THE HOPE OF ADVENT
Psalm 130
Introduction: The Old Testament Scriptures testified to the hope of
a coming Messiah (Luke 24:44). We read for example in Luke 24 that Jesus
expounded to his disciples all that was written
“in the Law, the Prophets, and the
Psalms” concerning Himself. That verse implies that in the “Big Story” of
Scripture, the meta-narrative that encompasses the entire Bible and all of
human history, we see the anticipation of the culmination of God’s plan in
Jesus. God extended “hope” for his
people from the time of the fall as he called believers to look forward to the
coming of a Redeemer in the fullness of time. In Galatians Paul said,
“In the same way we also, when we were children,
were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time
had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under
the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians
4:3-5).
In
modern English the word “hope” is often used of a vague, wishful thinking about
the future, the idea that maybe everything will work out, it will all be
ok. The biblical idea of “hope” is quite
different. We look ahead with confidence because we know that history
really is “His Story.” We have a sure hope, a confident expectation
about tomorrow, if we trust in Him. I thought, this first Sunday of advent, we
would focus on an Old Testament text that revealed the hope believers had then
and there, before the incarnation of the Son, and consider what that means for
us, here and now, in the light of Advent.
I chose this text because Christmas is a
time when a lot of people struggle with depression, they seem to lose hope. For
one thing, we are moving toward the winter solstice, the shortest day of the
year and many suffer with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) at some level, too
little sunlight. I don’t understand the
physiology of it, but something physical seems to be going on there. I think it
may also be true that Christmas stirs memories and people struggle with
difficult things from their pasts, or even loneliness in the present. Psalm 130
is a psalm of ascent, a song sung by the worshippers as they moved toward
Jerusalem for one of the pilgrim feasts of Israel, toward the temple and the
place of God’s presence. I think it is fitting for us, as we enter the advent
season, and move toward the celebration of the incarnation of the Son.
The Big Idea: The
incarnation of the Son means hope for the hopeless, a confident expectation for
the future that comes from trusting the Author of life.
I. Advent means hope for the needy (1-3). At Christmas we sing about “Joy to the world”
but the truth is, we are surrounded by hurting people. Many are right with the
psalmist,
“Out of the
depths I cry to you, O LORD! 2
O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for
mercy! 3 If you, O LORD,
should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?”
“Out of the depths I cry to you O Lord…” - The
psalmist might be moving toward worship, but he isn’t there yet, he is hurting
and he is honest with God about it. He cries out from the “depths,” apparently
struggling with depression or pain or heartbreak. He feels like he is sinking,
drowning in his painful circumstances. Have
you been there? But he doesn't put on a mask, at least not with God. He acknowledges
the depths to which he had sunken, his desperate need, and he cries out to the
Lord, pleading with Him to hear. Are
you someone who struggles with depression or discouragement this time of the
year? As a believer it may be even more complicated by feelings of guilt—What’s wrong with me? I shouldn’t feel this way! Maybe
even well meaning but simplistic advice from other believers has only made it
worse. Read the psalms, read this psalm,
and be honest with God as the psalmist was. That is one thing I love about the
book of Psalms. There is no hiding, no fake smiles, no pretending, complete
transparency. Open your heart to God. Remember we have a High Priest who can
sympathize with our weaknesses!
I see hope already in the name and the title
that he uses for God in verses 1 to 3. It’s something we could easily miss in
most English translations unless we are reading carefully. He addresses God
alternatively as LORD (Yahweh) [most
English translations use a capital “L” followed by small upper case letters to
indicate this] and Lord (Adonai) [written with only the initial L capitalized
followed by lower-case letters]. Yahweh
is the personal name of the Lord, the name He revealed to Moses as He spoke
from the burning bush. It is associated with His self-revelation and the
covenants, His commitment to His promises. He is imminent. He is also Adonai,
Lord, Master, which seems to appeal to His sovereignty and His divine power, He
is transcendent. As the psalmist cries out to God He is looking toward
Jerusalem, toward the Temple, toward the God who he knows, the Savior of
Israel. He is the God of the covenants, faithful and true, the God who chose to
enter into a relationship with humans and always keeps His promises. The God
who is omnipotent and able to bring order out of chaos, who is bigger than any
challenge we might face. There is hope in His name!
If the
Lord were to call us to account for our sin we would have no hope (3). The psalmist
knows his guilt, he understands that his only hope is in the grace and mercy of
God. "If you, o LORD [Yahweh] should mark iniquities, who o Lord [Adonai] could stand?"
IF you are determined to keep score, I'm dead. Finished. I have no hope. The
psalmist is hurting, but he is in a better place than a lot of people as this
verse shows. He realizes that his deepest need is not justice or security or
even healing. His deepest need is for forgiveness of sin and reconciliation
with God. He needs grace and mercy. Black
Friday sales are a good thing for consumers, some of you were out there! But
the rudeness and arguments and even fights that sometimes happen remind us that
all is not well in the world. The television reports from Ferguson remind us
that the deepest need of humans of every race is a changed heart. The
incarnation of the Son means hope for the hopeless, a confident expectation for
the future that can come only from trusting the Author of life.
II. Advent means Hope for the greatest
need of humans: forgiveness and
redemption (4-6).
4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you
may be feared. 5 I wait for
the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6 my soul waits for the Lord more
than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
The first word in
v.4 causes the “hope” to begin welling up within us: If you keep score of our
sins we’re lost, “But…” Yes, we
are in a world disoriented by sin and if we were called to account for our own
sin we would be lost, without God and without hope. “But with you there is forgiveness…” Doesn’t this call to
mind the similar contrast in Ephesians 2:1-7?
“And you
were dead in the trespasses and sins 2
in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of
disobedience- 3 among whom we
all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the
body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of
mankind. 4 But God,[this
calls to mind the contrast in Ps 130:4]
being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our
trespasses, made us alive together with Christ- by grace you have been
saved- 6 and raised us up
with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he
might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ
Jesus.”
That is the real story of Christmas! We read it earlier
in Galatians 4:4,5…
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God
sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were
under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Here, in the psalm
he says, “…with You there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared…” God’s mercy and grace means He is to be feared, He
is to be reverenced, He deserves all the glory. He did it all! Not because of works of righteousness which
we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. “Nothing in my hands
I bring, simply to His cross I cling!” The
consciousness of sin, recognizing our total inability, the understanding that
our only hope is 1) mercy, not receiving what we deserve, and 2) grace, receiving
that which we do not deserve, in these rest our only hope.
"I wait for the LORD (Yahweh)..." The God who has promised, the
God who is faithful... "My soul
waits..." Even in the deepest recesses of my heart, in my soul, I wait
expectantly, with a sure hope, a confident expectation that is based not
on what I deserve (God forbid!) but on the character of God. "In His word I hope..." Yahweh has
revealed himself in history, and in His grace He has spoken to us, so we
can trust Him. Think about this: if we are going to believe God, take him at
His word, rest in His promises and hope in His word, we need to read the word that
He has given us. Have you been reading your Bible regularly in 2014? If not, start now! One of the beauties of
the Christian life is that as long as we are here, we can walk in the path that
God has laid out for us, and discover the truths of His word (by the way we are
going to read aloud through the Book of Revelation on New Years Eve again,
consider joining us!). Hoping in His
Word, goes beyond the anticipation of humans as they "wait" for
something they know is coming. It's a wait that is marked by peace and
assurance, confidence that the answer is coming.
So we wait, and hope in Him. “More
than the watchman waits for the morning…” Expectantly, certain of what is coming,
watching, waiting in hope. Have you ever
worked the night shift? I have. Some nights, the darkness can seem to linger. Watching
the clock, did someone hit the pause button? Anticipation! The incarnation of the
Son means hope for the hopeless, a confident expectation for the future that
comes from trusting the Author of life.
III. Because Advent means hope for the
greatest need of people, it is a message we are called to share (7,8). Vv. 7-8 The psalmist has looked up (at
least implicitly, since He knows Yahweh and calls to him), He has looked around
at his circumstances and looked inwardly at his own heart, he has looked ahead
in hope, and now finally he looks outwardly, calling his fellow Israelites to
"hope in the LORD..."
7 O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD
there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. 8 And he will redeem Israel from
all his iniquities.
NB the
change from description to proclamation, the exhortation is to “Hope in Yahweh…” Put your trust for
tomorrow in the God of the covenants, the God who knows you and is faithful, keeping
His promises. Why should we hope in Him? First of all, “…For with the LORD there
is steadfast love…” (ESV). This is the word chesed, sometimes translated “mercy,”
“lovingkindness,” or “unfailing love.” The hope we have in the Lord is based on
His character, it is also based on what He has done:
…and with him is plentiful
redemption. 8 And he will
redeem Israel from all his iniquities…
“Redemption”
implies a price being paid to set someone free.
I thought of the scene in the Lion,
the witch, and the wardrobe, from the Chronicles
of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis, when Aslan went to the stone table and gave
his life so that Edmond could go free… It’s a transparent picture of the
substitutionary atonement, the sacrifice of the Lamb so that His sheep could be
forgiven. There is “plentiful redemption” at the Cross. We are all “Edmond”
who have trusted in Jesus, He gave His life to redeem all who would believe. It was a perfect sacrifice, sufficient for
all, so that all are without excuse. What an unimaginable gift!
What is God
saying to me in this passage? The
incarnation of the Son means hope for the hopeless, a confident expectation for
the future that comes from trusting the Author of life.
What would God have me to do in
response to this passage? It may be
that some of you are feeling down, even perhaps, losing hope – it seems to
happen a lot this time of the year. Look up, fix your eyes on Jesus, remember
who He is and why He came into the world. He came to give hope to the hopeless,
to offer hope to sinners like us. Christmas is a time to remember that “God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life…” That means that whoever believes, whoever is trusting in
Him alone as their hope for forgiveness, has a sure hope, a certainty of
eternal life. That is the greatest Christmas gift, the greatest gift
imaginable. Do you have that hope? Then look too at those around you, because some
are without hope. Family, friends, acquaintances. Ask God for the opportunity
to point someone to Hope of Advent, the One who came to give hope to all who
will believe. Think about that, AMEN.
No comments:
Post a Comment