Theology

What Hope Looks Like

An Advent reading for December 13.

Advent Week 3: Sacrifice and Salvation


God spoke through the prophets in the Old Testament, using poetic words and imagery, to describe the hope of salvation. This week, we contemplate prophecies pointing toward the Messiah—the servant, the light, the promised one God’s people longed for.

Read Isaiah 11:1–5 and Jeremiah 33:14–16.

I have three daughters, and I often consider them in wonder. I simply cannot wrap my mind around how whole worlds—my daughters’ lives and identities and futures—are generated from a microscopic, fertilized egg. How is the miracle and mystery of human life possible? God only knows.

From the prophet Isaiah’s time on down through Jeremiah’s time, generations of Israelites in the northern and southern kingdoms experienced destruction of their land, lives, families, and livelihoods as God’s judgment for their sins. All hope for a good outcome was lost. Too many generations had experienced death in a thousand different ways for them to believe their circumstances would turn out any differently. And yet they still ached for a savior to rescue them, for a messiah to snatch them from the clutches of their enemies.

When hope vanished, when they were living as oppressed aliens in empires of destruction, the prophet Isaiah and later the prophet Jeremiah both spoke hope. Through them, God communicated this promise of hope, described as a tiny shoot coming “up from the stump of Jesse,” like a “righteous Branch” sprouting from “David’s line” (Isa. 11:1; Jer. 33:15).

Generations passed before God’s promised hope appeared. And yet fulfill his promise he did, through the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. As generations of God’s people wondered if God would ever show up, at just the right time, Jesus came. Jesus, who is “Our Righteous Savior” (Jer. 33:16), the one on whom the Spirit rests, the one full of righteousness and justice.

In his humanity, Jesus sprang from the divine seed entrusted to Joseph and Mary. Jesus: a tiny shoot sprouting from the stump of Jesse who contains all worlds and possible worlds—for in him and “through him are all things made” and “in him all things hold together” (John 1:3; Col. 1:17). Again, I pause in wonder, in awe.

Just as I cannot fathom the nature of my daughters’ miraculous existence, I cannot fathom the mysteries of God’s salvation or the whos, whats, wheres, and whys of God’s timing. But I do know that God keeps his promises—in history, to his people, and to individuals. God always shows up. Always. He shows up when we least expect it and in ways we don’t expect—when all hope seems lost. Indeed, our God shows up like a tiny green shoot in a forest that has been burned to the ground. Watch for it.

Marlena Graves is a doctoral student and adjunct seminary professor. She is the author of several books, including The Way Up Is Down: Becoming Yourself by Forgetting Yourself.

Contemplate Isaiah 11:1–5 and Jeremiah 33:14–16.

What hope do these passages offer? What might the original recipients of these prophecies have thought or wondered? Pray, reflecting on the sprouting shoot of hope and salvation God promised for his people.

Also in this issue

Many core tenets of the gospel reverberate powerfully throughout Advent’s traditional readings and themes. In these daily devotional readings from CT, we reflect on the mystery of the Incarnation, on Christ’s purpose as the long-awaited Messiah, on our sin and need for repentance, on God’s promises of salvation and justice, and on our firm hope in Christ’s return and everlasting kingdom. We prepare to celebrate the “newborn King” who was “born that man no more may die,” as Charles Wesley’s beloved carol declares. And we’re reminded again and again throughout Advent that the gospel is not just for us, but it is a message of “great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10)—it’s good news that’s meant to be shared.

The God Who Suffers

A Light to the Nations

Great Joy for All People

Quietly Hidden

Gospel Anticipation

A Pregnant Promise

Let it Be

Silent Time, Holy Time

What it Means to Be God

The Baby King

The Light Is Coming

The Messiah’s Mission

True Hope

Bringing Us Home

The Gospel of Advent: Good News for the Season

Behold the Lamb

Amazing, Cleansing Grace

Good, Severe News

Repentance Made Possible

The Rising Son

Comfort My People

He Won't Leave Us Alone

The Gospel Life in Person

Come, Lord Jesus!

City of Light

All Things New

Right or Left?

Watch and Pray

We Begin at the End

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