Voices of Hope - Isaiah 64:1-9 – December 2, 2012
Several years ago a teacher assigned to visit children in a large city hospital received a routine call requesting that she visit a particular child. She took the boy's name and room number and was told by the teacher on the other end of the line, "We're studying nouns and adverbs in his class now. I'd be grateful if you could help him with his homework so he doesn't fall behind the others." It wasn't until the visiting teacher got outside the boy's room that she realized his room was located in the hospital's burn unit. No one had prepared her to find a young boy horribly burned and in great pain. She felt that she couldn't just turn and walk out, so she awkwardly stammered, "I'm the hospital teacher, and your teacher sent me to help you with nouns and adverbs."
The next morning a nurse on the burn unit asked her, "What did you do to that boy?" Before she could finish a profusion of apologies, the nurse interrupted her: "You don't understand. We've been very worried about him, but ever since you were here yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He's fighting back, responding to treatment. It's as though he's decided to live." The boy later explained that he had completely given up hope until he saw that teacher. It all changed when he came to a simple realization. With joyful tears he expressed it this way: "They wouldn't send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?" (Unknown)
That boy, all alone in that hospital burn unit, had been given something extraordinary. He had been given a tremendous gift – the gift of hope. When he had been made to realize that his life need not end in that hospital bed, but that one day he would recover, that he would leave the hospital and return to a normal life, everything changed. He moved from death to life - that’s the power of hope.
Despair might be the opposite of hope. Despair sees no way out, no recourse, no future. Despair focuses on the need, on the circumstances, on the troubles that we face. Hope looks beyond all these things to something better. Despair looks within itself, and the heart withers, hopes looks outside oneself, and the heart rejoices. Hope sees a future, where despair cannot see past the present moment.
Not surprisingly then, the word of God has a lot to say to us about hope. But the Bible often speaks of hope in a way that the world does not. So often when we speak of hope what we’re really talking about is “wishful thinking.” We hope, we desire, we eagerly yearn, that something would come to be.
As children we hope we get that special toy we’ve been wanting as a Christmas present. As adults we hope that we will be successful in our jobs, that we will find the right person to marry, that our children will be born healthy. We hope for long, vital, trouble free lives, and as our death approaches we even hope the passing from this life to the next will be quick and pain free. We hope for so many things! We hope we aren’t late for the movie; we hope that the kid’s didn’t eat up all the ice cream so that there’s some left for us; and when we’ve had a bad day we hope that tomorrow turns out better. But folks, none of that is hope as the Bible speaks of hope. We fervently wish that things will come to pass as we have desired, yet we know full well that at some point in our lives those hopes may be completely, and perhaps irrevocably, destroyed. We will experience heartache, tragedy, and sorrow in our lives and, as time passes, we come to exchange our fickle hopes for tarnished reality. Our hoping is so often nothing more than wishful thinking. Circumstances overcome wishes on a daily basis but biblical hope is something far more.
Whereas the hope the world clings to is the hope of “wishful thinking” the hope the Bible speaks of is the hope of “confident assurance.” When the Bible speaks of the hope we have it is not the wish-filled desire that something would come to be, but rather the confident assurance and expectation that God’s word will be done just as He has said it will be done.
It is the hope that is found in the message of the prophets. It is the themes of salvation, redemption, grace and mercy, which the Holy Spirit has woven through the words of Scripture and which God has wrought the story of history around. It is the answer to the cry of the prophet Isaiah in the 64th chapter of the book which bears his name, when he implores God, “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!” … “For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.” Isaiah’s crying out to God, pleading with Him, begging Him, to enter into the midst of human suffering and need, into all the darkness of sin and make all things new.
Isaiah recognizes that should God choose to come down He would find a people lost in sin, for he goes on to say “How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” “No one calls on the name [of the Lord], [no one strives to lay hold of God], for He has hidden His face from us and made us waste away because of our sins.” These are the words of the prophets.
But therein lies hope! God has rent the heavens and come down! He has done the awesome things that we did not expect! He has stirred the world up. That’s why we are here today – because God has done the unexpected and hearts have been stirred! When we, in our sin, could not come to God, He came to us in the flesh. He came in the person of Jesus. And what Isaiah and the other prophets could only hope for based on God’s word, that is the coming of a Savior sent by God to redeem a world lost in sin, we look back on as the hope that has already come!
Long before the birth of Jesus, God spoke of His coming. In the Garden of Eden, after the fall into sin, God pronounced words of judgment and of hope saying to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:14–15, NIV) Judgment upon the serpent and his offspring, and hope promised to the woman and her offspring. And Adam and Eve had no way of knowing exactly what God was getting at when He pronounced that verdict, and yet it was still a promise of hope to sustain them after they were booted out of the garden. And not just to sustain them but to sustain all future generations! It’s the promise of a deliverer; it’s the hope of victory and transformation and changed lives!
The day would come when sin would be utterly defeated, when darkness reigned no more, and light shone victorious! It was not wishful thinking, but certain assurance, for God has spoken, and what God has spoken, God will bring about! And that’s what we see happening throughout the pages of the Old Testament. It’s a theme you can follow from book to book and from prophet to prophet. God’s word is a word of hope for each generation! The one who is the promise of hope in Genesis 3 is the same one to whom Job looks forward when he proclaims these faith filled, hope based words which, we have heard many times, but which I invite you to hear again this day. What does Job cry out? This is what he says … “Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever! I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:23–27, NIV)
That is the hope the Bible speaks of – not a fervent wishing – but certain assurance! And the one that Job looks forward to as yet to come, is the same one whom John writes of thousands of years later, and proclaims, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. … Out of His fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:14–17, NIV) Jesus is the one spoken of in Genesis 3 who would “crush” the serpent’s head. Jesus is a name which means, “The Lord Saves,” and so He is the one that Job looked forward to with such assurance and confidence declaring Him redeemer and God. And Jesus is the Word become Flesh who made His dwelling amongst us.
Jesus is the game changer, if you will. He is the one by whom all the world is stirred and shaken, the one that all of history, till John’s time, had been building to. God the Father, says of Him, “Here is My servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on Him, and He will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out, till He has brought justice through to victory. In His name the nations will put their hope.” (Matthew 12:18–21, NIV) Jesus is the hope of the nations; the hope of the world!
How can that be? In what sense can one man be the hope of the world? We get a glimpse of it in the book of Revelation. I find Revelation 5 to be one of the most moving passages of Scripture. In it, we get a glimpse of the throne room of heaven. Let me read for you the words that are found there and we will discover why it is that this Jesus has become the hope of the world! This is what is written there:
“Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.” (Revelation 5:6–14, NIV) And every time I read that passage my heart wants to say, “Amen,” and my spirit is moved to worship. Why? Because of what Jesus has done!
The four living creatures, and the 24 elders, fell down before the Lamb and sang, saying, “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”
Scripture says that apart from Jesus – apart from His purchasing – with His blood – persons from every tribe and language and people and nation – we are without hope, and without God, in this world. (Ephesians 2:12) “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13, NIV) That’s the testimony of God’s word!
And our hope in the present is this: that Jesus Christ, as He hung on that cross on Calvary, took all of our sins upon Himself. Our unrighteousness placed upon this one man who was sinless in his own rights. That in paying the price for those sins, He was separated from God, that He died, and that God raised him up again on the third day and He ascended into heaven. He paid a debt He did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay. And in that moment that His blood was spilled for us, hope was born. It found life in the midst of death. Because it is here that God’s grace finds perhaps its greatest expression. Through the death of Jesus we have the opportunity to be reconciled to God. Christ has taken upon Himself our sins – those sins that Isaiah says have separated us from God - that we might be righteous before God and reconciled with Him. Through Christ, God offers us forgiveness, reconciliation, eternal life. A gift of grace waiting to be grasped. This is hope. This gift is not restricted to race, gender, status, or age. It is given to all; it is offered to all whom acknowledge their sin, who seek forgiveness based not on their own merits, but on God’s grace alone; to all those who accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.
This is our hope, for those who do so receive forgiveness for their sin, new life through Christ, and the spirit of God comes to dwell in them; they are sealed for the day of salvation. And then on that day that we stand before God, we will stand, not in the place of judgment as one who fears the wrath that is to come, but as those who stand in the place of rejoicing, for our sins have been forgiven, the penalty paid, the wrath of God satisfied in the death of Christ. We will be welcomed, with open arms, into the rest that God has prepared for us, not based on our merits but on those of Jesus. This too, is our hope – not wishful thinking but certain assurance.
And hope such as that helps us endure in the present moment. Into every life, heartache, sorrow, and tragedy come at one time or another. There can be seasons of life when we don’t know if we can continue on, or even if we want to. When our world is falling apart around us, the hope we have in God is an anchor for the soul. Listen to these words from Hebrews and let your hope in God be the stronghold in which you find refuge. This is what is written there: “People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, … we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” (Hebrews 6:16–19, NIV) Such hope is an anchor for the soul for God is unchanging, though all the world change around Him. God is completely faithful, though all else may falter. What God has spoken will come to be; it is sure and certain and so our hearts ought to be encouraged and we ought to have great hope, for we have God’s word and can testify to the truth of it!
In one of his letters the Apostle Paul wrote that “if only for this life we have hope, then we are to be pitied more than all men.” And if our hope was only for this world, and only bound in this world, then he would be right. But Peter reminds us that the hope to which we come is a living hope. This is what he says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3–5, NIV) The hope we have endures beyond the present time, and even beyond the confines of this world, for it is a living hope that brings us into the inheritance God has for us – one that can never perish, spoil, or fade. The proof of it, the seal of the deal, is that Christ Jesus was raised from the grave and ascended into heaven. He who died for us, who paid the penalty for our sin in His flesh, was also raised to new life by the hand of God as proof that His sacrifice was both sufficient and satisfactory in God’s eyes. Justice had been served. The horror of the curse removed. Victory won. He is the firstfruits of that resurrection of righteousness, but He will not be the last for we, who by grace have been saved, will be raised to new life as well. This too, is our hope.
And this hope to which we come, is full, of not just of life, but of eager anticipation as well. In his letter to Titus, Paul puts it this way, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good.” (Titus 2:11–14, NIV) Did you catch it? Jesus has come – but He’s coming again!
Yes, the world is full of hardship and suffering and brokenness – but Jesus is coming! There is sorrow and grief and fear – but Jesus is coming! There are horrors and devastations and tragedies playing out all over the world – but Jesus is coming! There is struggle, despair, and pain – but Jesus is coming! There are wars, and rumors of wars, earthquakes and tsunamis – but Jesus is coming! There is loss, and death, and grief overwhelming – but Jesus is coming!
And when He comes, He will call all those who are His, to His side. We will be with the Lord! With He who redeemed us and gave us life! John speaks of that day with these words saying, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! … Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. All who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:1–3, NIV)
Understanding this hope, living in light of this hope – not a wish filled thinking – but a certain assurance - changes us. We are transformed by the truth, and the truth sets us free, and hope is born in our hearts and in our spirits. And John says our response is to purify ourselves, constantly growing in Christlikeness. Romans 12:1-2 sum up very well for us the heart of hope and how it responds to the reality of God’s grace. Those verses read like this … “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:1–2, NIV) The life anchored in the hope that is from God, is the life that doesn’t take it’s cues for living from the world around us. It seeks God’s heart and desires to honor Him in all things. This is our response, our living sacrifice, in light of the hope that we have received, for the day will come when all things will be made new, and in that day there will be no more suffering, nor sorrow, nor pain, nor anything that so grieves the heart of God.
The world tells us that where there’s life, there’s hope. Brothers and sisters - the world’s got it backwards. Think back to that young boy lying in the burn unit in the hospital. The wisdom of the world would suggest that as long as there is life there is hope. But it’s truer to say that where there’s hope, there is life. That young boy lived because hope was born in his heart. And where there is hope in Jesus, where Christ resides within you, there is life everlasting – life which transcends the death of our physical bodies, life that is eternal. The prophets carried this message of hope in their words to the nations. Theirs are voices of hope. In His life time Jesus said “I am the hope of which the prophets spoke.” And the apostle Paul tells us that that same Jesus is the hope that is yet to come, for He will return on clouds of glory and power in accordance with His word.
Friends, Job could say, “I know that my redeemer lives!” Not “I guess,” nor “I wish,” but, “I know!” And my question for you this morning is this: Can you say the same? Do you share in that same hope? If the answer is “yes,” then we praise God with you! If the answer is “no” then I invite you to get into God’s word today and begin to hear the voices of hope which are calling to you.
Let’s pray …
