Theology Tuesday: Hopeful Anticipation
Christmas season is finally upon us, and everywhere you turn bells are ringing, your baking list is multiplying, and the search continues for that elusive “perfect gift”. Before you know it, Christ is relegated to Sunday morning worship and the nativity is saved for the last couple of days leading up to Christmas Day. But what if we started the Christmas season differently this year? Imagine a year in which you’re more expectant for the joy of celebrating the King who has come than the presents under the tree. This year let’s stir our affections into hopeful anticipation as we meditate on the King has come and will come again.
From the time of the Fall (Genesis 3), Israel expected the Messiah. With each new generation, they longed for and expected the Conqueror to come. I can’t fathom the depth of sorrowful longing, and fragile hope that Adam and Eve held as they birthed boys. But they brought further death rather than redemption. Then the kings arrived in 1 Samuel—hope at last! —but they ushered in strife, discord, and poor leadership, leading Israel into horrific acts of sin. Though the Messiah would come as a king (2 Sam. 7:16) they must have felt he was taking his time. Each generation surely faced disappointment, their hopeful expectancy waning, but God continued to proclaim the coming of the conquering King.
Hebrews 11:1 so beautifully says that our “faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.” I’m sure you’ve felt the tension of this reality! But we can’t discount the ways that God offers us a substantial hope to cling to as we wait on Him in faith. Biblical scholars speculate that there are over 300 references to the coming Messiah in the Old Testament. God didn’t give just a vague inclination that the Messiah would come, rather He gifted concrete hope which allowed for preparation for Christ’s coming. God primarily spoke through His promises and the prophets (though we see this throughout the whole of the OT), He also gave real hope and assurance, down to the very location of the Messiah’s birth (Micah 5:2)! But He didn’t stop there, He sent people to physically prepare and proclaim Christ in the months and days before, and shortly after, His birth. The Savior has indeed come, and in a full demonstration of His faithfulness and mercy, God announced it through many.
Though we live in the generations following the first coming of our King and Savior, we don’t discard expectancy, waiting, and hoping for the coming again of the Lord. Just as the earliest women and men awaited the redemption and restoration that would come within the reign of the King of kings, so do we! Whatever your circumstance is, despite the hardship of maintaining hope or perspective in the long term, we have the tangible hope of Christ as our incarnate King.
I often get stuck at Christmas, my mind never straying far from Christ solely as a tiny babe in a manger. I’m not discounting the beauty and necessity of us meditating on this, the awesome reality of Christ—Creator and Lord—stooping to come to earth as a baby, but I do think it’s best not to camp there exclusively. Truly, isn’t Christmas an invitation to celebrate His resurrection as well? Christ was born, coming as a helpless baby to humble parents, but He was still Lord at birth. His kingship wasn’t inherited when He learned how to walk or began His earthly ministry in His thirties. This advent season, join me in considering the implications of Christ as our triumphant King! Surely, as we meditate on the Savior who came to rescue, redeem, and restore, our affection for Him can’t help but deepen and mature. This is the anticipation I hold for myself, and I invite you to the same.
-Stephanie Wilcox: Writer for Chasing Sacred
From the time of the Fall (Genesis 3), Israel expected the Messiah. With each new generation, they longed for and expected the Conqueror to come. I can’t fathom the depth of sorrowful longing, and fragile hope that Adam and Eve held as they birthed boys. But they brought further death rather than redemption. Then the kings arrived in 1 Samuel—hope at last! —but they ushered in strife, discord, and poor leadership, leading Israel into horrific acts of sin. Though the Messiah would come as a king (2 Sam. 7:16) they must have felt he was taking his time. Each generation surely faced disappointment, their hopeful expectancy waning, but God continued to proclaim the coming of the conquering King.
Hebrews 11:1 so beautifully says that our “faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.” I’m sure you’ve felt the tension of this reality! But we can’t discount the ways that God offers us a substantial hope to cling to as we wait on Him in faith. Biblical scholars speculate that there are over 300 references to the coming Messiah in the Old Testament. God didn’t give just a vague inclination that the Messiah would come, rather He gifted concrete hope which allowed for preparation for Christ’s coming. God primarily spoke through His promises and the prophets (though we see this throughout the whole of the OT), He also gave real hope and assurance, down to the very location of the Messiah’s birth (Micah 5:2)! But He didn’t stop there, He sent people to physically prepare and proclaim Christ in the months and days before, and shortly after, His birth. The Savior has indeed come, and in a full demonstration of His faithfulness and mercy, God announced it through many.
Though we live in the generations following the first coming of our King and Savior, we don’t discard expectancy, waiting, and hoping for the coming again of the Lord. Just as the earliest women and men awaited the redemption and restoration that would come within the reign of the King of kings, so do we! Whatever your circumstance is, despite the hardship of maintaining hope or perspective in the long term, we have the tangible hope of Christ as our incarnate King.
I often get stuck at Christmas, my mind never straying far from Christ solely as a tiny babe in a manger. I’m not discounting the beauty and necessity of us meditating on this, the awesome reality of Christ—Creator and Lord—stooping to come to earth as a baby, but I do think it’s best not to camp there exclusively. Truly, isn’t Christmas an invitation to celebrate His resurrection as well? Christ was born, coming as a helpless baby to humble parents, but He was still Lord at birth. His kingship wasn’t inherited when He learned how to walk or began His earthly ministry in His thirties. This advent season, join me in considering the implications of Christ as our triumphant King! Surely, as we meditate on the Savior who came to rescue, redeem, and restore, our affection for Him can’t help but deepen and mature. This is the anticipation I hold for myself, and I invite you to the same.
-Stephanie Wilcox: Writer for Chasing Sacred
