Reflection

 Today we begin worship and this advent season with:

Isaiah 2:2-5

It shall come to pass in the latter days

    that the mountain of the house of the Lord

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

    and shall be lifted up above the hills;

and all the nations shall flow to it,

    and many peoples shall come, and say:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

    to the house of the God of Jacob,

that he may teach us his ways

    and that we may walk in his paths.”

For out of Zion shall go forth the law,

    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between the nations,

    and shall decide disputes for many peoples;

and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

    and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

    neither shall they learn war anymore.

O house of Jacob,

    come, let us walk

    in the light of the Lord. 

The phrase "the latter days" speaks of what comes after history.  This is the Kingdom of God. 

We are used to judges, legislators, and presidents, whose power is divided and limited to prevent its corruption.  But our incorruptible God will instead serve as its king forever.  He will hold court and bring peace.

We are used to nations at war.  Each trying to either expand or defend their kingdom.  But under one King there is no need.  So the weapons of war become unnecessary and can be put to better use.

People from all nations will flow (nāhar) into it.  The word in Hebrew speaks of the shimmering light off of the stream as the water moves.  We are invited to walk in that light and to reflect it.

Forever

 Today we start worship with:

Psalm 30:5

For his anger is but for a moment,

    and his favor is for a lifetime.

Weeping may tarry for the night,

    but joy comes with the morning.

This psalm was chosen to be sung at the dedication of the temple. It is important. It spans the emotional spectrum from God’s anger to His favor, and from David’s mourning to his dancing.  It is the retelling of what appears to be David’s Job-moment (Job 19:21-27).

David had mistakenly said:

Psalm 30:6-7

As for me, I said in my prosperity,

    “I shall never be moved.”

By your favor, O Lord,

    you made my mountain stand strong;

you hid your face;

    I was dismayed.

When David declared himself immovable, God temporarily removed His favor.  In losing that favor, David came to understand his mortality, and the problem that it causes.

Psalm 30:9

“What profit is there in my death,

    if I go down to the pit?

Will the dust praise you?

   Will it tell of your faithfulness?

But then he came to understand the certainty of his resurrection, because God’s glory demands his eternal praise.

Psalm 30:12

O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever

 

Reason to love

 This week we begin worship with:

Deuteronomy 10:18-19

He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.  Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Other verses command us to love.  The last phrase of this verse gives us the reason to love.  

Speaking to Jews, who had been just redeemed from the slavery of Egypt, they were told to love sojourners because they, themselves, were sojourners.  They had been in that same condition. 

Stepping forward to today, one could metaphorically say we are still sojourners.  We are waiting for our redemption.  But that does not parallel this verse.  Our sojourning has not ended, so it is not the reason to love others.

If said to us today, the reason to love the unlovable is that we too were once dead in our sins.  We were once just as guilty, just as messy, just as rebellious. It is the reason to love. 

Blessed

 This morning we start worship with:

Revelation 19:9

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

The first word of this message to us is past tense about a future event.

At the college I attended, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, we were famous for two things: regularly beating MIT in academic competitions and for having a good hockey team.  To get the coveted season tickets students would line up for weeks in advance.  If they were successful, then they were “blessed”.  They were able to dress up in red and cheer the team on week after week.

Many of the beatitudes work this way Matthew 5:4-9.  We are blessed because of what will happen.  In God’s sovereignty He controls both the cause and that wonderful effect.  And we worship today because of these “true words of God”.

Two beatitudes have an immediate present tense blessing.  They are the first and the last.

Matthew 5:3,10

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

How are they immediate?  We have left one kingdom and entered another. This too is a cause for worship.

Colossians 1:13

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son