A Hope Fulfilled - Advent DevotionalSample

God likely called Jeremiah at the age of 20 into prophetic ministry around 627 B.C. As a spokesperson for God, Jeremiah condemned idol worship, social injustice, and false prophets, while calling covenant-breaking Israel to repentance to avoid impending judgment. During Jeremiah’s ministry, the northern kingdom of Israel had already fallen to Assyria. Jeremiah warned the southern kingdom of Judah that although God’s judgment upon them was imminent, they should surrender to Babylon to avoid complete destruction. An impending 70-year captivity would soon follow. Babylonian guards gathered the Hebrew captives in Ramah before taking them into exile.

Jeremiah 31:15 expresses the exiles’ mourning at the prospect of being taken from their land and having to surrender to a foreign nation. Rachel, Joseph, and Benjamin’s mother, is metaphorically pictured as crying out because her descendants “are no more.”

Yet, despite the desperate circumstances surrounding the impending exile, Jeremiah declares Israel’s future restoration back to the land following captivity in chapter 31 and elsewhere in his writings. God’s promise of everlasting love and national healing overshadow the weeping that will occur during the captivity. Rachel symbolizes all mothers who have tragically lost their children to the enemy. Rachel died while giving birth to Benjamin, thus never seeing him grow up.

In Jeremiah 31:16-17, God promises that mothers will see their children return to the land as a sign of hope for the future. This stark contrast between desperation, signified by mourning and weeping in leaving their homeland, and what is to come — a hopeful return — provides the backdrop to Matthew 2:16-18 (tomorrow’s verses). The disastrous situation is not the end. It is the end of the beginning.

Over 600 years before Christ’s incarnation, God’s Word laid fertile seeds of prophetic destiny that foreshadows the One to come who will enter human history as our eternal Hope.

Prayer

Father, as we prepare our hearts to celebrate Advent this year, please reveal Yourself to us afresh through Your Word. Show us God’s eternal plan from the beginning of time and how the Old Testament beautifully aligns to foretell Your coming. Today, we exalt the name of Jesus, praying that Your Kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.

Diane Chandler, Ph.D., serves as associate professor of Christian Ministry and Spiritual Formation at the Regent University School of Divinity