Advent 1 Hope (Prophecy)
30th November 2025
Advent is about looking forwards to the coming of Christ. The four Sundays before Christmas are called ‘Advent Sundays’. Four weeks. Four themes.
The first week of Advent is traditionally about hope. I seem to always start my first Advent blog by commenting that hope in our world is in short supply. This year doesn’t feel any different.
False Prophecy = False Hope
There are always people who will tell you that this world would be so much better if we only adopted their policies. There are always people who think that the world is only in this mess because of someone else’s policies. We have people who claim that the most fragile, in fact non-existant ceasefires are actually peace deals. People who ignore scientific data, denying climate emergency whilst forest fires burn and hurricanes and typhoons gather force, setting new records for loss of life and destruction. People who say one thing today and the complete opposite tomorrow. This is the stuff of the modern world. False prophets. False prophecies. Fake news. False hope.
2,500 years ago, the prophet Ezekiel criticised those who claimed to be prophets in Israel (Ezekiel 13). They spoke encouraging words, not because they were (as they claimed) God’s words, but because they were words, possibly well intentioned words, from their own imagination. Prophets should be dependable, but they were letting people down. False prophets. Fales prophecies. Fake news. False hope.
A prophet is judged by the efficacy of their prophecies. ‘If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed” (Deuteronomy 18:21-22).
True Prophecies = True Hope
Hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus, when the people of Israel were at a very low point in exile, the prophet Isaiah said that the day would come when ‘a virgin would give birth to a son, and would call him Immanuel’ Isaiah 7:14 . Around the same time, the prophet Micah told the people of Israel that these supernatural events would happen in Bethlehem, a small and dusty town in Judah. Micah 5:2. This child, he said will be ‘one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
Some months before Christ was born, the angel told Joseph that his fiancé would give birth to a son. The boy would be called Immanuel (Matthew 1:23 which means ‘God with Us’. The angel said that the child would be called Jesus, because he would ‘save the people from their sins.‘ (Matthew 1:21)
Long after Isaiah and Micah had died, a child called Jesus was born to Mary, a young woman in Bethlehem, in circumstances which were extraordinary and surrounded by the profoundly supernatural.
When Jesus was about 33, as prophesied in Scripture by the prophet Zechariah, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and was welcomed as the Messiah. He was acclaimed in that moment as the ruler over Israel.
Prophecy fulfilled
You get the point. Scripture tells us that these, and many other prophecies about Jesus came true. They can be trusted.
In this world of endless misinformation, we need to be careful, O so very careful, where we place our hope. False prophecy abounds.
Advent is about looking forwards to the coming of Christ. This week, I encourage you to reflect on the baby who was called Immanuel. The one who was called Jesus. The one who would save his people from their sins. The one who was subjects of prophecies which came true.
Unto us a child is born
Unto us a Son is given.
(Isaiah 9:6)
In his birth, life, death and resurrection, Jesus was in every way a fulfilment of prophecy.
He can be trusted. Take a risk this Christmas. Put your hope in Him.
Advent is about looking forward. It is about living in anticipation of the arrival of something. If we feel that we’re short of hope we need to lift our sights and remind ourselves what it is that we are supposed to be looking forward to.