Hope Is A Four Letter Word

And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.                   --1 John 3:3

What do you take to a baby shower?  What kinds of gifts should you bring?  Certainly there is an air of expectation and hopefulness.  All mothers know the joys and fears of the expectant mother-to-be:  the hope that this period of discomfort and sacrifice will culminate with the birth of the baby; the hope that the baby will be healthy and well, and the suppressed fear of what she would do if the baby is not healthy or whole; and finally the fear (especially of first-time mothers) that she will not be a good mom, that she would not know how to care for and nurture the baby properly.

That is why the gifts at the baby shower are given in anticipation of the life that is to come.  Friends bring warm clothing, bath oils, talcum powders, all nice things to help make the baby comfortable.  Parents may bring play-pens, strollers, car-seats--more expensive items to make it easier to keep the baby safe while travelling away from home.  But the most important gift of all is diapers.

No one in polite society will say what the diapers are for, but we all know.  The child will go through a ton of them before he is toilet-trained.  However, there is the hope that one day, eventually, the child will no longer need them.

Last week I wrote about the wise men, the magi from the East, who traveled first to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem to pay honor to Jesus, the new-born King.  They brought with them gifts, tribute (if you will) to the King of kings.  We all know the gifts: gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

Gold was often brought as tribute to royalty.  When foreign leaders visited David and Solomon in the Old Testament, they brought gold.  Aside from its monetary value, gold is seen as pure, as desirable, as durable, and even as royal.

Frankincense is an essential oil used in perfumes because of its pleasant aroma.  The effused aroma promotes relaxation and feelings of peace.  It also has medicinal or healing properties, that foretold of Jesus's ministry on Earth.

Myrrh is named for the Arabic word for "bitter."  It, too, is an essential oil that historically had been used in embalming and mummification as far back as ancient Egypt.  This gift foretold of His death, and yet alluded to his Resurrection, because it, too, has medicinal and healing powers when used as an essential oil.  One source I read says its antioxidant properties help in restoring dead cells or preventing cell death.  Is that not one role that Jesus fulfills now?

So we see that the birth of the Savior brought with it hope, but as the gifts of the Wise Men foretold, that hope would come through hardship.

There is a place near the southern tip of Africa that we call the Cape of Good Hope.  In the fifteenth century, as the European population expanded and the demand increased for spices from the East (to preserve food more than season it), the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias was trying to find a shipping route to India southward around the continent of Africa.  As he approached the southern tip, he experienced the phenomenon of competing currents where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet.  The cold Atlantic current mingles with the warm Indian Ocean current, and at certain points may mingle with Antarctic winds from the South.

Those of you familiar with meteorology recognize that the clash of a warm-air current meeting with a cold front can cause violent storms.  This is why Dias first called the place Cabo das Tormentas, or "Cape of Storms."

How many of us are tormented by frequent storms in life?  We are sailing along with warm wind currents when BAM! a cold front meets us out of nowhere.  Satan sends storms to buffet us, much like the storm encountered by the Disciples on the Sea of Galilee.  Matthew chapter 8 (and again in Luke chapter 8) tells of a time when Jesus and His disciples got into a boat and started across the lake.  Jesus was tired, and fell asleep in the bow.  A huge storm erupted, causing waves large enough to swamp the boat; the disciples, experienced fishermen who had plenty of experience sailing these waters, feared for their lives.

They shouldn't have.  Jesus, the source of hope, was in the boat with them.

The One who had created the winds and the waters by His Word spoke peace to the waves, and there was calm.  His question to them, "Where was your faith?" was not so much chastising them for not being able to withstand the storm themselves.  I think it had more to do with their faith that the Son of God, who was in the boat, could not have been destroyed by the storm.  Their proximity to Him, therefore, assured their safety as well.

Back our story about the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias:  It was in 1411 that he first sailed through the "Cape of Storms".  Seventy years later, King John II renamed it the "Cape of Good Hope" (Capo de Boa Esperanza) because there was now a reliable shipping trade route to India.  He was optimistic and full of hope that the people of the West would benefit greatly from increased access to spices and preservatives from the East.

You see, hope does not exist without adversity.  You can't say, "I hope I get this job," if there was no possibility that you could lose it.  You can't think "I hope my daughter gets home safely," if there was no real hazard, no actual perils to which she could possibly fall prey.  Our hope for good recognizes the prevalence of evil; our hope of life is juxtaposed with the very real possibility of death.  We cling to hope, especially when the source of hope is outside of ourselves.

So we meditate on hope this second Sunday of the Advent season.  This weekend my pastor told the background of one of the most quoted Scriptures of the Christmas season.

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Emanuel.  --Isaiah 7:14

We know this as a Messianic scripture, and Old Testament verse that foretold the coming of Jesus.  But the background is an instance where Ahaz, the king of Judah, had lost all hope, and Isaiah the prophet had offered some.  The adversity at the time, the circumstance that made Ahaz lose hope, was that his enemies in Syria had begun to lay siege on Jerusalem.  Ahaz knew that his army was no match for the Syrian army.  In fact, he had secretly sent messages to another enemy, the king of Assyria, offering the people of Judah as slaves if he would spare his own life.

Ahaz feared for his life.  Isaiah came with words of hope.  "Take care and be calm," he said.  "Have no fear and do not be fainthearted." (Isaiah 7:4).  Isaiah's message was to believe God.  You see, God had already promised, before Ahaz was born, that a descendant of David would always be on the throne in Jerusalem.  Ahaz had no heirs at the time, but he was genuinely afraid.  He also had no faith, and as a result, he was hopeless.

Hopelessness drives people to do desperate things.  Today we empty the store shelves in anticipation of a storm, or we make a run on gasoline when we think that oil supply chains may be cut off.  The Donner Party resorted to cannibalism when the winter storm got so bad.  Ahaz offered his people as slaves to a foreign power because he feared his enemy.

Isaiah came with a word of encouragement:  God's got this.  There is no reason to get all panicky.  "Ask for a sign for yourself from the Lord your God," Isaiah said.  "Make it as deep as Sheol or high as heaven." (Isaiah 7:11).  Unfortunately, Ahaz was hopeless.  "I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord." (Isaiah 7:12).  This was not a statement of humility; he was not trying to bow to God's greatness.  Instead, he was showing exactly how little faith he had in God.

Isaiah's answer, that one day a virgin would conceive and bear a son, whose very name means "God with us," was meant to show that God was being true to His promise that the line of David would one day culminate in the birth of the Messiah.  God had not yet finished His plan for you, Ahaz, so have faith.  Much like Jesus's question to the disciples: Where is your faith?  Don't you know that God's promises are true?  Therein lies our source of hope.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare to make no other claim,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace;
In ev'ry high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

His oath, his covenant and blood
Support me in the raging flood;
When ev'ry earthly prop gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When he shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in him be found,
Clothed in his righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before his throne.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.