"He's Coming!"

Scripture: Jeremiah 33:12-22

Today, Advent begins. This is the time of preparation for Christmas; it is the day when we are reminded that God has made an unbreakable promise of salvation; it is the hour when we rejoice in the fact that Almighty God is good and loving beyond our wildest expectation; he has come to not only live with us but to live as one of us! Advent means “preparation” – a spiritual preparation to celebrate God’s presence in our lives.

But, you may ask, why should we have to prepare for something that we already know about? These next four weeks are an opportunity for personal reflection on the lives we have been living, and whether they are worthy to be offered in celebration of the Lord’s birth. After all, how do you get ready to celebrate your closest friend’s birthday? Would you think that any old gift will suffice? Would you decide to fix the easiest meal that you know of? Would 10 minutes be enough time to spend with your friend? Would you decide that you would rather spend the day with a different person?

Of course not – you would want to offer your friend the very best that you could give, and that requires time and preparation. Christmas is no different. And Jeremiah’s time was no different than ours. Jeremiah was a prophet to the people of Judah at a time when their lives were hanging by a very slender thread. The Babylonians were knocking at the door of Jerusalem. The Northern Kingdom had already been defeated by Assyria some 80 to 100 years before, and the day of Judah’s captivity was drawing near. Jeremiah had been called to minister to the nation, to remind the people of the errant lives they had been living, and to call them back to the way that the Lord God Jehovah had laid out for them.

But even in the midst of his prophecy of impending calamity, there were also words of hope and pardon. Today’s text is but one passage that promises restoration, even before defeat occurs at the hands of a brutal enemy.

Read Jeremiah 33:12-13

Desolation! The prophet describes a place where nothing lives – not humanity, not animals, not anything that could sustain life, even if it did live there. That’s what our lives are - without the Lord’s presence, that is. Without God’s word for our lives, life is tentative and temporary; it’s uncertain and without direction; it has no worthwhile substance. Oh, some will say that their careers are fulfilling, that their children give them a sense of worth, that 70 or 80 years of life is quite enough for them, but not a word about the Lord’s guidance, or that they are accomplishing anything of lasting value, or that they are living within God’s promise of eternal life.

Life can be a veritable wasteland, even if we think that things are going well. After all, if we don’t know what it is like to walk with the Lord, how can we adequately judge the quality of our life without him? But the prophet tells us that even in an existence that is devoid of true life, there can still be hope. He tells the nation that even though all may look hopeless right now, the Lord God Almighty has a plan that is already in place, and that it will not only restore all that they had, it will bring a life that is even better. What he is actually describing is healing for the nation. And healing is something that we have no control over.

If we cut our hand, we clean the wound and bandage it, but we are only assisting the healing process that the body has already begun. If a skilled doctor performs a heart transplant, the healing only begins when the body acclimates the new organ to the rest of the body. And forgiveness for our less than stellar lives is nothing less than a spiritual healing that only God, through his perfect design, can accomplish.

In this passage, Jeremiah is describing God’s healing plan for the nation.

Read Jeremiah 33:14-16

The plan is being laid out for the people. It will have nothing to do with human leadership or human wisdom, as human abilities are limited in vision and imperfect in performance. The One who will restore humanity to greatness will come from David’s line, but will also only come in the Lord’s true Presence. It is God who will initiate the “righteous Branch”, and not David or his descendants.

Two additional thoughts on these verses.
First, this isn’t a new start for Judah – it is the fulfillment of the promise God made to the people many years before. (Genesis 15:9-21) They would be numerous, they would be honored, and the promise - the covenant - would be in place “throughout the generations”. All of their problems, all of their failures, all of their sinful living could do nothing to prevent the covenant from playing out in God’s way and in his time.
Second, verses 15 and 16 appear to proclaim both Christ’s first coming as well as his second. Verse 15 tells of Jesus - the “righteous Branch” - who will bring justice and righteousness to the world, which is ours now, and verse 16 tells of salvation and safety, which won’t be completely ours until the Lord returns.

These two events are evidence of God’s promise to the nations - in Genesis 17:4, Abraham will be ancestor of a “multitude of nations”, not just Israel. The covenant is secure, it is in place, and it is working toward its glorious conclusion. And when we are told that we must keep the covenant (Genesis 17:9), it means that we are to keep faith in Christ, who represents the covenant.

The “Day” and promise of Almighty God is on its way. Can we truly say that we are ready?

Read Jeremiah 33:17-22

This passage is interesting, in that while we know that Jesus was a direct descendent of David, the prophecy that the priestly tribe of Levi will always have someone to present sacrifices to God seems a little vague. After all, Jesus was of the tribe of Judah! But the book of Hebrews repeatedly tells us that Jesus is our High Priest (Hebrews 4:14, etal), so while the lineage of David will remain intact, the lineage of the high priest, which had always come through the priestly ranks of Levi, is going to change.

The second issue is that the Lord’s covenant will never be broken until the difference and separation between day and night no longer exists. And when that time comes, the covenant with both the line of David and the tribe of Levi will no longer stand. David and Levi will only have a place in the Divine Promise until the Promise is complete.

The “righteous branch of David” is going to make all things new! (Revelation 21:5) Newness and new ways have always been evidenced in the ways and words of Jesus, but now we know what his coming will mean to us – that it will change everything – that it will be renewing!

But that doesn’t mean that we can defer our “renewal” until he returns. (Matthew 25:1-13) His first coming initiated that entire process of newness and new birth, but most of us are unclear on how to even begin to fully immerse ourselves in this new way of Jesus. We’re still human, we’re still fallible, we’re still sinful beings whose wisdom and focus is constantly getting blurred by the things of earth.

Rachel Remen, an author and teacher, wrote:
The most important questions don't seem to have ready answers, but the questions themselves have healing power when they are shared. An answer is an invitation to stop thinking about something, to stop wondering. Life has no such stopping places. Life is a process whose every event is connected to the moment that just went by. An unanswered question is a fine traveling companion. It sharpens your eye for the road.
--Rachel Naomi Remen, Kitchen Table Wisdom (Penguin, 2006).

It appears that some questions may be OK for now. We know that Jesus is the incarnate Son of God, and that he died that we might live in him. But what about Matthew 5:48, when Jesus tells us to be perfect just as God is perfect? What about John 14:6, when Jesus tells us that he is the only way to the Father? If we don’t live the perfect life, it would seem that we are in trouble!

In case you hadn’t noticed we aren’t perfect – not by a long shot! But by faith in Christ we will be made worthy in life, even though we are imperfect in our actions. Yes, I know, there isn’t a lot of worldly logic in these words, but then Jesus isn’t worldly or logical! Faith isn’t about logic, or perfection, or understanding, or even completeness. It’s about believing that Jesus came to start us on his way, and will come again to lead us to the final goal. Today is about beginning our preparation for that marvelous walk with him, and the walk begins now, even though we are not completely prepared.

Remen’s thought, that the unanswered questions of this life sharpen our eye for the road ahead, is pretty good advice. Never stop asking questions, and never stop seeking their answers. That is how we prepare for the wonderful day that awaits us.

Never stop asking, and never stop wondering, and never stop preparing! The Lord is on his way, you know!