Unseen Assurance
- Geraldo Alonso II
- Jan 17, 2017
- 6 min read
I am hopeful that 2017 will be a great year. I am hopeful that I will be able to keep all of my New Year’s Resolutions—especially, my weight loss goals! I’m hopeful to improve on all my relationships in 2017 but most importantly my relationship with God. What are you hoping to accomplish this year?
Hope tends to be one of those words that we all understand but take for granted. According to the Oxford Living Dictionaries, hope is defined as “a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen.”
With that said, I am a person filled with lots of hope. I have a lot of exceptions and desires and most of the time I have strong positive feelings about them. As a person of faith what does it mean to have hope, and in particular, hope in God? Also, what does the Bible say about hope?
Here are a couple verses that came to my mind mainly because they mention the word hope. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV). Notice this one from Hebrews: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1, NIV). From these two verses we can conclude that God plans on giving us hope and we also need faith if we want hope to come to fruition. Clearly, we need to incorporate God into our equation in order to have a lasting hope.
Something else that has always benefited me is to think about people in the Bible or historical figures in general to understand concepts more clearly. As I thought and prayed about this concept, I looked at the Bible but nothing came to mind. Then I started thinking of times that God had worked with great might and power for his people. I remembered a man that I had learned about recently. This man is mentioned only three times in the Bible, and in no greater role than in a list of names. His name is Jaddua.
Let’s be honest, you most likely have never heard of Jaddua. (If you are struggling with pronouncing his name that’s ok, I did, too. It is pronounced Yad’-u-a. In Hebrew his name means “known.”) Jaddua was the High Priest of Israel during the time of the Greek conquest in World History. In fact, Jaddua was very instrumental in showing Alexander the Great that God had chosen him to conquer the whole world. By doing so, Jaddua was able to save Jerusalem and the temple from complete destruction.
Now that I’ve spoiled the ending for you, please notice that the ending of the story is not the most important part of Jaddua’s role in human history. The most important part has to do with the reality that Jaddua was a Bible student and as a result of his Biblical knowledge he was prepared for what was coming his way. Jaddua had cultivated a relationship with God and when Jaddua needed God most, that is when God showed up!
Let’s back up our history lesson a little bit for the purpose of understanding how Jaddua was a man full of hope (Endnote 1). When Alexander the Great was working to conquer Asia Minor, his greater goal was to conquer the world. This leg of the journey dealt with conquering this region and also Egypt before heading to Persia. Along the way, Alexander the Great sent an envoy to Jerusalem and since it had no king, the envoy was told to meet with Jaddua the High Priest.
The envoy informed Jaddua that the Jewish people were to provide Alexander and all the Greeks with provisions for their military conquests. Jaddua, being troubled by this request, informed the envoy that he could do no such thing because there was already an established alliance with the Persians (Endnote 2).
“Alexander was very angry; and though he determined not to leave Tyre, which was just ready to be taken, yet, as soon as he had taken it, he threatened that he would make an expedition against the Jewish high priest, and through him teach all men to whom they must keep their oaths” (The Antiquities of the Jews, Book 11, Chap. 8, Sec. 3).
As Alexander the Great brought his conquests closer and closer to Jerusalem, we are told that Jaddua became anxious. Jaddua remembered that God had saved the Israelites in the past and Jaddua knew that they needed God more than ever. Jaddua instructed the Israelites that they needed to pray and offer sacrifices to their God. On this occasion notice how God chose to speak to Jaddua.
“God warned (Jaddua) in a dream, which came upon him after he had offered sacrifice, that he should take courage, and adorn the city, and open the gates; that the rest appear in white garments, but that he and the priests should meet the king in the habits (Endnote 3) proper to their order, without the dread of any ill consequences, which the providence of God would prevent. Upon which, when he rose from his sleep, he greatly rejoiced; and declared to all the warning he had received from God according to which dream he acted entirely, and so waited for the coming of the king” (Ibid., Book 11, Chap. 8, Sec. 4).
As Jaddua waited for Alexander the Great to arrive, he was filled with much hope that God’s promises would come true. Jaddua had to do his part in keeping the things God had commanded him and the Jewish people to do. When this was done, the whole of the Jewish nation needed to wait in hopeful wonder to see if God would follow through with His promises to protect them.
The story continues with Jaddua and Alexander the Great meeting together. We are told by Josephus that when this occurred Alexander the Great was in awe of the High Priest. We are told that Alexander made an act of adoration at this point and afterwards Alexander was confronted by his men because of this behavior.
“I did not adore him, but that God who hath honored him with that high priesthood; (334) for I saw this very person in a dream, in this very habit… in Macedonia (Endnote 4), who, when I was considering with myself how I might obtain the dominion of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but boldly to pass over the sea thither, for that he would conduct my army, and would give me the dominion over the Persians; whence it is, that having seen no other in that habit, and now seeing this person in it, and remembering that vision and the exhortation which I had in my dream, I believe that I bring this army under the divine conduct, and shall therewith conquer Darius, and destroy the power of the Persians, and that all things will succeed according to what is in my own mind” (Ibid., Book 11, Chap. 8, Sec. 5).
WOW! This dream came to Alexander the Great when he was still in Greece. God had answered Jaddua’s prayer well in advance of him asking for help. Jaddua knew that he had a major problem coming his way and the only way he could find help was God. So Jaddua prayed, acted upon the precepts that God instructed and he hoped that this would be enough. And it was!
As you start this brand new year, please know that God is in the business of miracles. God is in the business of answering our prayers. God is in the business of providing us with hope. Will you put your hope in our amazing God?!
I have high hopes for 2017 because my hope is found in the Lord.
[*Article originally published at http://www.swurecord.org/issue/162/39/5327]
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Endnotes:
1. For further study please pick up a copy of Josephus’ The Antiquities of the Jews and read 11.8.1-11.8.7 to see the full story.
2. Remember in Bible history that the Persians helped rebuild the Temple and the city walls of Jerusalem.
3. The priestly clothing. Jaddua was to wear the ephod with the 12 precious stones and the mitre (or special head piece).
4. This is another name for Greece in ancient times.
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