When All You Have Is Hope...

So in order to understand the rest of this, we have to go back to understand a couple of things:

1.Israel splits into 2 kingdoms: Israel in the North with 10 tribes; and Judah in the South with 2 tribes after Solomon’s death. 2.Assyria takes the Northern kingdom captive and exiles them. Later, the Southern kingdom goes through the same. But, a promise was given and stood the test of time which gave the people hope.

Isaiah 9:1-7 is where we find this promise. This was written around a couple years before the Assyrian invasion of Israel. This is what is described in verse 1 as the "darkness". Later, Babylon overtakes the Assyrians and exiles Israel once again. After Babylon, Persia comes into World power. Through Persia, the Jews are allowed to return to Israel; but Rome comes.

But while waiting, their hope never died.In Hebrew, one of the verbs used for hope is “Qavah” meaning to wait, trust, and to be expectant. In other words; wait for the promise to fulfill; trust in God; and be expectant for its fulfillment. But don’t forget the promise. By doing this, their hope was solidified as the promise. A promise, or prophecy, from God is the mind of God, spoken, which will happen. When God speaks His mind, He creates a promise; we can take it to the bank! No matter how much time has passed.

Now we arrive to the moment! Luke 1:78-79 reads: "Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us,to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.”The awesome thing about this response is; this is what was said in Isaiah chapter 9. This is the moment God broke 400 years of silence. God sent an Angel to tell Zechariah of John the Baptist’s birth. But not long after, we see the Angel Gabriel coming to Mary to tell her about the promise that was going to be fulfilled 9 months later.

To close, a line of a famous Christmas song, “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem”, says “the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight”. They waited for about 700 years since Isaiah 9 was written. How many of us are still waiting for God to fulfill His promise? While we wait, we should let our trust and expectation grow deeper than ever before. One other thing we can do is remember what God has done for us and thank Him. Jews, until today, still practice this thing of remembrance strongly. This is how they held on for 700 years; even when hope was the last thing to hold on to. Let’s do the same. 2017 is ending,and was great; but get ready for God's blessings in 2018! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!