Mark's Blog

Although I’m actually one day behind already, I would like to spend the next twenty-four days with you in Advent readings and thoughts.  Other postings may pop up, but I will create a special category for Advent which you can always go to see the appropriate posting for that day.  I will also include a Scripture Reading each day which will be the focus of the thoughts and prayers.  I hope it will be meaningful to you.

Introduction:  Although Advent is commonly understood to be the Christmas season and, therefore, connected to the birth of Jesus, the word adventus is the Latin translation of parousia, a word usually associated with the Second Coming, not the First Coming.  As we move through the Scriptures, I believe we will discover that the two Comings are bound together by more than just a word!

Sunday, November 29

Text: Isaiah 2:1-5

The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

In days to come
the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
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 instruction,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.

O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord!

Isaiah announces “Peace On Earth, Good will toward men!”  The Kingdom established will be the highest and it will be one that draws people to it from all nations! And Peace and Righteous Judgment will go out from that place.

But the arrival of Jesus did not bring peace, but the Slaughter of the Innocents, the persecution of the saints. From our human perspective, we continue to live in such a time, a time when Injustice and War seem to dominate rather than Peace and Good Will.

But with every soul that finds Peace in submitting to the King and with every act of Good Will done in His Name, the Kingdom of God breaks out as predicted. And, one Advent Day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess and Peace and Good Will will be perfected and “the mountain of the Lord’s house will be established as the highest mountain!”

No wonder, Isaiah ends with the invitation, “Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord,”  on the mountaintop of Peace and Good Will, on the mountaintop with the One Who has come and will come!