12/08/2019
This season of advent is a time when the tension of the “now and the not yet of the kingdom” looms larger than normal. Adam began our season of Advent with a talk on Hope and here are his notes:
What biblical hope is NOT
o NOT an emotion or feeling (Websters)
o NOT just a desire
o NOT optimism (choosing to see a set of circumstances could work out for the best; but biblical hope isn't about circumstances. Many biblical stories highlight points of time in which there is no circumstantial hope for God's people but yet they CHOOSE hope anyway)
Biblical Hope is faith and trust in what is not present and not visible --> it is a trust in God's faithfulness/good character showing up in the future because it was seen in the past.
· God's past faithfulness gives us hope for the future- we look back to look forward in spite of current circumstances.
Biblical Hope in 3 words and concepts
o Yakhal: "to wait for"
· Noah "Yakhaled for the flood to recede
o Qavah: also "to wait" but root word of "Qav" means "cord" and the word speaks to a state of tension and eventual release- embodied in the cord of a bow being pulled back in anticipation of the release of an arrow
· Isaiah talked of God as a vintner who plants grapes and "Qavah's" to see whether they grow (the farmer releases the arrow to see if it strikes its mark or not)
o Elpis: Greek now. Peter called it a "Living Hope"; the gospel of Jesus announces the "Elpis (hope) of Glory"
· Both a Gift / Grace (as Sarah pointed out last year) AND a choice; a change of inward state gifted to us so that it can be perfected/ made complete through action to live it out and aligning our lives with God's plan for us and the world we inhabit
Thomas Aquinus taught: "Balance" of the virtue of hope between two vices on the extremes:
o Despair Presumption / Indifference / Complacency with current evil and injustice
o Both extremes are fatalistic and conclude that what I do doesn't matter; we're either all doomed or all going to be ok regardless of what we do
o Staying balanced between the extremes requires effort and "working on your core"
· Biblical Hope in a person- both in the OT and NT
o Throughout the OT Wisdom literature Prophets, Song of Songs, Ecclesiasties, Job Yakhal and Qavah for a person, God
o Example OT - Psalm 39: 7 "And now, O Lord what else can I qavah for? You are my yakhal."
o Example NT - The empty tomb of Jesus opened up a new hope / anticipation; Paul called the good news about Jesus it an "Elpis of Glory"; the hope of glory is based upon the risen Jesus
· How "hope" changed with the resurrection of Jesus
o OT "door" vs. NT "door"
· OT Hosea: Lived in a terrible time when Israel was oppressed by foreign powers, Israel's leaders followed false Gods and yet chose hope when he said "God can turn this valley of trouble into a DOOR of hope (thinking back to the Exodus)" -after this God's people entered the promised land
§ Hosea looked back on God's character displayed through his past actions and found hope for the future; his hope was proven to be correctly placed as Israel soon entered the promised land
· NT: Open tomb is this door
§ through the disobedience of one man, Achan, evil entered and the people suffered a curse
§ Valley of Achor as a metaphor for a place where you end your life as a sinner and arise into a new life
o Old creation vs. new creation in John - NEW CREATION / NEW HOPE / NEW TEMPLE is a "Living Hope"
· John as a parallel to the Genesis Story: "In the beginning… Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection on the 6th day"
· Jesus's resurrection was a foretaste of what was to come in God's people's new history and on earth
· A restoration of all things, our relationship with God, one another and all of creation; the whole universe
· Paul's words: "A hope that creation itself will be liberated from slavery to corruption into freedom when God's children are glorified."
· Peter's words: 1 Peter 1:3 "
"Praise be to the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope(Elpis) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."
· The Romans new: The one who ascends into heaven and returns is enthroned as the divine Emperor"
o NT Wright: Surprised by Hope"
· Despair that the world is gonna burn; we can't do anything except passively wait"doing it on our own"
“Resurrection doesn’t mean escaping from the world; it means mission to the world based on Jesus’s lordship over the world.” (p. 235)
“Jesus is risen, therefore his followers have a new job to do. And what is that new job? To bring the life of heaven to birth in actual, physical, earthly reality… Jesus’s resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project not to sn**ch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven.” (p. 293)
“The resurrection means that what you do in the present, in working hard for the gospel, is not wasted. It is not in vain. It will be completed, will have its fulfillment, in God’s future.” (p. 162)
“The task of the church between the ascension and [Jesus’ return] is therefore set free both from the self-driven energy that imagines it has to build God’s kingdom all by itself and from the despair that supposes it can’t do anything until Jesus comes again. We do not ‘build the kingdom’ all by ourselves, but we do build for the kingdom. All that we do in faith, hope, and love in the power of his Spirit, will be enhanced and transformed at his appearing. This too brings a note of judgement, of course, as Paul makes clear in 1 Corinthians 3:10-17. The ‘day’ will disclose what sort of work each builder has done.” (p. 143)
“If a church is… actively involved in seeking justice in the world, both globally and locally, and if it’s cheerfully celebrating God’s good creation and its rescue from corruption in art and music, and if, in addition, its own internal life gives every sign that new creation is indeed happening, generating a new type of community—then suddenly the announcement [that Jesus is lord and his new kingdom has begun] makes a lot of sense
o Pull tight our bows in anticipation of what God will do for us, and wait for the approach of Kingdom opportunity and hurl the arrows you've been given; you can go and pick them up and do it again if you miss!
· What arrows has God Given you? What signs of Kingdom opportunity have you seen around you?
· New Creation and book of John as a parallel Genesis Story:
· ("In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God") "Gospel of the new Temple"
· Parallel days of creation proceed through the book of John culminating in in the cross on the 6th day
§ Genesis: 6th day: Mankind -male and female "be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule." "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good… the sixth day."
§ John: "It is finished" -the unleashing of the new creation; then Jesus rested in the ground and enjoyed His new creation after the resurrection
· The creation of a new temple: the connection point between heaven and earth
§ ANE people likely viewed the creation event as the creation of earth as a temple -a dwelling place for God that connects between heavenly and earthly realms
§ The Jewish people's temple as the same
§ God creating a new creation that is also a new temple in John -the new dwelling place through which God's coming and going and core business/ mission is facilitated
