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Looking Ahead

John 1:14

While the Bible does not offer a way to see the future, it does offer a way to approach the future.  Biblical hope lights the way for us.  This biblical hope allows us to move forward, trusting God.

It would be indescribable if we were to have the capability to view what 2007, the year ahead holds.  Conceivably, if we knew what to expect, we might avoid some difficulties.

Picture Moses, after he had led his people out of Egypt and through the wilderness of Sinai for 40 years, finally bringing them to the very edge of the promised land.  As he stood on the peak called Mount Pisgah, and views Canaan.  God, Himself, tells Moses, “This is the land I promised…”  God shared with Moses that the people were soon to enter that land.  Moses was looking into the future, and he liked what he saw.

After all Moses had been through, he doesn’t live to actually enter Canaan, but his job assignment has been completed.  He had indeed gotten God’s people there safely.  I believe Moses died contented due to having completed the mission God had assigned him to accomplish.

Looking Ahead!

Picture Joseph, arriving in Bethlehem with Mary just in time for Jesus to be born.  In fact, just weeks ago Joseph had been given enough unexpected turns to last a lifetime, with angels visits and all, but what did he expect now?  From his vantage point in the stable, did he expect a quiet trip back to Nazareth?  Did Joseph expect to resume his work in his carpenter’s shop?  Or perhaps, and then, pretty much, life as usual?

Allow me a point of personal privilege here.  I can tell you matter or fact that when the “Word made flesh” personally visits us, things are never the same.  As we know, circumstances brought Joseph another unexpected turn.  Herod was sending his troops to kill Jewish babies, and an angel warned Joseph what was ahead and instructed him to take his family and hightail it to Egypt.

Yes, angels shared the good news of the events of that very first Christmas.  It is now my profound joy to say to those of us gathered here today.  Now, it is our turn to be God’s messengers and pass on this good and glorious news.

Mary, Joseph, Zechariah, Elizabeth, and the shepherds were all ordinary people going about their ordinary daily routines.  I am sure they were all afraid.  It took courage for them to listen, to believe, and to act on what God’s messenger’s said to them.  Might I say that even when we are afraid, we know Jesus is always with us:  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you…Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.  John 14:27

How to approach the future

While the Bible does not offer a way to see the future, it does offer a way to approach the future for Christians, faith is essential.  It behooves us to have confidence in God, Christ, and belief in God’s Holy Word (Scripture).

So, the word (Jesus) of God became a person (flesh) and took up his abode in our being, full of grace and truth; and we looked with our own eyes upon his glory, glory like the glory which an only son receives from a father.  John 1:14

Wow!  John declares that God came to earth in the form of a man and was seen by human eyes.  Wow!  This theology was totally new.  This in fact so said Augustine “that in his pre-Christian days, he had read and studied the great pagan philosophers and had read many things, but he had never read that “the word became flesh.” To a Greek, this was impossible.

So staggeringly new was this concept that there arose in the church a body of people called Docetists.  This group held that Jesus in fact was on a phantom; that his body was not really human; that he could not really feel sorry nor pain; that he was a disembodied spirit in the form of a man.

I am reminded of the 13 Chapter of 1 Corinthians, where Paul identified 3 great Christian virtues: faith, hope, and love.  We may think of these virtues separately, but they are interrelated ways to find our way forward.  Hope is actually the element that provides a basis for faith and love.  It is not that hope enables us to foresee events, but hope gives us a certainty that, whatever lies ahead, God will have the last word.

Picture yourself stumbling along in the dark, completely disoriented.  But you see in the darkness, in the distance, a light from one small lamp.  Something within you makes you believe that if you were able to head in the direction of the lamp, you would be traveling in the right direction.  That something is called “faith.”  It is while you are headed in the direction of the lamp you find another person whose eyesight is poor, and he cannot see the lamp.  So you take this person by the hand, and lead this person in the direction of the lamp also.  The act of reaching out to another person, we call “love.”  And the lamp that draws you?  It is called “hope.”

John sends us a friendly reminder!  Hope is not something that originates in us.  Hope is a gleam from God that gives us confidence that our faith and our love are not misplaced.  The word hope has been diluted because it has sometimes been made synonymous with wishing.

Someone might buy a lottery ticket and hope to hit the right numbers.  That person is wishing!  In biblical usage, hoping and wishing are not the same things.  But Christian hope is the confidence that this hope cannot be anything else but true!

Christmas is upon us!  A new year is upon us!  I am sure we have plans and expectations, and yes, Jesus has come to earth.  However, like Joseph, we may still have need to go through some unexpected changes and may assume that things will settle down now, but don’t be too sure!

Though we would like to have a preview of what lies ahead, it is another of God’s good gifts that we cannot see.  You see if we know about the joys ahead, we would probably miss the goodness of today in our eagerness to get there.  And if we knew about the problems, we would fill today with dread.

A better approach is exemplified by Joseph.  He didn’t know what would happen.  He didn’t know if he would even live to return to  Nazareth.  But, he trusted God, and Joseph knew the biblical hope.

Paul testified about the power of hope, Moses died contentedly because of it, and Joseph moved out and moved on because of it.  We too have the glorious hope of the gospel:

So the word of God became a person, and took up his abode in our being full of grace and truth; and we looked with our own eyes upon his glory, glory like the glory which an only son receives from a father.

Let us make our delight in the fact that whatever the days ahead holds for us, the good news is that we are his, and he is ours.  Amen.

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