Almost Out Of Hope

December 13, 2016

“Almost Out Of Hope”

And he will stand to lead his flock with the Lord’s strength,

in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

Micah 5:4a

The English term advent comes from a Latin word meaning “coming” and designates the four Sundays before Christmas during which Christians reflect on the meaning of the second coming of Christ and prepare for the Christmas season. These two events are connected because it is through our faith in the first coming of Jesus – His birth and his life, death and resurrection – that gives us faith and hope in His promised second coming in final victory.

The promise of God (Micah 5:4, quoted above) came to Micah during one of the worst times in the history of Israel. As the people of Israel contemplated their circumstances, I suspect they were almost out of hope. Even so, many of the people took comfort in Micah’s promise: “Then his people will live there undisturbed, for he will be highly honored around the world. And he will be the source of peace” (Micah 5:4b-5).

I love the season of Advent, but I do regret that we pay so little attention to Christ coming again in final victory. The birth of Jesus is our guarantee that God is not finished, that we too can look forward to living undisturbed with Christ, our source of peace. As world leaders responded to the recent death of Fidel Castro, I was reminded of the two visits I made to Cuba in 2003 and 2004. The Christian church in Cuba lives with one eye on the reality of their oppressive environment and one eye on the sky in hopeful anticipation of the return of Christ. They long for the vindication of their faith and to live in a time when God’s righteousness flows through their land.

Our own strong yearning for the Second Coming of Christ helps us remain in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Cuba and Aleppo and the countless places in our world where brutality and oppression is the norm. Our yearning for the return of our Messiah keeps ever before us the wonderful promise of God that a better day is coming. Together, with the unseen cloud of witnesses we long for the fulfillment of John’s revelation:

“I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

  Revelation 21:3-4

Come Lord Jesus, come!

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.