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In the past two weeks, as we’ve entered the Christmas season, we’ve talked about the announcement of the angels to the amazed shepherds near Bethlehem.
It was a message of good news, which was to be of a great joy for all people, and, according to the angels’ song, was to herald the coming of peace between God and man through this baby in the manger.
The events of this night marked the fulfilling of a long-awaited hope in Israel. This is something I touched on briefly in the sermon on Joy, when I talked about the promise of a Redeemer to the first couple (Not America’s President and his wife; but Adam and Eve), and the expectation of His coming, handed down from generation to generation after them.
Today I want to go much deeper into the meaning of their hope, and I trust you will see that to the studious and faithful Jew, the coming of their Messiah in just the fashion that He came, could and should have been as much an end or a fulfilling of their hope, as His final coming in glory will be the end and fulfilling of our hope.
So let’s talk first about WHAT HOPE IS (and the difference between a true hope and a false hope) then, WHAT EXAMPLES THE SHEPHERDS SET FOR US, and finally, WHAT THE FULFILLING OF OUR HOPE WILL BE.
What is hope?
First let’s clear the air about the word itself. Our common use of the word “hope” in the English speaking cultures at least, can tend to lead us astray from the full meaning of the word as it is used in scripture.
We glibly say, “hope it don’t rain”; or, “I hope I’ll get a raise next time the boss checks the books”, or, “I hope the Cowboys don’t win another Superbowl”.
This word is generally used in reference to some thing that we either want or do not want to happen...some thing that we want or do not want to get.
There are two words used in the New Testament that are translated as ‘hope’ in English. One has to do with trust; usually in a person. But the one most used in the New Testament has to do with an expectation, or an anticipation, and is usually associated with pleasure.
The most obvious illustration that comes to my mind during this season, is a child on Christmas Eve.
The child may ‘hope’ that his parents remembered that he wanted that certain toy for Christmas. He doesn’t know for a certainty that he will get it (unless he peeked while they were out for an evening), but he hopes so.
On the other hand, he has another hope that is more sure. It is the expectation of the morning. Christmas morning; when he will come stumbling from his room, rubbing sleep from his eyes, and see in the dim morning light, packages under the tree that he hasn’t seen there before; and knowing some of them are for him.
He is so excited about the coming of the next morning that he may have difficulty falling asleep. But it is not anxiety that keeps him awake; it is anticipation, because he knows the day and all that it represents, will be there soon.
This is the sort of hope that I’m talking about today. It is not a yearning for an uncertain thing, but a confident anticipation and expectation of something that will indeed, come. So certain is the believer that the thing will eventually come, that he can almost see it, though it may be far off.
Now we’re beginning to enter into a definition of Faith, which we’ll talk about next week; so I’ll leave you with that ‘teaser’ and back off a bit.
The next thing about hope that I want you to see, is that the kind of hope I’m talking about is always the looking forward to the answer to, or the cure for, that which is not desirable. The hope, or anticipation, longs for the light that will dispel the darkness, the healing that will eliminate the pain, the safety at the end of a perilous journey; that thing or that event or that person that will finally come and make sense of it all.
Therefore, the intensity of the undesirable thing, or consequences, directly affects the intensity of the hope. The darker the night, the more eagerly awaited the day. The greater the pain, the more intensely desired the relief. The more deeply felt the danger, the more earnestly sought the safe haven.
Now this can be dangerous, because there is true hope, and there is false hope. What I mean by that really, is the object of the hope itself is either true or false; trustworthy, or unworthy of trust.
True hope saves, but false hope destroys. In the moors of Scotland and the marshes of England, gases that are let off from the swamps create a false light; an illumination that can fool a wanderer into thinking he sees a real light. As a result, he is led deeper into the swamp where he perishes in one way or another.
Hundreds of years ago, pirates on the Cornish coast would light a fire at the edge of a seaside cliff, causing mariners who were in a heavy fog or fighting a storm to think that they were seeing a safe harbor. Before they could get close enough to see that they had been lured toward the rocks, the ship would be dashed to bits and the pirates would murder the survivors of the wreck and plunder the cargo.
These are examples of false hopes. The world is full of false hopes, friends. Those who do not know God have only false hopes, because all in which they have placed their trust will in the end dash them to bits on the rocky shores of eternity.
Those who DO know God and call themselves Christians, also tend at times to place their trust in the false hopes of the world.
If a man falls from a ship in the middle of the night, and no one hears him fall and the ship goes on and he drowns in the sea, he is to be pitied as very unfortunate.
But when a man jumps from that seaworthy vessel to try and row to some other far away destination on a tiny raft, he is to be considered a lunatic or a fool.
So why do we so often seem so bent on jumping ship?
Why do we so often forget that we have been saved by hope in Christ, and turn to place our hope for daily living in the false hopes of the world?
If you are a professed believer in Christ and in His shed blood for your salvation, placing your trust back into the passing, failing things of this world is a doubly dangerous thing to do. It is a hindrance to your continued fellowship with the Father, and it will eventually bring you disappointment and failure.
Please remember, Christian, that the Bible says, “Whoever believes in HIM will not be disappointed. Let Him be your hope; the One in Whom you trust. He is entirely trustworthy.
Let’s look at WHAT EXAMPLES THE SHEPHERDS SET FOR US.
“And it came about when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds began saying to one another, ‘Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us’”.
Keeping in mind the things that I’ve said about hope, remember that these shepherds were products of generations of men since the fall of Adam, who had looked earnestly for what Luke, in chapter 2 verse 25 calls “the consolation of Israel”.
Remember what I said about true hope having as its object the replacement of something less desirable?
Generation after generation of those who had God’s promise concerning the coming of a Redeemer had longed and prayed and waited for His revelation...their consolation.
In prophesying of the Messiah’s arrival on the scene, Isaiah had said, “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light” (9:2)
In Zacharias’ song of praise, recorded for us in Luke 1, he expressed the hope of his people by contrasting what Messiah’s coming would mean, with the things that the hope would replace. Salvation over enemies. Forgiveness over the guilt of sin. Light over darkness.
So the anticipation of these lowly shepherds had been primed by centuries of expectation, and the sudden appearance of a host of angels, lighting up the night sky by their reflection of God’s own glory, and as one voice announcing Messiah’s birth was like throwing a lighted torch into an open powder keg. BOOM!
Have you ever stopped to consider that they just left the sheep there? This would be likened to a Surgeon running from the operating table. A soldier on the base perimeter leaving his post. The pilot of a commercial jet donning his parachute and jumping out the cockpit window.
It was unheard of!
But it doesn’t reflect disloyalty on the part of the shepherds; rather, it shows us the magnitude of the angel’s message to their Jewish ears.
THE MESSIAH! THE ANOINTED ONE OF GOD; THE PROMISED ONE!
Almost a myth in their subconscious because they and their fathers before them and their fathers before them had heard the same promises over and over again. Hardly more than a legend; a fantasy that one clings to in the worst of times;
...
...yet still, something believed...and unless they were victims of some kind of mass hypnosis, or they had all coincidentally had the same dream, this HAD to be the real thing. God wouldn’t have sent all those angels and made such a hoopla in the middle of the night, then said, “This has been a test...had this been an actual coming of the Messiah...”
No! This was it! The great HOPE of Israel had come to drive away the pain and the fear and the oppression and the darkness, and guide Israel’s feet into the way of peace.
So they ran straight to Bethlehem to see for themselves.
Did you also notice that they didn’t say, “Let’s go see if this is true”. They said, “Let us go straight...and see...this thing which has happened which the Lord has made known to us.
The Messiah came, and He came for all. But those who receive the benefits of His coming will be those who receive the news gladly, then go to see for themselves.
“Let us go straight...and see.”
When a man’s heart has been touched by the good news of the Savior and he has gladly accepted that news, the immediate evidence is that he wants to go and search out its truth.
I’m a bit wary of those who begin to claim Christianity as their faith, yet there seems to be no hunger in them at all to “see this thing...which the Lord has made known”.
Verse 16 says, “They came in haste and found their way to...the baby”.
Has your heart been filled with excitement for the good news that you have heard? Have you made diligent search yourself? I hope you are not content to sit back and exist on the word of others only. In these verses we see belief in action. They showed their faith by moving out to see for themselves.
The result of the seeing will be what becomes the shepherds next example for us.
“And when they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child.”
Not only did they find things just as the angel said they would be, but they were spurred by what they saw to “Make known the statement which had been told them”.
That’s why God wants us to seek His face! Not only for our sake, but because the natural result of our meeting with God will always be a desire to share Him with others. To spread the news! To want to see others finding Him also.
“And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds.”
Another natural result of meeting with God, is glory and praise rising up to Him, under the inspiration of His Grace and Holiness. (Read vs 20)
Do you wonder at the testimonies of those who have actively sought the Lord in prayers and supplications? Is your spiritual life meagerly sustained by an occasional sermon and the testimonies of those who ‘come back’ from the Lord’s presence glorifying and praising God?
Seek Him yourself! He is never far from you. On the contrary, He is “closer than a brother”. Why? For our blessing only? NO! It is for the glory of God. Because when man meets with God; when he follows the Spirit’s leading and in obedience seeks the face of his Lord, there can only be one result. HOPE IS FULFILLED! WHEN HOPE IS PLACED IN CHRIST, SALVATION IS THE RESULT, AND GOD IS PRAISED AND GLORIFIED!
So these are the examples the shepherds set for us. BELIEF. CONFIRMATION OF TRUTH. TESTIFYING. PRAISING AND GLORIFYING GOD.
When people see THOSE things in us, they will wonder; many will only wonder, but many will want to see also.
These shepherds of Israel, like the generations of Israelites before them, had hoped for the coming of Messiah; the consolation of Israel, and now they had seen that great hope fulfilled in the flesh.
So let’s look at WHAT THE FULFILLING OF OUR HOPE WILL BE.
Now I could say very much here about the Christian’s hope. The Bible says much about the Christian’s hope.
Last week, Pastor Bill Taylor preached a sermon at Rosemont entitled, “My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less”. I didn’t hear that sermon of course, but I can imagine its basic premise, if I think of the words of the hymn; “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness”.
Christ IS the hope of the believer. He is the foundation and the cornerstone of our faith.
On the one hand we can rightly say, “All my hope is in Christ; all my hope for anything”.
But what I want to focus on today, is one simple truth concerning our hope in Him.
Not focusing on our trust in Him for our daily needs, though we can and are in fact commanded to do that.
Not focusing on our hope or trust in Him for salvation itself, though we must know that without Him there is no hope for salvation; for He IS our salvation. He is the Author of it, the Captain of it.
I want to focus on our final hope; that thing we look forward to in the same way the shepherds outside of Bethlehem, along with their kinsmen, were looking for their hope: the coming of Messiah.
The ancient Jews, and the orthodox Jews of today who have not recognized Jesus, looked for the coming of Messiah to earth. They understood the prophecies to be telling them that God’s anointed One would come as a man and deliver them from their enemies, and set up His kingdom of which they would be subjects, and His rule would have no end.
There are many Old Testament passages that support this. Job said, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the latter day He shall take His stand upon the earth.”
There are also many others, including the psalms that talk about the Messiah reigning on the throne of David forever.
We also look for the coming of the Messiah to the earth. We know that He came once in grace, to that manger in Bethlehem, and that He lived a life perfectly according to the Father’s will, was crucified, buried, risen bodily, and ascended into Heaven. So we look for Him to come again, in glory, bearing the wounds He suffered for us, yet glorified; and He will come to reign on the earth from the New Jerusalem.
Hebrews 9:27,28 says this: “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those WHO EAGERLY AWAIT HIM”. That is our hope.
We also hope, with the anticipating, expecting hope, for what the Bible calls “the redemption of our bodies”; or, glorification.
Romans 8:11 says: “...if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you”. That is our hope.
We also hope for unending, eternal life with Him. Romans 8:38,39 are two of the most hope-filled verses in all of scripture. Listen to them: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
And Revelation 20:3-5 says: “And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away’. And He who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new’, and He said, ‘Write, for these words are faithful and true’.”
This is our hope.
The shepherds, when hearing of the arrival of their great hope, left the most important things to them; their sheep; to go and see for themselves. After they had seen, they were compelled by what they saw, to go out praising and glorifying God, and telling everyone they saw.
What about you, hearer? You’ve heard the good news; have you gone to the manger to see for yourself?
Have you noticed that nothing was required of the Shepherds, to MAKE Him the Messiah; He simply WAS. Nothing was required of them to make Him come; He came according to His own plan. They were only told the truth and then left to believe, and when they believed the results naturally followed. Faith, Praise, Testimony, Rejoicing.
Nothing more is required of you, hearer. Stop trying to clean up your act. Stop trying to make yourself better. Stop beating yourself as a failure every time you stumble. Your relationship with God is not of your making; it is of His making, and if you will simply rest in Him by faith, He will change you where He wants to change you; and He’ll do it like a gentle, loving Father; not like one of us finger-pointing judgmental preachers. If you are His, you are His forever, and He will shape and mold you according to His will and by His Spirit.
You just continue to put your trust and hope in Him.
The shepherds saw Him come in grace, and they rejoiced.
We will see Him come in His glory. And we will be with Him forever and ever.
I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES, AND THAT IN THE LATTER DAY HE WILL TAKE HIS STAND UPON THE EARTH.
Stop struggling and rejoice believer. Let His peace reign in your heart. Nothing can separate you from His love; neither death, no matter how it comes, nor life, no matter what it brings. He is coming; He is coming soon; and when you see Him you will be instantly transformed; you will be like Him, for you will see Him as He is. THAT IS OUR HOPE.
