This
year during this season of Advent we are still waiting for the Messiah’s
return. Just as the people Isaiah was speaking were waiting for the coming of
the Promised Savior so we wait for the Savior of the World to come again.
Isaiah
gives us a picture of a tree stump which will produce a new shoot. The tree has
been toppled and it looks like its dead but in the spring a leave appears, then
a branch, and eventually it’s a small sapling.
Israel
and Judah were being punished by God for disobeying the ten laws he’d given
them. They failed to love God; they were failures at loving and caring for
their neighbors. And so, God sent armies from Babylon to destroy the nation,
the city of Jerusalem and the Temple on Zion. The people were taken into exile,
many would never return. And some were left behind. God’s children were in
exile in every nation in the known world.
Isaiah
said that there was a remnant, those chosen few who had remained faithful to
the Word of God. From this remnant the nation would be rebuilt. From this
remnant, from the stump of Jesse, a new shoot would spring forth. This shoot
would be the Savior of the whole world, Gentiles and Jews.
When
this Savior came things would be different, everything would change. Nothing
would be like it had been before.
Imagine
wolves and lambs, leopards and goats, calves and lions, cows and bears all
co-existing being led by a child. Imagine children playing next to a cobra’s
den and putting their hands in the viper’s nest and not being bitten. It’s
beyond anything we can imagine. We can hardly comprehend such a state, yet this
is what God told Isaiah to tell the people…and a few believed, a remnant
trusted in the words of the Lord.
From
that remnant a nation was rebuilt. From this remnant a Savior was born. From
this remnant a Savior will return to save the world…again. And make it new,
make it different. Make it a place of peace and justice and righteousness and
compassion. Make it a place where there is happiness and joy and laughter, a
place we can just barely imagine. Some might call that place heaven.
A
different place, a place nothing like anything we’ve ever experienced. When
that happens “there will be change.” Nothing will be the same.
Can
you remember your excitement when you were 6 or 8 or even 10 years old as you
waited, expectantly, for Christmas Day? Can you remember the anticipation you
felt as December 25th drew closer and closer? Do you remember how
happy everyone seemed? Do you remember the smells that came from your Mom’s
kitchen? Do you remember how you were told you had to wait until Christmas to
sample the good things Mom was making? Do you remember?
My
good friends, Jesus, our Savior, our Lord is coming again. The day of his
return is closer now than it’s ever been. Can you feel the excitement, the
anticipation, the tension?
God
is gathering his children, the remnant, the body of Christ, in preparation for
his return. When the Savior returns things will be different, things will
change, drastically. Nothing will be like it is now. We won’t see any of the
old familiar things because it will all be different.
As
we wait in joyful anticipation for that day, let’s keep Paul’s words to the
Romans and John’s words to the Jews ever before us.
The
Word of God was written to give us hope and to encourage us as we wait. Paul
says that we are to, “Accept one another as Christ has accepted you.”
John
said, “The ax is lying at the root of the trees and every tree that doesn’t
bear fruit will be cut down and used as firewood.”
Jesus
Christ our Savior is coming again to save the world, to make it new again, to
bring peace like we’ve never known in our lives. And so we wait, expectantly,
anxiously, excitedly for that day, that day that’s just around the corner.
My
friends, as John said, “Repent, for the day of the kingdom of heaven is near.”
And things are going to be different. Everything will change.
God
sent his Son, Jesus, not just for the Jews but for all who accept him as their
Savior, Gentiles…and Jews.
In
Paul’s words, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as your
trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy
Spirit.” Thanks be to God. Amen.
