I wrote these advent readings this year for Community Christian Church. Hope they can be of use to you--feel free to copy them however you want... Kevin
A Weekly Advent Reading
A Weekly Advent Reading
Introduction:
What is Advent?
Have you ever had a
nightmare that you overslept when you had someone very important coming to your
home, only to have the person walk into your “uncleaned” house, which looked
like a tornado had gone off? Or,
worse yet, have you ever had the visitor arrive when you weren’t dreaming?!?
Being unprepared for
someone’s coming is not good; it makes the guest feel as if his or her visit is
actually not very important to us, even if it is. And the embarrassment and angst the unprepared host feels is
palpable.
I am reminded of one of
Jesus’ parables, found in Matthew 25:1-13. That parable says:
1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise.3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them.4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
9 “ ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
Remember, this is a parable. That means it’s a story with a point,
not an analogy where the actions of each character line up with reality. The bridegroom shutting out the
well-meaning virgins is not intended to teach us that God is harsh and does not
give second chances. Rather,
here’s the point of the parable: be prepared. Don’t dilly-dally and think that one day you’ll get around
to preparing. Don’t put off
bringing your life in line with who you were made to be until the last minute,
so that you are caught off guard.
Prepare now; work on your heart now; follow Jesus now. That is the point of the parable.
And that’s also the point
of Advent. Advent, which literally
means “coming”, is about preparing for the coming of Christ in two different
ways. First, Advent helps us
prepare for the Nativity, the event that changed the entire course of
history—Jesus coming into the world.
Of course this has already happened, so in what sense can we prepare for
it? We prepare for our
celebration of it. Just as it is a terrible thing when someone
important shows up and we are unprepared, it is terrible for Christmas to show
up and for us to be unprepared to truly celebrate it. And just as Lent is intended to help Christians prepare for
the massive celebration of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter, Advent is intended to
help Christians prepare for the massive celebration of Jesus’ birth on
Christmas. If the day rolls around
and we are unprepared, we have missed a huge opportunity to really understand
just how deep our celebration and rejoicing ought to be on Christmas.
One of the ways Christians
throughout history have prepared for this first coming of Christ is through a
sustained focus on the Old Testament, through a sort of reenactment of the long
wait of the people of God for the coming of the Messiah. Christians remember during Advent that
God’s people waited in slavery and exile for hundreds of years for redemption,
until Jesus brought a redemption none of them were looking for. During these next few weeks we will
consider this long wait for the coming of Christ, and that will help us better
be prepared to celebrate the wonder of his coming.
Second, Advent is intended
to help us prepare for the second coming of Christ, when he returns to save and
also to judge. Just as the virgins
in the parable were unprepared for the coming of the Bridegroom, perhaps many
of us are unprepared for Christ to come again. Advent reminds us that just as Jesus came once, he is coming
again. And that truth ought to
thrill our hearts! Just as through
the Nativity the long wait of the people of God was over and they could finally
see the face of the Messiah, so through the second coming our wait will be over
and we will see the face of Jesus as well! In this time of Advent we will consider how to prepare our
hearts so we are not anxious at his arrival, but overjoyed!
Therefore, Advent is about
preparing for the coming of Christ.
Let’s begin this Advent season with a prayer, asking God to help us
prepare for his coming.
Father, help us to
prepare our hearts. Let us not
scurry around in these next few weeks trying to prepare all the details of this
season, yet neglect to prepare our hearts. Please help us remember that Christmas is not an American
holiday; it is not about presents; it has nothing to do with a guy in a red
suit. Christmas is about you, and
how you fulfilled the hopes and prayers of generations when you mysteriously,
miraculously sent your Son into the world. Help us to feel the longing for the Messiah they felt. Help us to feel the desperation for
hope they felt. Help us to feel
the emptiness they must have felt with no Messiah, but only a prayer for his
coming. Help us to focus on you
during this Advent, so we are prepared not only to celebrate you on Christmas,
but also to welcome you with open arms and joyful hearts at your second coming…
Week
1: Hope
Psalm 89 is a beautiful
representation of both the hope and the sorrow that run throughout the Old
Testament. The psalmist is quoting
God at the beginning of these verses.
“I have found David my
servant; with my sacred oil I have anointed him. My hand will sustain him; surely my arm will strengthen him…
I will maintain my love to him forever, and my covenant with him will never fail. I will establish his line forever, his
throne as long as the heavens endure.” (Psalm 89:20-21, 28-29)
They are reminding
themselves of the promises God made to never forsake his people, or David in
particular. The passage goes on:
“If his sons forsake my
law and do not follow my statutes, if they violate my decrees and fail to keep
my commands, I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with
flogging; but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my
faithfulness… Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness—and I will not lie to
David—that his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me like
the sun.” (Psalm 89:30-33, 35-36)
If God’s people forsake
him, they will be punished. But
God promises never to give up on them or take away his love from them. After these hopeful verses that
reminded about how God would always be faithful, we see that the people of God
have already forsaken him and failed to follow God’s commands, and they have
already been disciplined as God had warned:
“But you have rejected, you
have spurned, you have been very angry with your anointed one. You have renounced the covenant with
your servant and have defiled his crown in the dust. You have broken through all his walls and have reduced his
strongholds to dust. All who pass
by have plundered him; he has become the scorn of his neighbors… You have cut
short the days of his youth; you have covered him with a mantle of shame.”
(Psalm 89: 38-41, 45)
This psalm was apparently
written during the exile, after the Israelites had been attacked, conquered,
and dragged away from their country to far away Babylon. They were now slaves and were far away
from the land God had given them; they had been disciplined for turning their
backs on God, just as God had warned.
But in the midst of the pain they were in while in exile, they could not
see that God had actually not lied.
He still had not forsaken his word or his promise. In their pleading with God they state
that God had defiled David’s crown in the dust by letting Israel be conquered,
but that was far from true. They
were being punished, but God’s promise that David’s line and his throne would
last forever was still very much in effect. They just couldn’t see
it. In the midst of their
suffering and sorrow over what they’d lost, hope was difficult.
Have there been times of
sorrow in your life where hope was difficult?
Have there been times when
it seemed God did not stay true to his promises?
The psalm ends poignantly,
with pleading questions:
“How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like
fire? … O Lord, where is your former great love, which in your faithfulness you
swore to David?” (Psalm 89:46, 49)
They felt abandoned; they
felt hopeless. They questioned
God, even accusing him of going back on his word. They were in pain, and in the midst of their confusion they
could only grasp for hope.
Fast forward a little over
500 years. The Israelites were
back in their land, having been released from captivity by the Babylonians and
enabled to return to their land.
It was not like it used to be, and they had to rebuild Israel from the
ruins. And from the time they were
back in Israel they had been under the thumb of a larger power, including the
Greeks and the Romans. Now, Israel
was firmly controlled by the Romans and there were still many Israelites who
questioned what God was doing.
When would he finally renew the Israelite monarchy, and raise up a king
from the line of David to overthrow those who ruled over them? When would he finally restore his name
and the name of his people, and show the world who Israel and Israel’s God was?
There were many different
answers to these questions among the Israelites, and there were many different
ideas about what would inspire God to finally restore Israel. For example, the Pharisees believed
that if all the Israelites could fully live holy lives and follow the law down
to the smallest commandment, God would finally remember his promises, overthrow
the Romans, and restore Israel to power.
This was a popular and well-known theory we see in the New Testament,
but it was just one theory. Many
Israelites lived in the tension between hope and doubt, and most just tried
their best to live for God despite all of this.
This was the case for a
woman named Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah. They were faithful Israelites, true to God and trying their
best to please him. We are told
about them in Luke 1:
“In the time of Herod king
of Judea there was a priest name Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division
of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight
of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly. But they had no children, because
Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.” (Luke 1:5-7)
Both in their personal
lives and in their lives as people of Israel they had suffered
disappointment. Though they were
faithful followers of God, they were unable to have children (which in their
culture was a clear sign of God’s blessing) and their people were under the
harsh control of the Romans. Yet
they held on to hope; they did not give up, but continued on doing the right
things, trying to please God.
Through a very cool set of circumstances, God chose the formerly barren
Elizabeth to bear one of the most important prophets of God in history, John
the Baptist—the one who would prepare the way for the Messiah himself. And when the baby was born, check out
the song that came from Zechariah’s lips:
“Praise be to the Lord,
the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He
has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as
he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and
from the hand of all who hate us—to show mercy to our fathers and to remember
his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from
the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness
and righteousness before him all our days. And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most
High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give
his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us
from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to
guide our feet into the path of peace.” (Luke 1:68-79)
Zechariah recognized that
his hopes, and the hopes of his people over the hundreds of years since the
exile, were now being fulfilled.
And it filled him with joy!
He was able to see this hope bursting through precisely because he had
never given up hope. He and
Elizabeth had kept on living for God, and had not given up in sorrow or
defeat. They still believed God
would stay true to his promises, and what overwhelming joy they must have felt
when they realized he was going to use them to fulfill those promises!
In the midst of our sorrow
and our greatest challenges, we also can remember that God is not done. He is not gone. He has not left the world to its own
devices. He is at work. Always. And not one of his promises will fail; he will come
through.
He has promised to come
back again, and he will. He has
promised to make all things right, and he will. He has promised to wipe every tear from our eyes. And he will. We can trust, we can believe, we can hope.
Week
2: Peace
The Israelites in exile
always looked backward when they thought of peace: backward to Eden, when all
was right with the world, and backward to the reign of King David, when peace
reigned in the land and Israel was powerful and ruled themselves. To Israelites, peace was about more
than the absence of war. The
Hebrew word for peace, shalom,
denoted equilibrium, wholeness, completeness, health. It meant things were the way they were supposed to be. They saw this lived out in Eden because
there was no sin, and there were no enemies, and all was whole. And they saw it lived out in David’s
reign because Israel was powerful, God’s people were respected, and the nation
was prosperous. Both were pictures
of peace, life the way it was supposed to be.
But Eden and all its
perfection were dashed, and David’s reign and the power of Israel were smashed,
and the Israelites in exile could only long for peace again one day. Peace and the strong return of a king
in David’s line were, for them, inextricable. You couldn’t have one without the other. But God had other plans.
The Israelites longed for
hundreds of years for the restoration of the monarchy, for a Messiah-King to
come and free them from exile and slavery, and most seemed to envision an
Israelite of royal lineage being born, celebrated, and rising up to lead Israel
to freedom and power.
Instead, God’s path to
peace began with an unmarried woman becoming pregnant, which was shameful, and
giving birth to a son in a barn.
God’s path to peace included not military might but teaching his people
to turn the other cheek. God’s
path to peace did not include Jesus overthrowing the Romans, but rather dying
at their hands.
No wonder many Israelites
did not believe! They wanted
power! They wanted revenge, or at
least redemption! And they were
supposed to believe that this Jesus had accomplished something for them when he
died at the hands of their
oppressors?!? They could not
envision a new kind of peace that did not include political and military
power.
But God was not interested
in military peace. He was
interested in true shalom: in
humans being whole, being made right, being healthy and clean once again as he
had created them to be. This is
the peace God desired, peace between himself and his people.
When we talk about peace
today, we often have the same biases as these Israelites: we long for military
peace, for the nations of the world to live without wars and strife. Perhaps we long for peace between races
or religions or genders or those of varying socio-economic statuses. We just want everyone to get along and
treat each other well. And
certainly God is concerned with all of this; he longs for humanity to live
together in peace and for each of us to love and value our neighbors.
However, God’s primary and
ultimate concern is for a deeper kind of peace, a shalom, a wholeness. Humanity was marred when sin messed up what God created, and
God has been on a mission since Adam and Eve to redeem humanity, to set things
right, to make them whole again.
This is God’s concern, for ultimate peace and wholeness for all of
humanity. We see this clearly at
the end of Zechariah’s prayer song that we looked at last week. He says,
“And you, my child, will
be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to
prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us
from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to
guide our feet into the path of peace.”
(Luke 1:76-79)
You can see in these
verses that Zechariah, overcome with the Spirit, sees clearly what God is
doing. He has come to bring peace
not to Israel as a nation but to his people as individuals. And through Jesus “his people” now
includes everyone—all of humanity.
Jesus came to complete God’s mission to bring peace to all
humanity. How? Through showing them the path to salvation
and forgiveness of all their sins.
This is how their feet would be guided into the “path of peace.” Not through overthrowing the Romans and
finally being restored to power and prominence, and not through somehow
returning to Eden. All of us now
have the opportunity for peace, wholeness, and true health through the
forgiveness Jesus brings.
As we prepare for Christ’s
coming, let us remember that we often long for the wrong kinds of peace. We long for band-aids when life-saving
surgery is needed. Lord, give us
eyes to see your deepest desire for humanity, true peace and a true
relationship with you. Give us a
passion to partner with you to bring that true peace to all who are open to
receiving it.
Christ entered the world
and brought a path to peace for all, but clearly peace in every sense has not
been accomplished. Evil still
thrives, and confusion abounds, and many are as far from peace and wholeness as
they can be. Our world is still
broken and mangled; we are
still broken, even though we have been forgiven, and must struggle with
sin.
For those of us who
receive the peace offered to us in Christ, the day will come when we no longer
have to live in the tension of this “half-peace,” where we have been made whole
and right with God but also deal with our own brokenness. The day will come when all is made
right, and we get a picture of this in Revelation 21. I invite you to read this beautiful chapter.
Some of my favorite images
from the chapter are:
“…there was no longer any
sea…” (verse 1)
The sea represented chaos
and was fearful and unpredictable.
The fact that there will no longer be any sea when all things are made
right means that there will be no more chaos, no more scary and unpredictable
events. There will be peace.
“On no day will its gates
ever be shut…” (verse 25)
Gates were shut to protect
against enemies and attacks. When
all things are made right in the end, there will be no more enemies, no one
left to fear. Locking doors or
closing gates would not even make sense, because no one will threaten or hurt
others again. There are no
enemies; there will be peace.
“There will be no more
death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed
away.” (verse 4)
Sorrow is no more, for
there is no reason for sorrow. The
hurts and injustices of the current order are gone, and only peace
remains. Wholeness, completeness,
and health will be ours one day, and such true peace is possible because Jesus
came. God, let us live in peace
with you and lead others to your peace, so we can long without hesitation for
your second coming, when all will be made right again.
Week
3: Joy
When a married couple
wants to have a child, or has been seeking to have a child, and discovers that
they are in fact expecting a child, there are few times in life that are more
joyful. The thought of having a
child to love and raise is overwhelming, wonderful, and exciting. It is an incredibly joyful thing.
I will never forget the
feeling I had when I first found out I was going to be a father. I had to sit down, and there was a
measure of trepidation about the great responsibility. But more than anything, I was so
excited. I was overjoyed at the
blessing.
I think this is rather
typical, especially when a child is wanted and anticipated. But the picture we get in the New
Testament of Mary and Joseph is anything but one of utter joy when they found
out they were going to have Jesus.
There may have been a measure of joy, but other emotions were
primary.
Matthew tells us that when
Joseph, who was engaged to Mary, found out she was pregnant, his emotion was
anything but joy. Instead, it
seems he felt hurt, and angry, and confused. You can tell he was, as Matthew tells us, a righteous man,
because out of his hurt and anger he still shows love to Mary. He decides to break up quietly and not
make a stink about it publicly, not wanting her to be disgraced or disciplined
in a public way. What great love
from a man who had just found out his fiancé was pregnant with someone else’s
child!
But in a dream, Joseph is
told that it was actually not another man’s child—it was God’s child.
And he was told that this child would save humanity from their
sins! I cannot imagine what
Joseph’s emotions were at that point.
His hurt and anger over Mary being pregnant must then have been replaced
by a confusion about how a baby could be God’s child, and he must have felt
totally overwhelmed about what it all meant—for him, for Mary, for their
future.
Likewise, Luke tells us
that an angel told Mary she would have a son, and we see in this exchange that
Mary is also troubled and confused.
In the end, she responds with incredible faith and trust in God, simply
saying, “I am the Lord’s servant.
May it be to me as you have said.” (Luke 1:38) But surely she felt uncertainty and fear over what the angel
had told her. In their culture a
woman could be put to death for cheating on her husband or fiancé, so there was
real potential for severe discipline, especially if Joseph had chosen to go the
vengeful route. Plus she had just
been told she was going to be a mother, and of the Messiah! Talk about overwhelming…
To compound their confusion
and fear related to the conception of Jesus, they faced real danger when Herod
found out about the child. As the
King of Jerusalem, Herod did not like hearing the rumor that a child had
recently been born who would be King of the Jews. The Magi had told him this news when they came seeking to
worship the child. He asked the
Magi to come back and tell him when they found him “so that I too may go and
worship him.” (Matthew 2:8) In
fact this vicious ruler planned to murder the child when he found him, in order
to protect his power. Talk about a
fear-inducing reality for young parents!
Now they and their baby were in real physical danger!
In another dream Joseph
was warned to take the child and Mary and escape to Egypt, since Herod was
going to search for the child to kill him. How scary! On
top of all of their uncertainty and confusion, in addition to being totally
overwhelmed at this huge life-altering reality they had entered into, now they
and this special child were in real physical danger. And on top of all that, they were now forced to live in a
foreign country far away from family and all they knew in order to protect
their child from being murdered.
Let’s just say the early years of Jesus’ life were not pure joy for this
young family.
Certainly Mary and Joseph
had moments of quiet joy and awe that God had actually chosen them for this
incredible work. Certainly they
were excited that at last God was moving in their midst—even in their lives—to
rescue and redeem Israel. But this
joy was tempered and subdued by all the uncertainty and fear related to Jesus’
coming.
Contrast those reactions
with the reactions we see from the others in the story who become aware of
Jesus’ coming. When others became
aware of the truth that the Messiah had come, we see unbridled joy again and
again. People are utterly
overwhelmed by the joyous news of Jesus’ birth, knowing it meant everything was
going to change! They could not
contain their emotions.
For one, the Magi. We have no idea who these guys really
were, or how on earth they knew that the King of the Jews had been born. But they must have been in tune with
God, whoever they were, because they were absolutely right. They traveled “from the east”, which
presumably was a long distance away,
just to catch a glimpse of this child and worship him. Talk about excitement! When they finally found him, we are
told that they saw the child (perhaps a toddler or young boy by this time) and
“bowed down and worshiped him.”
(Matthew 2:11) They were
totally overjoyed at having found Jesus, and bowed down before him. They got it; this was
world-changing. Then they
excitedly gave him some of the finest, most expensive gifts known to man at
this time. They gave him gifts
suited for a king. There was no uncertainty
or fear for the Magi related to Jesus’ birth. There was only joy.
Also the shepherds. They weren’t quite as sophisticated as
the Magi, and had no idea the world had just changed forever. They didn’t know that just around the
corner a baby had just been born who would change the world forever. When the angel appeared to them in the
middle of the night, they were afraid.
But listen to what the angel told them, “Don’t be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy
that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has
been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 1:10-11) From the start they were told this was incredible
news, news that will bring great
joy, news that is for all
people. The shepherds believed and rushed off to Bethlehem to
see. They found it just like the
angel said they would—they saw Mary, and Joseph, and the baby lying in the
manger. They too were overjoyed,
and they spread the word about Jesus and praised God for these things. This incredible news brought incredible
joy.
There was also a man named
Simeon who was completely overjoyed at the sight of Jesus. Simeon was an old faithful Israelite
who served at the Temple, and when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple
to present him to the Lord, Simeon came right up to them and was overflowing
with joy and thanks to God. God’s
Spirit had told Simeon that he would not due until he had seen the
Messiah. The moment he saw the
child, he knew. He took Jesus in
his arms and he praised God and said, “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the
sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to
your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32)
Unbelievable! One glimpse of Jesus and it was clear
to this servant of God that this baby was the long-awaited Messiah, who would
bring light to all people, both
Jews and Gentiles. He was so
overjoyed that his eyes got to see the Messiah that he was ready to die in
peace! That is joy!
And the coming of Jesus
into the world, the Advent, is truly the most joyous news in the history of
the universe. God himself had skin on, would walk the
earth, and would ultimately take our punishment. We have a path to renewal, to redemption, to
forgiveness! At last we are saved
from the bondage of our sin and from death itself! It is the best news in history…
When you think of
Christmas, of Jesus coming into the world, does it inspire joy in you? Not like a polite smile, or a little
warmth in your heart, but unbridled joy??
Does it make you want to jump up and down with abandon like a
child? Does it make you want to fall
on your face in awe and elation over the incredible news??
Or, perhaps, has the familiarity
of the story dulled that joy? Has
your joy fizzled because perhaps you’ve forgotten that this most joyous of news
is what Christmas is all about in the first place? Has the American version of Christmas, with its focus on
“quality family time” and giving and receiving presents and a man in a red
suit, perhaps distracted you from the point of Christmas? Is Christmas more characterized by
stress and busyness than it is by joy?
If so, we need to go back
to the beginning, to the story. We
need to realize that this event, the coming of God to the earth in the flesh,
was the culmination of thousands of years of God’s plan at work. It was the prayer of thousands of
Israelites for thousands of years, the path to redemption and hope for the
entire world. And it all started
with this incredibly joyous, wonderful news: Today the Savior has been born –
he is the Messiah.
Week
4: Love
Last night, as I was
preparing to head out of town for a few days, I was saying goodbye to my
children. I knelt down to give my
youngest daughter Kate, who is 3, a hug goodbye. She reached up and gave me a big squeeze around my neck,
patted me on the back, and said, “You’re the best daddy. I love you so much.”
Today I can just think of
that moment and start to cry. I
don’t know if my heart could be any more full of love than it is for her. I love her more than I can possibly
express in words; I would do anything for her.
Put that picture in your
mind: a father who loves his child so much he would do anything for her. The truth is that this is the picture
we get of our Father throughout the Old Testament. He loves his children so much he would give them
anything. He would do anything to
show them his love, to protect them, to provide for them. He is forced to discipline them,
something any good father will do for his children, but is eager for them to
learn from it so he can quickly restore them and again have a close, loving
relationship with them.
We often miss this love,
because so much of the Old Testament is full of prophetic warnings about the
punishment that would come to the Israelites if they didn’t repent. Prophet after prophet was called by God
to warn his people that they were going to be punished if they didn’t start
making better choices—if they didn’t return to being his faithful people. What
does it tell us about God that he called so many prophets to go and warn his
people, to plead with them to change and warn them of what would happen if they
didn’t? I think it shows us how
deeply God loved them, and how sorry he was that he would have to discipline
them. A Father who loved his
children less would have seen their disobedience and just lashed out at them;
God gave his people warning after warning and chance after chance to stop their
disobedience and to change course.
Unfortunately, his
children didn’t listen. They
ignored the warnings. Jeremiah was
one of the prophets God called to proclaim to his people that they needed to
repent or they would be punished.
He prophesied again and again that Jerusalem would be conquered and
destroyed, and that they would be carried off into exile, if they did not
repent. They didn’t listen, and by
the end of Jeremiah we do in fact see the people carried off into exile and
Jerusalem destroyed, just as he had been prophesying for years.
Yet near the end of the
book of Jeremiah he gets a word from God that is different in tone. It’s almost like even in the midst of
God’s anger, and on the verge of this terrible punishment his people will receive,
his heart is still so full of love that he must remind the people how he really
feels. I picture God’s eyes full
of tears, all red, a wounded and distraught Father who is so sad for his
children. His words are full of
love and hope and carry through the entire chapter of Jeremiah 31. I encourage you to read that entire
chapter now. Here are some
excerpts:
The
people who survive the sword will find favor in the desert; I will come and
give rest to Israel. (v. 2)
I
have loved you with an everlasting love… I will build you up again, and you
will be rebuilt. (vv. 3-4)
Again
you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria… I will bring them from the
land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth… They will come
with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path
where they will not stumble, because I am Israel’s father. (vv. 5, 8, 9)
Hear
the word of the Lord, O nations; proclaim it in distant coastlands: “He who
scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over his flock like a
shepherd.” (v. 10)
They
will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more. (v. 12)
I
will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy
instead of sorrow. (v. 13)
There
is hope for your future, declares the Lord. (v. 17)
I
will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. (v. 34)
Isn’t that beautiful? Some think of God’s punishment of
Israel, and the foreboding prophets he sent, and think of a vengeful, uncaring
God who simply wants “adherents,” who simply wants rule-followers. But this is not at all the picture we
get of our Father God here. We see
a loving, compassionate, gracious, patient, and forgiving Father. That is the heart of our Father, and
that is the heart he has for each of us: he loves us with an everlasting love,
a deep and unfading and true love.
He loves us even more than I love my daughter; he has known each of us
since before we were conceived, and would do anything for us.
We often talk about how
God loved us so much he was willing to die on a splintery cross, and truly in
that picture we see a sacrificial love we cannot even comprehend. But God’s sacrificial, humble love is
just as evident thirty-some years before that, when he willingly became a human
infant and was laid in a splintery manger. He loved us so much, even in our weakness, our frailty—that
he was willing to take on our frailty.
And he didn’t descend as a muscular Savior King ready to rescue; he came
as the frailest of us: a helpless infant in a mother’s womb, born to the
poorest of parents.
We see in the Nativity a
Father so desperate to love and save his children that he would literally
become a child. He laid down his
power, his rights, his authority. His
desire was always, from the beginning, to enjoy us and love us and have a
relationship with us, and for us to enjoy him and love him and have a
relationship with him. To make this possible, he went from his
throne to a womb, and from splinters to splinters…
As we prepare for your
coming, Jesus, remind us of our Father’s great love—love so deep he would
literally do anything for us. A
love so true and lasting that he would literally never give up on us. A love that, even in the midst of great
betrayal, looks forward to a time of reconciliation and hope. A love that forgives, long in advance
of repentance... And as we prepare
for you to come again, let that love be what characterizes us. Let us see our neighbors who are very
far from you with our Father’s heart—a heart that loves them deeply, has hope
for their future, and forgives before they seek forgiveness. Let us remember all we have been
forgiven, and the great debt we owe you, and let us express that grace and
mercy to the world around us.
Week
5: Light
Isaiah was another prophet
who, like Jeremiah, was called by God to warn the people that punishment was
coming if they didn’t turn from their sin and return to God. Also like Jeremiah, in the midst of his
predictions of gloom and judgment he got visions of God’s deep love for the
people, of his promise for grace in the future.
The 8th chapter
of Isaiah ends in a dire prediction about the lost and sinful Israelites who
are looking for hope in the wrong places, who are consulting spiritists to find
the truth, when they could simply consult the Source of all truth. Isaiah says they will become
distressed, hungry, and enraged, even at God, in their confusion. The last verse of the chapter says,
“Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and
fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.”
What a bleak picture! I cannot think of anything more fearful
and chilling than being thrust into utter darkness, without hope for any light
again. This is how the Bible
describes life without God: dark.
Right in the midst of this
bleak picture, Isaiah catches one of those visions from God, a vision that
reminds him that this bleak picture will not be the end, and that God is not
done with these sinful people.
Here is what chapter 9 says:
Nevertheless,
there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of
Zubulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of
the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan – The people walking
in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the shadow of death a
light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and
increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest,
as men rejoice when dividing their plunder. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the
yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their
oppressor… For to us a child is
born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and
peace there will be no end. He
will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding
it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
(Isaiah
9:1-4, 6-7)
Though the Israelites had
brought darkness on themselves by their actions, and though more darkness was
coming through the punishment they were going to receive, light would dawn—a
great light! This light would
begin with a child, who came by way of Galilee, and whose reign would literally
never end. He would be called God
himself, the Everlasting One, and he would rescue them from their darkness and
despair.
This passage flabbergasts
me. I cannot believe it was
written hundreds of years before Jesus.
Matthew can’t seem to believe it either, and quotes this passage early
on in his gospel to show that this prophecy had been fulfilled in Jesus.
(Matthew 4) Light has come; it has
broken into the darkness and shattered its hold on us!
As we spoke about earlier
on in Advent, the Israelites were looking for this child who would rise up and
lead Israel to glory, but they were not looking for one like Jesus to do
it. Most were looking for a strong
warrior-king who would bring peace and prestige through beating back their
oppressors militarily. They were
looking for a king in the line of David to act like David, and reestablish
Israel as God’s nation, bringing back her glory of old.
Yet Jesus looked
different. He was born and raised
humbly. When he started his
ministry, he spoke not of kicking out the oppressive Romans but of submission. He did not show disdain for the Romans
but compassion, like when he healed the centurion’s servant. And though many Israelites did not
recognize the light, he was the light they had been waiting for… As John 1:5 says, “The light shines in
the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”
However, Jesus wanted it
to be clear. He said it himself,
very clearly: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will
have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
Pretty bold claim, right?
Yet Jesus had no doubts.
Though he was humble and gentle, he knew precisely who he was and why he
had come. For those searching for
the light, he did not want them to be confused—he was here! And for those of us who follow Jesus
today, we can cling to his words: we will never walk in darkness. We
will have the light of life. What
a beautiful promise.
Yet it is clear to us that
although this great light entered the darkness, and though Jesus changed
history forever, darkness still remains.
The coming of the Light into the world has made a way for all to step
out of the darkness, yet his coming has not banished all darkness. We live in the already-not yet of God’s Kingdom. The light has already come, but it has not yet banished the
darkness. Redemption and
forgiveness have already come, but sin is not yet destroyed. Jesus has already come, but he has not
yet come again. The work is not
complete. Why? I think it’s because it is God’s desire
for all of his children, the
entire world, to come into the light.
It is his desire for all to understand he loves them, to follow Jesus
and be forgiven.
So as we celebrate Jesus’
coming this Advent, and as we anticipate his second coming, what does God
expect of us? If we follow the
Light, and if our lives are so full of joy and hope and grace that we will never
walk in darkness again, we must share this light with the world! We must be “little lights” that do the
work Jesus did—in our neighborhoods and workplaces and families. As Jesus said, “You are the light of
the world. A city on a hill cannot
be hidden. Neither do people light
a lamp and put it under a bowl.
Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the
house. In the same way, let your
light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your
Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)
Isn’t it interesting that
Jesus said both “I am the light of the world” and “You are the light of the
world”?!? That’s because it’s our
role as his followers to be bringers of light, just as he was! Since we’ll never be in darkness as we
follow him, we must not try to hide that light, or be respectfully silent about
it, as if we are still in darkness like most everyone else! We must make it obvious that we are
different, that we have true life, and that we follow a risen Savior who has
lit up our lives! Following Jesus
authentically, and spreading his light to the world around us, is the best way
to prepare for his coming…
As Romans 13:12 says, “The
night is almost over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the
armor of light.” I learn two
things from this verse. First,
even though we have been given the light of God’s forgiveness and love and
freedom, we still must choose the light over the darkness. Sin surrounds us. We must daily choose to stay in the
light and not wander back into darkness.
Second, we only have so many more days before Christ returns and brings
an end to the darkness. While
there is time, we must passionately bring Christ’s hope and forgiveness and
peace to the world around us. With
the time we have on this earth, let us share the Light of the world with those
around us who still don’t know Him.
In that wonderful
description of heaven in Revelation 21, we are told, “The city does not need
the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and
the Lamb is its lamp… There will be no night there.” (Revelation 21:23, 25)
Lord, thank you that
you never gave up on the Israelites, even though they turned their backs on
you. And Lord, thank you that you
never give up on us, even though we sometimes walk back into the darkness you
rescued us from.
Thank you that you
brought your glorious light to the world when you came to earth as a baby, and
thank you that you made a way for all of us to be in the light through the
cross.
Please help us, Lord,
not to fear the darkness around us but to use the days we have on this earth to
bring your light to the lost, to tell them they need not live in darkness any
longer.
Thank you, Lord Jesus,
for coming.
Prepare us, Lord Jesus,
for your coming.
We want to walk in the
light and be prepared for your coming.
And help us give all we
can to your work now, knowing that one day all darkness will be banished
forever, and you yourself will be our Light. We love you…
