The day of the Lord is coming. Advent resounds the promise of His coming: His justice, His glory, His light that overcomes all darkness. We step into the season of Advent like a child awaking before the dawn and exclaiming that the sun is coming. He cannot see the its piercing fire; he cannot feel its blanketing warmth, but he knows that it is coming. The day is ready to burst forth into newness.
We stand at the edge of a day, the day of God’s unveiling. We are watching, waiting, proclaiming that He is coming. Even now we sense the warmth of His light and love, even now we sing for the Light that pierces all things. And yet, we still stand in a world racked by darkness and strife. For some, it seems there is no respite from the darkness of hate and anger and pain. In some places, the ache of decay stretches from generation to generation. How can hope burn in the cold, dark hell that engulfs so many lives? At times, our wintering world seems weary and spent.
We might learn the hope of Advent by looking backward into order to see forward. We might rehearse the witness of God’s people from age to age. We might walk in the steps of those who walked through the night with their eyes on the promise of light just over the horizon.
Consider Job. His children have died. His property has been stolen. His body is broken. His friends judge him. His wife wants him to curse God and die. But Job is stubborn. He cannot relent. He cries for an audience with God. His lamentation, his cry for justice reveals that he still has hope in a just God.
Job holds onto hope that God is just and must redress his grievances. Surrounded by people who do not understand him, Job looks like a man trying to create fire in a world where all fires have faded from memory. There is a hope that burns when all fires are forgotten. This hope is not a wish. It is as sure as the very breath we breathe. This is the hope of a people in exile. This is the resounding hope in Advent. It is hope springing from the faithfulness of God.
Our hope does not deny the deep dark of night, but our hope remembers the dawn. It is the watchful eye that looks for the glimmer of dawn in shadow of the moon, in the distant horizon, the light that breaks the skies.
We remember the witness of Abraham who follows a call into the wilderness, hoping against hope in the faithfulness of God. We remember the hope of Moses who resists the forces of darkness and leads God’s people toward the light. We remember the witness of Jeremiah who sees beyond the destruction of all things to a new age, a new covenant, a renewal of God’s blessing in the midst of his people.
As we remember those who have walked in valley of the shadow of death, we remember that our Lord met His people in the very jaws of death and lifted them up into life. In the midst of the dark night, we turn toward the promise of God’s light, trusting that He will shine ever brighter until the full light of day.
Image by Davi Ozolin (used by permission via Creative Commons).
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