Advent: Dawn of Hope
Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas and is the first season of the church year. It is a season of anticipation, a time of waiting. Yes, we wait with much anticipation for the celebration of Christmas, but we also remember the anticipation of God’s people as they waited for Christ’s first coming. As we reflect on their waiting, we are reminded that we, too, are a waiting people. We look forward to Christ’s second coming when he will usher in the new creation.
As a church, we are turning to Romans 15 for this Advent. Over the next four weeks, we’ll read and consider the first thirteen verses of this chapter. Like Advent, this passage helps us look back to Christ’s first coming and to look forward to his second. In doing so, it calls us to center our lives on the hope of Jesus Christ.
This is a chapter about hope. Hope fulfilled in Jesus. Hope longed for in his return. Hope lived out in the messiness of life.
Years ago, Dori and I had the opportunity to hear Chris Wright, a renowned biblical scholar, teach on Romans. He framed the book as an epistle of hope. The gospel that Paul reports to be “the power of God for salvation to all who believe” (Rom 1:16) is the gospel of hope.
In Romans 4, Paul speaks of Abraham’s hope in God’s promise, which was fulfilled in Jesus. It is a hope that both Abraham and we receive by faith. Paul continues to highlight hope in Romans 5. We are, according to 5:2, “to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” Not only that, encourages Paul, but we are to rejoice in our suffering because God works through such hardships to grow hope in us. In Romans 8, Paul describes out hope for the future redemption of our bodies and the coming of the new creation.
Paul returns to the theme of hope in Romans 15. Here, in the practical application of his letter, Paul encourages the church at Rome to be a people of hope. The hope of Jesus—this soaring hope for our salvation and even for the whole cosmos—this hope is to shape our everyday lives. It shapes our daily lives because the coming of Jesus Christ into the world is the turning point for all of history. In him, hope has dawned.
Our gospel hope centers on Jesus. We receive this gospel hope by faith. We grow in this gospel hope by grace. We look forward to the fulfillment of this hope in the new creation. As we will discover over these coming weeks, this gospel hope (1) brings us together as God’s people, (2) is for all people, (3) leads us to worship, and (4) fills us with joy and peace.
This devotional is meant to help you reflect on the hope of Jesus during this Advent as we prepare to celebrate his birth at Christmas. Each week offers a brief overview on the verses covered by Sunday’s sermon. Then, for each day of the week, you will find a selection of verses for reflection and a prayer built from those verses. Our encouragement is for you to take a few minutes to read and reflect on the selection and the hope of Christ.
Over the course of this month, we want to be reminded of the hope of the gospel and to see how that gospel hope gives shape to our lives today. Ultimately, our prayer is Paul’s prayer from the end of this section in Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
