A Future Hope
Notes
Transcript
Handout
First Sunday in Advent
First Sunday in Advent
Good morning everyone. I pray that you had a blessed Thanksgiving. For those visiting or viewing this online I am Pastor Ben. As we begin this advent season let us now turn to our Lord and ask his blessing on our message for today.
PRAYER
40 Prayers for the Christmas Season: Prayers for your Church or small group Prayers of Approach
WE COME
Lord, we come with our lives,
our thoughts, our hopes, and our fears.
We come with our plans, our dreams, and our memories.
We come with our time, our gifts, and our skills.
We come with our family, our friends,
and we come with ourselves.
We come to offer to you everything we have and are.
We come to glorify your holy name. Amen.
Lord may we praise your name this day as we gather together with the saints. As we enter this season of remembrance, let us remember all that you have done for us and find reason to glorify your name through our testimony of your faithfulness. May the words that we say and sing here today be honoring to you. Amen
As we work through these series I appreciate having a verse to help us keep our hearts and minds to attention. In this time of year where commercialism and materialism are in full force let us bring our minds to attention on what we really celebrate this time of year.
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
You know there is a beauty about this time of year. A beauty that I believe as a young man we do not typically see or appreciate. That being the beauty of a season that forces us to slow down, to focus. I find that as I get older I am becoming an appreciator of winter. Now let me be clear, I am not a fan of winter, it is not my favorite season by a long shot, but I am growing to appreciate it more each year. And I appreciate it because it forces me to slow down and reflect.
As a young man reflecting was not on my mind. Looking back was a waste of time. It only slowed me down from what needed to be done. Winter created more work. You had to get all bundled up to where you could not move just to be warm enough to go outside. Then once you get to work you start to sweat, so you strip layers and then you freeze, and it was a constant endless cycle, till your face and fingers and toes are so cold, that it hurts to be alive. Forget about the things you want to do those weren’t going to happen, the work that needed to be done just to do what you had to do was more than enough to manage. Can any relate? Yet, what I realized is that I was missing the intention of this season. I was in a hurry to get things done. I was missing the fact that this time of year was created to stop and reflect. And you know what reflection does. Reflection should build anticipation. Anticipation about the future.
As we look to our passage for today, it is this anticipation we should see. Our message for today is titled A Future Hope: The Light of the Lord and we will be looking towards Isaiah chapter 2 verses 1 through 5. If you have your own Bible and want to follow along please turn there now. If you are using the blue pew Bible you can find it on page 631 or you can follow along on the screen.
Let us hear the word of the Lord.
1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,
3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; 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 anymore.
5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
May the Lord bless the reading of his word.
Today marks the first Sunday of advent. The time that many Christians across the globe remember the first coming of Jesus. The word advent is transliterated from the Latin word which means arrival or coming. And this Sunday marks the beginning of the yearly Christian calendar. Now you might ask where did the celebration of advent come from. When I read my Bible I do not see the mention of it being celebrated in the NT. That is because you won’t. So does that mean that we are in sin by celebrating it? No I do not believe that is the case either.
Within our Scriptures the festivals that were commanded to be kept, were given to the Israelites in accordance with keeping the law of Moses. With Jesus being the fulfillment of the law, festivals are now a thing of the conscious. What we can understand is that the festivals we celebrate, should point us towards Christ and remembering what he did. So where did Advent come from?
Advent first makes the historical record in 380 AD. Like most things it emerged as a response to a heretical claim. The embattled issue was over the nature of who Jesus was. Advent became a way of instructing believers on the incarnation of Christ. Yet, this was not the only purpose of Advent. Advent has always been historically the four weeks leading up to Christmas day. Traditionally the first two weeks were a time of meditation, fasting, and confession of sins, as Christians looked forward to the second coming of Jesus. The last two weeks were a time of remembrance of the first coming. As time went on Advent maintained being a time to teach specifics about the Christian faith. The four weeks ended up centering on the topics, of hope, love, joy, and peace. In some traditions love is replaced with the topic of faith. Other traditions teach these by teaching on different characters or witnesses of Christ. Those being the prophets, Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, and the angels. Here at Burr Oak this last approach is closes to how we remember the advent season. With our call to worship this morning it is the prophets that we remembered, or rather the hope for the future that they hung on too.
This advent season our messages will be based on select readings from Isaiah in accordance with the liturgical calendar. But it would be good for us to understand some of the back ground to Isaiah. The intro to Isaiah in the ESV translation states,
Isaiah lived during the decline of Israel in the shadow of Assyria. He spoke the word of God to a people who were “deaf and blind” (see 6:10), who refused to listen to his warnings of looming disaster. He warned that the sin of the people of Judah would bring God’s judgment, yet he also declared that God is sovereign and would use Cyrus the Persian to return them from exile. The book speaks of a “servant,” a “man of sorrows,” who would be “pierced for our transgressions,” accomplishing God’s purposes of salvation (52:13–53:12). The final chapters give a beautiful description of a new creation in which God will rule as King, judging the wicked and establishing eternal peace. Isaiah prophesied about 740–700 B.C.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Is.
Isaiah’s prophecies came 700 years before Jesus. He lived at a time when Jerusalem and all of Judah, or the southern kingdom which had been left to the line of David, had turned their backs on God and God was now handing down his discipline. Let’s consider some of what Isaiah relays to us from the Lord regarding Israel.
2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.”
21 How the faithful city has become a whore, she who was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.
22 Your silver has become dross, your best wine mixed with water.
23 Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow’s cause does not come to them.
8 Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made.
9 So man is humbled, and each one is brought low— do not forgive them!
10 Enter into the rock and hide in the dust from before the terror of the Lord, and from the splendor of his majesty.
11 The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
12 For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;
9 For the look on their faces bears witness against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves.
Yet, even in the opening of Isaiah, in between these two sections, Isaiah points towards hope. Isaiah tells the Jewish people that God is not done with them. That God has a bigger plan then they can imagine. A plan that involves a peace amongst the nations. Now I want you to consider this for a moment. You live in Jerusalem in 700 BC. The past 700 years or so of your nations history has been filled with both internal and external conflict. The 400 years before that you were in slavery. Prior to that you were a nomadic family of shepherds. Yet, all along you have been told stories of this one true God that has chosen your people. But when you consider all things, peace in your land has been sparse and not very long lasting. And you sit here watching the Northern Kingdom of Israel being hauled off into captivity by the Assyrians. They were supposed to have been chosen by this same God too.
Now I want you to consider how much hope you are going to find in these words of Isaiah’s. A future when all nations will come together to worship God from Jerusalem. How encouraged are you going to be? As we consider this passage today there are three elements that I want us to consider. Who Isaiah is addressing, when the fulfillment of this prophecy is, and what it means for believers today in light of the first coming of Jesus.
Concerning Judah and Jerusalem
Concerning Judah and Jerusalem
The heading that starts this passage indicates that this message was for Judah and Jerusalem. This is who this message is intended for. This was home for Isaiah, these people were his people and he cared deeply for them. But that is only part of the reason that we find this addressed to them. When we consider the OT storyline of continuing to draw down to one person, the seed of the woman that will crush the head of the serpent, that line takes us to the tribe of Judah. This was the tribe that king David was from and it had been told that it would be an offspring of his that would have a throne established forever.
11 When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.
12 He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever.
13 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you,
14 but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.’ ”
When we see this address we should see it being addressed to the line by which the forever king, or rather Messiah, is going to come from. Yet, as we read this prophecy we can come to understand that this message is not exclusive to just Judah and Jerusalem. Meaning that they are not the sole recipients of the promise of this prophecy. As we get into the last line of verse 2 and verse 3 we see the expansiveness of this prophecy.
2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,
3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
This prophecy is not intended for just Jerusalem or just Judah. No all nations are to be impacted as all will flow to the house of the Lord. The place where God dwells with men. Part of what shows us the inclusiveness of this passage is Isaiah’s usage of the term God of Jacob. Commenting on this Frank Gaebelein states,
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 6: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel B. The Exaltation of God’s House and the Extension of His Dominion (2:1–5)
The phrase “God of Jacob” underlines the special relationship of the true God with historical Israel, perhaps including the schismatic northern tribes, while “Zion”-“Jerusalem” represents divinely ordained worship and divinely authorized government. So this passage weds together normal OT particularism with the vision of universal worship and peace, which in different forms recurs often in Isaiah.
While Isaiah is preaching to the Jewish people, this message is intended for all nations. A day is coming when God’s house will be amongst mankind, and peace will rule. There will be no more war. No more conflicts. This will happen because each will desire to walk in the ways of God. This is the message of hope that Isaiah has for the kingdom of Judah. Yet, when, oh when Isaiah will this come to pass? 2,700 years later and many of us echo that cry, “Oh when will peace come Isaiah?”
The Fulfillment
The Fulfillment
Understanding prophecy in the Bible is always an interesting thing. In part I believe that this is because of the mystery surrounding prophets and prophecies. We struggle to understand them because within our time we do not see prophets operating as they did within ancient Israel and other cultures. When we consider OT prophets often times our minds run to them being the human vessel in which the Scriptures were written through. Or we consider them to be tellers of the future. Or highly spiritual people that were the spokesperson for God. And while any of these could be true of a prophet it is not what entirely defines a prophet, including NT and on prophets.
Do you know what the primary role of the prophet was? They were to be an encourager. Now that might make you stop a minute and say, what do you mean an encourager. Often when I read the prophets encouragement is far from what they are giving. Well that is because our understanding of encouragement is mis-calibrated. When we think of encouragement we think of someone cheering us on in what we are already doing, encouraging us to continue on. Yet, this is not what we see done by the prophets. Often what we see by them is what Paul describes in Romans chapter 12.
6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;
7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching;
8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
An exhortation is a stronger type of encouragement and usually is meant to incite change of behavior. What the prophets did was encourage those around them to forsake their sinful ways and return to the ways of God. This is their primary purpose. And often this larger purpose was done through the means of writing Scripture, or proclaiming future events as a sign.
Isaiah here is verse 2 tell the reader that what is to take place will come in latter days.
2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,
The indication of the Hebrew word used here for latter days, is that of the days at the end of a time period. When we consider some of what Isaiah has written here, the Lord ruling from Jerusalem, nations living in peace with each other, tools made for warfare and destruction being turned into tools for cultivating and growth. When we consider these, and then look back through history we can understand that this event has not fully happened yet. This is a Seconding Coming fulfilment. The First Coming of Jesus was a hint at what was to come latter. It was to prepare the people. So when we look at this and consider what Isaiah is saying, we should not say Isaiah must of gotten it wrong almost 3,000 years ago. No, we must say, Lord thank you for giving us a glimpse, continue to encourage us to walk in your ways as we await this day!
Hope For Today
Hope For Today
We understand that Isaiah had this particular message for Judah in 700 BC. We understand that almost three millennia later it still is not fulfilled. So outside of continue hope for the future. What are the principles or implication for you and me as we remember Christ’s birth this time of year? First we need to understand the flow of the statement here. As we look at verses 2-4 we need to realize the order that things are to take place.
2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,
3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; 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 anymore.
As a nation our recent history of mass shootings is a tragedy. While I cannot understand the depth of hurt and pain that someone must feel from losing a loved one that was sent to place that should have been safe, my heart breaks for them. For many this is going to be the first Christmas that their child, or spouse, or parent, will not be at the table with them. May the peace of our Lord fall upon them this season.
But in our zeal to honor our Lord and try to minister to the lost and hurting and change this world, we sometimes get a little ahead of ourselves. I know of ministries that I am sure with the best of intentions, have attempted to bring to life verse 4. They take modern day swords and spears, rather firearms, and they melt them down to make garden tools. What we need to realize is that this type of peace that causes men to lay down their arms and pick up the plow, comes only after our Lord returns and establishes his house amongst men. Only when our Lord is here physically once again teaching people personally in his ways and serving as judge between them. Not before, only after. This peace only comes after the return of Jesus, not before.
So does that mean we just hang out. Just trying to survive this crazy life until then? No. After verse 4 Isaiah encourages or rather exhorts the house of Jacob, a term used to refer to God’s chosen people, who by grace if you are a Christian you belong to, Isaiah encourages them to walk in the light of the Lord.
5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
This is the message that we are to hear and obey. Walk in God’s light. Well what does that mean? Well approximately 800 years after Isaiah the apostle John helped to distill this a little further.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
How do we walk in the light? We assess ourselves for the sins that may be in our lives. We repent of them so to maintain walking in that light. We live in light of his amazing grace so to set an example before the world so that God’s name may be glorified.
As I have mentioned, it has been heavy on the hearts of the elders of our church that as a church we come more in accord with what scripture teaches on this subject. Next week we are celebrating communion. Pastor Dick’s last communion message spoke to the necessity of us reflecting on our heart and repenting or extending forgiveness as needed prior to participating in communion. I have also mention that we want to start to incorporate blueprint mapped out for us in James for confession and prayer for healing. James 5:13-20
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.
18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back,
20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
As a reminder after the close of service today Pastor Dick and I will remain up front. We will dismiss as normal and you are welcomed to leave. If you choose to come forward you are welcome to come to either Pastor Dick or myself. We will ask you two questions. What is it you would like prayer for and is there anything that you need to repent of? Whatever is spoken to us will stay confidential with us. After these questions are answered we will take a drop of oil and place it on your forehead and then pray for you. I want you to understand that there is no magic in any of this and no guarantee in any of it. But our good and gracious king has given us these guidelines and we seek to live by them.
As we close this message, may we strive to live in the light of God as we anxiously await for his return where we can dwell in eternal peace.