Radical Brokeness, Radical Hope: Keep Holding On!

 Radical Brokeness, Radical Hope

Keep Holding On!

 

(The Old Testament Hope)

 

October 22, 2022

Larry R Evans

 

Introduction

 

Before we begin our study of “Old Testament Hope”, I would like to direct your attention to what one authority on the writings of the Old Testament wrote.  That person is the Apostle Paul. He wrote the following.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. —Romans 5:1-5 (NIV)

This Old Testament scholar was certainly a scholar of the Old Testament and lived life from the perspective of both the Old Testament God and the risen Christ.  

 

QUESTION: Why would Paul say, “we also glory in our sufferings”?(v.3) He later says they lead to hope.  How can that be?

 

Paul is aware of the struggles that Christians still face in this world. Sufferings are used by God to produce in us perseverance, the ability to endure. Perseverance produces character (dokimē), the strength that comes only from severe testing, and character, in turn, produces hope.

 

QUESTION: Have you ever experienced a hope that was produced through suffering?

 

For sufferings are used by God to produce in us perseverance, the ability to endure. Perseverance produces character, the strength that comes only from severe testing, and character, in turn, produces hope.

 

QUESTION: Do you believe the same Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5) was at work in the Old Testament during times of suffering, doubt, and hardships?  

 

The Holy Spirit enables the believer to sense from within that God has graciously “poured out his love into our hearts.” (v.5) How does this help us interpret difficult circumstances that surround us at times?

 

By seeing hardships, suffering, and death through this lens of the New Testament, we have an advantage of seeing how God worked in the Old Testament.  After all, the God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament.

“I the LORD do not change.” – Malachi 4:6

“Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” – Hebrews 13:7,8

QUESTION: Is this assurance important to you? Why?

 

 

 

Assurances from the Old Testament

 

When God created this world, He filled it with life.  Genesis 1 and 2 describe different forms of life. The Garden of Eden was a garden of life. Humans were never meant to die. Only because of sin is there death of any kind, but it’s not only death that comes with sin.  With it comes anxiety, depression, suffering, chaos, all kinds of violence, and strife among nations, friends, and families.  The list can go on and on.

 

However, after sin arrives and God’s plans are interrupted, God plants a new quality in the earth as surely as He created the perfect world! To contradict Satan’s plan of destruction He new quality called “hope” – Satan does not have the last word. Hope began when God searched for Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:9). 

 

This week we will look at individuals in the Bible who were victims of Satan’s efforts but who were also victors because of the hope God  had “poured out into [their] hearts through the Holy Spirit, who [had] been given to [them]” (Rom. 5:5).  The Old Testament church lived by hope. They believed God would provide a plan to redeem His people. They would ultimately triumph because of God’s intervention despite what they saw happening all around them.

This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’ He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us. – Acts 7:37,38

Job

 

Job is a biblical example that has been replicated repeatedly from generation to generation.  He is an example of undeserved suffering: financial, emotional, physical, and spiritual. He was maligned by “friends” and family and devastated by the effects of violent weather and sickness. He had every reason to ask, “Why me?” 

 

QUESTION: Despite it all, how did Job express a “hope” that was bigger than the troubles he faced?

I know that my redeemer lives,

and that in the end he will stand on the earth. – Job 19:25

This is certainly a statement of faith. Why are verses 26 and 27 equally important?

And after my skin has been destroyed,

yet in my flesh I will see God;

I myself will see him

with my own eyes —I, and not another.

How my heart yearns within me!

Psalm 49 – From the Power of the Grave

 

The Psalter (the book of psalms) was the hymnal for ancient Israel’s worship. It was, “the prayer book” of Jews and Christians. A dominant theme, therefore, is the worthiness of God who is “enthroned on the praises of Israel” (Ps 22:3). It expresses the many emotions that come from the hearts of not only the authors but of believers in every generation. The theology of the Psalms emerges from the spirituality, piety, doubts, and even protests of the psalmists. The insights shared come from deep within their hearts. Their transparency during times of trouble is laced with hope. 

 

The dominant values of the psalmists are in sharp contrast with the prevailing ones of their own culture. The “foolish” manifest false confidence in their wealth (Ps 49:6) even naming their “lands after themselves” (Ps. 49:11). The psalmist is honest.  All die (Ps.49:10). However, “those who trust in themselves” (v.13) have death as “their shepherd” (v.14).  In contrast, the psalmist springs forth with a hope that the foolish do not have.

 

But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead;

he will surely take me to himself. – Ps. 49:15

 

Psalm 71 “From the Depths of the Earth”

 

It is likely that Psalms 70 and 71 were intended to be one psalm with Psalm 70 serving as an invocation for God’s presence in the midst of those who wish to harm and kill David. Psalm 71 is a prayer for God’s help in old age.

Even when I am old and gray,

do not forsake me, my God,

till I declare your power to the next generation,

your mighty acts to all who are to come. – Psalm 71:18

The Lord was with him from birth and has done great things for him throughout his life. His hope does not end as he grows older.

Though you have made me see troubles,

many and bitter,

you will restore my life again;

from the depths of the earth

you will again bring me up.

You will increase my honor

and comfort me once more.

I will praise you with the harp

for your faithfulness, my God;

I will sing praise to you with the lyre,

Holy One of Israel. – Psalm 71:20-22

Isaiah 26 – “Your Dead Shall Live”

 

Isaiah 26 is a song of thanksgiving and emphasizes trust in God’s salvation or deliverance. Those who trust in God are those “whose minds stay on him and are in perfect peace (v.3). The faithful are energized as they long for the Lord for they wait day and night for Him (v.8,9). A glorious hope and bright future is pictures for those who stay with the Lord.

But your dead will live, LORD;

their bodies will rise—

let those who dwell in the dust

wake up and shout for joy – Isa. 26:19

Daniel 12 – Those Who Sleep in the Dust

 

The first three verses of Daniel 12 describe the end of the conflict that is portrayed in chapter 11. Daniel points to a day of resurrection:

Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. – Daniel 12:2

Death is compared to sleep, and those who are dead will be resurrected.  Those who have served the Lord will receive eternal life. Those who have lived contrary to God’s purpose for them will be condemned to eternal death.

 

QUESTION: How can hope be brought to those who grieve because of the death of a loved one?

 

                                                    Thoughts for Reflection

 

We began by establishing a lens through which we can see hope despite difficulties that arise.

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. —Romans 5:1-5

Compare Paul’s insights with those found in the book Last Day Events by Ellen White,

Times of perplexity upon us. Men's hearts are failing them for fear of things that coming upon earth. But those who believe God will hear His voice amid storm, saying, “It is I; be not afraid.”— Last Day Events, p.19

QUESTION:  What do “His voice amid storm”, “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts”, the resurrection, and hope have in common? 

 

QUESTION: We’ve included in the title of this study “Radical Brokeness.” How does that relate to your answer to the above question?

 

QUESTION:  Today is October 22, a day some call the day of great disappointment.  Is that the way we should remember it, or should it be a day that reinforces “hope?” Why?