Random thoughts on Hope

The following appeared in The Atlantic Journal:

The world is too big for us. Too much going on, too many crimes, too much violence and excitement. Try as you will you get behind in the race.... It's an incessant strain, to keep pace...and still you lose ground. Science empties its discoveries in you so fast that you stagger beneath them in hopeless bewilderment. The political world is news seen so rapidly you're out of breath trying to keep pace with who's in and who's out. Everything is high pressure. Human nature can't endure much more!

Sound familiar? Whoever wrote this paragraph articulated very clearly concerning the world in which we live. Here's the catch: it was published on June 16, 1833, over 170 years ago! Our world is big, and yet it is also very small with the advent of international television, radio, internet, etc. And yet, our worldly advances have done little to deter crime, violence, and excitement over the last 100-plus years. How are we to view this situation as Christians?

Answer: look to Haggai. Yes, you read that correctly--Haggai! That little-known, little-read Old Testament prophet and book. Why do I say Haggai? Because this prophet was thrust into a situation similar to that described by the newspaper article. Israel was experiencing an increase in the size of their world (they were released from captivity), and the speed of life was also rapidly increasing. At the same time their world was shrinking due to technological advances, political advances, and commerce. Israel had recently returned from 70 years of captivity in Babylon (modern Iraq) after being released to return to their homeland to rebuild the walls of their capital city and then to rebuild the temple of the Lord. In this situation filled with frustration, worry, and wonder, God directs Haggai to give Israel a message of hope and triumph.

The last four verses of the book address the governor of Jerusalem. His name was Zerubbabel. Good ol' Zerubbabel was God's chosen person to reinstate the right of the Davidic line to rule (you will find him in the line of Jesus in Matthew and Luke). The captivity temporarily interrupted the ruling line of David. Upon the return to Israel, it is reinstated. Thus, there is hope for Haggai and his people! God has brought Israel back to the promised land, and reinstated the line of David as having the right to rule. This also looks toward a future promise of the Messiah, God Himself, as the Son of David.

Both Matthew and Luke in the New Testament identify the fulfillment of this promise of the Messiah, through the line of David, in the birth of Jesus who was a descendant of Zerubbabel. For us that means that we can live with even more hope than the people of Haggai's time. They were looking forward to the return of the Davidic kings and eventually the Messiah. But friends, Jesus has already come, having fulfilled the Old Testament hope!

Israel's "Christmas" was the Passover. It was a celebration intended to look back at what God had done in bringing Israel back to the promised land, but it was also a forward look to when the Messiah would come. Our "Christmas" is also a look back, but at the advent of that same Messiah for which Israel was hoping. But, we too look ahead. Our God will come again. The Lord Jesus will return to take us home. Let's not get distracted by the busyness, the size, or the nature of our world. God gave Haggai and Israel a message of hope: their God is coming. God has given us a message of hope too: our God has come - with the hope of Him coming again.