Advent 2: Be Found at Peace
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Isaiah 40:1-11 English Standard Version (ESV)
1 “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6 A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
9 Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” 10 Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
2 Peter 3:8-15 English Standard Version (ESV)
8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him.
Mark 1:1-8 English Standard Version (ESV)
1 “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, 3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’”
4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
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The season of Advent is a time that is meant to remind us of what, or in whom we can place our hope. Last week we spoke of the hope that we have in Christ and how He truly is the only hope we have in this world. And that we are called to be awakened to this hope.
That this hope has always been there, and it is time for us to have our eyes opened to it and be reminded that the steadfast love, the mercy and grace of our Lord, revealed to us in the birth of Jesus Christ, and then his life, death and resurrection is a far greater hope than anyone or anything in this world can offer. In fact, it is the only hope we have in the midst of a broken, sinful world. But hope points to that which is to come; that which we are patiently lying in wait for. There is a goal and end to hope, to when what we are hoping for and who we are hoping in arrives. Then hope meets it’s completion. And its completion is Christ. But in the meantime what do we do? How do we wait?
When our children were very young, they had of course no concept of time. So birthdays and Christmas never really held any kind of chronological meaning to them. And when they would ask when their birthdays was and found out it would be another 364 days before their next one, it did not really mean much to them, other than it was not today. But now they are of an age where they are getting a sense of what it means to have to wait. And of course with Christmas, they will focus on Jesus’s little helper, Santa Claus who brings them gifts, oddly enough delivered to them via dad who had to go pick up the gifts because we don’t have a chimney in our apartment… And so our second boy is now asking everyday “Is santa coming tomorrow? What about tomorrow? And tomorrow? It’s snowing, does that mean santa is coming tomorrow?”
There were even a few disappointed mornings where sighs were heard across the room “Santa didn’t come again…” At first it is quite cute. But then after a couple of days… The routine can get old fast. And so children must wait for Santa, and parents must also wait for Santa, to that they can stop having to explain to their children multiples times a day that there are still 19 days till Christmas.
Waiting is hard.
But there is also way to wait well.
For those who are waiting for the Lord, Peter encourages and reminds the follower of Christ of the hope that we have in Him. In fact if you read the beginning of 2 Peter 3 he says that he is writing to “Stir up your mind by way of reminder…” To remember the prophets and commandments of Jesus Christ. To remember, in the midst of the scooters who might ask in the face of all the waiting and terrible circumstances “Where is this promise of His coming? Where is He??” To remember that our hope is set on the Gospel message that Christ was born, Christ has died, Christ has risen, and Christ will come again. We know that the Lord was silent for 400 years in the generations before Jesus was born. And while after 400 years it may have been easy for people to lose hope and to lose their patience. And Peter, who saw and walked with Christ, is having to write this letter to those who would have in their lifetimes lived at the same time as Christ but are already beginning to lose hope in the Messiah’s return, falling in line with the scoffers wondering and chastising asking “Where is this messiah”?
2 Peter 3
8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Peter encourages the believer that we must learn to be patient, because there is a reason that we have yet to wait and continue to wait. He tells us that
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
This is an incredible revelation. Because those who wait with frustrated impatience… Those who have waited and waited and lost hope… May have often done so because they have been without the realization that it is not only we who have to be patient. But that God is being patient towards us so that all should reach repentance. And while the day of the Lord will come like a thief… That the heavens will pass away… That the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and all the works that are done on it will be exposed… There is something that the Lord is being patient towards us for.
For some of us it may be to finally come to know Him as our Lord and Saviour. For some of us it may be to finally outgrow, surrender, and repent of a sin we have carried all our lives. For some of us it may be to answer a call to serve Him at a greater and deeper capacity.
Peter actually asks this question:
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God,
The Lord is telling us that as we wait and look towards the hope of Christ, we must consider and determine what sort of person ought you be in lives of holiness and godliness. In other words… how will you live your life as you wait. When Christ returns.. how will He find you??
For John the Baptist, the life that he was called to live is one that I long and believe my life has been called to someday model… (Maybe not so much the camel’s hair and leather belts eating locust and wild honey, but who knows?!) But I believe the call to the follower of Christ is to live
as John did. As a voice in the wilderness of this world, crying out “Make straight the path of the Lord. “
When I used to read this, I would imagine these grand deeds. Imagery movie scenes from Braveheart where William Wallace Or when king Aragorn spoke in front of the armies in the Lord of the Rings Or when the coach gives and impassioned speech that breaks down the doubt and fear in the hearts and ears of the hearers. And where together we ran out to face the enemy in battle with battle cries and legions of followers of Christ, waving the banner of Jesus’ name… I used to think that God expected these great and grand deeds of His people. And while at times this may be true… I think I misunderstood who it was who did the work.
For as we read in Isaiah
The Lord speaks comfort to us, in the name Emmanuel. He speaks tenderly to His people.
To tell us that the warfare of His people has ended. Our iniquity, pardoned. For the voice that cries out in the wildness. Calls out for us to make straight the path for the Lord. The Lord proclaims that the lowest valleys will be lifted up, the highest mountains and hills will be made low, the uneven ground flattened and the rough places made plain. There will be no obstacles too great for all of flesh to bear witness to the glory of God: “Behold your God!”
Behold, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.
It is the Lord that is out doing the work, so while we may the voice crying out in the wilderness make straight the path of the Lord! It is the Lord who makes the path straight. It is the Lord that is putting all things in place. For the building of His kingdom and for the His glorious return. And when we begin to see this in the pages of Scripture. When we begin to realize that the work is being done by our Father in Heaven. And it is not left in our own hands, where we would be doomed to failure… When we realize that our hope rests not in us and what we do. But in who He is and what He has done, is doing, and will do! Then that… reveals to us how we should wait.
We wait in hope. And not in frantic living. Not in fear or anxiousness. Living, not simply in religious exercise and rituals… But having been baptized by the Holy Spirit. We live. we wait with hope. And we wait in peace.
Peter continues in
14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
Brothers and sisters, Peter asked us “What sort of people ought you to be?” As we wait for the time we are called Home or when He returns? We are called to live without spot or blemish, holy and righteous by the power of the Holy Spirit. To live diligently and patiently, with the full knowledge of the forgiveness of our sin… The knowledge of the grace and trustworthiness of God. .. The knowledge that the Holy Spirit abides within every person who confesses with their lips and believes in their heart that Jesus is Lord.
All of which grants the faithful… the believer… The child of God… A peace that goes beyond comprehension. Truly a peace given to and that can only be found in Christ.
John 14:27
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Brothers and sisters. May you be found in His peace today.
Amen.