Advent Week 1: One Thing

I went on Pinterest and searched “hope.”  I saw quotes, marriage, birth, and a nice Princess Leia crocheted beanie.  The first candle of advent is the Candle of Hope.  I don’t think we light the candle for Star Wars or an ocean picture with handwriting font overlaying it.

Natural hope is “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” But Biblical hope has a little more to it.  It has a foundation – Christ.  Biblical hope has a concrete purpose.  Biblical hope isn’t an abstract idea of expecting a “certain thing.”  Biblical hope is expecting and desiring One thing.

In the Old Testament we continually see this desire for a Messiah, according to Bob Deffinbaugh.  Israel continually wants a new king or leader, that act as placeholders for the coming Messiah.  And continually were failed by the human kings' inabilities to live up to the standards of the Messiah.  Their Biblical hope was for true leadership, but their natural hope for a leader blinded them from the true Messiah they heard about.

Let’s look at Martha and Mary.  Martha hoped (natural hope) for many things – a perfect house, a perfect meal, a perfect entertainment, a perfect hostess.  Mary, though, hoped for what Christ called the One thing (Biblical hope), the Better Part, Him.  Mary chose the “better” hope:  Biblical hope & natural hope.

Finally, Paul the Apostle wrote many letters.  We continually look at him as an example of Biblical hope.  In his letter to the Romans we see a line that continually comes up in his letters, "May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace" [Romans 1:7].  Paul hoped (a Biblical hope) that every nation had the salvation he had through Jesus Christ.

The Israel had hope – Biblical hope – for a Messiah.  Mary had hope – Biblical hope – for a Savior.  Paul the Apostle had hope – Biblical hope – for Salvation.  We have hope – Biblical hope – for Revelation.  They/We all hope for the One thing.

We live in a broken world.  We need hope; We need the One thing.  Hebrews 6:19 says, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”  We have “this hope” – the One thing, Jesus – to hold our soul firm and secure as we wait in expectation for the Biblical hope we desire and long for.

We don’t just light the candle of the prophets as we usually talk about in church.  We light the candle for Israel, for Mary, for Paul, for us.  We light the candle for the One thing.