Israel's Advent Season

In our advent season it is good to consider the advent "season" of Israel, awaiting their Messiah. I read Isaiah 40 today, and was struck by the difference we see between our twenty-first century experience in December and the experience of God's people before Christ came. In our culture of increased consumerism and stress around Christmas time, remembering our story can help us put things in perspective.

Isaiah 40

1"Comfort, O comfort My people," says your God.
2"Speak kindly to Jerusalem;
And call out to her, that her warfare has ended,
That her iniquity has been removed,
That she has received of the LORD'S hand
Double for all her sins."
3A voice is calling,
"Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
4"Let every valley be lifted up,
And every mountain and hill be made low;
And let the rough ground become a plain,
And the rugged terrain a broad valley;
5Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
And all flesh will see it together;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

Isaiah communicates the tender words from the Lord, "Comfort, O comfort my people." Why is he saying this? The people of Israel were in exile after a long history of expectation and disappointment. Since God's first promise of blessing to Abraham, Israel hoped to be in a land where they could be in God's presence and be free to worship. And although the Lord delivered them from oppression, slavery, and attacks from their enemies, they continued to rebel, and never completely entered into the promises. Isaiah writes during the time of the Babylonian exile, when it seemed like all hope was lost. There was no singing by the rivers of Babylon - how could they sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?

When we consider Israel's "advent season" we realize that they longed for the Messiah with their very lives. They had nothing except hope in promises that were made before they were even born. Americans, however, have everything except true hope. We have security, we are in our homeland, we have food and water, we have jobs and education, and we have political freedom. We are satisfied, and do not long for anything. So let's acknowledge that when we remember the coming of the Messiah, it's from a different lifestyle than Israel during the exile.

But when we remember our story, we remember that the things of this world are fleeting. Is.40:8 says, "The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever." Israel understood that the flower fades - before they were taken into exile, they thought everything was OK. They trusted in their security, and not in the Lord. Then their flower faded.

But the Lord says in Verse 2 that Israel "has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins." Who served that term? Christ served it on the cross. The promise is made here in Isaiah and fulfilled when God left God's glory and entered into a humble barn stable with animals. Christ served the sin of Israel, and the sin of the world, and made the promises available to everyone.

We live in a time now in which we have received the Messiah, and the Kingdom has come, but not in its entirety. We live in that "already/not yet" period. There are still many in the world who are suffering as Israel was in Babylon, and since we are part of the same body as our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world (and those suffering in our backyard), we await the second coming. On Christmas we celebrate that the Messiah has come to begin to restore the world. We take part in that restoration now, and hope for Christ to come again and deliver us completely from suffering, sin, and brokenness.

Remembering our story - remembering Israel's "advent season" - helps us appreciate Christ's coming. We can even long for Christ to deliver us from the hopelessness and superficiality of the Christmas season. We realize that all those useless presents are like the flower that fades, but the word of God will stand forever. Glory be to Jesus Christ, who has delivered us from our sin and hopelessness. Glory be to the humble child who immediately after being born, went into exile in Egypt. Glory be to the humble servant who was obedient unto death, even death on the cross. And glory be to our Lord who rose from the dead and gives us new life, and redeems the whole world from sin and death.