The text for the first Sunday of Advent is Isaiah 2:1-5. As I work on this text I am always puzzled by the latter part of v. 4. There will be a time when war is studied no more.

For traditional dispensationalists it can only come after the Rapture, etc.

For other traditions, that time is something still to look forward to… but how? When? Those are the challenges. And they can lead to great difficulties.

I am sure there was hope at one time that the United Nations might have provided this answer. But when we refuse to make Yahweh the focus of our hope and teaching, it is futile. The United Nations severely disappoints.

Yet, why give up hope? Why not still look to God and live with hope?

Think of the possibilities if we DID refuse to “study war no more.”

Beat some of those defense dollars into research dollars. Beat some other defense dollars into education dollars. Beat other defense dollars into healthcare reform dollars. Into energy reform dollars. Into technology reform dollars. Into performing arts dollars.

Just THINK! Don’t just settle for pat answers. DREAM!

Would the people of God follow the dream of this day? To CHOOSE to educate themselves in fields that would advance creativity again? Why are we so hesitant? I think it’s because we’ve become lazy.

We need to set our eyes again on the HOPE found in God. Then, even though the world decays around us, and there are things that may look hopeless (you have to read Isaiah 1, then Isaiah 2:6ff to see this whole picture), we continue to hope.

DARE TO HOPE!

Dare to do something extraordinary for the HOPE of Christ! Dare to LOVE rather than hate. Dare to CREATE rather than destroy. Dare to BUILD UP rather than tear down.

See what COULD happen if we would dare to truly follow Yahweh and we would DARE to hope!

Living with Expectation and Hope… in YAHWEH,

The Apprentice