The Third Sunday in Advent 2016

Introduction

On reading this my husband said, “I’d just turned off NPR when you asked me to read this. I was in a bad mood — not looking forward to Christmas. The talk show was about how both candidates in the last election knowingly told lies to win. I don’t know who or what to believe in the media anymore. Your poem broke the darkness in me. It changed my mood. I’m looking  forward to Christmas again. Put it on your website. It might help someone else.”

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The Promise

The heavy skies
were darkened, grey
on this,
the third Advent Sunday.

Candle-lights
lit our home with gold.
Reflection on reflection
every window glowed

The Eastern glass
mirrored its light
across to Western panes
back and forth,
and back and forth,
and back and forth again
through midday dimmed so grey
it felt like night.

Reflected candle lights,
Kept multiplying,
far and far away,
like echoes on our eyes
they faintly faded out
in falling snow
dusk-thick upon our fields.

Those flaming bits of gold
Sent out onto the cold
From panes of window glass
Against the snow
Reminded us of words foretold—
The Advent Promises of old.

All day it snowed.
Bundled up
with trekking poles
I ventured into winds and cold.

Ice bits hit my face.
But calm and longing hopes within
Called out above the swirling, hurling, burling
World beneath my feet,
Called out above all dangerous drifts
Blowing round and round
Changing once familiar ground.

Lifting my head,
squinting wet lashes through snow,
blurring the world and my eyes
looking up toward home
across a landscape under storm
I saw my kitchen windows
being warmed by candle glow
Relax! Rejoice!
Faith waits.
Faith lives.
Through centuries of storm,
through seasons hot and cold,
inside of human hearts and souls,
outside by acts of grace,
beyond all doubts
above all joys
the certainty of love fulfilled
still holds,
the Promise made of old
of birth to come upon this earth.

Lord Jesus, Come!
This Advent, Come!
Come, bright and morning star!
Come Son of David,
Adam’s seed,
come child foretold
with ancient word.

Pity man’s need.
Help us believe.
Increase Your rule
of Mercies ever new.

We wait in faith,
all blind at times,
within our darkened worlds,
longing for dawn
to draw all veils away,
for morning sun to rise
upon the loveliness of day,
to celebrate new heavens and earth
beneath new cloudless skies
and praise Your miracle of birth
on grander scales
than flesh dimmed eyes can stand
May Advent Hopes
for hates and hurts
and lies to end,
for man no more to die,
for suffering to give place to joy
Ring out! Exultant!

Creation ordered once again
God’s plan for man replete
and time’s demand,
Subsumed
by God’s commands
to worship Him,
be one with Him
all faith fulfilled in love.

December 11, 2016

 

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On this third Sunday in Advent the skies were gray. No sun brightened or flashed a sparkle upon the unremitting snowfall. In contrast to the dimness of the day, our Advent candles and early Christmas lights shone with life. Casting multiple reflections upon the cold window glass, their little bits of warm light sent a glowing radiance into our eyes. The entire day became a picture of Jesus Advent for it is written that He came

To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace. Luke 1:79

And the light [of Jesus] shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.  John 1:5

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone   in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6

Writing this and occasionally looking up from my computer upon the darkened storming world outside, I found light after light in the Advent allusions between Deuteronomy and Proverbs. The Old Testament is filled with longing expectations for a Savior. Finding too many allusions to cover in detail, I turned to Hebrews chapter 11, relaxed, and rejoiced! It summarizes Old Testament faith for the long awaited promise in Jesus far better than I can.

You can read it at https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/search=Hebrews+11&version=NKJV

The opening verses in Hebrews 11 begin at the beginning, at creation, by affirming the power of faith. The first verses say that by faith the creative word of God made the visible worlds out of the invisible, out of things that cannot be seen.

Then starting with Adam’s son, Abel, Hebrews 11 continues sequentially to recall men and women of faith. The list moves through the centuries naming many whose stories are recounted in the Pentateuch (the Hebrew Torah). Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and the Israelite slaves, Rahab, and Joshua all waited in expectant faith for the Advent of Jesus, for the atonement needed to cancel out the consequences of sin, restore the Holy Spirit to humankind and reconcile man to God .

Moving on into the history book of Judges, the list of faithful witnesses to the promise of God continues. The writer says,

For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah,

Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephtah were four men God raised up to function as judges. In the days of the judges, the Israelites repeatedly disobeyed God. Consequently, they were invaded and conquered by their enemies. When they cried out to God for help, He would raise up judges to deliver them. The human imperfections and short-lived deliverances of these judges underscored the human need for a Savior who is able to deliver evermore— a Deliverer who could send His Holy Spirit to write His law upon human hearts and help humankind obey God.

Moving forward in time, the writer of Hebrews continues to honor those who looked forward in faith to The Advent of Jesus Christ on Earth. He mentions David and Samuel, the prophets, and countless nameless men and women who held to their faith and expectation through horrible difficulties, yet

having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. Hebrews 11:32-40

 If you haven’t done it, I do encourage you to check out Hebrews 11 and sense the historical continuity linking all those who have looked for Jesus in the past with all who celebrate His Advent today and with all who keep faith that He will come again.

We join Job, most likely a contemporary of Abraham and the Patriarchs, who was looking forward to Jesus’ Advent when he wrote,

Oh, that my words were written!
Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!
 That they were engraved on a rock
With an iron pen and lead, forever!
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth;
And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,
That in my flesh I shall see God,
Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!
Job 19: 23-27

Jesus fulfilled Job’s faith and hope when He said,

. . . he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. . . . the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. . . all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. John 5:24 ff

We join Ruth, who somehow wasn’t mentioned in Hebrews, but the story of her faith and devotion to Naomi’s God and her reward when Boaz steps up to become her kinsman redeemer pictures the coming Redeemer of all mankind.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, Ephesians 1:7-8  

We are linked with Hannah and Samuel. For when Hannah took her son, Samuel, to the temple at Shiloh and gave him to the Lord, many of her words in worship describe both the first and the second coming of Jesus Christ as Lord.

. . . And those who stumbled are girded with strength.
 . . . And the hungry have ceased to hunger.. . .
The LORD kills and makes alive;
He brings down to the grave and brings up.
The LORD makes poor and makes rich;
He brings low and lifts up.
He raises the poor from the dust
And lifts the beggar from the ash heap,
To set them among princes
And make them inherit the throne of glory.
For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’S,
And He has set the world upon them.
He will guard the feet of His saints,
But the wicked shall be silent in darkness.
For by strength no man shall prevail.
The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken in pieces;
From heaven He will thunder against them.
The LORD will judge the ends of the earth.
He will give strength to His king,
And exalt the horn of His anointed.” 1 Samuel 2: 4-10

Jesus Himself affirmed Hannah’s prophetic words when He told his disciples,

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Matthew 28:18

Moving on in history, David, whom Samuel anointed King, joins the company of those who expected Jesus. Matthew (1:1) traces Mary’s ancestry back to King David and Luke (3:23 ff) traces Joseph’s family line back to David. Close to 100 Psalms, many written by David, look forward to Jesus or some aspect of His life and ministry.

Psalm 2 refers to Jesus enemies, His holiness, His kingship and His being the Beloved Son. It suggests His crucifixion and resurrection and foretells life coming through faith in Him. The New Testament confirms Jesus’ fulfillment of this ancient prophetic song in Acts 2:36, Acts 4:25-28, Acts 2:36, John 8:46, Rev. 3:7, Matthew 2:2, Matthew 3:17, Acts 13:29-33, John 20:31.

Psalm 22 and 69 describe His crucifixion, Psalm 55 His betrayal. The list goes on. Surely these Psalmists looked forward to Jesus, for they alluded to him again and again. One of my own favorites is David’s Psalm 24

 This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him,
Who seek Your face.   Selah
Lift up your heads, O you gates!
And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
The LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O you gates!
Lift up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts,
He is the King of glory. Psalm 24:6-10

David didn’t write this about Himself. He was looking forward to the coming King, to the Advent of Jesus. I wonder, did David anticipate Jesus as the Lord of Hosts and King of glory before or after Nathan told him that one of his own sons would rule in a Kingdom without end? For Nathan was surely looking ahead and waiting for Jesus when he prophesied to David,

And it shall be, when your days are fulfilled, when you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up your seed after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My mercy away from him, as I took it from him who was before you. And I will establish him in My house and in My kingdom forever; and his throne shall be established forever. 1 Chronicles 17 : 11 and 2 Samuel 7:12   

 The Angel Gabriel recalled God’s prophetic promise to David when he announced the Advent to Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”

But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Luke 1:26-33.   

As David was dying, his final words looked forward in expectation Jesus and the fulfillment of prophecy.

 The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me,
And His word was on my tongue.
The God of Israel said,
The Rock of Israel spoke to me:
He who rules over men must be just,
Ruling in the fear of God.
And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises,
A morning without clouds,
Like the tender grass springing out of the earth,
By clear shining after rain.’
Although my house is not so with God,
Yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant,
Ordered in all things and secure.
For this is all my salvation and all my desire;
Will He not make it increase? 2 Samuel 23: 2-5

Since Jesus first Advent there has been much increase. His unquenchable love and life working by faith in the hearts of His followers has changed this world. By faith, hope and love in the name of Jesus, Christians have followed Jesus instructions to heal the sick, feed the hungry, and clothe the naked.They have built schools,  hospitals and orphanages. By their good works of faith the followers of Jesus have awakened the conscience of nations against child sacrifice and prostitution, polygamy, slavery, racism, religious persecution, the economic exploitation of the poor and more. And  Jesus, looking back to the Old Testament prophecies and those who expected him millenniums ago said 

I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.
Revelation 22:16   

also looked forward to the future and said,

And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. Revelation 22:12

 Come Lord, Jesus! This Advent, in remembering Your first coming, help us to prepare for Your coming again.  Increase Your rule within all who believe. Shed your light upon this darkened world where, in David’s words,  we wait in faith for the morning sun to rise without clouds and for all to be ordered and secure according to your promised word!