Waiting For His Coming...

Shout aloud and Sing for joy...

This year, I’m not following the Advent calendar per se.

On our first week of Advent, we had the Teen Challenge Women’s Center come. They shared about the hope that they have found in Christ.

Last week, we concluded our series,

Who do you say that I am?

We are faced with that question, “Who is the Son of Man?”

Peter said,

You are the Christ, the Son of the living God...

We are faced with many questions. Sometimes, we are faced with questions that we don’t like to answer. Sometimes, it’s because it brings division. Other times it stirs up contention. It can also make us look long and hard as to why we do what we do, and even other times, it seems to miss the whole point of the issue.

Without question, Christmas time has become very commercialized. Many spend far beyond their means and spend a lot of the next year paying for what they have purchased.

Canadian Tire had the slogan,

Spend like Santa and save like Scrooge...

We can handle questions of how secular Christmas is. We can justify taking a little bit of time at the end of the year and spending time with friends and family. Then comes the questions that plague Christmas and Easter,

Why celebrate a pagan holiday?

Then comes the push, we have to speak the truth. Jesus wasn’t born on Christmas day. It was a pagan holiday that the church took over and replaced with the celebration of the birth of Christ. We’ll save Easter for another time, and, maybe...the same place.

This was brought to my attention again in the last few days. This is something that I’ve heard for the last thirty years, and it’s been going on a lot longer than that.

The reasoning behind this is that it insults the Lord to celebrate His birthday on a pagan holiday.

If we look back into history, the early church didn’t celebrate the birth of Christ, but the cross and the resurrection of Jesus from the dead have always been a central theme of what we believe.

The early church endured much persecution until the time of Constantine. He conquered Rome around 313 AD. It was at this time that things started to change. December 25th was a day that had been set aside for the birth of the sun god, but soon came to represent the Son of God. There is a long history of solstice celebrations in different parts of Europe, and many holidays that have been adopted fall on dates that once were set aside for pagan gods.

I guess we can ask ourselves the question,

What should we do?

Christmas time has been a time when many people soften to the message of Jesus coming to earth and saving His people from their sins. Christmas is a great time to preach the gospel.

When we look at Advent, it is a time for us to slow down and remember the birth of the Christ child so long ago, but also to look for Christ’s return.

There are four words which often symbolize Advent:

Hope, Peace, Joy and Love...

This morning, I’d like to look to a future day. Before we do that, I want us to put ourselves into shoes of the Jews that studied the prophecies.

1 Peter 1:10–12 NIV

10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

We might look back and wonder how so many people could have possibly missed Jesus when He came.

Look at the prophecies.

Isaiah 7:14 NIV

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Isaiah 9:6–7 NIV

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

Even in the book of Genesis we have the promise of Jesus’ coming.

Genesis 3:15 NIV

15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Even the place the Messiah would be born was known.

Micah 5:2 NIV

2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

It can be so easy to look at God’s people and wonder, “How could they possibly miss out that Jesus had come?”

There had been silence for some 400 years, and then God sent an angel to speak to Zechariah, then to Mary, and even to Joseph.

The people had the Law and the Prophets. They could go to the Synagogue and hear the Holy Scriptures read.

They had Scriptures of a suffering servant, that He would be like a lamb led to the slaughter, and yet they had verses that told them of this King that would sit on David’s throne.

They knew that a deliverer was coming, but they were looking for One that would set them free fromt he tyranny of Rome, but they had missed that Jesus had came to break the chains that Satan had enslaved them with.

Let’s read some verses that speak to a future time for God’s people.

Isaiah 12:1–6 NIV

1 In that day you will say: “I will praise you, Lord. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. 2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.” 3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 In that day you will say: “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. 5 Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. 6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”

Just as the people of Israel were looking for a Messiah, we, too, are looking for Jesus to return. This Scripture in Isaiah is speaking to the time of the millenium.

I want to make it clear this morning, we do not believe in

Replacement theology...

which means that the church will replace Israel. We believe that Israel is still the apple of God’s eye. They are still God’s chosen people, but God has made a way to bring us in through Jesus Christ.

We can’t fully understand the ways of God.

Isaiah 55:8–9 NIV

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

The reason I referred to these verses is about where Israel fits into all this. Blessing for the Gentiles has come through the Jews and yet the Jewish people still seem to be estranged from God.

In Romans 9-11, Paul takes time and explains some of what is happening. He explains that Israel’s hearts have been hardened so that the Gentiles could receive salvation.

Romans 11:25–32 NIV

25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. 27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” 28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. 32 For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

God will and is bringing His people back to the land of Israel. Mankind can try to do whatever they want to do try to stop God from accomplishing His plan but it will be pointless. When God pours out His wrath upon the earth during the Great Tribulation people will hide and will cry out for the rocks to fall on them to hide them from the wrath of God and the Lamb.

Here’s what Isaiah prophesied in

Isaiah 11:1–5 NIV

1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— 3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; 4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

After Jesus pours out His wrath, there will be peace for 1000 years.

Isaiah 11:6–10 NIV

6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den, the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. 9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.

Verses 11-16 says this about the remnant returning to Israel

Isaiah 11:11–16 NIV

11 In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean. 12 He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth. 13 Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish, and Judah’s enemies will be destroyed; Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim. 14 They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west; together they will plunder the people to the east. They will subdue Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be subject to them. 15 The Lord will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian sea; with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand over the Euphrates River. He will break it up into seven streams so that anyone can cross over in sandals. 16 There will be a highway for the remnant of his people that is left from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from Egypt.

The Apostle Paul promised that Israel would be saved. Israel has suffered much over the course of their history, but there is a day coming when Jesus will put His enemies under His feet, and Israel will declare

Isaiah 12:1–6 NIV

1 In that day you will say: “I will praise you, Lord. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. 2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.” 3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 In that day you will say: “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. 5 Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. 6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”

Let’s declare His praises this morning. Let’s shout aloud and sing His praises for the Holy One of Israel is among you. He has done great things!

Jesus humbly came and made His dwelling place among us, and He will come again.

Even so come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Let’s pray!