As you observe the lighting of the first candle of Advent today you will hear again and again the word HOPE. Webster’s Dictionary defines hope as “to want something to happen or be true and think that it could happen or be true.” Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “…faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

The entire world defines hope very close to what Webster’s definition is. In many ways we as well define most of the things we hope as such, an intense desire for something to happen. For centuries on end the human race looked upon salvation, upon the possibility to once again enjoy a personal relationship with its Creator with HOPE, with an intense desire for it to happen. When Jesus was born however, the hope became a part of the definition of a new word FAITH which is the CONFIDENCE in what we HOPE for. This confidence is in fact certainty not just to the possibility but certainty to the fact that GOD had been faithful all along, that GOD is in fact LOVING and MERCIFUL and very different from the painting of GOD we get from the Old Testament through the perspective of pharisaic interpretation.

The HOPE that Jesus brought is the certainty that GOD is not just a Supreme Being whose capricious nature is being served by sacrifices and around whom we have to tip toe just so that we don’t get destroyed but that GOD is a FATHER who all along has been calling us, fallen humans, into a personal relationship with HIM. So personal that HE does not mind us calling Him FATHER.

What HOPE did Jesus bring? What HOPE did such a birth announce? That of restoration among others. What were the Jews waiting for? What were the Jews hoping from the Messiah? That the glory of Israel will be returned as in former days when no nation of the earth could stand in front of them for GOD’s favor was upon Israel.

Well, restoration the Messiah did indeed, but not just the mere restoration of a people to their former earthly glory but the restoration of Adam’s family to its Creator. I am not sure if you’ve ever experienced the feeling of being in an underprivileged class. As Romanian, in the early ‘90s my people were seen as the lowest of the low in Europe. I was constantly trying to hide my national identity and my passport was practically worthless, actually worse, it was a true liability. To get a visa to allow me to travel to US I had to stand in an endless line in front of the US Embassy for hours upon hours and through the entire process to receive a very humiliating treatment. I remember looking at the Americans that would come and enter the Consulate with no obstacles, no hesitations. I remember the way I felt when I first saw a US Passport, at the time for me, the true key to freedom, to respect, to endless possibilities and yet something well beyond my grasp.

Today, I hold such a passport, a passport full of stamps from around the world and by God’s grace have achieved that which was impossible for my world of 1992. I always hoped, but when I held my new US Passport in my hands hope took the shape of assurance. When Jesus came, our hope, the hope of humanity likewise became assurance, certainty that freedom, forgiveness, love and a relationship with God IS.