Every now and again, in human history, we achieve a breakthrough. Something which we have worked for, hoped for, fought and died for, finally happens. There has been struggle and agony and seemingly endless defeat, but suddenly it all works out. That’s called a breakthrough.
You know the feeling. You’ve had breakthroughs in your life. Maybe it was a job you wanted. You studied, you interviewed, you wrote letters, and then you waited. You waited and you waited. "Don’t call us, we’ll call you." Except they didn’t. And then one day you came home from trudging around the city, trying to find something, anything, and there was a message for you: call the personnel office right away, they have a job for you. Do you remember? Do you remember what that felt like? It was a breakthrough, something you had worked and hoped and struggled for for a long time -- and all of a sudden it just happened. It was a breakthrough.
More than a hundred years ago, the British and the French began thinking about how to connect their two countries, separated by the English Channel and by centuries of animosity and mutual suspicion. Many proposals for bridges or tunnels or causeways were offered, and a few even got started. But the weather and the cost and the political climate and a host of other things always seemed to stop them. And so for more than a century the idea of connecting Britain to the continent remained just a dream. But a few years ago the two governments began again; they poured hours upon hours of time into the planning and the work, they poured tons of money and energy into the project, and finally, just a few weeks ago, workers tunneling from Britain and workers tunneling from France met each other under the Channel and punched a hole in the last remaining rock, shaking hands miles from shore and well beneath the water. That’s a breakthrough! Something that took more than a century of planning and negotiating to achieve: finally a breakthrough!
Of course I suspect that the finest moments we have, the great, exhilarating moments, are those in which a breakthrough is achieved for the human spirit. Something that people have longed for and hoped for and prayed for for the world in which they live becomes a reality. That has to be one of the greatest moments that any of us can experience. Do you remember how you felt about this time last year, when all of a sudden we were seeing the end of nearly a half-century of Cold War? Suddenly, and almost without warning, the Berlin wall was coming down and the two Germanies were on a course of reunification. Suddenly, and almost without warning, what we had called the "Evil Empire" was changing and opening up. Suddenly nation after nation was throwing off Communist rule. And we knew the excitement and the joy of breakthrough; had we not prayed for this and hoped for this and paid taxes for this? Breakthrough.
Every now and again, in human history, we achieve a breakthrough. Something which we have worked for, hoped for, fought and died for, finally happens. There has been struggle and agony and seemingly endless defeat, but suddenly it all works out. That’s called a breakthrough. And it is a joyous, fulfilling moment.
Since the dawn of human consciousness, men and women have known that they needed a savior. When our ancestors first got up off their hind legs and began to think, when the Spirit of God first breathed and they became living souls, made in the image of God, they knew that their condition was serious and that they needed to be saved. There has never been a culture or a society, so far as the anthropologists can tell us, that has not had a sense of right and wrong. Every nation, every people, understands that we are as human beings in a mess. And every nation, every people, understands that we cannot seem to get out of this mess by ourselves. Everyone knows that we need a breakthrough.
And so our God, from before the beginning of the beginning, from before time itself, purposed to break through some day with a savior. Remember that this savior is no accident, He is no last minute improvisation by a God who does not plan: this savior, as Paul says, "is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created … He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." Our God, from before the beginning of the beginning, from before time itself, held in His heart that moment when He would break through.
Consider how the ages waited for Him. Consider how humanity yearned for a savior. Remember how the prophets spoke of the one who would come. Remember how the people of God prayed for Him. Think how even the pagans of the ancient world dimly perceived that such a one would come: the Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians, many nations told stories for centuries about one who would come and bring an era of peace. Think how long and how diligently and how patiently the ages waited for Him.
And then, in this Advent season, see how God breaks through. In the fullness of time, God breaks through. At the right time, God breaks through. And under a starlit sky, where alleluias are sung; down in a stable behind the inn in little Bethlehem; right under the noses of Herod and Caesar and all the rest of them, God sent forth His Son. Christ the savior is born. God breaks through.
And, as the author of Hebrews put it, "Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom he created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being." In other words, Christ is a breakthrough. Christ is a breakthrough for joy. I
But now I ask you also to remember what it cost for God to break through for us. Remember what a breakthrough is: every now and again, in human history, we achieve a breakthrough. Something which we have worked for, hoped for, fought and died for, finally happens. There has been struggle and agony and seemingly endless defeat, but suddenly it all works out. That’s called a breakthrough.
Three and thirty years of life for this infant born as the glimmer of hope from the heart of God, and then He ends up on a cross. Three and thirty years of growing, learning, teaching, discipling, healing, and is it now lost? Is it all gone, is it for nothing? O but remember, our God has planned this too. This is part of His breakthrough. And awesome and heart-wrenching as it is, we know that the cross too is intended by God from before the foundation of the world, and that here the long human struggle against sin is ended. The seemingly endless and unwinnable war against evil is won. And once again, something for which we have labored and prayed and hoped and dreamed for millennia – it suddenly happens. The cross is a part of God’s breakthrough, his breakthrough for joy.
But now, three days in the tomb. Three long, gray days, without hope, because we all know that death is the end, the very end. What else is there to be said, what else can be done? Human hope lies crushed to earth and buried in Joseph’s garden tomb. But I tell you, God is not yet finished with His breakthrough. For on that third day the heavy stone at the entrance lay to the side, the victim of God’s breakthrough. On that third day the grave clothes which had bound him were set aside, unraveled by God’s breakthrough. And on that third day the power of death which had so long kept every human being in thrall was defeated, in breathtaking suddenness it was defeated, and once and for all God had broken through. A breakthrough for joy.
And so in this Advent season count nothing impossible. Count nothing impossible. You have hoped and you have prayed; do not count out this God who comes and comes and keeps on coming, and suddenly breaks through. Count nothing impossible.
In this Advent season, count nothing hopeless. Count nothing hopeless. Do not tell me that your life has nowhere to go, just because you have done so many things and made so many mistakes that you do not believe you can ever get out of the hole you are in. Count nothing hopeless for your self, for this God who in Jesus Christ comes and comes and keeps on coming can break through in you, and at the moment you may least expect Him. Be faithful, and He will come. He will break through for joy, for forgiveness and for joy for you.
In this Advent season, look for the signs of His coming. If in your heart you feel some panic because there is so much to do and so little time to do it and so few dollars to do it with: wait. Wait. And trust Him. And look for the signs of His coming, for He always comes in the fullness of time, at the right time. And He always comes to bring peace to the troubled and comfort to the distressed, he always comes as a breakthrough for you. Wait and trust Him.
In this Advent season, do not give up hope that the prince of peace will be at work even in this troubled city, where men and women are gunned down without warning and without provocation; do not give up hope that the prince of peace will be at work in this anxious nation, where the forces of decay and dishonesty seem to be so powerful; do not even give up hope for this ridiculously warlike world, do not give up hope for Iraq, do not give up hope for Saddam Hussein, do not give up hope that we can avoid war – for I tell you that our God comes and comes and keeps on coming, and He is always at work for a breakthrough. That much I know. That much Advent tells me: that it’s time to wait and pray and hope and see what God will do, because He is always at work for a breakthrough.
And so come today to the Table of the Lord and remember how He comes. Come today to the Table of the Lord and remember the Christ who comes in the fullness of time, but planned by a gracious God from before the beginning of the beginning. Come today to the Table of the Lord and recall his prolonged suffering for us and for our salvation, come and see his broken body and his spilled blood. And most of all came and see him whom neither heaven nor earth could contain break through into life, break through for joy, for us.
And at this Table hear Him assure us, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me … to comfort all who mourn… to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning." Come and hear Him cry out to our hearts, "Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh." Let every heart prepare Him room, let heaven and nature sing, joy to the world.
For every now and again, in human history, we achieve a breakthrough. Something which we have worked for, hoped for, fought and died for, finally happens. There has been struggle and agony and seemingly endless defeat, but suddenly it all works out. That’s called a breakthrough. And why not now, today, for you and for me, a breakthrough for joy?!
