December 1, 2024
“Are We There Yet? Adventures in Advent”
“Week 1 – Hope: Keep the Lights On!”
Isaiah 40:1-11
Service Overview: Isaiah’s words light up the darkness with the promise of God’s faithfulness. When life feels uncertain, God calls us to hold onto hope, preparing our hearts for the light of His coming.
Memory Verse for the Week:
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 (NIV)
Background & Technical Insights:
- In chapter 39 Isaiah predicted that Judah would go into exile in Babylon. They did, in 586 B.C., just over a century later. The Babylonian army overwhelmed Jerusalem and led the survivors off to captivity at the other end of the Fertile Crescent — a far cry from what God had wanted for them! He had said that Abraham would become a mighty nation, blessing the whole world (Genesis 18:18). But the people of God failed their high calling, and paid heavily for it. (Ray C. Ortlund, Isaiah, 232)
- Isaiah 40 is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible. Its language travels to the distant boundaries of the universe, finding a limit to the stars. Its language also probes the arrogance of human pride, finding a limit to human life span, power, wisdom, and strength. The central theme of the chapter is the proclamation of the glory of God for the salvation of dying sinners. God is great —infinitely so—whether sinful humanity recognizes it or not. But the grace of God is unleashed into this sin-cursed and dying world specifically in this way: the eternal word of God proclaimed to sinners on the very topic of the glory of God. As sinners hear and believe that message, they are forgiven, comforted, and strengthened. (Andrew M. Davis, Exalting Jesus in Isaiah, 249)
- The Jewish rabbis have called Isaiah 40—66 “The Book of Consolation,” and they are right. Isaiah sought to comfort the Jewish remnant in Babylon, after their difficult years of captivity, and to assure them that God was with them and would take them safely home. Along with words of consolation, the prophet also revealed the Messiah, God’s Suffering Servant, and described the future regathering of Israel and the promised kingdom. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Comforted, 112)
- The display of God’s glory is nowhere greater than at the cross of Christ! There we see all the attributes of God radiantly displayed—his love, mercy, grace, wisdom, power, wrath, justice, patience, etc. So Isaiah 40:5 gives us the centerpiece of the gospel: “The glory of the LORD will appear, and all humanity together will see it, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” In this “spoken word” of the Lord—the gospel of Christ—the glory of the Lord appears radiantly for all who hear and believe. (Andrew M. Davis, Exalting Jesus in Isaiah, 250)
What makes hope a vital virtue for believers, and why is it so central to Advent?
- Hope renews our strength by grounding us in God’s promises.
(Exodus 15:2; Psalm 46:1-3; 73:26; Isaiah 40:1-2, 29-31; Lamentations 3:22-24; Matthew 11:28-30; Romans 5:3-5; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18; Philippians 4:6-7; Hebrews 12:1-2)
Hope in God’s promises, therefore, is not a wishful longing but a faith-filled confidence for the future. It is simply impossible to trust one of God’s promises and not anticipate its coming true. To know God is to trust Him. And to trust God is to trust His promises. And to trust God’s promises is to be sure of their fulfillment. This assurance concerning the future, anchored in God’s promises, is what the Bible calls “hope.” (Scott Hafemann, The God of Promise and the Life of Faith, 109)
The hope that God has provided for you is not merely a wish. Neither is it dependent on other people, possessions, or circumstances for its validity. Instead, biblical hope is an application of your faith that supplies a confident expectation in God’s fulfillment of His promises. Coupled with faith and love, hope is part of the abiding characteristics in a believer’s life. (John Broger, Self-Confrontation Manual, Lesson 6, 6)
- Hope restores our hearts because it rests in God’s character and care.
(Psalm 34:18; 147:3; Proverbs 3:5-6; Isaiah 40:5; 53:4-5; Jeremiah 29:11; John 14:1-3; Romans 8:24-25; 2 Corinthians 1:3-5; 1 Peter 5:10; Revelation 21:4)
Isaiah is told to tell us that we are unreliable. God’s promise is infallible, we are not, and that must be said. (Ray C. Ortlund, Isaiah, 238)
Hope fills the afflicted soul with such inward joy and consolation, that it can laugh while tears are in the eye, sigh and sing all in a breath; it is called “the rejoicing of hope” (Hebrews 3:6). (William Gurnall, A Puritan Golden Treasury, 144)
- Hope helps form our future by anchoring us in the eternal plan of God.
(Isaiah 40:8; John 11:25-26; Ephesians 1:18; Philippians 3:20-21; Colossians 1:27; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14; 2 Timothy 4:7-8; Hebrews 6:19; Revelation 22:12-13)
Hope is not defined by the absence of hardship. Rather, hope is found in God’s grace in the midst of hardship. Hope is found in His promise to give us a future. God offers hope to Christians when He promises, “I am persuaded that not even death or life, angels or rulers, things present or things to come, hostile powers, height or depth, or any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!” (Rom. 8:38-39). (Dan Wickert, Counseling the Hard Cases, 114)
Conclusion… How do we keep the light of hope on in our lives?
- By trading our worry for worship.
(Psalm 27:1; 34:1-4; Isaiah 41:10; Habakkuk 3:17-18; Matthew 6:31-34; John 14:1; Philippians 4:6-7; Colossians 3:16-17; 1 Peter 5:7)
If you want to identify the hidden strongholds in your life, you need only survey the attitudes in your heart. Every area in your thinking that glistens with hope in God is an area which is being liberated by Christ. But any system of thinking that does not have hope, which feels hopeless, is a stronghold which must be pulled down. (Francis Frangipane, The Three Battlegrounds, 43)
Worry is the antithesis of trust. You simply cannot do both. They are mutually exclusive. (Elisabeth Elliot, Discipline – The Glad Surrender, 106)
Worry is needless because of God’s bounty, senseless because of God’s promise, useless because of its impotence to do anything productive, and faithless because it is characteristic of unbelievers. (John MacArthur, “A Worried Christian”, www.gty.org)
- By gripping the anchor, not the drift.
(Joshua 1:9; Psalm 18:2; 119:105; Isaiah 26:3; 40:8; Matthew 24:35; John 15:5; Romans 15:13; 2 Corinthians 1:20; Hebrews 6:19)
Hope is called the anchor of the soul (Hebrews 6:19), because it gives stability to the Christian life. But hope is not simply a “wish” (I wish that such-and-such would take place); rather, it is that which latches on to the certainty of the promises of the future that God has made. (R.C. Sproul The Purpose of God, An Exposition of Ephesians, 40)
- By living like tomorrow is already won.
(Psalm 16:9-11; John 11:25-26; Romans 8:31-39; 1 Corinthians 15:57; Philippians 1:21; 2 Timothy 1:7; Hebrews 12:28; Revelation 22:12-13)
Hope and optimism are essential qualities for the servant of God who battles with the powers of darkness over the souls of men an women. (J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership, 25)
Christian hope rests upon the fact not that evil can be ignored, or that it will simply fade away, but that it has been judged at the cross. (David Wells, Hell on Trial, x)
God’s…promises are not simply random good intentions. Rather, God’s promises together point to and delineate a divine plan for history – a plan to rescue a people for the praise of His glory, and to effect that rescue, that salvation, through a judgment that God Himself would bear on our behalf. In other words, history is not cyclical, a “mere repetition” of archetypal patterns. Rather, history is heading somewhere. It’s linear. It’s developing and progressing toward an end that God has already prepared. (Michael Lawson, Biblical Theology Tools 2, 71)
Gospel Connection…
Advent looks forward with hope to the coming of the Light of the World, who brings hope to humanity through His life, death, and resurrection.
(Isaiah 53:5; John 1:1-13; 11:25-26; Romans 4:25; 5:8; 8:34; Ephesians 1:18-20; Colossians 1:20; 1 Peter 1:3; Revelation 1:18)
The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity – hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory – because at the Father’s will Jesus became poor, and was born in a stable so that thirty years later He might hang on a cross. (J.I. Packer, Knowing God, 63)
Spiritual Challenge Questions…
Reflect on these questions in your time with the Lord this week, or discuss with a Christian family member or Life Group.
- What does “hope” mean to you personally, and how does it differ from optimism or wishful thinking?
- Can you think of a time when God’s promises gave you strength in a difficult situation?
- What are some ways we can “anchor” our hope in God’s truth during times of uncertainty or struggle?
- In what ways does hope in Christ help us heal from past wounds or brokenness?
- How does our hope in Christ change the way we approach the future, both in this life and eternity?
Quotes to note…
Isaiah is not talking about literal, topographical change. He is talking about the upheaval of true repentance. He is talking about a new moral topography, a new social landscape. He is talking about the disruptive advance of salvation. He is saying that lifting and lowering and leveling and smoothing are necessary to the kingdom of Christ. He is talking about depression being relieved, pride being flattened, troubled personalities becoming placid, and difficult people becoming easy to get along with. And he is also implying that if we cling to the status quo and refuse God’s upsetting but constructive salvation, we risk having no part with Christ. (Ray C. Ortlund, Isaiah, 236)
Prayer helps us cling to the altar of God’s promises by which we lay hold of God Himself. (Joel Beeke, Feed My Sheep, 117)
The glory of the Christian faith is that the Christ who died for our sins rose again for our justification. We should joyfully remember His birth and gratefully muse on His dying, but the crown of all our hopes is with Him at the Father’s right hand. (A. W. Tozer, The Radical Cross, 13)
Hope can see heaven through the thickest; clouds; hope can see light through darkness, life through death, smiles through frowns, and glory through misery. Hope holds life and soul together; it holds Christ and the soul together; it holds the soul and the promises together; it holds the soul and heaven together; and so it makes a Christian to stand and triumph over all afflictions, oppositions, and temptations. (Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, Vol. 2, 507)
Real satisfaction comes not in understanding God’s motives, but in understanding His character, in trusting in His promises, and in leaning on Him and resting in Him as the Sovereign who knows what He is doing and does all things well. (Joni Eareckson Tada, Is God Really in Control, 9)
If the focus of Christianity were our sins, our future would shut down. But in fact Christianity is all about the saving grace of God. He overrules our stupidity with his own absolute pardon through the finished work of Christ on the cross. Do we sin? Yes. Do we suffer for it? Yes. Is that where God leaves us? No. (Ray C. Ortlund, Isaiah, 235)
That God had in mind the work of Christ on the cross even when inspiring these words by Isaiah is plain from verses 3-5, a prophecy ascribed in every Gospel to the forerunner of Jesus Christ, John the Baptist (Matt 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23). John came to cry out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord!” This was not the work of a civil engineer, making literal highways in the wilderness, leveling mountains and filling in valleys. John fulfilled these words by preaching powerful messages of repentance for sin, baptism as a symbol of repentance, and a clear identification of the Son of God in his atoning work. (Andrew M. Davis, Exalting Jesus in Isaiah, 250)