Advent Expectations (Reflections on the 4th week of Advent)

“God with us” a different kind of King

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus.
Matthew 1:18-25 NKJV

In order to contextualize our passage we need to connect it with what we have earlier in Matthew’s Gospel. Matthew opens with a genealogy of Joseph, the betrothed (or engaged) of Mary. Matthew’s focal point is to show his readers that Jesus Christ is the true heir and King of Israel. Matthew’s gospel opens: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” (Matthew 1: 1). What is clear from our text is Matthew is connecting Jesus Christ with Abraham the father of all Jews and then with the Davidic royal lineage of the King of Israel.

We ask the question why tell us Joseph’s lineage if Joseph is not really Jesus’s biological father and if Jesus is born of the Virgin Mary?

Tradition tells us that Mary didn’t have any brothers, which would mean there were no male heirs to inherit her father’s possessions and rights. Thus according to Mosaic Law in Numbers 27 & 36, when there are no male heirs a daughter inherits her father’s possessions and rights if she marries within her own tribe. This is what we have here with Joseph. Her marriage to Joseph (who is of the same tribe) would insure that the inheritance of her father was passed on. This would make Jesus the full inheritor of the right to rule on David’s throne. Thus, just like in Luke’s account, Matthew’s genealogy had to be established by the Law of Moses in order to lay the claim of Christ’s right to rule on David’s throne. Taking that genealogy into account as well as our text, along with what immediately follows our passage in Matthew 2 the where the Magi come to Herod seeking “the one who has been born King of the Jews” we have the full picture of the Heavenly born King.

Matthew’s Gospel from the beginning is doing these three things; first establishing the legality and legitimacy of Jesus Christ as the heir and rightful King of Israel, secondly that He is born miraculously of God, and third, juxtaposing king Herod as a Jewish usurper. If you can see it, what Matthew is telling us is political dynamite! By establishing that Jesus is the true King of Israel, of the royal line of David, Matthew by default is saying Herod is a false King and an impostor! Matthew is being highly subversive in setting the two Kings and Kingdoms in contradistinction to each other (Luke by the way does the same in his account where Jesus is set up in contradistinction to the world Emperor Caesar). This juxtaposition is important in that Jesus Christ is presented as “Immanuel” the God/Man, the true Heavenly King who has come down from heaven to be “God with us”. Matthew is also telling us Jesus Christ is a different kind of a King, one who enters our world miraculously through the womb of the Blessed Virgin. God Himself to become one of us, and to live among us.

Not only in our text but throughout Matthew’s gospel Jesus is revealed as a different kind of King, a servant King who is the opposite of earthly rulers who, more often than not were tyrants, leaders who were “out of touch” with the simple people. Often they lived protected from the masses, living it up in fortress like palaces, ruling with an iron fist, shielded from the very people they ruled.

Ancient kingdoms like any human government in human history were “top down”. So much so that kings and rulers were literally viewed as gods and to be served as such. It is well known that Pharaoh, Alexander, Caesar, and other ancient rulers were considered gods in the ancient world. Imperial “emperor cults” held monarchs out as divine to their subjects. Emperors served as both head of state and as a deity or sovereign religious figure. Theirs was a system of government that combined theocracy with absolute monarchy. Coinage as well also often reinforced the emperor’s divinity. One historian and theologian said this about the Roman coinage: “the coins of Tiberius carried a “bust of Tiberius in Olympian nakedness, adorned with the laurel wreath, the sign of divinity.” The inscription read, “Emperor Tiberius August Son of the August God,” on the one side, and “Pontifex Maximus” or “High Priest” on the other. The symbols also included the emperor’s mother, Julia Augusta (Livia) sitting on the throne of the gods, holding the Olympian sceptre in her right hand, and, in her left, the olive branch to signify that “she was the earthly incarnation of the heavenly Pax.” Tiberius’s own father Augustus had this phrase on his coinage: “salvation is to be found in none other save Augustus, and there is no other name given to men in which they can be saved” which the Apostle Peter uses in the book of Acts (4:12) of Christ’s present reign! Not much has changed; in modern times we too have seen governments that require “total allegiance” or “religious like” allegiance to the state. Men like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and others have had messianic aspirations (as political saviors) whom require god like allegiance to the state (of which they embodied) as if the state and its ideals were “god incarnate”.

Thus in the Gospel we have the exact opposite of this type of top down god like Kingdom. Instead of man reaching by force to become “a god” among men, we have the true God and Heavenly King condescending from His Heavenly Majesty to become a lowly and humble servant as a man. Jesus Christ, the servant King for mankind who was born to be the world’s Savior and Israel’s long expected Messiah. A God/King that became vulnerable like us by entering into our experience in the humblest of circumstances, in a world filled with evil and violence, to fully experience with us what it means to be human. He became like us (Heb 2:17) and by His example showed how to love God, as well as a new way of being human, by a new way of living a life of love, peace, self-sacrifice, and service to our fellow man.

Napoleon Bonaparte contrasts earthly rule to Christ’s and said this of Jesus: “I know men; and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for him.”

Thus, throughout the Gospels we have the stories of the confrontation of these two ways of life. One where the meek and humble inherit the earth, where the merciful are exalted, where peacemakers are called the children of God, and where rather than hating your enemies all are called to love their enemies. Throughout Matthew’s Gospel there is the clashing of these two worldviews, a clash of two sets of opposing values, where eventually this clash would lead right up to the cross were Jesus once again is confronting head-on the representatives of Herod and Caesar Augustus. That head on confrontation eventually lead to Christ’s Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension which sealed Christ’s victory over them and powers that be; “For if the rulers of this world understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor 2:8). Thus by Christ’s Ascension to be seated at the Right Hand of the Father, far above all principality and power, Jesus Christ is enthroned as King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s and everyone else from Caesar downwards, all the way to the evil one himself, is dethroned. Thus as we said in week one of Advent; the world today is a totally different place from what it was in the first century. Its transformation is due in large measure to the teachings and finished work of our King worked out through His people in concrete history.

In Advent we have Jesus Christ, our God King, made flesh incarnate. We have the Heavenly King that turns the old world of “might makes right” upside down and on its head. Our King by His finished work brought an entirely new agenda for a new humanity of people that are transformed from the inside out, a renewed humanity by which He will reconcile and renew the world to God. For “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation” (1 Cor 5:19).

Thus, God’s Kingdom is worked out in history through the meek, the merciful, the pure of heart, and the peacemakers! God’s Kingdom is not like the world which sends in the armies to bring about change. Instead change comes as our King sends His simple followers, you and me, to preach the Good News of the Kingdom, and to do in humility and hope the world renewing works of the Kingdom. Simple everyday works of love and service to our fellow man through which the living God is implementing His rule and His Kingdom! As the old hymn says:

“Joy to the world! The Lord is come. Let earth receive her King!

Amen and Amen!

Larry Temple, Advent 2016

References used:
bibletools.org
wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_cult
Ethelbert Stauffer, Christ and the Caesars, 1955
R.J. Rushdoony, “The Tribute Money,” The Institutes of Biblical Law, 1973
Bishop Robert Barron on Christmas (youtube)
NT Wright: How God became King (youtube)

Advent Expectations (Reflections on the 3rd week of Advent)

Patience and Trust

Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment. James 5:7-12 NKJV

Most scholars believe the author of this epistle is James, the brother of the Lord Jesus Christ, the great leader of the early church in Jerusalem. It is thought to have been written between 50 AD and 60 AD. From the beginning Jerusalem was the center of Jewish Christianity, and emerging as its leader was “James the Just” as he was called, because of how highly respected he was by many in Jerusalem. We also know since the death of Stephen recorded early in the book of Acts the Church in Jerusalem was under heavy persecution from men like Saul of Tarsus. It is said that James’ witness for Christ was so strong that even some of the rulers eventually believed in Jesus. James’ growing influence caused the Jewish leadership to eventually conspire to have him put to death during the interval between Roman governors in 62 AD. From the content of his epistle we know James is primarily speaking to a Jewish Christian audience this is because his epistle is latent with references that a Jewish audience would be highly familiar with.

One of the things we know from our passage is that an imminent event is looming in the very near future. James says “the Judge is standing at the door” and “the coming of the Lord is at hand” and that these Jewish Christians are to be patient “until the coming of the Lord.” To fully understand this passage we must keep in mind that James is writing to a first century Christian Jewish audience as a historical background.

Having this background in mind the question that naturally arises is what does James mean by His “coming” is “at hand”? Is he talking about the final Second Coming? I don’t think so, for reasons we’ll get into. One thing we do all know from the Apostles and Nicene creeds as well as passages like Acts 1:11 is that “this same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” So then what is James talking about? As we saw last week I believe this too is looking to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. I believe James has Jesus prophesy in Matthew 24 in mind. Biblical commentator Albert Barnes says this on James Chapter 5: “The most natural interpretation of the passage, and one which will accord well with the time when the epistle was written, is, that the predicted time of the destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 24) was at hand; that there were already indications that that would soon occur; and that there was a prevalent expectation among Christians that that event would be a release from many trials of persecution, and would be followed by the setting up of the Redeemer’s kingdom.”

The problem for us moderns arises in the way we understand the language of “coming” in modern end-times literature versus the way it is used prophetically of judgment by the Hebrew prophets. If we were a student of the Old Testament like many of the Jewish believers were in the first century (who were steeped in the poetics images of the prophets) we would see that God “coming” in the Bible is sometimes referred to as coming “in judgment.” One example is in the Old Testament in Isaiah 19:1 speaking of the impending judgment of Egypt the prophet says: “The burden against Egypt. Behold, the Lord rides on a swift cloud, And will come into Egypt; The idols of Egypt will totter at His presence, And the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst.” Isaiah’s words here are not meant to be taken “literally” as if God is going to surf down on a cloud into Egypt. What we do see is Isaiah employing a type of poetic imagery or “apocalyptic” language of God’s impending and coming judgment upon Egypt in which everyone who saw the devastation would know it was an act of God. Isaiah used similar language earlier in Chapter 13 in speaking of the impending doom of Babylon to the Medes when he says “Behold, the day of the Lord comes, Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger To lay the land desolate; And He will destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not give their light; The sun will be darkened in its going forth, And the moon will not cause its light to shine.”

I believe James is alluding to Jesus prophesy in Matthew 24 (also in Mark 13 and Luke 21) in reference to the Temple and City. “Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” (Mat 24:1-2) Jesus uses “Isaiah like” apocalyptic language speaking of the downfall of Jerusalem when he says: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth [Lit “land”] will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Mat 24:29-30) With this historical background, James is urging believers who are under heavy persecution in the first century to be patient and endure because what Christ prophesied would come to pass very soon in the downfall of their persecutors and that their patience and faith would be vindicated. This then tempts one to ask the question, is this then still relevant to us today? Yes! James does what other writers in the New Testament do; he encourages his readers to look back to examples of patience in the Old Testament. Thus, we today look back to both; these early Christians and the Old Testament saints as double examples.

Now that we have established the historical background we come back to the first word of our passage which is “therefore” and as always “therefore” is referring to what was spoken before. Earlier in the chapter James gives a general condemnation of “the rich” not because they are rich, but because they are wicked, fraudulent, and deceitful in their methods of “getting rich.” James 5:7-12 is a sharp contrast to the non-Christian “way of living” found earlier which is how can “I” get the most from life now versus the Christian way of living which is a life of trusting in God and being patient through trials and tribulations. One writer says of these rich: “The wicked fatten their hearts for the day of slaughter. They are like a turkey, happily eating grain as Thanksgiving Day draws near. The fatter he gets, the more eager its owners are to eat him. This by the way is what happened to the Jews in Jerusalem when the Romans sacked the city in 70 A.D. They knew the rich by their extravagance, and tortured the plump, well-dressed Jews to force them to reveal where their wealth was hidden.” James contrasts the two ways of living by calling these Christians who are under heavy persecution to look to “the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience” as well as to “the farmer who waits for the precious fruit of the earth”. He reminds them of “the perseverance of Job” and God’s resulting intentions “that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.”

As examples James uses the prophets who endured ridicule and suffering in standing for the truth of the Lord in a wicked and perverse culture. Also, the farmer because Israel was a land that was very dependent on the rains for its crops unlike irrigated land where crops could grow easily and abundantly. God promised to bless them in this land if they sought to earnestly obey His commandments and love and serve Him with all their hearts and souls (see Deuteronomy 11:8-15). James then moves on to remind them of the outcome of Job’s sufferings; that God vindicated Job as a righteous man and granted him twice the prosperity than he had before his testing and trials began. All are examples of endurance and patience in which they are to “establish their hearts” or stand firm by faith. James warns them not to “grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Reminding them of Israel’s history in the wilderness when the people grumbled against Moses (God’s appointed leader) in which they were ultimately grumbling against God. To complain or grumble, take our problems out on those around us, is to ultimately be grumbling against God, saying indirectly; we are not satisfied with what He has given us. Lastly James says “do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No.” The words are similar to those of Jesus in Matthew 23:16-22 where Jewish leadership developed a highly specialized oath system where one didn’t technically “swear to God” (which meant you were bound by God) but where you could swear by “something religious” and not have to keep your oath. It would give the appearance of a solemn promise but have no real intention of keeping the promise. It was a system of lying, fraud, and hypocrisy that James was calling believers to abandon because those who live in such a way are under divine judgment. For honest followers of Christ “yes” and “no” are enough, we shouldn’t have to add an extra “I swear to” to our word which in effect says; only believe me if I “swear to God.”

So what does all this mean for us during Advent? It means that true faith and real religion requires trust and patient endurance through suffering, persecution, trials, and life’s circumstances. It means we live as those who put our trust in God and not the things of this world that are passing away like those who do not believe. It means we are called to live simple honest lives trusting that God will reward our perseverance and patience. Advent means that we, like every generation of Christians who have gone before us, live by faith, trusting patiently and soberly anticipating the final return of the Lord. We are trusting that when Christ comes in all His glory on the last day, He will reward His own, and judge the whole world in righteousness. Amen and Amen…

Larry Temple, Advent 2016

References used: Albert Barnes Notes on the New Testament, 1860 & bible.org

Advent Expectations (Reflections on the 2nd week of Advent)

Why Repent?

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’” Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:1-12 NKJV

God’s very last words of the Old Testament, closing the cannon, bringing over 400 years of silence where there would be no more prophets are:“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” (Mal 4:5-6) These words are a last “sign” to God’s people signifying to them what they would witness before the coming golden age of the Messiah. The prophet Malachi tells them they could expect one last mighty “Elijah like” prophet who would rise up before the end of the old covenant order and call God’s people to change their hearts.

To his audience, John the Baptist clothed in camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, frequently seen preaching in wilderness areas near the Jordan River, must have conjured up images of that mighty prophet Elijah. To the Hebrew people everything about Elijah epitomized the Israeli prophets. Elijah, the “prophet of prophets” the only one who didn’t taste death, taken up into heaven alive, embodies and personifies all the prophets in the old covenant. The prophets foretold the future and warned of impending doom, and served God in their primary function as a mouthpiece of repentance and promising renewal. Thus in the gospels John the Baptist is seen as the archetype of Elijah; the promised coming prophet spoken of in Malachi. John the Baptist not only personifies the prophet, he also is herald of the new Kingdom that is breaking into history; he declares “the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

In ancient times a herald, messenger, or forerunner would go before the king’s entourage running before it and shouting “bow the knee!” or “make way!” notifying everyone along the route that royalty is coming; that everything should be put in order and cleared for his or her passage. In Genesis 41:43 we have an account of this when Pharaoh parades Joseph on a chariot and the people cry out before him “Bow the knee!”

Other types of messengers were used in times of war and would serve as diplomatic representatives or emissaries for royalty. During a military siege, in an effort to accelerate the campaign, a commanding general would send emissaries into the city to persuade the city leaders to “repent” and “switch” allegiances. If the city agreed to surrender; obligations and terms would be discussed, if not war would begin. The first century historian Josephus tells us of such an account. “And thus did Vespasian march with his army, and came to the bounds of Galilee, where he pitched his camp and restrained his soldiers, who were eager for war; he also showed his army to the enemy in order to frighten them, and to allow them a season for repentance, to see whether they would change their minds before it came to a battle… indeed this sight of the general brought many to repent of their revolt.” Josephus (after switching sides earlier in the war) served as an emissary for the Roman army here, goes on: “I [Josephus] therefore endeavored to discourage these riotous individuals, and tried to persuade them to change their minds”.

Thus John the Baptist is doing more than just saying “get saved” as we might understand it today. As a messenger he is announcing that the King is arriving! He is calling the people of God and their leaders to prepare and come to terms with the Lord of all Lords who is now coming to be anointed as King (in his baptism which is later in our chapter). Theologian NT Wright compares Josephus words to Jesus’s early on in His ministry when he says “repent and believe the gospel.” Wright says “This does not, of course, mean that Josephus was challenging them to give up sinning and have a religious conversion experience. It has a far more specific and indeed political meaning. I suggest that when we examine Jesus of Nazareth, forty years earlier, going around Galilee telling people to repent and believe in him or in the gospel, we dare not screen out these meanings. Even if we end up suggesting that Jesus meant more than Josephus did (that there were indeed religious and theological dimensions to his invitation) we cannot suppose that he meant less. He was telling his hearers to give up their agendas, and to trust him for his way of being Israel, his way of bringing the Kingdom, and his kingdom-agenda. In particular, he was urging them, as Josephus did, to abandon their crazy dreams of nationalist revolution.”

So it is clear that the Baptist is calling the people, including nationalist Jews who’s faith was in their ethnic identity, to repent and change their hearts and minds – he says “do not think to say to yourselves ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.” John was telling them to come to their senses and stop placing their trust in “worldly” human methods and devices that would wither and fade away.

John’s preaching is somewhere around 40 years before the coming destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD by Rome. The connections to these themes in Scripture are myriad. Especially against the backdrop of what the future held for nationalist Jews in terms of the eradication of their land, holy city, Temple, and exile and subjugation of the people by the Romans. The thematic connection to the first destruction in 587 BC is instructive, with Nebuchadnezzar being a “type” of a world leader of that time. Daniel says the king of Babylon was: “the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all”(Dan 2:37-38) And just as in our passage, before the siege of 587 BC God raised up another prophet of warning, Jeremiah who called the people and leaders to repent and “switch sides” to serve the King that God had appointed as he declared: “I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him. So all nations shall serve him and his son and his son’s son, until the time of his land comes; and then many nations and great kings shall make him serve them. And it shall be, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish,’ says the Lord, ‘with the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.” (Jer 27:6-9)

Just as it was then so too was John the Baptist calling the people and leaders to obey and serve God’s chosen King and Lord. John declares prophetically their impending doom when he says: “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” and “even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. True to the prophets word God eventually brought about the destruction of their nationalist dreams through the Roman armies in 70 AD. We have an amazing account of it recorded by the historian Josephus where he tells us: “chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities” saying “let us remove hence.”

So what does all this mean for us during this season of advent? It means we like the Jews of old are to anticipate the coming King! For us believers it means we prepare our hearts and pray for God to help us to “repent” that we may “bear fruits worthy of repentance.” Repentance is to be a way of life, especially now that the Christ child has come and has been exalted as Lord and King of Heaven and Earth! We being citizens of a new reality live a new way of being human, with a new kingdom “politics” of self-sacrifice and service, trusting our King and His Kingdom-agenda!

Lastly, advent means we too like the Baptist, are to be forerunners going before our Lord, encouraging our friends, loved ones, our neighbors and everyone to “repent and believe the Gospel”! ALL are called to give up self-centered sinful ways, our agendas, and put our neck under the yoke of the King of Kings. We all are to stop trusting in what will vanish and fade away and put our faith in Jesus Christ, born to be Savior the world! We announce to the whole world that the King of King’s and Lord of Lord’s will come again, in His glorious majesty, to judge the living and the dead.

May the whole world and all its people… Repent! Amen and Amen!

Larry Temple, Advent 2016

References used:
NT Wright: The Challenge of Jesus, 2015 New Manners and Customs of the Bible, 1998 Josephus: War of the Jews

 

Advent Expectations (Reflections on the 1st week of Advent)

Isaiah’s Gospel Expectation

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. Isaiah 2:1-5 NKJV

The first thing we need to keep in mind as we read this prophecy is its historical background. Isaiah’s world as it can be today was filled with fear, political turmoil, national apostasy, and uncertainty. He lived during the period of the split kingdoms; Israel to the north and Judah to the south. After existing for two centuries the northern kingdom was very soon approaching its fall, succumbing to a far greater power, the well-known and powerful Assyrian empire. The Assyrians were known for their brutality. Their kings were known to gloat over the terrible fate they imposed upon their captives; flaying (or skinning alive) their enemies. Isaiah also lived around 150 years before another brutal world power would rise up, the Babylonians who would eventually exile many of the people of the southern kingdom of Judah, destroy their beloved holy city of Jerusalem, and their place of worship, the Temple in 587 BC.

Thus the first thing we see in Isaiah’s prophesy in the midst of a fearful world is a word of hope and promise of the coming Gospel age: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.”

“In the last days” of the old covenant order, a golden age of the Messiah (what we now know as the Gospel and the Church age) would come just as God had always promised. What the Jews of old didn’t understand is the “how”, that God would end the national and exclusive “Hebrew age” of types and shadows found in the old covenant order (Heb 10:1). They did not foresee that these would eventually be rendered obsolete (Heb 8:13). One day true religion would not be fixed to one earthly locale, because there was to be a worldwide expansion of the Kingdom where “all nations shall flow unto it”. There was coming a time when the reality of the land, the law (which would be written in our hearts), the holy city, the priesthood, and the Temple and all they symbolized, would be represented in faith by the coming messiah Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. True religion and the Kingdom would not just be something ethnic or national, bound in symbols as it was in the past, but it was to be expanded to become a worldwide spiritual renewal and reality. The very place of worship on the small and lowly holy mount of Zion, and the reality of what it symbolized and meant to the ancient Hebrew people, would “be exalted above the hills”.

To the ancients all over the globe, mountains were earliest places of divine worship, both among Jews and Gentiles. For the Greeks it was Mount Olympus, the Romans Mount Etna. Mountains and tall hills were used all over the globe to worship the gods. And where there were no mountains, men would make them; the Sumerians Abraham’s ancient pagan forefathers built Ziggurats, the Egyptians and Aztecs built huge pyramids. Mountains, because they are high places, were the place where you could get close to the heavens. In comparison to other high places of worship, the Jew’s Zion was a small and lowly mount. But what it symbolized to them in terms of worship to the one true God was to “be established in the top of the mountains” to become a mountain top that would surpass all mount’s or places of worship all over the whole earth. As in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream revealed by the prophet Daniel centuries later, after the great kingdoms of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome that “the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth” (Dan 2:35) and “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. (Dan 2:44).

Isaiah goes on to say: “And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Isaiah pointed the ancient people of God, despite their fears and trials; poetically and symbolically to a hope that one day God would fulfill His promises. That the coming Kingdom would bring the rise, ascendancy, and influence of the golden age of the Messiah’s reign. They could expect the rise of true worship and true religion, and that it would become an increasing reality throughout the world. For the ancient Jew’s they looked forward. For us who live with the ever increasing reality of the spreading of the gospel, we look to what has been accomplished by the ministry of our Savior Jesus Christ. We see that God; “has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:9-11)

Every Lord’s Day when we gather, we need to remind ourselves of what it means as believers to “ascend the holy mount” to worship the Triune God. For this is what the new testament tells us, that we, when we worship in spirit and in truth “come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn” (Heb 12:22-23) that we are of “the Jerusalem above”, “which is the mother of us all” (Gal 4:26). As we worship in the spirit and truth the roof comes off our church building and we make an ascent into heavenly Zion and heavenly Temple in the heavenly Jerusalem to worship our God. Local churches worldwide are gathered to join the saints who have gone before us, along with uncountable number angels, gathering around the throne and sanctuary of God for Holy worship. All of us together, the great congregation from every tribe nation and tongue gather round the great heavenly banquet table, for a Eucharistic supper with the Lamb of God. What they had hoped for, for us, is becoming an ever increasing reality…

Isaiah tells us what would mark or define the Messiah’s reign: And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more.

The Christmas story fully revealed what Isaiah pointed to: “peace and goodwill toward men” (Luke 2:14) proclaimed by a multitude of angels at the birth of our blessed King and Savior. And just as the sun of the morning dawn arises in the east, only to reach the height of the noon day, so too the climax or apex of this promise of peace on earth has come but is still to be fully realized in history. Think about it, how can one begin to measure the impact that Jesus Christ and His gospel have had on this fallen world? It has been argued that “Christianity has become the most potent single force in the life of mankind”. One historian has compared the growth of Christianity to a huge incoming tide which advances and retreats. “Each major wave a new high water mark and each major recession less pronounced than its predecessor, continually gaining ground over time. As the centuries pass by, the evidence is accumulating that measured by its effect on history; Jesus is the most influential life ever lived on this planet. No other life lived on this planet has so widely and deeply affected mankind”. The kingdom of God has broken into history. The “mustard seed” of the Kingdom has been sown… and it is “putting forth large branches so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.” (Mark 4:31-23). Alleluia, God has been faithful!

Thus in this Advent season, as we think on this passage in Isaiah and what God was saying to His people of old, remember that the God of the covenant is faithful and keeps His promises! We too, despite our fears, national apostasy, trials and present day circumstance, who live in a time of uncertainty, not always seeing or knowing exactly how God’s plan will unfold, need to be a people who live by faith. We must not lose hope in the midst of our circumstances, we must “walk in the light of the Lord” and not lose faith in the power of the gospel! Revival and reformation are always around the corner. History is replete with astonishing examples of the power of the Gospel to change the most hardened and stubborn of human hearts and even those deeply steeped in sin, as well as change whole nations and people groups!

Thus even if our circumstances look grim, or our loved ones, friends or neighbors need to be touched by the power of the Gospel, we must not lose heart! Instead we must continue in fervent prayer, hoping with an expectation that nothing is impossible with God! Again, we need to wait patiently and expectantly, in faith, trusting in God’s plan and promise. Why? Because He has been faithful, the Messiah Jesus our King has come! Amen and Amen!

Larry Temple, Advent 2016

References used: H.D.M.Spence and J. Exel: The Pulpit Commentaries: Isaiah Kenneth Scott Latourette: A History of Christianity, Volume 1, 1997