7“Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? 8 They are higher than the heavens above—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths below—what can you know? 9 Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.” These words come to us from Zophar, a friend of Job, who was chastising him for his response to what seemed to be overwhelming evidence that God had abandoned him. While Zophar’s reasons for asking these great questions were less than faithful, the words are a good way for us to begin thinking about the miracle of Christmas as we enter Advent. Every year before we celebrate the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas, we enter a time of preparation and waiting, a time of Advent. Zophar’s words set a properly wondrous attitude for a time when we prepare to celebrate the most glorious and humble gift of God.
This is the first Sunday in Advent this year –the Sunday for Hope. But just what is it that we are hoping for? We are not hoping for the Messiah – He has already come. We are not hoping for the miraculous birth – it happened two thousand years ago. We are not hoping for the promise of God to free His people to be fulfilled – as American Christians we have been freed in both earthly and heavenly terms. So what are we hoping for?
There are, of course, many answers to that question. We are hoping for certain material things. We are hoping for joyful reunion with family and friends. We are hoping to recapture a bit of the magic we felt at Christmas as children. We are hoping to reconcile with someone we have been at odds with. We are hoping for peace and joy. We are hoping people will finally remember what the season is really about. We are hoping for a sense of the awe and wonder that used to accompany this time of year – even if just for amoment. We are hoping for…SOMETHING.
Perhaps a different question would help us figure our what we are hoping for. That question might be “what is the nature of our hope?” The second question will actually do much to inform the answer of the first one. If we view hope as akind of strong wish, then we will hope for one kind of thing. If we view hope from a more spiritual perspective, we may find ourselves hoping for something completely different. Our passage from Romans today says that we are to “boast in the hope of the glory of God.” That’s a whole different kind of hope. It is an eternal kind of hope. It is hoping for God’s kingdom to break into our lives, for God’s will to rule over the whole earth, for God’s glory to be shown to us and to all the world. That’s a really big kind of hope. It’s a beautiful kind of hope. It’s a very faithful kind of hope. And it’s a real hope.
While not everything we hope for at this time of year is reverent or faithfully motivated, if we think about that first Christmas from the perspective of those who were there, that is a bit like hoping for the glory of God. Maybe that is why we love the ancient story we think we know so well. Maybe that’s why so many consider Christmas the holiest night of the year. On Christmas Eve, with the beautiful music, everyone dressed up, the familiar story, the candle light, somehow the glory and wonder of God seem closer, more real, more accessible.
Perhaps that sense of closeness is because when we finally get to Christmas Eve, we finally stop to take a deep breath and enjoy celebrating the miraculous birth of our Lord. We spend so much time and effort getting ready for the earthly celebration that when we manage to devote an hour or two to the celebration of the heavenly event, we notice, at least for a while, what all the preparation has been for. We notice the Divine, which has been there all along, through all the challenges and struggles, times of suffering in the year that’s coming to a close and times we’ve had to withstand more than we thought we should or could. God hasn’t left us through any of it or allowed any of it to be in vain, but has been there with us each step of the way, getting us ready and transforming our experiences into good things.
Just after the line about boasting in the hope of God’s glory we read we are supposed to boast in our sufferings because suffering is a part of hope. “Suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope.” It sounds a little like the earthly version of how we busily prepare for Christmas each year. In some ways, it also reminds us of the traditional understanding of Advent, which was not so joy-filled as we think of it today.
For most of Christian history, Advent was not atime of joyful celebration – rounds of parties and festive gatherings and concerts and such - but a time of spiritual preparation. It was a time of reflection and repentance, of getting ready in our hearts and minds and souls to accept once again the gift humanity received wrapped not in pretty paper but in simple cloth bands. It was a time to get ourselves right with God so we might stand a chance at being worthy of the gift He gives. It was a time to consider our sins and humbly ask forgiveness. Advent was apretty major downer, in a lot of ways. But that goes well with the hope we read about in the Romans passage.
While we are persevering through the trials of this life, while we are building up our character by withstanding the challenges that come our way, that character-building is being transformed into hope – hope of experiencing the glory of God. When Advent was spent in repentance and introspection, the joy and awe and wonder of Christmas must have been positively overwhelming. To go from the sadness of knowing we do not deserve salvation to the joy of knowing that God generously gives us salvation would certainly be cause for wonder and awe, would leave us positively giddy with joy. We get a glimpse of that when we finally break from the craziness of modern day preparation and enjoy Christmas Eve focused on the gift of the Lord. The modern version is not nearly as theologically focused as the ancient version, but perhaps the results are similar anyway – a season of preparation followed by a joyous celebration of the hope of seeing God’s glory revealed in the coming of the Messiah.
As we read on in our Romans passage, we see that this promised hope is fulfilled. “And hope does not put us to shame [some versions say disappoint], because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” The Holy Spirit poured God’s love into our hearts because God gave us the Holy Spirit as a gift after Jesus returned to heaven, having made the perfect sacrifice to open heaven gates for even us. Hope is fulfilled in a gift far greater than this world can offer, more amazing than anything that will fit under a tree on Christmas morning. The fleeting joy of an earthly gift unwrapped is far surpassed by the eternal joy of the heavenly gift we celebrate each year at Christmas. And there are again the words of Zophar, reminding us how much greater is God than we are. The way to recognize and enjoy that heavenly gift far greater than we deserve is to get ready to celebrate the Christian aspects of Christmas at least as much as the earthly ones.
Zophar can help us with that, as well. He had some pretty specific advice for Job on how to get out of his predicament. He recommended bargaining with God. Zophar basically accused Job of hiding some secret sin that is responsible for his troubles with God. Of course we know that we have no need to bargain with God for salvation, but Zophar’s words to Job can help put us in the right frame of mind to experience the wonder and awe that belong with Christmas. 13 “Yet if you devote your heart to Him and stretch out your hands to Him, 14 if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent….”
The words give good advice – devote your heart to God. Seems a whole lot wiser than devoting our hearts to bargain shopping and out-decorating our neighbors, and if our hearts are truly devoted to God, then perhaps when we are reaching out our hands it will be toward fulfilling His purpose rather than just grabbing at some low priced item to throw in our overloaded cart. Maybe if we devote our hearts to God then even that low priced item will be used for His glory. ,
Zophar’s speech continues with promises of good things, which we know have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ, our real and true hope. Zophar says, “15 then, free of fault, you will lift up your face; you will stand firm and without fear. 16 You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by.17 Life will be brighter than noonday, and darkness will become like morning. 18 You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety.” When we are truly free of fault because of God’s great forgiveness, when we lift our face to His and stand in His presence in heaven one day, we can do so free of fear because of the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ, the Babe of Bethlehem. When we enter heaven, we will truly be able to forget our troubles like water gone by. We will be secure and rest in safety. Darkness will be bright as the noonday sun. All because of Jesus, Him whose birth we prepare to remember and celebrate all these years later. He is the fulfillment of our hope, the promised One for whom generations waited and whose advent generations continue to prepare.
Devote your heart to God. Reach out your hand to Him in prayer and confession. Focus your hope on what is real and lasting. Humble yourself before God, confessing and repenting and knowing your hope has been and will be fulfilled in the best gift of all – the certainty of one day seeing the glory of God. “Put away sin…and allow no evil to dwell in your [home]” goes very well with the ancient idea of Advent – focusing on repentance and seeking God’s forgiveness that we will be ready to receive the gift of salvation we celebrate at Christmas, the best gift of all.