always be this way. 1. In the last days the mountain of the Lord s temple will be established. (v. 2). This statement was a great encouragement to the Jews of Isaiah s day, because the mountain was a reference to the site on which the temple in Jerusalem was built. And of course, whose presence did the Jews believe inhabited the temple? God s Presence! Psalm 68:16 says, Why gaze in envy, O rugged mountains, at the mountain where God chooses to reign, where the Lord himself will dwell forever. 3

4 2. Many peoples will come and say, `Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (v. 3). In other words, Jerusalem will become a global spiritual center that people of many nations, Jews and Gentiles, will recognize as the seat of God s presence. Obviously, this is a prophecy that stretches out over hundreds of years. Isaiah is saying, You don t see it now, things look desolate, but don t give up hope. Messiah will come. Salvation will be available for all. In fact people will stream to the mountain of the Lord, not under coercion, but of their own volition. 3. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths. (v. 3). The nations will come to worship God in Jerusalem, but not as a mere formality. They will come to learn God s ways so that they may walk in His paths. In other words, they will come to God to learn to live a new way of life! Disputes between nations will be settled as people learn to walk in God s ways. 4. And perhaps the most stunning part of all in Isaiah s message of hope is that They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. (v. 4). Just think! What every beauty pageant contestant wants more than anything is actually promised here WORLD PEACE! 4

5 I wonder how the people of Isaiah s day received this message of hope from the prophet? I imagine there were cynics. That ll never happen. He must be dreaming. There has always been war and conflict. Things will never change. We d be hard pressed to disagree, wouldn t we? How many of us secretly believe Things will never get any better for me? After all, things have been this way for a long time. My health will never improve. My spouse will never change. My job will never get any better. It really does seem that the bird of hope has left its perch and stopped singing. This Advent season is a time for us to remember that just as for the people in Isaiah s day, THERE S HOPE FOR US. Salvation has already come in the person of Jesus Christ. And even though the fighting hasn t stopped yet, HIS KINGDOM WILL COME. In the meantime, the Holy Spirit is here to guide us, to lead us into all truth, to empower us to love, and to serve, and to share the good news of Christ s coming with those we meet. Don t use this holiday season as a time to become busy enough to block out the pain of an otherwise dreary existence. Use the time to remember how much farther down the road of God s salvation plan we are today than the people in Isaiah s day were. Remember that the hope Isaiah spoke about was not merely a preferred outcome, a product of wishful thinking, but a promise from God that we can be assured will one day ultimately be fulfilled. A day will come when: 5

6 1. God s presence will be established. 2. People from all nations will stream to the mountain of the Lord. 3. People will not only hear but will also do what God says to do. 4. Conflict and wars will cease. 5. Destructive weapons will be turned into peaceful instruments. The message for us, as it was for the people of Isaiah s day, is that God has the ability to transform any situation, no matter how hopeless, into one of hope. If you re out of a job, remember that God knows the details. Trust Him and wait for His answer. If your health is faltering, trust God for healing, even when the pain persists. If your children or grandchildren seem far from God right now, remember that God is at work behind the scenes in ways we often can t see. Remember Emily Dickinson s bird of hope? Even if there s no words to sing right now, keep humming the tune for the time being, waiting on God for the ultimate fulfillment of His promises. A number of years ago, researchers performed an experiment to see the effect hope would have on those undergoing hardship. Two sets of laboratory rats were placed in separate tubs of water. The researchers left one set in the water and found that within an hour, they had all drowned. The other rats were periodically lifted out of the water and then returned. This set of rats swam for over 24 hours before succumbing. Why the different outcome? It was not because the second set of rats were given a rest, but because when lifted from their tub, even briefly, they suddenly had hope. Hope is a 6

7 powerful force a force with which we can overcome some pretty dark, desolate, and discouraging times. Christ came into the world to bring us hope. How is hope rekindled in our lives? 1. Ask God for a renewal of hope. Ask and you shall receive. Look for signs of things beginning to change for you. Look for a new day coming on the horizon. It may still be in the future, but hope in Christ will get you there. Romans 12:12 says, Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. We may go through periods of tough times, but hope anchored in Christ, will see us through. 2. Rehearse God s Faithfulness in the Past. God has established a track record of honoring His promises and if you take time to remember, you ll be encouraged. 3. Affirm God s Promises For the Future. I m not advocating a name it, claim it theology, but when you sense that a promise in God s Word is for you, begin to speak positively in anticipation of the outcome that God has promised you, just as Isaiah did. For example, affirm the hope you have in Christ by saying, The day will come, when my health will be restored. Or, The day will come when my job situation will improve. The day will come when my family will come to know the Lord. The day will come, when I won t be as stressed out. Are you feeling hopeless today in a certain area of your life? Ask for and receive, the hope, 7

8 the glad expectation of good things to come, that God has in store for you. A-men. 8

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