Hope

It shall come to pass in the latter days that  the mountain of the house of the  Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and  all the nations shall flow to it, and  many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the  Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For  out of Zion shall go forth the teaching, and the word of the  Lord  from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. – Isaiah 2:2-4

Have you ever thought about the nature of hope—what it is, how it works in our lives? It’s something that I have been thinking about a lot lately. What does hope actually mean, and what does it look like? It carries with it the promise of something new, the promise of something better, that change will come.

We live in a new reality where the younger generations do not have a sense of optimism about the future. They do not think the world will get better in their lifetime. In fact, many think it will only get worse. Just a cursory look around gives the reason. We are still in the midst of a global pandemic, and the efforts to curb it have been chaotic and disjointed. Since 9/11 we have lived with the constant fear of global terrorism, but this past election and the storming of the Capitol on January 6th, has forced us as a nation to come to grips with the greater threat to our safety: domestic terrorism by extremists. Sadly, in one sense this is nothing new. We have seen shooting after shooting in our country and around the world like the one most recently in Atlanta. They are often motivated by racism and bigotry, and sometimes just because of the insanity of a random person with a gun. We have seen ongoing violence between our law enforcement and the population they are sworn to protect. We watch events like protests in Russia, proxy wars in the middle east, and ongoing tension in the South China Sea, and we wonder if the world is on a slippery slope towards another global conflict. Not to mention, the existential crisis of climate change where metro areas like Miami, Charleston (where we most recently moved from), and New York (where we most recently moved to) see more consistent flooding during heavy rains. And we wonder what our own homes will look like in 20 or 30 years.

We live in a time when there does not seem to be much hope, when people are losing faith in the idea of a better tomorrow. It is a sobering reality for all of us and especially for those of us with children, or grandchildren, or nieces and nephews, loved ones who are just starting out in life. We ask, “What kind of a world are we leaving them? What will they have to deal with and suffer through because of our choices?”

We are desperate for a word of hope.

Hope is synonymous with faith. Hope is always connected to some kind of promise. Essentially you need a cause for hope. Hope is an effect of a cause. It does not exist in a vacuum. You don’t just muster it up out of thin air…it is the result of the promise of someone or something. I am sure you remember the movie Cast Away with Tom Hanks. The classic story of a man shipwrecked on a deserted island, only modernized with a FedEx plane crashing into the sea instead of a ship. The thing that keeps the man, Chuck, going throughout the three-year ordeal of being stranded alone on a deserted island is the picture of his fiancé, Kelly, in a locket that he keeps with him. He has the hope of seeing her again one day, and it motivates him to stay alive. His love for her and the thought of being with her was the cause of his hope. There are multiple times throughout the movie where he wants to give up, when his hope seems to run out, but each time something happens to renew his hope and keep him going just a bit longer. We need hope. It helps us to keep going. There are so many factors in life that can cause us to want to give up…so much disappointment…so much pain…so much uncertainty. We simply cannot make it without hope.

In the Bible, the book of Isaiah is very helpful when it comes to hope. In it things start to go badly for the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. They were faced with the impending invasion of the far stronger Assyrians, who would take most of them off into exile…away from their land that gave them so much of their identity. Their hope would be lost.

I wonder if, during this tumultuous time, your identity has been shaken. Have you lost something or someone that you so identified with that it’s hard to know which way is up right now, where you feel exiled? The loss of routine alone can throw us into crisis. But what about the loss of a job, the loss of community, the loss of a loved one? Then you know the pain of the people of Israel.

But the Lord speaks through Isaiah. He promises that “all nations [would] flow to [the house of God]” (2:2). God gave a new picture of hope for all of us…the promise of peace.

It’s the thing that every beauty pageant contestant dreams of, right? World peace. They do so much to bring it about too. I mean what says peace better than bad sequins night gowns, too much make-up, and big hair? You might be thinking Martin Luther King Jr. or Bono…and you’re right…they are better. Peace. The end of war. The end of conflict. The end of violence…the thing that the world has longed for ever since Cain and Abel…peace. And here Isaiah promises us it’s coming…the day when swords will be beaten in plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. Weapons of war turned into tools of agriculture. Weapons will have lost their purpose. They won’t make sense any more. Tools of destruction will be transformed into tools of creation. It is a beautiful promise.

It’s not only on the geo-political level either. Isaiah talks about disputes for many peoples…disputes on an interpersonal level. It is the reversal of the curse of fallen humanity in Genesis 3, full stop. Peace with God, peace with our neighbor, and peace with ourselves. Sin itself will be overturned and reversed.

God’s promise in Isaiah is not just some abstract concept or platitude. When he talks about peace…he is not some beauty queen up there saying, “I hope for world peace.” In Isaiah he says, “Peace will come, and I am bringing it.” Isaiah personifies God’s word saying, “He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples.” Jesus is that promise. He is the one that Isaiah is telling us to hope for, to wait for, to expect. He is the one who will bring peace. He will decide the disputes in our lives: between nations, between families, between individuals, and our disputes with ourselves. If you’re like me, then the cliché that you are your own harshest critic rings very true. Jesus comes to bring you peace. He will bring peace to all of our wars.

Isaiah preaches again and again about this coming King doing the impossible for us, reconciling us to himself…bringing peace between Creator and creation. To end all conflict, even the thought of conflict, so that we would not even be able to conceive of it. That’s the image Isaiah gives us today, and it is a fundamental change. It is a heart change…a change of us on a core level. We get a new picture of ourselves…that we are the beloved of God. We have infinite value and so does everyone else around us. The promise of a new beginning, of something better, is one where we are actually the ones that are changed. We are the ones that are turned from being enemies of God, enemies of each other, and enemies of ourselves to being friends, to being family. Jesus comes to bring peace, and He does it in a way that no one expects. He is for you now, and he is with you now in the midst of the conflict, in the midst of the battle you are in. He promises you his peace. “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28) Amen.

Recommended Reading