Advent24 - Day 2
Monday – December 2
Read
But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish.
In the former time he brought into contempt the land
of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time
he has made glorious the way of the sea,
the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
(Isaiah 9:1–2)
Reflect
The Coming of the King
By Jason Churchill
Don’t you love Christmas music? It’s one of my favorite aspects of the season. I look forward to it all year long and start getting a nervous twitch come November. The whole family cannot wait to listen to that first Christmas song at 12:01am the morning after Thanksgiving Day.
One of the more unusual songs we sing at Christmas time is O Come, O Come Emmanuel. Have you ever noticed the somber tone of this carol, so unlike other carols? That it’s written in a minor key, evoking feelings such as mourning, aching and yearning?
Why? It’s written like that because it’s a song of Advent; a song of longing and anticipation. Its minor tones make us feel as if we’re in darkness or gloom, waiting for the light to dawn, for our hopes to be realized. It’s very similar to what was taking place here in Isaiah.
You see, the last verses of Isaiah 8 pictured Israel in a desperate state: “They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness” (Isaiah 8:21–22).
O come, O come, Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel.
A Future Hope
And yet, amid this great darkness, God gives them a future hope. “But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish… The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”
The Old Testament is filled with this anticipation, an anticipation of the people of God for deliverance through a deliverer, the coming of a king, a king long promised in their Scriptures…
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely.”
(Jeremiah 23:5–6)
Not just any king would do though. One needn't gaze too far into Israel’s history to realize why. From the very beginning of their earthly monarchy Israel had had kings who were corrupt. Kings who forced labor on their sons and daughters, took “the best of their fields and vineyards” and taxed them unjustly. (1 Sam 8:10-18) Kings who lied, cheated, stole, defrauded, murdered, sacrificed children, committed idolatry and adultery, made alliances with foreign nations and who even sold them into captivity. Hence, a large part of the reason they were presently a people without a king or a kingdom.
You see, Israel’s real problem wasn’t physical captivity, but spiritual captivity. Their exile wasn’t from a piece of land in the middle east, but from the kingdom of God. They didn’t need to be freed from others, but from themselves and their slavery to sin.
As the fourth stanza from that carol reads…
come thou Rod of Jesse, free
thine own from Satan’s tyranny,
from the depths of hell Thy people save
and give them victory over the grave.
What kind of king could bring this kind of deliverance and establish an eternal kingdom? Isaiah goes on to describe Him…
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this."
(Isaiah 9:6–7)
And so, Israel desperately awaited the arrival, the advent of this prophesied king who would deliver them, who’d establish and uphold the throne of David “with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.”
Hence, the chorus of this Christmas carol crescendos with the encouragement of a promise that is sure and certain… "Rejoice! Rejoice!" Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel!".
The First Advent
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem… behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
(Matthew 2:1–2)
Thus, we sing in other carols…
Born a king on Bethlehem's plain…
King forever ceasing never, over us all to reign
What Isaiah and his original audience were waiting for… has happened.
The king that he and they had longed for… has come! Where they looked forward to the Advent of the king we now look back at the Advent of the King.
As Matthew proclaimed, “the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” (Mt 4:16)
O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer,
Our Spirits by Thine Advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
The child has been born. The Son is given. Jesus, God in Christ, is this king!
Already and Not Yet
But why then do we still sing O Come, O Come Emmanuel? And why do we still observe Advent? Because we live in the “Already and Not Yet”. We live in a time when Christ has already come and yet is going to come again. A time where we remember and celebrate the first Advent of the king and yet yearn and long for the second Advent of the king.
Much of what Isaiah prophesied here has already been realized in and through Jesus’ first coming while we still await their full and final consummation at His second coming... the full and final end of darkness and gloom.
The beauty of living in our day is that we can see and savor how Jesus, the king in the manger, and in the streets of the ancient near east, and entering Jerusalem on the colt, and on the cross, and triumphing over death in his resurrection embodied this kingly Old Testament prophecy... and yet we still look forward in anticipation of the second coming of this king, mounted this time on a white horse to consummate his eternal kingdom.
Respond
What are some ways to look back at and forward to Jesus’ coming? Make a list of how those promises have been fulfilled and what the final consummation of those promises will look like.
Rejoice
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel;
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory o'er the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer,
Our Spirits by Thine Advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
Read
But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish.
In the former time he brought into contempt the land
of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time
he has made glorious the way of the sea,
the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
(Isaiah 9:1–2)
Reflect
The Coming of the King
By Jason Churchill
Don’t you love Christmas music? It’s one of my favorite aspects of the season. I look forward to it all year long and start getting a nervous twitch come November. The whole family cannot wait to listen to that first Christmas song at 12:01am the morning after Thanksgiving Day.
One of the more unusual songs we sing at Christmas time is O Come, O Come Emmanuel. Have you ever noticed the somber tone of this carol, so unlike other carols? That it’s written in a minor key, evoking feelings such as mourning, aching and yearning?
Why? It’s written like that because it’s a song of Advent; a song of longing and anticipation. Its minor tones make us feel as if we’re in darkness or gloom, waiting for the light to dawn, for our hopes to be realized. It’s very similar to what was taking place here in Isaiah.
You see, the last verses of Isaiah 8 pictured Israel in a desperate state: “They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness” (Isaiah 8:21–22).
O come, O come, Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel.
A Future Hope
And yet, amid this great darkness, God gives them a future hope. “But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish… The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”
The Old Testament is filled with this anticipation, an anticipation of the people of God for deliverance through a deliverer, the coming of a king, a king long promised in their Scriptures…
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely.”
(Jeremiah 23:5–6)
Not just any king would do though. One needn't gaze too far into Israel’s history to realize why. From the very beginning of their earthly monarchy Israel had had kings who were corrupt. Kings who forced labor on their sons and daughters, took “the best of their fields and vineyards” and taxed them unjustly. (1 Sam 8:10-18) Kings who lied, cheated, stole, defrauded, murdered, sacrificed children, committed idolatry and adultery, made alliances with foreign nations and who even sold them into captivity. Hence, a large part of the reason they were presently a people without a king or a kingdom.
You see, Israel’s real problem wasn’t physical captivity, but spiritual captivity. Their exile wasn’t from a piece of land in the middle east, but from the kingdom of God. They didn’t need to be freed from others, but from themselves and their slavery to sin.
As the fourth stanza from that carol reads…
come thou Rod of Jesse, free
thine own from Satan’s tyranny,
from the depths of hell Thy people save
and give them victory over the grave.
What kind of king could bring this kind of deliverance and establish an eternal kingdom? Isaiah goes on to describe Him…
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this."
(Isaiah 9:6–7)
And so, Israel desperately awaited the arrival, the advent of this prophesied king who would deliver them, who’d establish and uphold the throne of David “with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.”
Hence, the chorus of this Christmas carol crescendos with the encouragement of a promise that is sure and certain… "Rejoice! Rejoice!" Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel!".
The First Advent
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem… behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
(Matthew 2:1–2)
Thus, we sing in other carols…
Born a king on Bethlehem's plain…
King forever ceasing never, over us all to reign
What Isaiah and his original audience were waiting for… has happened.
The king that he and they had longed for… has come! Where they looked forward to the Advent of the king we now look back at the Advent of the King.
As Matthew proclaimed, “the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” (Mt 4:16)
O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer,
Our Spirits by Thine Advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
The child has been born. The Son is given. Jesus, God in Christ, is this king!
Already and Not Yet
But why then do we still sing O Come, O Come Emmanuel? And why do we still observe Advent? Because we live in the “Already and Not Yet”. We live in a time when Christ has already come and yet is going to come again. A time where we remember and celebrate the first Advent of the king and yet yearn and long for the second Advent of the king.
Much of what Isaiah prophesied here has already been realized in and through Jesus’ first coming while we still await their full and final consummation at His second coming... the full and final end of darkness and gloom.
The beauty of living in our day is that we can see and savor how Jesus, the king in the manger, and in the streets of the ancient near east, and entering Jerusalem on the colt, and on the cross, and triumphing over death in his resurrection embodied this kingly Old Testament prophecy... and yet we still look forward in anticipation of the second coming of this king, mounted this time on a white horse to consummate his eternal kingdom.
Respond
What are some ways to look back at and forward to Jesus’ coming? Make a list of how those promises have been fulfilled and what the final consummation of those promises will look like.
Rejoice
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel;
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory o'er the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer,
Our Spirits by Thine Advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
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