The Waiting Process

02.21.13

Acts 28.20 20 For this reason, therefore, I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain.”(ESV)

The “Hope of Israel” I suspect, was something they hadn’t heard for a while. My feeling is these 'brothers in Rome' where Paul ended up were Jews who’d become a part of the local culture and lived doing whatever Jews did in Roman society: they were Roman Jews. Religiously, they were Jews; culturally they were Romans.

So Paul shows up with some measure of fanfare and begins to tell them why he is in Rome and what has been happening to him; and he says: For this reason, therefore, I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain. He explains why the prisoner thing and why he has to go before Caesar Nero. But the term he used is what caught my eye today: the Hope of Israel.

The Hope was the Messiah in whom Paul believed and he used the Scripture to prove He was who He was. The Hope of Israel was the promise God made to these people that He would live among them and they would be His people and He would be their God. The Hope in which they believed was based on the Promise that was made. And Paul said, it was because of the Hope that he wore chains as a prisoner.

The Hope was a fact in which they all believed. The Hope was what Israel had lived for all those years and in which they found their Identity: the Hope was a settled fact that they waited for to come to pass: their Messiah would show up and save them. The problem was the One who showed up wasn’t the One they’d become accustomed to believing in. He came talking about the Kingdom of God in people’s hearts and He didn’t do anything about the Romans. He didn’t restore the throne of David and push Israel back into the spotlight as a political and military power. He came calling Israel to repent. Their hope was their expectation that God would bring back the splendor of days gone by.

But so many centuries had passed and now the Hope had become the hope. The promise was losing its grip. And Paul shows up in Rome in chains with a Roman guard and proclaims the HOPE has already come and done exactly what He was supposed to do: open the door for all mankind to have relationship with God. Talk about a let-down, what about the former splendor?

What do we hope for – expect with all our soul to come to pass and accept as a settled fact that it’s going to be and we’re just in the waiting process until it does? What is the Hope of the Church? The Hope now is the same as the Hope then: God’s arrival. They had to live in faith then that God would do as He said. Their faith was, in fact, based on that truth: God does what He says He’ll do. Today it is no different for us: we’re expecting God to do as He said He will – it’s the basis of our faith.

Proverbs 13:12: Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life. We’re not to get tired, we’re not to get distracted. It doesn’t matter whether we’re in chains or not – nor how long it takes: we’re still waiting for the Hope of Israel. This time however, the Hope will do something about the world culture that ignores or dismisses Him. This time the Hope will put an end to the waiting and bring about the fulfillment of all things as He has desired, destined, and designated. Today, I live my day in Hope…