12/9: Advent- Anticipation_ Notes

Scriptural Reading

Matthew 3:1–12 HCSB

1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!” 3 For he is the one spoken of through the prophet Isaiah, who said: A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord; make His paths straight! 4 John himself had a camel-hair garment with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then people from Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the vicinity of the Jordan were flocking to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins. 7 When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to the place of his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance. 9 And don’t presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones! 10 Even now the ax is ready to strike the root of the trees! Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but the One who is coming after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to remove His sandals. He Himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing shovel is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn. But the chaff He will burn up with fire that never goes out.”

Intro

This morning, we are continuing on in our series on Advent and you will recall last week we spoke on the theme of Preparation. Preparing our hearts and minds for His arrival. And hand in hand with that truth is that there is an expectation, an anticipation that he is, in fact, coming! These two go hand in hand. You prepare for what you anticipate.

And last week, we looked at how we are to prepare ourselves for the Second Coming of Jesus. But this is not something that we do in vain. It is not as though we are preparing for an event that will never happen. This is no futile practice, as though we should live as if Jesus would come back, but the reality is that He is not coming back. That would make all preparation useless, and make God a cruel God who speaks lies while at the same time claiming to be truth, to be perfect.

Last week I told you of how my family spent a lot of time preparing for Y2K. stockpiling food, and water, propane, and candles, and a bunch of stuff. But nothing happened. It was preparation with no purpose because nothing happened. When we prepare ourselves for the Second Coming, it is not in vain. It is with anticipation of a real event which will occur. We anticipate the reality of His return.

Body

John’s words seem pretty strong, to a crowd that has traveled out of the city to meet with John, to hear his words, and to be baptized by him. Why speak so strongly? Well John knew a fact. The anticipation of an arrival was one that caused him to speak with urgency . It caused him to speak the very words that he did. It caused him to live in a specific way. John understood that, yes the kingdom is coming and that salvation is near. But he did not only know that the day of salvation was near, but also that the day of damnation was near. So we have both good news, and at the same time you have bad news.

He is calling out to the people repent. Turn from your sins. And for those who do, that is good news, for they will be saved from their sins, but for those who reject it. This is bad news. On judgment day, you will be without hope if you remain in your sins.

The people were coming out saying that they know that they need to place their faith in God. Not even the mere fact of them being Jews would save them. Notice how the Pharisees and the Sadducees indicate they are fine on their own. They come from a family, the family of Abraham.

And John replies back to them that no personal or familial righteousness will save you. They must repent. We all are from the family of Abraham, big whoop.

David Platt Sermon Archive The Method

Baptism is a sign that it doesn’t matter what family you’ve been born into. You’re personally called to repent, confess your sins and put your faith in the Lord.

But his words also remind the people of what they may have forgotten. “The One who is coming after me is more powerful than I.” John the Baptist is a very interesting person to study, his wildness, his candor, his humility. He knew who he was and what his mission and purpose was. He was not the one, but he was simply preparing the way for the One to come. He was anticipating the arrival of the Messiah.

The Jewish people themselves were waiting for the Messiah. Just to briefly walk through the history of the people of God…A promise had been given from the beginning of creation of a coming One...Genesis 3:15 “He shall bruise your heard, And you shall bruise His heel.” They are waiting for the one to deal a fatal blow to Satan, but they see that this one will also be one who will suffer. Later, Isaiah in the 53rd chapter would describe him as a suffering servant.

And so they wait. And another promise is given through Abraham of one who would be a blessing to all nations. A coming seed. This is definitely good news. This is something to look forward to.

But just a couple of generations later they are in Egyptian captivity for nearly 400 years and after being set free by God and moving back and forth from good king and bad king they spend nearly 200 years under Babylonian rule. Mainly due to their rebellion to God.

You’d think this is the time to get your act together. This is your time to repent and return to God. After being set free from Babylonian captivity and God using Nehemiah and Ezra to bring the Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls and the temple, You would think, “ok, now they will do right.”

But, we read in Nehemiah how they complete the work and after having spent 12 years with the people, Nehemiah returns back to King Artaxerxes. The people should be good. But after some amount of time, still in Nehemiah’s own lifetime he returns and..

Nehemiah 13:6–11 HCSB

6 While all this was happening, I was not in Jerusalem, because I had returned to King Artaxerxes of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his reign. It was only later that I asked the king for a leave of absence 7 so I could return to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done on behalf of Tobiah by providing him a room in the courts of God’s house. 8 I was greatly displeased and threw all of Tobiah’s household possessions out of the room. 9 I ordered that the rooms be purified, and I had the articles of the house of God restored there, along with the grain offering and frankincense. 10 I also found out that because the portions for the Levites had not been given, each of the Levites and the singers performing the service had gone back to his own field. 11 Therefore, I rebuked the officials, saying, “Why has the house of God been neglected?” I gathered the Levites and singers together and stationed them at their posts.

They went back to their old ways! And Nehemiah returns thinking everything will be done, everything will be back in order, not to the same beauty as Solomon’s time, but better than it was before. But it isn’t so. And he returns and rebukes them and they repent.

Malachi 1:6–13 HCSB

6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me? says Yahweh of Hosts to you priests, who despise My name.” Yet you ask: “How have we despised Your name?” 7 “By presenting defiled food on My altar.” You ask: “How have we defiled You?” When you say: “The Lord’s table is contemptible.” 8 “When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not wrong? Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the Lord of Hosts. 9 “And now ask for God’s favor. Will He be gracious to us? Since this has come from your hands, will He show any of you favor?” asks the Lord of Hosts. 10 “I wish one of you would shut the temple doors, so you would no longer kindle a useless fire on My altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of Hosts, “and I will accept no offering from your hands. 11 “For My name will be great among the nations, from the rising of the sun to its setting. Incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name in every place because My name will be great among the nations,” says Yahweh of Hosts. 12 But you are profaning it when you say: “The Lord’s table is defiled, and its product, its food, is contemptible.” 13 You also say: “Look, what a nuisance!” “And you scorn it,” says the Lord of Hosts. “You bring stolen, lame, or sick animals. You bring this as an offering! Am I to accept that from your hands?” asks the Lord.

Malachi 3:1–6 HCSB

1 “See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire—see, He is coming,” says the Lord of Hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of His coming? And who will be able to stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire and like cleansing lye. 3 He will be like a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. 4 And the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord as in days of old and years gone by. 5 “I will come to you in judgment, and I will be ready to witness against sorcerers and adulterers; against those who swear falsely; against those who oppress the widow and the fatherless, and cheat the wage earner; and against those who deny justice to the foreigner. They do not fear Me,” says the Lord of Hosts. 6 “Because I, Yahweh, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.

What needs to be considered is that the people who Malachi is prophesying to are back in Jerusalem. Under the leadership of Zerubbabel the sacrificial system is back in place as the temple is rebuilt and so you would think, now after having gone through exile and suffering. The rebuilding of the temple and walls, finally they will acknowledge their sin and return back to God wholly. But Malachi’s words are not what you would be expecting.

Not even 100 years after being set free you can see that their wickedness had sunk back to the same depths as before, or you could argue even worse, because they are desecrating the temple once more, which was dedicated to God by offering up unworthy sacrifices that they would not even offer up to their human governors. They had the Messianic prophecies. They knew them and they were waiting, but they sunk deep into darkness over the land and they were about to enter into a very dark period of silence. They were left with the words of Malachi to ring in their ears and in their hearts of the coming messenger who would prepare the way for the Messiah, who would eventually purify them.

But those words would remain in their minds for 400 years of silence. Silence as they wait.

Isaiah 40:1–11 HCSB

1 “Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God. 2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and announce to her that her time of forced labor is over, her iniquity has been pardoned, and she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” 3 A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert. 4 Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be leveled; the uneven ground will become smooth and the rough places, a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord will appear, and all humanity together will see it, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. 6 A voice was saying, “Cry out!” Another said, “What should I cry out?” “All humanity is grass, and all its goodness is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flowers fade when the breath of the Lord blows on them; indeed, the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever.” 9 Zion, herald of good news, go up on a high mountain. Jerusalem, herald of good news, raise your voice loudly. Raise it, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10 See, the Lord God comes with strength, and His power establishes His rule. His reward is with Him, and His gifts accompany Him. 11 He protects His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them in the fold of His garment. He gently leads those that are nursing.

And so the words of Malachi and Isaiah, take on a whole new meaning. John the Baptist is on the scene, preparing the way. Making hearts prepared. Calling them to repentance, but not just that…he also calls them to look. He tells them there is one other coming after him. One that is more powerful and and one will come in judgment.

And cannot help but remember there will be a second advent. He will come again. And so we anticipate his return. And the message John gave to the crowds then is one still for us today.

Anticipating His Arrival: A Family Guide through Advent Discussion Questions

His message to prepare for the kingdom through confession and repentance (vv. 2, 6) is also a message to us to do the same in anticipation of its arrival.

Conclusion

But there is a second part of John’s message. The One who is coming will come to judge.

Matthew 3:11–12 HCSB

11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but the One who is coming after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to remove His sandals. He Himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing shovel is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn. But the chaff He will burn up with fire that never goes out.”

And so we anticipate his return, and we make ourselves ready for we know He will come in judgment.

Commit your life to Him in preparation and exaltation

Commit your life to His Word

Commit your life to proclaiming the Gospel

And for those who are not anticipating his arrival or for those who do, but neglect to prepare themselves there will be judgment.

And so what does this mean for you?

Commit your life to Him in repentance and faith

Submit yourself to His Word

Believe in the Gospel