Advent

Advent Reflections, part 3

/ Jonathan

Advent Season is characterized by waiting and yearning. A sometimes patient, other times impatient, desire to see God’s chosen one. He will deliver all God’s people from oppression and establish justice forever. Just as God’s people in the Old Testament looked forward to Jesus, the promised offspring who will rule with compassion and vanquish all evil, so also does the church today.

In this series this Advent season I will be reflecting on passages exclusively from the Old Testament that foreshadow and anticipate the arrival of Jesus Christ.

Deuteronomy 18:15-19 (ESV)

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.”

Moses is referring back to the time when God appeared on Mt. Sinai. Israel had been rescued from Egypt and on their way to the Promised Land, but in the meantime, they were wandering in the desert and wilderness. When the people came to the mountain there were flashes of lightening and the top was filled with fire and smoke. God’s presence was so immense and great, that the people were terrified. God commanded that no one may approach unless he calls them up. When God spoke, they could not handle hearing from God directly. They begged for someone to mediate between them and God. So, God called Moses and brought him up, in order to give him the law. Moses was their mediator who will hear the word of the Lord and bring it to the people.

God will raise up a prophet like Moses. In what ways will the prophet be like Moses? Like Moses, the prophet to come will be “from among you, from your brothers”. This phrase is repeated twice. Perhaps it goes without saying, that the prophet will be a human, rather than an angel or someone else. The prophet to come will also be a true Israelite, and not born in a foreign land. The prophet will be raised in the law of Moses, and will have their heritage in Abraham’s promise. He will be in the family, their kin.

God promised to raise up a prophet like Moses

Like Moses, this prophet will speak the words of God. The prophet won’t be speaking on his own terms or his own thoughts. He will faithfully present what God has shown. Just as people would listen to Moses as if they were listening to God, the prophet to come will have the very words of God on his lips. Moses brought the law and taught God’s standard. He was called the great Law-giver. As a prophet, Moses foretold blessing and curse, based on obedience and faithfulness.

Moses was not only a prophet, but also had a role as a leader when Israel had no king. He led them out of slavery, delivered them from oppression, and went out ahead of them toward the promised land. He led people into battle in the wilderness and anticipation of entering the promised land. And the people followed – they didn’t splinter off into going different ways, but all united behind Moses. He was the closest thing to a king that Israel would have in the wilderness.

The prophet will be different from Moses, though, because the prophet will speak all and only what God commands. Moses failed in this, and it is the reason he never crossed the Jordan in the Promised Land. The prophet that Moses anticipated would be greater than himself.

And so, the people waited for hundreds of years for “The Prophet” like Moses to come, that they might hear the word of the Lord with authority once more. Prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah came, but they also spoke of the one to come. When Jesus came, he was identified as that prophet. The people marveled at his wisdom and teaching, and that he spoke with authority. The apostles announced that the Prophet has come.

When will we see the Prophet like Moses? When will we see one greater than Moses? When will we feast on the word of God, taught with the authority of God himself?

When Christ returns.

And so we, the church, wait for our savior to return to us.

Revelation 22:20-21: He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.

Advent Reflections, part 2

/ Jonathan

Advent Season is characterized by waiting and yearning. A sometimes patient, other times impatient, desire to see God’s chosen one. He will deliver all God’s people from oppression and establish justice forever. Just as God’s people in the Old Testament looked forward to Jesus, the promised offspring who will rule with compassion and vanquish all evil, so also does the church today.

In this series this Advent season I will be reflecting on passages exclusively from the Old Testament that foreshadow and anticipate the arrival of Jesus Christ.

Genesis 22:17-18 (ESV)

“I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

God appeared to Abraham, telling him to leave his parents and extended family, even his whole community, to turn away from false gods and instead follow after the true God. This was a calling to leave the rebellious line of the serpent, in order to be among those who will be faithful to God and will be delivered from sin and sorrow.

In this passage we see that God appeared to Abraham and promised offspring – a child, even a firstborn son, despite the fact that both Abraham and his wife Sarah were in their old age, and childless. They wanted children, but Sarah was infertile. She couldn’t have kids. But God promised a miracle, and this miracle would not just be for them, but for all people.

This promise has at least three parts.

First, God promised to make people numerous, who belong to Abraham. While Abraham was childless, he will have so many descendants, nobody could count them if they wanted. God’s people will be fruitful and multiply on the earth.

Second, God promised a secure home for them to inhabit. They would have a place to belong. But this is not all. It is clear that Satan also has a sort of dominion in the world, in enmity with God’s people. God did not promise here that they would simply be able to defend against Satan’s attacks. Instead, God promised that the offspring will be on the attack, taking over the gates or entry of Satan’s territory.

Third, God promised that life will be high quality, in that they will be blessed, and this blessing will be so abundant, that it will overflow and be passed on to everyone. To be a nation and to have a place to live are not enough – they will thrive. Under the rule of the promise offspring, justice and peace will bring prosperity and the good life.

The promise for Abraham is a promise God kept. Jesus Christ is that promised offspring who will bless all nations, making a people for himself to inherit, and a dominion that conquers his enemies. In the culmination of his victory, Jesus will bring justice for all peoples.

Jesus Christ is that promised offspring who will bless all nations

Just as Abraham waited years longing for the offspring to come, so also the church.

And so we, the church, wait for our savior to return to us.

Revelation 22:20-21: He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints.

Advent Reflections, part 1

/ Jonathan

Advent Season is characterized by waiting and yearning. A sometimes patient, other times impatient, desire to see God’s chosen one. He will deliver all God’s people from oppression and establish justice forever. Just as God’s people in the Old Testament looked forward to Jesus, the promised offspring who will rule with compassion and vanquish all evil, so also does the church today.

In this series this Advent season I will be reflecting on passages exclusively from the Old Testament that foreshadow and anticipate the arrival of Jesus Christ.

Genesis 3:14-15 (ESV)

The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
    and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.

I will put enmity between you and the woman,
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”

In the beginning, Adam and Eve were given authority to rule over all creation on behalf of God. But they were in a trial period to show their faithfulness to God, in the garden, to cultivate it and slowly make the city of God. The serpent knew that they were on probation he tempted them in the garden. Despite God’s faithfulness to them, Adam and Eve did not reciprocate but failed the test. They immediately knew that they had broken trust with their creator, and decided to hide. But God summoned them, interrogated them, and as a perfectly just judge, began to pronounce the verdict and sentence.

The passage here is God’s third verdict pronounced as judge: God addresses the subversive serpent, in order to officially declare holy war. He will bring vengeance and strike back against the rebels. There will be a struggle between their offspring. Though Satan may battle, he will lose the war, and any who follow after the serpent –the offspring of the serpent—will be crushed. The families of humanity will belong either to the serpent or to the woman.

The word ‘offspring’ has two senses. First, the sense of any born in that lineage, a family line of faithful people and a family line of unfaithful people. Those who are unfaithful can say that in some sense, Satan is their father. But second, the offspring is singular. There will be one offspring who will bring the war to a climactic end. There is one specific person who will put his enemies under his feet.

This is a summary of the gospel. While there is a widespread rebellion and oppression, God has promised deliverance to those who return to him. This pronouncement of curse upon the serpent is the good news of the gospel, since it announces a righteous deliverer will show compassion on the oppressed and bring justice.

Adam and Eve received grace that day, because they trusted that simple gospel God preached to them. Despite the limitations of their understanding, they responded by putting their hope in the fact that someday someone would come, who, unlike them, will successfully pass the test of faithfulness and will save them completely from sin and sorrow. They are considered saints because they looked forward to Jesus Christ, in faith.

And so we, the church, wait for our Savior to return to us.

Revelation 22:20-21: He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.