We’ve just sung that great song by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend, ‘In Christ alone my hope is found.’ That’s quite a declaration! Getty wrote the music and Townend wrote the words. Townend isn’t merely saying that Jesus is A source of HOPE. He’s saying that Jesus is the ONLY source of hope! What do we think of that?!
There is a tradition of associating four major themes with Christmas. The most common set of themes is hope, peace, joy and love. Churches often highlight those themes over the four Sundays leading up to Christmas Day. Then on Christmas Day we light the fifth candle, representing Jesus, the light of the world. There’s variation between churches and there’s no reason why we have to say that one candle represents any particular theme – or have candles at all! It’s just a tradition, but it isn’t a bad one.
We’re going to take the first Advent candle as representing hope. Why has the coming of Jesus into the world 2000 or so years ago brought hope? To answer that question, I’m going to look at the response of someone who encountered Jesus soon after he was born. The person is Simeon. I’m guessing Simeon is old, because the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Let’s see why Jesus’ coming brought SIMEON hope and then we’ll think about why Jesus’ coming brings US hope.
Please follow me from v.28. Simeon takes Jesus in his arms, blesses God and says:
“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation…”
[REASON TO HOPE FOR OUR ULTIMATE DESTINY]
In v.30 Simeon says, “for my eyes have seen your salvation.” This is his key statement. It tells us WHY Jesus’ coming brought Simeon hope.
Let me try to explain this with an illustration. Suppose you live in Bath. Today, you have an important meeting in London. You head off down to the railway station and wait for your train. It will whisk you into London in an hour and twenty minutes. But if for any reason the train doesn’t come there’s no other way to get to London on time. So, you very much hope that it does come! Right on time you see the train coming. You feel a sense of relief. You haven’t yet got to your meeting but the fact that the train has come makes it pretty certain that you will.
For Simeon, seeing that Jesus had come was like you, standing on the platform at Bath station, seeing the train come. Jesus is the train in our illustration. He still has a journey ahead of him. But he will complete it and carry those who put their trust in him to their destination.
That was Simeon’s perspective. But what about US? We look back on history and we, like Simeon, see that Jesus has come. Like Simeon, we know that Jesus’ coming means SALVATION. Like Simeon, we don’t see the completion of the salvation. However, we see considerably more of Jesus’ journey than Simeon did. From our vantage point in history, we see Jesus on a cross and three days later, we see him resurrected. Jesus’ journey of salvation has made massive progress. But it still isn’t complete. Jesus still has to come again and take up his rule.
Simeon saw Jesus with physical eyes and said, ‘my eyes have seen your salvation.’ We see Jesus with the eyes of faith and can say the same thing. We, like Simeon, can and should look to our ultimate future with great hope.
But there’s a difference between most of us and Simeon. It seems as though Simeon probably didn’t have many years still to live. I imagined that for years he’d been yearning to see the prophets’ promises fulfilled, to see the messiah. I imagine there wasn’t very much else Simeon was hoping for.
Before we move on, let’s go back to Stuart Townend’s words: ‘In Christ ALONE my hope is found.’ Is he right? Was there any other way to get to London in time for my meeting? Is there any way to enter God’s presence except through Christ?
[REASON TO HOPE IN THE HERE AND NOW]
I imagine that most of us are a bit different from Simon. Like Simeon, we’re looking forward to Jesus coming again and establishing his kingdom. But unlike Simeon, I think, we’re also hoping for all sorts of things in the here-and-now. Some of us are hoping for some things and some are hoping for other things.
• We all hope for an end to Covid-19.
• We might be stretched financially and we hope that money will come in from somewhere.
• We might know Christians who are being persecuted and we hope that the persecution will stop.
• We may have started a business and hope it will break even.
• We hope people will join our church.
• We have a problem and hope it can be sorted out without too much drama.
I wonder what you hope for? I’ve hardly scratched the surface with my list. For most of us, there are loads of things we hope for NOW. At Christmas we remember that Jesus has come into the world. Does that give us reason to hope in the here and now?
I often go to a website called Bible Gateway when I’m looking for a passage in the Bible. Each year, Bible Gateway produces a list of the most-viewed or most-searched for Bible verses that year. Most years, the most popular verse is either John 3:16 or Jeremiah 29:11. In Jeremiah 29:11 God tells a group of Jews living in Babylon:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
In this verse, God spoke through Jeremiah to Jewish exiles in Babylon. He told them to settle down, build houses, plant gardens, take wives and have sons and daughters and so on. God told them to seek the welfare of Babylon and pray for it, ‘for in its welfare you will find your welfare.’ And God promised that later, he would take the exiles back to Jerusalem. The point is that God was concerned for the exiles’ welfare IN THE SITUATION THEY WERE IN, and that’s the context in which he made this wonderful promise. God was not only concerned for the exiles; he also cares for us.
“Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you,” Peter writes. We can go to God knowing that he cares for us, he loves us, and he has the power to intervene in the situations we’re in. That gives us every reason to hope for the here and now as well as for our eternal destiny.
[THREE WARNINGS]
But now, I want to mention the small print on the packet of medicine. There are three warnings.
The first warning is, ‘Hope needs to be applied properly.’
Look at v.29. Simeon says:
“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD”
Simeon recognized that God had fulfilled what he’d told him. God had told him he would see the messiah before he died. So, Simeon had hoped for that. He knew it was God’s will, based on God’s word to him.
We need to apply hope to things we are confident are God’s will. We can, of course, hope that we will win the lottery. But, surprisingly (!) that may not be God’s will. We can know if something is God’s will in one of two ways. Either it’s written in the Bible and we can see that it applies to us. Or God might speak directly to us, as he spoke to Simeon. Either way, the basis for hope is God’s word.
The book of the Bible which speaks most of hope is Psalms. And the chapter of Psalms which mentions hope most often is chapter 119. That’s hardly surprising because Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible! Let’s take a look at some of the things the writer of Psalm 119 hopes for:
• Verse 49: ‘Remember your WORD to your servant, in which you have made me hope.’
• Verse 74: ‘Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice, because I have hoped in your WORD.’
• Verse 81: ‘My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in your WORD.’
• Verse 114: ‘You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your WORD.’
• Verse 147: ‘I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your WORDS.’
Are you seeing a pattern? The writer of Psalm 119 puts his hope IN GOD’S WORD.
Perhaps you’ve grasped something in Scripture that clearly applies to your situation. Or perhaps God has spoken to you clearly, as he spoke to Simeon. Then it’s absolutely right that you should expect God’s word to be fulfilled. But suppose God hasn’t spoken to you clearly, or at any rate, you’re not sure what he’s said. Then you should be cautious about setting your hope on that thing.
The second warning is, ‘Hope is often not be fulfilled instantly.’
There may be a period of waiting. In the Old Testament, many prophets had prophesied that God would send a messiah. But by the time Simeon saw Jesus about 400 years had passed since the last of the prophets. We get impatient if we have to wait half an hour for a bus. 400 years would definitely test us! I’m not saying that we would have to wait 400 years. God wishes to bless us and help us. But he doesn’t always help us out of difficulties as quickly as we might like. We need patience and trust.
The third warning is, ‘Hope is often not fulfilled painlessly.’
Simeon praised God that he’d seen God’s salvation. But look at verses 34-35. Simeon tells Mary:
“Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
In Jesus, Simeon saw God’s salvation. Great! Hope fulfilled. But he also saw a sword piercing Mary’s heart.
We know intuitively that getting something we’ve hoped for doesn’t mean there will be no problems along the way. Suppose a couple is childless. They apply to adopt. God is pleased to help them. He has a heart for the widow and the orphan. The couple’s hope will be fulfilled. But that doesn’t mean that they can magically sidestep the arduous and time-consuming process of approval and training. Nor does it mean that the child who comes into their life will be a paragon. I decided to give my poetic skills another whirl…
A hope fulfilled!
The parents are thrilled!
But the child! Well!
He’s self-willed and they’re unskilled.
But they’re cool. Chilled.
We should certainly hope for the things God tells us to hope for. But we should also bear in mind that God’s purposes are often fulfilled through suffering. Just because something is God’s will doesn’t mean it will be an easy ride. I suspect that will be truest in the greatest thing we have to hope for: Christ’s coming again. Jesus said something about birth pains.
[CONCLUSION]
Let’s conclude.
The coming of Jesus gives us hope FOR OUR ULTIMATE FUTURE. Simeon saw Jesus and he saw salvation. “My eyes have seen your salvation…” he said. The train had come in. We have even more reason to view Jesus’ coming this way. We’ve seen Jesus’ salvation worked out. But Jesus hasn’t yet come into his kingdom. The consummation of his salvation is in the future and we still hope for that.
The coming of Jesus gives us hope FOR OUR PRESENT SITUATIONS. Jesus has given his word to us in all sorts of ways. Jesus told his disciples that he came that they may have life and have it abundantly. He promises to accept us if we come to him. He promises to be with us. He promises to reward those who make sacrifices for his sake. He promises to reveal himself to us if we love him. He promises peace. But let’s not forget, Jesus also warns of persecution.
However, I also mentioned some small print on the packet of medicine. First, hope needs to be APPLIED PROPERLY. We need to apply hope to things we are confident are God’s will. Second, hope is often NOT FULFILLED INSTANTLY. There may be a period of waiting. Third, hope is often NOT FULFILLED PAINLESSLY. There may be difficulties as God works out his purpose for us.
At the start of this Christmas season we remember that Jesus has entered our world. Like Simeon, we look at him and see God’s salvation. We have reason to hope for the life to come. And we remember that Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, still with us. So, we also have reason to hope for our lives in the here and now.
Talk given at Rosebery Park Baptist Church, Bournemouth, UK, 29 November 2020
Possible blessing: 2 Thess 2:15-17
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
