Hope Has Come
The Christmas season is here! There’s lights! And joy to the world! And singing! And Christmas cheer! But, you know, it’s not that cheerful and joyful for everyone. Sometimes life feels dark and heavy. We are weary. It’s like plugging in Christmas lights expecting them to light up, but half the strand is dead. That’s what Christmas, and life, feels like for many people. But advent speaks right into that kind of darkness and brokenness. Advent doesn’t pretend that everything is fine. It tells the truth about a world that’s broken and people who are worn down.
There’s a line from “O Holy Night” that I think captures the heart of this season very well. “A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices.” The world is weary. Yet the world rejoices because something real happened that changed it all. Hope came. Light broke into that darkness.
That is what Advent is all about. The word “advent” means arrival. Advent is a season that looks back and looks forward at the same time. We remember that Christ has already come into the world, and we hold onto the promise that He is coming again. Theologians sometimes call this the already and the not-yet. This is also called inaugurated eschatology. That is simply a way of saying that God has already begun fulfilling His promises but has not yet finished them. Christ has already started His kingdom and He has not yet brought it to its fullness. Advent teaches us to live amid that tension. And it’s within that tension that hope exists. And it’s hope that allows us to persevere through the weariness and darkness until there is only light around us.
The prophet Isaiah spoke to people who knew what it meant to be weary—people who lived in darkness and longed for God to act. He told them that Light was coming and he told them what that Light would do.
A weary world in darkness needs Light.
Isaiah begins his prophecy by describing people who are walking in darkness. Isaiah 9:2 says, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.” Darkness[1] in Scripture is never just the absence of sunlight. It’s the absence of God’s intimate presence. Where God is, there is light. Where there is absence of light, what is there? Darkness. That’s why one description Jesus gives of Hell is where those who are cast into “outer darkness.”[2] That’s the place where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
But it’s not just hell that is absent from God’s intimate presence. Our world is in darkness. We see it all around us and within us. I know you feel it too. It’s in every news cycle, every social media feed, every broken heart, every tear shed. Darkness surrounds us.
Isaiah is speaking to a people who have watched their world unravel. During the reign of King Ahaz (about 735 BC) Assyria was rising against them. The northern tribes (Zebulun and Naphtali) were already being overrun, and Samaria would soon fall.[3] So, think about it: Villages were burned. Families were displaced. The economy was collapsing. Their national identity was crumbling. That would seem like darkness for all of us—what happens around us. But what matters most is what happens within us.
Beneath all of that outer turmoil was the deeper problem: their hearts had drifted from God. They had turned to idols. They had trusted political alliances more than God’s covenant with them. They were spiritually blind and morally confused. Their leaders had failed them.[4] Their religion was hollowed out and just a performance.[5] Darkness covered them because they turned away from the one true God.
All of this is the darkness Isaiah sees. It’s the darkness of a nation under threat. It’s the darkness of spiritual blindness. It’s the darkness of rebellion and regret. It’s the darkness of people who know they have no power to save themselves. He wants them to feel the depth of the darkness. It’s so dark they can never find the way out on their own.
It's the same for us today. Darkness is both historical and deeply personal. It impacts the heart and life of every man and woman who has ever existed, including you.
But, there is hope. Isaiah doesn’t just acknowledge the darkness. He points to the future light. When you’re in pitch darkness and even the faintest light shines far away, your eyes are drawn to it. That’s hope. Isaiah says, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”
John describes this same darkness and light when he introduces Jesus in John 1. He says Jesus is the true Light who shines in the darkness John 1:1–9.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
This is why the angel’s announcement to Mary matters in Luke 1:30–33.
30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Gabriel speaks into a world still carrying the weight Isaiah described. For the Israel Mary lived in, Rome controls everything under Caesar Augustus’s decree, taxes are heavy, and Herod the Great is a relentless ruler. God hasn’t sent a public prophetic word since Malachi, roughly four hundred years earlier. Silence is its own form of darkness, and God has been silent. (let’s be silent for 10 seconds.) If ten seconds felt long, stretch that to four hundred years of waiting for God to speak, while enemy soldiers patrol every street.
Israel longed for rescue yet had no power to bring it about. Into that darkness Gabriel says the promise Isaiah gave is now breaking in. God has moved toward His people by sending His Son into the heart of this darkness. God is bringing rescue. Light does not rise from within us. Light comes down from heaven. God came to them when they couldn’t find their way back to Him. When we’re in darkness, we can’t generate our own light. Our batteries are dead. We need someone on the outside to rescue us.
And that’s why the line from “O Holy Night” speaks to all of us, from Isaiah, to Mary, to you and me. “A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices.” The world doesn’t rejoice because the darkness disappeared. The world rejoices because the Light has come. When you’re in darkness and you start to become used to it and suddenly you start to see a flicker of light. Wow! That’s hope! Rescue is coming!
Jesus was born as the Light for the nations, establishing His eternal kingdom.
Isaiah doesn’t stop with describing the darkness. He begins to describe the One who will break it. In Isaiah 9:6, He says,
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
These are royal titles. But this promise was far more than a King Hezekiah immediate answer to prophecy.[6] These titles are also divine names. Isaiah is describing a King who carries the wisdom of God, the power of God, the compassion of God, the peace of God. Israel needed to hear that God had not abandoned His promise. We need to heart that! God does not abandon His promises.
Mary is hearing from Gabriel what Israel has longed to hear. The Light is not symbolic. The Light is a Person. Jesus, Emmanuel, God in the flesh, the true King was arriving. The everlasting reign Isaiah promised is now taking shape in the womb of a young woman in Nazareth. God is keeping His word.
And when John speaks of Jesus, he expands the picture even further. He doesn’t begin with a manger. He begins with eternity past. John is telling us that Jesus is not simply the fulfillment of Isaiah’s promise. He is the eternal Son who stepped into the world He created. The Light didn’t rise from Israel. The Light came from heaven. God Himself walked into the darkness and brought hope with Him.
So when we say Jesus was born as the Light for the nations, we aren’t speaking metaphorically. We are speaking biblically. When Isaiah says the government will rest on His shoulder, he is saying this Child will carry the full authority of God. He is the King above all kings. When Gabriel says He will sit on David’s throne forever, he is saying Jesus is the promised King who fulfills every covenant God ever made. When John says the darkness has not overcome the Light, he is saying nothing in this world has the power to overthrow the reign of Christ. This is certain hope! BUT, we don’t see that reign fully consummated yet, do we?
God’s kingdom has begun, but its fullness is still coming.
When Jesus came, He brought His kingdom with Him. He healed the sick. He confronted evil. He forgave sin. He raised the dead. Everywhere Jesus goes, darkness flees.
Luke 11:20 – But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Acts 10:38 – God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
Have you ever lit a tiny candle in a pitch black room? What happens? Darkness disappears. That is the already, the inaugurated part. His kingdom is present. It is here. His power is at work right now in the world. The Light has come.
But the world is still weary. The darkness still looms. Sin still hurts. Grief still breaks hearts. This is the not-yet. Jesus has begun the restoration of all things, but the final fullness is still ahead. His kingdom is real and present and growing, yet it has not reached its final glory.
Jesus reigns now. Jesus will reign forever. Hope has come. Hope will yet be sight. Light has dawned. Light will one day shine forever. We live in the middle of that story. We don’t live in despair though because the kingdom is already here. And we don’t live with unrealistic expectations because the kingdom is not yet complete. We wait with confidence because the King who has already come is the King who is coming again. And that is where our hope is found. That’s biblical hope. It’s certain.
God’s glory guarantees our hope.
Isaiah gives one more truth that holds this entire passage together. After describing the Child, the kingdom, the peace, the authority, the everlasting reign, he ends with the line that makes all of it certain. In verse 7 he says, “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” I believe that sentence is the foundation under the entire promise. It is Isaiah’s way of saying that everything God has spoken will come to pass because God Himself is committed to accomplishing it. Our hope is not rooted in our strength or in the world’s stability. Our hope is rooted in the steadfast character of God.
The word Isaiah uses for zeal[7] carries the idea of a deep, burning passion. Often this word is even translated as jealousy. It speaks of God’s fierce commitment to His name—to His glory. When Isaiah says the zeal of the Lord will do this, he is saying God has tied His own glory to the fulfillment of these promises. And since God cannot fail Himself, He cannot fail His promises or His people.
The glory of God guarantees the hope of His people. Briefly, here are three ways we see this true played out here.
God’s zeal reveals His glory.
God is the center of the story. God fulfills His promises because they display His glory. The incarnation reveals the heart of God in a way nothing else can. When Christ comes as the Light of the world, He shows us the depth of God’s love and grace. When He takes on flesh and dwells among us, John says,
John 1:14 – “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
God sent His Son not only because we needed Him, but because the sending of His Son reveals who God is. Every act of redemption displays the glory of God. Every healing in Jesus’ ministry reveals the compassion of God. Every forgiveness reveals the mercy of God. Every victory over darkness reveals the power of God. His zeal is His commitment to put His glory on display for all the world to see. The glory of God is the true light the world needs.
God’s zeal accomplishes His promises.
Mary couldn’t fulfill the promise of Isaiah. Israel couldn’t fulfill that promise. No human could lift the darkness or establish the kingdom. But the zeal of the Lord could. And it did.
John adds the eternal perspective to it. He tells us the Light that has come into the world is the eternal Word who was with God in the beginning and who is God. That means the One who fulfills the promise is the One who wrote it. The One who came is the One who spoke the world into existence. He cannot fail. And that is why our hope is secure. It rests entirely on God’s action. He makes the promise. He keeps the promise. He accomplishes everything necessary for our salvation.
God’s zeal secures our future.
This is the part that speaks directly into the heart of Advent. We live in the tension between what God has already done and what God has not yet finished. Jesus reigns now. Yet the world still groans. Jesus has brought the Light. Yet shadows still linger. Jesus has begun His kingdom. Yet we wait for the day when His kingdom will be all we see.
Look at the eternal wording in verse 7:
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Look what Gabriel says to Mary in verses 32 and 33:
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Do you know what this means? This means your future isn’t hanging by a thread. Your hope is not fragile. Your hope is not uncertain. Everything that matters most has already been secured by the God who cannot break His word…for all eternity.
And this is why the weary world rejoices. The world does not rejoice because the darkness has disappeared. It rejoices because the Light has come, and the Light will return once and for all. It rejoices because God has acted, and God will act again. It rejoices because the Child born in Bethlehem is the King who will reign forever and the One whose zeal, whose glory guarantees our hope both now and forever.
So whatever darkness you are currently facing—whether it be your own sin, your disbelief, your grief, or the many different pains from living in this dark, broken world—I want to tell you this: look to the Light. It has come. And it is coming again. And it will last forever.
[1] https://biblehub.com/hebrew/2822.htm
[3] 2 Kings 15:29; 2 Chron 28:5-6
[4] King Ahaz (2 Kings 16; Isa 7–8); civil rulers (Isa 1:23); priests & false prophets (Isa 28:7); northern-kingdom leaders—Pekah and his officials (Isa 9:8-17; 2 Kings 15)
