Advent 3B, Evening

Fulfillment

As we are now in our 3rd week of the Advent journey, let’s remember where we’ve come from. The first week, we talked about Need - not what we think we need, but what we truly need: a Savior. Then last week, we heard about a Promise - God’s promise to us in the Holy Scriptures to rescue us from our fate and save us by providing for us the ultimate sacrifice - His own Son. This week then, we are going to talk about Fulfillment - the Fulfillment of God’s promise to us.

The lessons we’ve just heard describe both God’s Promise and its fulfillment. In the first lesson, we hear the prophet Nathan bringing God’s Word to King David, telling David that one of his descendants will be the Messiah, and God will establish His Kingdom forever. That, in itself, is quite a promise.

But now look again at Psalm 2 - notice that it’s written in the past tense? The writer of this psalm tells this as though it has already happened. God has already established the Kingdom of His Son. All the efforts of anyone who would oppose Him are in vain. The eternal Kingdom has already begun.

And then we have this passage from the very beginning of the book of Hebrews. This is another description of the Messiah, the One Who the Jews had been waiting for over many centuries. The One Who would save them from oppression, but also from sin and death and bring them to eternal life. That’s who the Messiah is, the crucified and risen Jesus of Nazareth.

And if that wasn’t enough, we have the witness of Luke the Evangelist, describing for us the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry - the very scene of his own baptism in the Jordan by John the Baptist. At that very moment, God’s Holy Spirit “descended on [Jesus] in bodily form, like a dove.” And while they were watching that intense visual, the great voice from Heaven spoke and declared exactly who Jesus is: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

There was a great crowd there, all gathered to be baptized by John, so many people witnessed this event. You can’t get a much more convincing endorsement of the Messiah’s identity than the voice of God Himself. This, and the other verses we just heard, all point to the one truth that should give us all great comfort and joy - that God fulfills His promises.

And that was the theme this morning as well - that we can find our JOY in the knowledge that God does FULFILL His promises. We know this - the Scriptures are filled with evidence that God will always keep His promises. And this is why we can look around at such bleak times as we have had in a year like 2020 and we can still find peace and joy - because we know that no matter how bad it gets, God is with us, and God has promised us that this is not the end.

God sent His Son to make sure that death did not have the final answer. His Son paid the price on the cross to make sure of that. And because He was resurrected on the 3rd day, we know that plan that God has for all of us, the plan we look forward to when we recite the creed - resurrection for all who believe.

So as we enter the last 2 weeks before the celebration of Christmas, look forward to that day for what it is. It is the fulfillment of the ultimate promise of God - the most important promise God ever made, and the most wonderful gift God ever gave - the Savior, the Lamb of God Who Takes Away the Sin of the Whole World. That has already been done, and because of that, we all have eternity to look forward to. Let us never lose sight of that.

Thanks be to God!

May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.