The Thrill of Hope
When was the last time something thrilled you? A thrill is a sudden feeling of excitement and pleasure. It’s that exhilarating feeling when joy catches you by surprise, sets your heart to awe, and offers you a jolt of elation and contentment deeper than you were ready for—deeper than you knew possible. Sometimes people chase after cheap thrills by doing things that get the adrenaline pumping and make them feel alive… things like skydiving or riding roller coasters or speeding or engaging in more destructive behaviors. But if it’s a longer lasting, more deeply seated thrill you’re after, few things are as profoundly thrilling as having our hopes fulfilled.
What is something you’re hoping for this Advent, not on a surface level but soul-deep? Sometime around 700 BC, God’s people were hoping for a Messiah, someone who could put an end to their suffering and push back the darkness once and for all. To put it bluntly, things looked pretty grim for the people of Judah: the Judeans were being betrayed by enemies and even friends; their northern, sister kingdom (Israel) was plotting with Syria to invade them; they kept losing large areas of what they thought was promised land from God; and the Assyrian empire started to exile the people of Judah from their homeland. Disheartened by years of suffering, the people yearned to be delivered from their oppression—for God to make good on God’s promise to raise up a Messiah from the line of David. And it’s right at this point—right when things were about as bad as they could get for the people of Judah—that the prophet Isaiah speaks a word of hope into the suffering of his people:
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined. […] For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:2,6)
What a relief! Against the background of the world’s darkness, just as God’s people are ready to give up hope, the prophet Isaiah announces the dawning of light. Into the darkness of chaos and despair, Isaiah’s words shine a light that illuminates the central claim of the Gospel: Rescue is coming. To those who sit in darkness or fear, guilt or shame, loneliness or loss, fatigue or sadness or pain… hear God’s promise: Rescue is coming. And it’s coming in the form of a little child, a child who knows how to carry our burdens with us; a child who knows how to remove the yokes, break the rods, and destroy the instruments of war that oppress us. It’s a child who’s humble enough yet powerful enough to walk through the “valley of the shadow of death”—to pass through the “land of deep darkness” and not only come out the other side, but transform the darkness while he’s there. That’s Good News of great joy: The Messiah is on his way! Such thrilling news for this weary world! So now what?! As unsatisfying as it might seem… now we wait.
“A thrill of hope – the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!”
Advent is a season of waiting and anticipation. And if you listen to the nostalgic Christmas songs on the radio, or those feel-good Hallmark movies where the hometown girl and the city slicker fall madly in love, or even your pastors’ most well-intentioned sermons, then you’re led to believe your waiting should always be full of excitement and unending joy. Truth be told, though, waiting isn’t always joyful and triumphant, is it? Life is hard. Suffering is real. And sometimes waiting for a clear direction forward or for the good to overcome the bad can feel, well, rather hopeless.
Recall something you’re hoping for this Advent. Maybe it’s contentment. Maybe it’s clarity of purpose or direction. Maybe it’s physical or spiritual healing for yourself or someone you love. Whatever it is, how long have you been waiting for that hope to be fulfilled? Four hundred years before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Malachi spoke about some future prophet who would come to prepare God’s people for the day of the Lord. God’s people were desperate for a Messiah, someone who could rescue them from their suffering. Here’s what Malachi told them:
“Look, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse.” (Malachi 4:5-6)
And that’s it! That’s how the Old Testament ends! With this super cryptic, slightly disturbing message about some future prophet who will come to turn people’s hearts back to God. And then silence. After the prophet Malachi wrote these words, there were no prophets and no written revelations from God for over four hundred years. For four hundred years the people of Israel waited in silence, wondering when or IF the Messiah would ever come.
“My soul waits for the Lord, and in His Word I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning.”
I wonder what that period of silence and waiting felt like. Honestly, part of me thinks I know EXACTLY what it feels like to wait for God to heal and to save… desperate for revelation, a word from God to break into a hurting world. So Why Advent? Why send a prophet first to prepare for the Lord’s coming? Why make us wait for the Messiah’s arrival? …Because after all those years, the people needed awakened from their spiritual slumber. They needed to hear the old, old stories. They needed to be reminded of God’s commandments and rediscover their place in the unfolding story of God’s love for creation. They weren’t yet prepared for Jesus’ coming. And now, some 2,000 years after Jesus’ ministry here on earth, we also need prepared. We need awakened from our spiritual slumber. We need to hear the old, old stories. We need to sing the songs anticipating Jesus’ arrival. We need to practice making peace, hope, joy, and love more prominent in the world. We need reminded of God’s promises, the greatest promise being that God is with us. And so we wait for the Messiah to be born into this beautiful mess of a world.
While we wait, whether in joy or in sorrow, the most radical thing you and I can do is place our hope in Emmanuel—God with us. Though it can be hard to get our hopes up when things seem bleak, that’s the best time to hope. Because the darkness is where Hope does its best, most powerful and transforming work. When faced with suffering, Hope offers a path toward joy. When waiting in uncertainty, Hope is a steady and comforting companion. When darkness threatens to cast its shadow on our lives, Hope draws us back toward the Light. Like the star over Bethlehem, hope has a way of guiding us in the direction of God’s promises. So if it’s Jesus we’re seeking, then following Hope is perhaps the best place to begin our journey.
The Christmas story confirms what we’ve been longing for all along: Hope is dawning; Spirit is on the move; Love will win in the end; Jesus is coming to make everything new! This Advent, open your heart to the possibility of Christ’s birth surprising you with joy so that you might rediscover THE THRILL OF HOPE! Come, O long-expected Jesus! “Let all within us praise His holy name!”
“In your heart you hope it’s true
Though you hold no expectation
In the deepest part of you
There’s an open hesitation
But it’s true,
Kingdoms and crowns
A God who came down
To find you
It’s true angels on high
Sing through the night,
Alleluia”
“Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we;
Let all within us praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! O praise His name forever!
His power and glory evermore proclaim!
His power and glory evermore proclaim!”
