Breath

 This Advent week we begin worship with:

Isaiah 11:1-5
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 
And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 
And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. 
He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; 
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 
Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

Up from a lifeless stump a shoot will grow, put down roots, and bear fruit.  That tree, our Lord Jesus Christ, upon whom the Spirit would come to rest, would have authority to stand as judge over all the earth. 

Yet, with all that authority, it would not be His own will that He would do.  For his “delight” (rîaḥ) would be in the fear of the LORD.  It would be like a fragrance so wonderful, He would repeatedly seek it out for His next breath. 

He would find it in judging with equity and He would execute that justice with that very same breath. 

Temple

This week we begin worship with:

2 Thessalonians 2:13

But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

We are justified by the redeeming work of Jesus Christ. But this verse speaks of something different, that of sanctification (hagiasmos). This can be understood as the opposite of profaning and it is the work of the Holy Spirit.

A long time ago we would worship in a “sancti-nasium”.  All week it was used by the school children and the scouts, then it would be transformed into a sanctuary for Sunday morning.  Only to be broken down after the evening service in the raucous tradition of the weekly stacking of the chairs.

It is the very presence of the Holy Spirit in us that pushes out the profane and sanctifies us:

1 Corinthians 3:16

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

There is no room for both. 

With Him

This week we begin worship with:

1 Thessalonians 5:9-11

For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Our Lord Jesus Christ “died for us”.

We no longer must fear the “king of terrors” (Job 18:14).  Instead, our physical death will be as if sleeping (katheudō).  From which we will be called to life, much like Lazarus:

John 11:11

After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.”

John 11:43

When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”

Why did Christ die for us?  

So that we “might live with him”.  This is His desire.  This is His identity.  He is called Immanuel (ʿimmānû'ēl):

Isaiah 7:14

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Work

This week we start worship with:

John 6:35

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."

This event comes after the feeding of the Five Thousand, when Jesus blessed the lunch of a little boy and multiplied it until all were fed . . . and twelve baskets were left over. 

Intrigued by a free source of food that did not require the work of neither milling and baking, nor the planting and harvesting, the crowd sought out and found Jesus, who had left that area by walking on the water. 

When they found Him, Jesus told them:

John 6:27

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

Intrigued further, and being already burdened by the Law, they asked:

John 6:28
Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”

To which He replied by dropping the “s”:

John 6:29

Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

Faith in Him is the only necessary work.  They continued to press him to repeat the sign of manna which Moses performed. To which he replied with today’s verse, that He was indeed the bread of life.

Let’s eat.