December 04th, 2017

Isaiah 9:2 The people living in darkness have seen a great light; upon those living in the land that lies in the shadow of death, light has dawned. 
What is the light in the darkness or rather who? The light will come as a humble Babe and will rule the nations. This is what they were told but what they did not realize is that the Kingdom is of the Spirit and that Kingdom is the Eternal Kingdom of God. 

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
The hope of finding and relishing in the light which is only found through belief, hope, and trust in the Savior, Messiah, Emmanuel. This is the Sunday where we light candle of Prophetic Promise. The candle of Hope for Salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. How did God provide the right direction to this Hope?
After creation, God had a close relationship with Adam and Eve. They disobeyed one simple instruction from God and the relationship was cut and separation occurred. Because of this, Adam and Eve were thrown from the protection of Eden, the place of full communion with God. They hoped to reconnect their relationship with God.
The Hebrew Nation is God’s Chosen who were tasked with spreading the Knowledge of God to the world. This did not work out so well as they often left God for other gods and belief systems and only returned when life got rough. Sound familiar? Some people were chosen specifically by God to share or wake the nation up but it wasn’t until Isaiah that God finally let His ultimate plan come to light. Through Isaiah, God spoke of Jesus, the Suffering Servant. He would do what Israel could not. This brought hope to Israel as they awaited the Messiah whom they envisioned would be a fully righteous earthly king who would rule them forever. They hoped for a king.
Every book in the Old Testament has pointed to the one who would be the Savior from our sins. The one who would set things right in this world and correct Adam and Eve’s mistake. This is the hope of being saved from eternal damnation.   
This same Savior spoken of would be the instrument of change destroying the old creation and building the Kingdom of Heaven here on Earth. This time it will be done right. God did this already and kept one faithful family and it would have worked except that sin still existed because the we’re still fully human. We have hope for a sinless world full of peace, joy, and ahava (God’s ultimate most powerful complete) love, in which we will live forever.   
The hope of all this coming to be lays with a promise from God. He sent us His Son who became flesh and do the mission God had for His people Israel, to make the ultimate sacrifice and defeat death once and for all, and to lay the groundwork for the Kingdom of God that will be eternal. His Son came not with the pomp and circumstance as an earthly prince but as a child of a humble carpenter and his young wife. He was born amongst God’s Creation and laid in a wooden trough filled with hay to keep Him warm.
Yeshua answered, “I am the bread which is life! Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever trusts in me will never be thirsty. Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will certainly not turn away. For I have come down from heaven to do not my own will but the will of the One who sent me. And this is the will of the One who sent me: that I should not lose any of all those he has given me but should raise them up on the Last Day. Yes, this is the will of my Father: that all who see the Son and trust in him should have eternal life, and that I should raise them up on the Last Day.” - John 6:34-35,37-40 CJB
We, as humans have a tendency to put our faith and trust in the world for material things. The truth is, if we put our hope, faith, and trust in God, the material things we need for living here take second place and our life in the Spirit will guide, protect, feed, and cloth us.
Have hope that Jesus keeps His promise and returns again to take us home.