Advent Words ~ Word 6: Rejoice

 

Word 6: Rejoice

Mary

God, speaking through Isaiah, declared that there would be a sign of the coming Messiah:

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign:

The virgin will be with child

and will give birth to a son,

and will call him Immanuel."

Isaiah 7:14

Mary's stroy begins in Luke 1:26-38. An angel of the Lord appears to her, a virgin who is pledged to be married to Joseph, and tells her,

"Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and 

give birth to a son, and you will give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called

the Son of the Most High. The Lord will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign 

over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." Luke 1:30-33

Mary questions how this can happen when she is a virgin, to which the angel responds,

"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God...For nothig is impossibe with God." 

Luke 1:35-37

Mary's to the angel with a response of faith;

"I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said." Luke 1:38

She believed God would do all that He had promised. Her deep faith in God is evidenced in a life that rejoices in the Lord. She is an example to all of us in how to rejoice. Rejoicing is a response of faith. Rejoicing comes out of a life that is dependent on God and from one who knows firsthand the peace of God. We get the impression that, even before an angel of the Lord appears to tell her she will give birth to the Messiah, that Mary's was a faith-full life of rejoicing in the Lord.

Out of her great faith in God, the great favor He has expressed to her, and this great privilege and responsibility He has bestowed on her, Mary rejoices. Her song in Luke 1:46-50, expresses her joy through praising God.

“My soul glorifies the Lord

    and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he has been mindful

    of the humble state of his servant.

From now on all generations will call me blessed,

    for the Mighty One has done great things for me—

    holy is his name.

His mercy extends to those who fear him,

    from generation to generation."

Luke 1:46-50

We also can rejoice in the Lord now, despite all that is going on in the world around us. Rejoicing is not dependent on our circumstances or our feelings. Rejoicing is a response of faith. It is a choice to view life, not through the lens of our own perspective, but rather through the lens of our faith in Christ as we look through the lens of His Word. We also can stand on God’s promises, as Mary did. We can live hope-filled lives, rejoicing in the Lord based on our faith in who He is and what He has done for us.

 

As we celebrate Christ coming to earth, we can rejoice because He has promised that we will experience the fullness of our resurrection hope when He comes again. We rejoice in the gift of our Savior as we journey through the Advent season to Christmas. As Mary rejoiced in the gift of her Son, we rejoice in the many gifts God has given us through His Son - our greatest gift!

 

 

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" Philippians 4:4

Advent Words ~ Word 5: Salvation

 

Word 5: Salvation

Zechariah

    "How beautiful on the mountains

are the feet of those who bring good news,

who proclaim peace,
    who bring good tidings,
    who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
    “Your God reigns!”
Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices;
    together they shout for joy.
When the Lord returns to Zion,
    they will see it with their own eyes.
Burst into songs of joy together,
    you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted his people,
    he has redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord will lay bare his holy arm
    in the sight of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth will see
    the salvation of our God." 

Isaiah 52:7-10

Through Isaiah God promised a messenger would come before the promised Messiah and bring the good news of his arrival to the people. He would come proclaiming peace and salvation.

In our last post we saw that Zechariah is the father of John the Baptist, who was the messenger sent to prepare the way before the Lord. His story begins in Luke 1:5-25. Scripture tells us that Zechariah was a priest and descendant of Aaron, that he was elderly, and that he and his wife, Elizabeth, had been unable to have children. One day Zechariah was lighting incense in the temple when an angel of the Lord appeared. The angel told him that Elizabeth would be pregnant and bear a son, who they were to name John. This son would be "great in the sight of the Lord" (Luke 1:15) and he be used by God. Scripture says of him:

"He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”            Luke 1:16-17

Zechariah had a hard time believing the angel, and because of his unbelief the angel told him he would be silent and unable to speak. He remained silent until the day of the birth of his son. We are told by Luke that Zechariah was then "filled with the Holy Spirit" (Luke 1:67) and his first words after months of silence were to sing the words of his song in Luke 1:68-79. 

The angel of the Lord had spoken to Elizabeth as well, and she and Zechariah knew that Mary carried the Son of God, they knew their son's role would be to prepare the people for the Lord's coming. In his joy at the birth of his son, Zechariah praised God for the mercy He had shown them ~ not only mercy for them personally in bearing a child, but mercy for God's people as well, in sending the Savior. 

Luke 1:67-79 is known as Zechariah's song:

"His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,

    because he has come to his people and redeemed them.

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 ancestors

    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.”

This Savior is the One sent by God to bring salvation. The One who had been promised from the kingly line of David. The One who would fulfill the promise made to Abraham that all the nations on earth would be blessed. The One who would rescue God's people from bondage and fear. The One who would enable God's people to serve Him "in holiness and righteousness".

 Zechariah's son, John, would be used by God, "And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High". The prophet of the Most High would prepare the people for the Son of the Most High. John would make clear to the people that God's mercy had come to earth in the person of Jesus Christ. "Because of the tender mercy of our God" salvation has come! Light has come! Peace has come! Zechariah's song gives us the story of God's mercy to His people in the gift of His Son.

Ephesians 2:4-5 show us that this gift of God’s mercy is prompted by His love.

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” 

Our sin keeps us far from God, dead to Him. But God does punish us as we deserve, rather, in mercy, out of love for us, He makes us alive again through Christ, our Savior. This is our salvation, and this is God's mercy and love.

Yesterday we lit the candle of peace, which is the theme for the second week of Advent.

Advent Words ~ Word 4: Prepare

 

Word 4: Prepare

John the Baptist

“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.” Malachi 3:1

The prophet Malachi promised the people of Israel that a messenger would come that would prepare the way for the Lord, he would prepare the way for the great king. In ancient days when a royal procession was traveling a messenger would go before them announcing their arrival and removing any obstacles from the road they were to travel on. He prepared the way before the king.

It is believed that Malachi was the last prophet of the Lord before the birth of Christ, a span of 400 years in which God was silent.

This prophecy is proclaimed to be fulfilled before Jesus’ birth by Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father, who was ‘filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied’:

“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.” Luke 1:76-77

All three of the Synoptic gospels declare John the Baptist to be the fulfillment of the prophecy. He is the messenger that would prepare the people for the Messiah’s ministry.

"In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, "repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: 

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.’ “ Matthew 3:1-3 

John the Baptist’s role of preparing the people was to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of God is near’ (Matthew 3:2), preaching ‘a baptism for the forgiveness of sins’ (Mark 1:2-4 and Luke 3:2-6) that would come through Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

Our role in observing the Advent season is to prepare the way for the Lord as well – in our own hearts, in the heart of our home, and in the lives of the people we encounter every day. To declare “Joy to the world, the Lord is come”!

 

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King.
Let every heart prepare Him room.
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing!

Written by Isaac Watts, 1791, Inspired by Psalm 98

Advent Words ~ Word 3: Peace

 

Word 3: Peace

The Prophets

As the prophets preached the hope of the coming Messiah, one of the themes that captured the hearts of a nation that knew great strife and suffering was the promise that the Messiah would bring peace.

"For unto 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.

The zeal of the LORD Almighty

will accomplish this."

Isaiah 9:6-7

Isaiah says this Messiah will bear the titles of Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. It is this last title we look at today, the Prince of Peace.

Peace in the Hebrew language of the Bible is shalom. While we tend to think of peace as the absence of war or conflict, or a sense of calm and quiet, shalom is a sense of well-being and fulfillment that comes from God and is dependent on His presence. Shalom is wholeness, prosperity, security, and fullness of life that only comes as a result of a restored relationship with God. Shalom is reconciliation. It is the restoration of what is broken and painful in the world – our separation from God because of sin.

"He will stand and shepherd his flock

in the strength of the LORD,

in the majesty of the name of the 

LORD his God.

And they will live securely, for then

his greatness

will reach the ends of the earth.

And he will be their peace."

Micah 5:4-5

The prophet Micah also looked to the Messiah, a king who would “be their peace.” (Micah 5:5) Through the prophet Ezekial God promised that He would make "a covenant of peace...an everlasting covenant" with His people (Ezekiel 37:24-27). Ephesians tells us that the prophecies spoken of by Isaiah, Micah, and Ezekiel have been fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ ..."He himself is our peace." (Ephesians 2:14) Jesus is the instrument of our reconciliation with God. He is our peace.

“Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace.” Ephesians 2:12-14

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” Colossians 1:19-22

In pointing to the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy that a child would be born who would be the Prince of Peace, the angels sang at Jesus’ birth, proclaiming,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:14

God’s favor rests on those who put their faith in Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” Romans 5:1-2.

To those who are justified through faith in Christ, Jesus promised not only the peace of reconciliation with God, but that He would be with them always, giving them an abiding peace.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27

Our world has been full of tragedy, despair, conflict, death, and suffering, especially over the past few years. For many it can seem like there is no hope. But God wants us to know His peace in the midst of all of this. To know, that despite all that is going on, all that is going wrong in the world around us, His peace brings us comfort, because His peace is eternal. His peace withstands the trials and hard times we face. His peace brings us into the loving arms of Jesus who will wipe every tear, who will comfort every hurt, who will restore the broken hearted, who will fill you with His love and grace, and who will give you His Spirit to provide you with peace through prayer. True peace comes from knowing, "It is well with my soul".

If you do not feel you have peace with God, then please read the passages I spoke of above that show the way to peace with God through Christ. Pray over them. Then ask Jesus for His forgiveness of your sin. Read Acts 10:43 and Romans 10:9-10 for more. Accept His gift of forgiveness for your sins. Do this and know that you have peace with God and let this Advent season be a time of celebration for His goodness, mercy, and grace in your life.

“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.” 2 Thessalonians 3:16

Advent Words ~ Word 2: Longing

 

Word 2: Longing

The Prophet Isaiah

“Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
    that the mountains would tremble before you!
As when fire sets twigs ablaze
    and causes water to boil,
come down to make your name known to your enemies
    and cause the nations to quake before you!
For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
    you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
Since ancient times no one has heard,
    no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
    who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.” Isaiah 64:1-4

For many centuries God’s people waited for the Messiah, God’s promised One, to rescue and redeem them. God spoke to them through His prophets promising the arrival of the Savior. These promises produced hope, the waiting produced longing. Longing and waiting are the rhythms of the Advent season, but we do not long and wait in vain for we have the hope of God’s promises.

The prophet Isaiah lived during the time when the nation of Israel was divided. The northern kingdom was Israel, and the southern kingdom was Judah. Isaiah and other prophets of his day from the southern kingdom, Jeremiah and Micah, were God’s voice to the people. All three shared promises of the Messiah, but Isaiah’s book contains the most. His words gave the people hope and produced in them a longing for the Messiah to come quickly, to free them from oppression and hard times, for the promised Messiah would bring justice for God’s people.

“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
    my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
    and he will bring justice to the nations.
He will not shout or cry out,
    or raise his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
    and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
    he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
    In his teaching the islands will put their hope.” Isaiah 42:1-4

Isaiah’s words gave the people glimpses of who the Messiah would be and what he would do.

The Messiah would be born of a virgin – Isaiah 7:14

He will be called Immanuel, God with us – Isaiah 7:14

He would reign on David’s throne – Isaiah 9:7

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him – Isaiah 11:1

His peace will be everlasting - Isaiah 9:7

He will uphold justice and righteousness for His kingdom – Isaiah 9:7

He will defend the poor and needy – Isaiah 11:4

He brings justice to the nations – Isaiah 42:1

He will be a light for the Gentiles – Isaiah 49:6

He will bring salvation to the ends of the earth – Isaiah 49:6

He will take up their infirmities, take on their transgressions, and bring them peace and healing – Isaiah 53:3-4

He brings good news to the poor, binds up the brokenhearted, gives freedom to captives, release for prisoners, comforts those who mourn, and brings beauty, gladness, and praise – Isaiah 61:1-4

This is the One the prophets promised. These are the things that the prophets said the Messiah would bring. This is what built their faith in God and gave them hope. This is the One they longed for.

We will come across Isaiah’s words again and again as we go through the Advent story. Advent is a time of connecting with the waiting and longing the nation of Israel had in expectation of the Messiah’s arrival, of celebrating God coming to earth as Immanuel, and reminds us of our own waiting and longing “while we wait for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13) in His promised return.

"The whole life of the good Christian is a holy longing. That is our life, to be trained by longing. You do not yet see what you long for, but the very act of desiring prepares you, so that when He comes you may see and be utterly satisfied." ~Augustine