This is one of the first promises of God. And promises of God are guaranteed because He’s God. That’s where we come to understand hope. It’s not hope in a possibility, it’s hope in the absolute fact of God’s promise. This moment was a prophecy of whom would come: the Messiah. In time, the prophets would more fully detail whom He is, but scripture from the moment of the fall points to the Messiah, the Savior. There was hope even on the dark day that changed all of human history. This is the hope that the patriarchs had as they looked forward to the promises God made to them. They were hoping in God’s promises, many of which they would not get to see, but they were still guaranteed. That’s the picture of hope. It goes far beyond this moment. It reaches beyond our lifetime. From the very beginning, God had a plan and He is not swayed or deterred by our failures. He offers hope in the darkest moments. He offers the promise to fix things. He offers the plan and the guarantee that His plan will come to fruition. In His promises, in Him, we have hope. Just like the patriarchs awaited the advent of God’s promises in hopeful expectation, we too await. We look forward in hope because we’ve seen His promise fulfilled in the first coming of the Messiah. Advent is about hope in Christ’s return. 5
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