JOURNEY
TO THE MANGER-II
Second
Sunday of Advent: GET READY!
Illustration: During his 1960 presidential campaign, John F.
Kennedy often closed his speeches with the story of Colonel Davenport, the
Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives: On May 19th, 1780 the sky of Hartford
darkened ominously, and some of the representatives, glancing out the windows,
feared the end was at hand. Quelling a clamor for immediate adjournment,
Davenport rose and said, "The Day of Judgment is either approaching or it
is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to
be found doing my duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be brought." Rather
than fearing what is to come, we are to be faithful till Christ returns. Instead
of fearing the dark, we're to be lights as we watch and wait.[1]
Last Sunday, we began the Church tradition of Advent by
lighting the first candle in the Advent wreath. As we lit the purple Candle of
Hope, we entered on a prophetic trail with an attempt to understand and retrace
our historical heritage. That has put us on a journey to the manger. From the
reading of today’s scripture, we gather, when the initial excitement of
returning to their homeland was worn off, the Israelites were disillusioned and
started to give up Hope on the promised deliverance from exile.
Towards
the end of their exile, Isaiah brings this prophecy of getting ready for their
imminent return to their homeland and also their ultimate homecoming at the
arrival of the Messiah. As we travel on this prophetic road we will look at
what was involved for the ancient as exiles as they waited for the prophesied
Messiah to come and redeem them from their exile, and also what it means for us
the believers, the modern day exiles as we watch and wait for the second advent
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Journey to The Manger: GET READY
I. COMFORT FOR
GOD’S PEOPLE
Vs. 1-2, “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.
Tell her that her sad days
are gone, and her sins are pardoned. Yes, the Lord has punished her twice over
for all her sins.” What
comforting and tender words of God were these to His people!
To
know the significance of this prophecy, we need to consider Isaiah’s Ministry
Time-Line. In chapters 1-35, Isaiah prophesied about the Assyrian threat
against Judah and Jerusalem. In chapters 36-39, he warned about the future rise
of Babylon, and in chs 40-66, he wrote as if the Babylonian exile of Judah was
almost over.
Up
until that time, the people of Israel were living in the land of darkness and
despair. Now they can take a deep sigh knowing that their night will turn to a
day, their mourning into dancing, their sorrow into Joy. Israel had experienced
double sufferings, of losing their homeland, and being taken as exiles into the
heathen land of Babylon.
God
sends Isaiah with a comforting prophecy to a troubled nation. Vs. 1,
“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.”
Let’s pause for a moment and look at the word “Comfort,” which is repeated
twice for emphasis. The Hebrew word used for comfort appears over sixty-five
times in the O.T. The essence is to show how God comforts his people just the
way people comfort those who are hurting, broken, and repentant.
Consider
these scriptures: Isa 66:13, “I will
comfort you there in Jerusalem as a mother comforts her child.” “For the Lord has comforted his people and
will have compassion on them in their suffering. Isa 49:13. In Isa 61:1-2, Isaiah prophecies
what the future Messiah would do.
“He
has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be
released and prisoners will be freed. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that
the time of the Lord’s favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s anger
against their enemies.” It is fulfilled in Luke 4:16-19.
I
could go on, but you get the point. The Israelites in exile were looking
forward to the Messiah, who would comfort them. God was assuring them by not
adding more insult to the injury or salt to their wounds but instead with
comforting words of tender loving care and compassion. How could these words
apply to us today? As I shared last week, there is so much brokenness in this
world. A lot of people are going through
the pain of loneliness, isolation, depression, and struggling with thoughts of
suicide.
What
hope would they have during this Christmas season? More on an individual level, are you being overwhelmed
with trouble and grief? Are you having a broken heart due to a failed promise? Are you struggling with addictions and unable
to quit? If you do, may the words of these Psalms console you. Psalm 147:3 “He heals the brokenhearted
and bandages their wounds.” Psalm 56: 8 “You keep track of all my sorrows. You
have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your
book.” Psalm 119:50 “Your promise revives me; it comforts me in all my
troubles.”
Isaiah
not only encouraged them to get ready for their imminent deliverance from exile
and repatriation back into their homeland but also urged them to prepare
themselves for their ultimate redemption. We read about this vital prophecy in
the following verses.
II PREPARING THE WAY FOR THE LORD.
(3-4)
Vs.
3-4, “Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the
wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our
God!
Fill in the valleys, and level the
mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places.”
The language of vs. 3-4 has in view the ancient Near Eastern custom of sending
representatives ahead to prepare the way for the visit of a monarch. It is much
more like now the secret services going to a place to make the way clear and
safe for a presidential visit.
Making
a highway through the wilderness in the ancient days was an arduous process. It
took a lot of time, energy, and people tirelessly working perhaps round the
clock in rugged mountain terrain so that the king's chariots and wagons can pass
through smoothly. This prophecy has more to do with the future Messiah’s first
advent than Israel’s imminent return.
Nearly
five hundred years later, we pick this up in the gospel of Luke as referring to
John the Baptist. Here is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. Luke 3:4, “He
is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear
the road for him! John,
the Baptist, became the forerunner for the Messiah’s first coming, by preaching
the message of repentance.
John
the Baptist lifted his voice against social injustices of his time such as:
oppression of the poor, accumulation of wealth and resources by the rich,
extortion of money from the weak, unjust tax system, the moral folly of the
royalty by publicly criticizing Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, for
marrying Herodias his brother’s wife and for many other wrongs he had done.
Listening
to his convicting message, many have turned to God by repenting of their sins,
and John Baptized them in the Jordan River. Everyone in that region was eagerly
expecting the Messiah to come soon. When
people came to John thinking that he was the Messiah, he humbly said, “I baptize you with water,
but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m
not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandals. He will
baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
What a selfless, fearless and yet
humble servant, John the Baptist has been in his service of preparing the way
for the Messiah? The same call of John the Baptist, which was getting people
ready for the Lord, has now been placed upon the Church of Jesus Christ in the
21st century. So how are we then as the people who are living in
between the first coming and the second coming of Christ, to live and prepare
others for the Lord’s return?
III. GET READY & GET PEOPLE READY!
The exiled Israel in the 8th century, BC, eagerly
looked forward to returning to their beloved homeland, I wonder how many people
in the 21st century are eagerly looking forward to go to heaven
their ultimate promised land? If not, why this lethargy and indifference? The Apostle, Peter explains the reasons why.
You may even wonder why bother going through this tradition
of Advent. It is important that we do not stay away from the ancient path
living in a land full of scoffers and skeptics. Don’t let the business and the
commercialization of Christmas distract us from knowing and holding on to the
truth about our Lord’s first coming and even more so about his second coming.
In order for us to be firm in our
belief let us turn to what the Apostle Peter has to say about the Lord’s second
advent. 2 Peter 3 “I want you to remember what the holy
prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your
apostles.” In the last days,
scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They
will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again?
From before the times of our
ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”
Really? Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this,
what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God
and hurrying it along.”
The only way we keep that future
vision of Jesus’ coming back to earth again for the second time alive is by
following his very words. “So, you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know
what day your Lord is coming.” Matthew 24:42.
Keep watching means to get ready by
living Holy and Christ-honoring lives, and encouraging others to do the same. Getting
Ready is not a Passive waiting, but like John the Baptist, the cousin of Jesus
actively engaging in our society. As we look around and observe the signs of war,
earthquakes, famines and increased crime and violence, sooner than later Jesus
will return to the earth as He has promised. If the Lord’s return is so certain
and imminent, how are we to live our lives today? On His return will
Jesus catch us doing nothing, or working hard in preparing the way for Him? May the Lord help us all to be ready, and help others get
ready during this Advent. Amen!
