Waiting with Hope

O come, O come Immanuel and ransom captive Israel that mourns in longing exile here until the Son of God appear.  Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Immanuel has ransomed captive Israel.  

“The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.” (Is. 9:2)

The season of Advent is unique.  While most of our holidays are centered around reflection and celebration, the season of Advent is an invitation to join in solidarity with those who mourn in anticipation of Immanuel.  The latin word adventus means “arrival” and is often used in contemporary Christendom to emphasize a season of waiting for the arrival of messiah.  Isaiah and other prophets shared the Holy Spirit’s revelation that Immanuel would come and shed light on people walking in darkness.  

But this is a difficult statement to grasp because “people walking in darkness” can mean different things.  “People walking in darkness” can refer to those who don’t know the Lord and haven’t received the Holy Spirit.  In other words, this can be referring to the “lost” and “unsaved.”  “People walking in darkness” can also refer to people going through a dark and seemingly hopeless situation.  For example, the Israelites, the “chosen” people of God who had been conquered and led into captivity for centuries, serving this or that empire and all the while wishing to return to their days of autonomy and freedom.  But again “people walking in darkness” can also refer to us.  We live in a dark time and in a dark land by some accounts.

We live in a world and creation, as Paul describes it, that is groaning and suffering the pains of childbirth (Rom. 8:22).  But what does that mean?  Perhaps it means that all of creation has suffered the unnatural effects of the Fall, and continues to seek its reconciliation to the Creator.  Only in this state – the state of creation as it was designed to function and operate – will the groaning and pains be resolved.  

But what do we mean when we say that all of creation groans?  What do the groans sound like?  Perhaps they sound like warring nations, political polarization, racial tensions, gender identity crises, economic uncertainty and global pandemics.  Perhaps it is the looks of depression, anxiety, fear, loneliness and mistrust in the eyes of those who were never meant to bear such burdens.  And perhaps it is the unnatural feeling of separation brought about by the death of a loved one.

The spirit of Advent is the humble acknowledgement that creation can not be fully restored without the Creator’s intervention.  Just as Israel pled “O come Immanuel” to rescue them from their darkness, so also we may plead “O come Immanuel” to rescue us from our darkness, both personally and collectively.  We wait for the arrival of Immanuel to once again ransom our captive world.

But we do not wait in hopeless mourning (1 Thess. 4:13).  Neither do we bury our responsibility and then blame God for our inaction (Matt. 25:24-28).  Just as with the servants in Jesus’ parable, we have each been given stewardship of tremendous resources and invited into the ministry of reconciliation – to be a kingdom of priests bringing the light of Christ with us everywhere we go.  We are the light of the world (Matt. 5:14-16) who have been called to go into all the world and make disciples (Matt. 28:19-20), teaching them of the hope, truth and freedom of Immanuel – God is with us.  His Holy Spirit lives within us.  We then get to be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophetic vision, to be and to bring the great light to the people who walk in darkness.

And so we do wait in solidarity with those who mourn over creation’s labor pains, but we wait in hopeful anticipation of Immanuel, who has proven Himself to be more than faithful time after time.  In fact, I wonder if perhaps this Advent season God is waiting for the arrival of His Church on the scene.  Perhaps He is waiting for us to pick back up our shovels and hammers and to rejoin the work of reconciling all of the creation back to Him.  Perhaps we can let our light shine before men in such a way that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father who is in heaven.  

Or I suppose we could just close our eyes and go around wondering why everything is so dark.  You know, dealer’s choice.