A Message for Christmas
Hope - Past or Present
N. McKendrick
How sad we are when we hear about someone who has fallen victim to an illness or suffered an accident and we hear the conclusion "there is no hope". The sense of the helpless inevitability of it all sometimes leaves us questioning the very meaning of life for when hope is removed life can indeed seem meaningless. The two men on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24) were sad and perplexed as they discussed the recent events with the "stranger" who had joined them on their journey. Luke 24 verse 21 records their feelings "we had hoped that He was the one who was going to redeem Israel" Perhaps you feel that you too must refer to your hopes in the past tense. Well the real meaning of Christmas is that the coming of Jesus into the world brought hope to that lost world.
The message given to Joseph before the birth of Jesus was "thou shalt call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1 v 21) and the one given to the shepherds at the birth of Jesus was "Unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2 v 11). His birth heralded the dawning of a new day when communion between God and man would be restored by the sacrificial death of our Saviour at Calvary - this was the very reason for His coming. The babe of Bethlehem became the Saviour on the cross and rose again that He might be the one who "drew near and went with them" (Luke 24 v 15) changing burdened hearts to burning hearts because of His presence.
We can learn of Him through the scriptures "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope". (Romans 15 v 4). Then we can say "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure" (Hebrews 6 v 19) and with this hope within us we need never be afraid to trust the unknown future into the hands of a known God, a God who will draw near and go with each of us if we are willing.I dared not ever hope for such a guide,
to walk with me my faltering steps beside,
to help me when I fall, and when I stray,
Constrain me gently to the better way.
Yet art thou always at my side, to be
A Counsellor and Comforter to me.
Edwin Hatch (1835-89)