(Our staff team meets for devotions and prayer each morning from Monday-Thursday, and this week I'm leading those devotions. I'm reflecting on some of the themes of Advent, and I thought I would share those reflections here. This is the final post in the series.)
When the angels appear to the shepherds in Luke's account of the birth of Jesus, they announce that peace has come to those on whom God's favour rests (Luke 2:14). We cannot reflect on this season without thinking about the peace that comes through Jesus.
For the people of Israel, the promise of peace was a promise they deeply longed for. During their time in exile, scattered among the nations, they longed for the peace that would come from God when he sent the Messiah to redeem them. As Isaiah proclaimed, the promise of God was that through this Messiah, they would be comforted. These words from Isaiah called them to look forward to the peace they would have through the Messiah, who would pay for their sin and bless them.
As God's people, this peace extends to us as well. We too can take comfort in these words of Isaiah, that through Christ, our sin has been atoned for. It is in this season, of course, that we remember and celebrate the time when God sent his Son to earth for us so that he might bring his Kingdom and inaugurate the next part of redemptive history. He would offer himself as a sacrifice to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and finish the work that guarantees the redemption of all of creation.
But the peace we have through Jesus is not just about the forgiveness of our sins. We also have peace because Jesus promises that he will do everything to protect and preserve his people until he comes again. In this life we will face many obstacles and trials that will try to drive us off course. There are all kinds of things that will tempt us to keep from clinging to Jesus and the salvation he brings. People and possessions and ideas will be competing for our worship, wanting to keep us from serving and worshipping Jesus Christ alone.
Isaiah’s imagery of valleys and mountains and rough ground is a good picture of this difficult journey that is the Christian life. Yet, we have peace because, just as the way is made straight for the Lord, so he promises to raise up every valley, to make low every mountain and hill, to make the rough ground level, and the rugged places a plain (Is. 40:4). The road of faith is one we do not walk alone; instead, the one who leads us by his Spirit ensures that we will finish the journey and enter into the fullness of life in his Kingdom when he comes again.
Paul writes in Philippians 1:6 that we can have confidence "that he who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." He is our peace. And so we place all our hope in trust in Christ, and surrender ourselves to him, fully dependent on him for our salvation. And as we wait for that final day when he returns and when the glory of the Lord will be revealed, we take comfort in knowing that he will preserve us until that day.
(Our staff team meets for devotions and prayer each morning from Monday-Thursday, and this week I'm leading those devotions. I'm reflecting on some of the themes of Advent, and I thought I would share those reflections here. This is the third post in the series.)
In the past couple of days, we've seen that Advent is a time to look forward, and a time to prepare our hearts for Christ's coming. Today we are taking a moment to see that Advent is also a time of joy.
During this season, as we reflect on God's faithfulness to his covenant promises, we recognise that we have so many reasons to be joyful. The prophecy we read from Zephaniah is just overflowing with joy as the prophet announces all the blessings that the Lord will pour out on his people. He has taken away their punishment and he dwells with his people (3:15). The Lord is mighty to save, and he takes great delight in his people (3:17). He gathers those who have been scattered, brings them home, and gives them honour and praise among all the peoples of the earth (3:19-20).
As with so many of the prophecies, this has both a past and future fulfilment. And we rejoice in both, knowing that some of these promises have already been fulfilled in Christ's first coming, and because we know with certainty that when he returns, these promises will all find their ultimate fulfilment.
In this time, as we wait for Christ's second coming, how do we express our joy? John the Baptist, in Luke 3:8, called the people to prepare for the coming of the Messiah by "producing fruit in keeping with repentance." When we remember the work of redemption that God has done through Jesus, we respond with gratitude by submitting ourselves to him. Our joy is expressed by living in obedience to Christ.
In Philippians 4:4, Paul writes, "Rejoice in the Lord always." It is important to note that this is a command. Joy is a wilful action on our part. Our joy begins when we believe the good news of the Gospel and lay hold of what God has done through Jesus. That joy then finds further expression as we follow the commands which Paul mentions here – not being anxious about anything, seeking after that which is true, noble, right, and so on. We put into practice the way of living that God has designed for his people, and we receive his peace.
The more we submit our lives to our Lord Jesus, the fuller our joy becomes. So, we pray that as we look forward to his return, that we will remember all the blessings he has given us and rejoice in his goodness to us. We anticipate the fulfilment of all of his covenant promises. And we pray that our joy may increase as we live under his rule, that on the day when Christ returns, "when he gathers us and brings us home," as Zephaniah said, he will find us full of joy as we gaze upon his face and stand before his glorious throne.
(Our staff team meets for devotions and prayer each morning from Monday-Thursday, and this week I'm leading those devotions. I'm reflecting on some of the themes of Advent, and I thought I would share those reflections here. This is the second post in the series.)
We saw yesterday that this season of Advent calls us to be forward-thinking, prepared for the day when Christ comes again. But what does that mean for how we live now? It calls us to pursue righteousness as we recognise that when Christ does return, he will come in judgement, "like a refiner's fire," Malachi says.
John the Baptist was the messenger Malachi spoke of, preparing the way for Jesus by calling people to repent and to seek forgiveness for their sins. It was a warning that the judgement of God was coming, but also a call for the people to prepare their hearts. The unrepentant heart would not be ready to receive Jesus.
This is no less true for us today. When Christ comes again, he expects us to be ready to receive him, to be holy and blameless, to be "filled with the fruit of righteousness" (Phil. 1:11). We need to undergo that process of refining even now, turning away from sin and seeking to live according to the rule of our King.
But God does not leave us to our own devices here. He has given us the Spirit to begin that refining work already now. When we submit ourselves to him, we begin a lifelong process of refinement, one that God carries out in us by his Spirit. He breaks down all of our idols, ambitions, and impurities so that, as Paul says, "he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:6).
This process won't be easy. It may come with trials and pain. The Spirit's work of purifiying us can hurt as he breaks our grip on the things of this world that we cling to and worship. But when we accept his refining work, it opens us up to the joy we find as we cling to and worship Jesus instead.
We live in expectation of Christ's return, and in expectation of one day dwelling in his presence in the Kingdom. As we wait, then, we pray that God will continue to refine us by his Spirit, that he will continue to prepare us for life in his Kingdom. We pray that he will continue that process of making us pure and blamless until the day of Christ.
When we submit ourselves to him, we can be confident that because of Christ's finished work, by which our sins our forgiven and by which we are raised to new life with him, and because of the Spirit's work to sanctify us, we will be able to "endure the day of his coming" (Mal. 3:2), and we will welcome him with joy.
(Our staff team meets for devotions and prayer each morning from Monday-Thursday, and this week I'm leading those devotions. I'm reflecting on some of the themes of Advent, and I thought I would share those reflections here.)
The season of Advent is both a time to look back and a time to look forward. One of the things we look back to is the faithful remnant of Israel living in exile, awaiting the coming of the Messiah to fulfil the covenant promises God had made to them. They lived their life looking forward to that day, confident in such promises as Jeremiah 33:14-16, that a Messiah would come to redeem them.
In our modern Western society, we're not very forward-thinking. We don't orient that way. Instead we are always focused on the here and now. The present is what is important.
But this is not how Jesus expected his disciples to live, as we see in this passage. No, he called them to look forward, to prepare themselves. He told them to look for certain signs, to always be on the lookout and ready for Christ's return. They needed to be constantly looking forward, preparing for that day. He also told them there would be all kinds of things to distract them, to turn their focus away so that they wouldn't be prepared.
How forward-thinking are we? We're quick to look to Jesus' redemptive work in the past, accomplished through his death and resurrection, and we're quick to look at his work in our own lives in the present. But how often do we look forward to the final redemption, when Christ will return and fully establish the Kingdom of God? Are we prepared and ready for that day? Do we long for the coming of the Messiah just as the remnant of Israel did?
It's also important to think about how we are preparing our congregation for this day. Many of them will be stressing about their jobs, or worried about their financial situation. They are weighed down by the troubles of this life, because we're all part of a culture that focuses on the here and now. If we're honest, we all live as though this current world order, this reality we know right now, is permanent. How, then, do we break free from this and begin to look forward?
We find the key in verse 33. Jesus says, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." We need to keep going back to Scripture. We need to reflect on the story of redemption, of what God has accomplished in history through Jesus Christ. Like the faithful remnant of Israel, we must keep our focus on the promises of the covenant that were foreshadowed by Christ during his time on earth and that are guaranteed through his finished work on the cross. He will come again!
When we live in expectation of the day when Jesus will return, that will give shape to our perception of reality. Our longing for the Kingdom of God will replace the anxieties and troubles of life. As we look forward to the fullness of life in that Kingdom, we will seek to be holy and blameless. As the writer to the Hebrews says, we must "fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2).
Let us pray with confidence, "O come, O come, Emmanuel," knowing that because the Incarnate Christ already did come, he will come again to fulfil all of his promises to his people.
