November 30, 2008 · 1 John 3:2–3

1 John 3 2-3

“The question is, what do we do when our earthly hopes are disappointed? Do we give up hope altogether? Or do we realize that we still have a higher hope, an art hope, a controlling hope? The Israelites hope for God. Thousands of years over. They trusted God would bring them salvation. But then the Babylonians came, destroyed their country and their hope. Followed by the Assyrians, their hopes getting a little lower. Then the Middle Persians, got hope, Then the Greeks, oh God, give us our people back, and then the Romans, they hoped for a Messiah that would overthrow those deading Romans. Please, and then Jesus was revealed. The shepherds, the shepherds got to see what thousands of God lovers were hoping for thousands of years. So a few shepherds. Now some of the people that first had hoped in Jesus, they were disappointed. He didn't overthrow the Roman Empire. He didn't set up a political dynasty where Israel would rule the earth. They were disappointed, and Jesus said they really didn't get the hope in the first place. But others, they saw that in reality Jesus did fulfill their hope. Jesus was actually the hope for the whole earth, and that's what Isaiah had prophesied. If the other prophets had prophesied, a hope for the whole earth. Not just Israel, and they kept hoping in Jesus. And their hope hasn't been disappointed. The power of God is growing on the earth in the name of Jesus. But yet we still wait for that final hope to be revealed. So how do we wait? We wait in hope. Knowing that the only sure hope is Jesus, that he gives us hope for everything else in our lives. Now we don't get everything we hope for.”