Judgment, Mercy, Anticipation

HBI – The Judgement is promised to those who refused to follow God but yet there is hope for us as citizens of righteousness through the messiah

I was debating whether to do a series on Advent this year. After all how many different ideas can one come up with for the same story. But I realized that the meaning behind advent and why we do it is so important it is a good reminder for us why we do the things that we do.

We prepare for Christmas and as we do we look forward to the incarnation, where God would come down to earth and become one of us. Advent is something we have traditionally observed and this is what it means, to anticipate something.

One of the keys to advent is pregnancy. Now I have no experience in pregnancy other then being the cause of it and experiencing it second hand but I believe this to be true none the less. We don’t celebrate the birth of the child until the child is born. There is anticipation, and things building till the birth happens. But there is also some anxiety as we wait for this to happen. This nervous energy goes often into preparing for the child to be born. This is where nesting comes in, and preparing for the hospital stay. I never was one for nesting but to each there own.

You can see some parallels to the season of advent and we look, long and yearn for the messiah to arrive. This is what Advent means, an anticipation of the coming messiah. Now Jesus already came once but we still look forward with anticipation to Him coming again the second advent.

As we go through this series, I want to encourage you to bring your bible. I will not have the passage up on the screen, but the reference will be there. I want to encourage you to bring your bible and follow along as we go through advent. I know you have it on your phone, but Let us go “old school” for a few weeks here. Well a little bit anyways. I got this idea from a friend of mine an I liked the idea.

Understanding the arrival of Jesus as something that happens in the past, present and future. If Advent means to anticipate the arrival of something, then we can look at advent and how it affected the world in different ways. It is a historical event that happened 2000 years ago that has huge implications for us now in the present but one that also looks to the future to the second advent when Jesus fulfills all the promises of God.

Advent and historical prophecy – what happened in the past and the promise of a messiah

This is how we are going to be looking into the passages of scripture this advent. Starting out with the historical implications of the promise of the messiah. Isaiah 9:1

Isaiah 9:1 (CSB) 1 Nevertheless, the gloom of the distressed land will not be like that of the former times when he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali.

Isaiah 9 is painted against a very dark backdrop. The immediate context of this passage is bleak. The year is 732 BC, ten years before the northern kingdom of Israel is pulverized and plundered by the Assyrian war machine. The Assyrians were flexing their muscles in their near eastern neighborhood. Israel and Judah were scrambling for security and peace. The Assyrians carried out a scorched earth policy in military conflict. They were like the original ISIS. Fear in Israel was mounting.

Conditions within Israel and Judah were just as dark and dire as those on the outside. The final verses of Isaiah 8 reveal that, in addition to the military threat on the outside, the people were so disconnected from God they were looking to the dead for wisdom and guidance. They were looking among the dead for answers to life. The Word of the Year in Israel in 732 BC was “darkness.”

Spiritual and political darkness hung over the nation. For Israel it was gloom and doom. It was one long night without morning—a time of hopelessness, despair, and darkness for all of Israel but especially Galilee (the northern part of Israel) because they would be the first to feel the boot of the enemy. A thick darkness had enveloped the land like a heavy blanket. Things had become so dire that the people were looking to the domain of darkness for light. Sadly, this has a contemporary ring to it for many of our leaders today.

Isaiah’s 2 sons, Maher Shalal Hash Baz and Shear Jashub (fun names eh). There is even great significance behind the names of his sons. Names meant something back then and the names of Isaiah's sons were to remind the Israelite's and give them a message of God’s plans.

Maher Shalal Hash Baz name meant judgement was to come swiftly (literally quick to plunder swift to spoil) because of the sins of Israel Assyria was going to take them captive and plunder all that they had. Yet peace and mercy (remnant) where promised Shear Jashub.

We start out with judgement. in the first bit of verse 1 we get a glimpse into what was going on at the time, the people that where to walk in righteousness had descended to darkness. But it was not without hope.

Isaiah 9:1 (CSB)1 But in the future he will bring honor to the way of the sea, to the land east of the Jordan, and to Galilee of the nations.

There is never humiliation planned without hope planned as well. There is always hope for those that are willing to turn back to God and walk in His righteousness.

Isaiah 9:2 (CSB) 2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness.

we see the start of the hope they had and we have as well. In spite of the darkness and judgement they where given a way out. they where walking in darkness but there was anticipation for the future. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light, a light of hope, the hard times will not last forever. But it is up to us to grab hold of that hope. Jesus has given the hope to all who would believe in Him but we first need to respond.

Isaiah 9:3 (CSB) 3 You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. The people have rejoiced before you as they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils.

Peace and prosperity. This is all hope that they had in the future if the walked in the righteousness of God. Signs of peace and Hope and anticipation of a great future. A nation will not be enlarged and joyful unless in a time of peace and prosperity under the blessings of God. This is all going to be due to the messiah as will see soon.

There will be joy as in the end of the harvest. That is something we can probably all understand. Often we are to tired to jump around for Joy. But a deep sense of relaxing peace and contentment knowing the hard work is done and we can relax.

Isaiah 9:4–5 (CSB) 4 For you have shattered their oppressive yoke and the rod on their shoulders, the staff of their oppressor, just as you did on the day of Midian. 5 For every trampling boot of battle and the bloodied garments of war will be burned as fuel for the fire.

The Israelite's had previously known peace and prosperity but due to there disobedience they where going to know oppression. But the promise of peace and hope where there in the messiah and before the messiah came fore those that walked in righteousness. The garments of war, the trampling boots and the bloodstained clothes would be obsolete. This messianic prophecy, this message of anticipation and mercy points not only to the birth of Jesus and the first advent but also to the second advent when Jesus comes again. This is why so many missed the first coming. Gone would be the violence of war and peace will reign.

Changes our lives now – the present.

This should change our lives now as well. We have so far gone through the history of the Israelite's and how this affected their lives. Judgement was promised for their sin unless they started to walk in righteousness which they did not. But God’s love never fails. What we look to now and what they where promised back then is that we are not without hope. If they allowed this message to change their lives there was hope. If they lived in the reality of God being over all and the promise of the coming Messiah there was hope and the same message is true for us now as well.

Isaiah 9:6–7 (CSB) 6 For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.

This is where we get into the “how” this will be done. How will God get rid of the tools of war, the weapons of the armies, How will He bring peace to the lands and hope to the hopeless? through a child. That seems counter intuitive. I mean, I love babies and as much as the next person. When I was a young adult and didn't have even a girlfriend yet if someone tried to hand me a baby I would be like now what do I do with it. The baby is crying again, it must be broken, here you have it back. Obviously that attitude changed. But the idea of a child bringing peace seems odd.

The child aspect of the deliverer is important to Isaiah is it is mentioned a few times. This also means that the child will not only be God but also will have the most Human of all arrivals, birth. To come dependent on a young women. A virgin born child would demonstrate that God is with us. The messiah has all authority. We are told this as well at the end of the gospels and throughout the NT. At the feet of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess.

Next we see the names that would be given to the future messiah that we look forward to celebrating with anticipation. These names reveal to us parts of the character of Jesus and they would have seen that back then as well. Like the people at the time, the sons of Isaiah names revealed something about you. We can see into the character of God through the names of Jesus. Our Messiah is might, wonderful Everlasting and the prince of peace. This is the God we serve and we need to ask ourselves if we are living in righteousness in anticipation of Him coming again. This affects our lives now, that is why we look forward to celebrating His birth.

Looks forward to the future second advent.

But this also look forward to The time when Jesus is going to come again for the second Advent.

Isaiah 9:7 (CSB) 7 The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.

We get lastly to the dominion of Jesus. When He comes again He will reign on the throne of David. Jesus was born of the line of King David as prophesied so long before. But His reign will not be plagued with evil and it will never end. Jesus reign when He comes again will be an eternal reign as he rules over all. He is a Just God and a righteous God. That means we will all bow before Him. We anticipate this as well. I want you to remember this as we go through this advent season. We anticipate Jesus coming again for the final fulfillment of Prophecy.

As His children we can look with Joy and excitement. If you do not know Him and if you haven't made your lives right with Him then it will be a time of great sorrow and pain as you are held accountable for what You have done here on earth.

So What?

How should this affect the way that we live our lives? The question that rings through this passage for me is also a warning. Some of this prophecy has already come to pass in the person of Jesus so Asd we walk through this time of anticipation we need to ask ourselves if we truly know Jesus?

Do You Know Jesus?

If God is who he said He is then Have you committed your life to Jesus in anticipation of His second coming. If not I urge you to be prepared and ask Him to be Lord of your life and live for Him today.

He is a light in the Darkness

As we live in the anticipation of the coming of Jesus, one thing I was reminded of is that Jesus is the light in the darkness, and the light makes darkness less dark. As we let the light of Jesus shine in our lives it exposes all the evils in our life. This is not fun and we recoil at our evils being brought to light. Like walking from darkness into a bright lit room .You recoil and squint at the bright light. but once we realize the love that God has for us we get used to it and start to love the light of God in our lives.

The more we share the darkness we faced with others the easier it becomes and the next thing you know God is working through you to help others who are going through the same pain you once did. The light in the darkness sometimes hurts a bit but the more we allow Jesus to shine in us the better we are for it. We need to give our lives up to Jesus.

Are you living as citizens of righteousness today? are you living in the light of Jesus? Live in anticipation of the second coming of the messiah where we can reign with Him for eternity.