Mark's Blog

Reading:  Zechariah 14:4-9

On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley; so that half of the Mount shall withdraw northwards, and the other half southwards. And you shall flee by the valley of the Lord’s mountain, for the valley between the mountains shall reach to Azal; and you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

On that day there shall not be either cold or frost. And there shall be continuous day (it is known to the Lord), not day and not night, for at evening time there shall be light.

On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea; it shall continue in summer as in winter.

And the Lord will become king over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be one and his name one.

This whole first week of Advent, Scripture has shown us that The Coming is not a tame, domesticated Nativity Scene nor a Kodak-moment filled with violins and glamour shots! No, we have read of the heavens being ripped open, mountains trembling, heavenly horns trumpeting, choruses filling the skies with world-changing anthem.

Zechariah describes the Mount of Olives—yes, the peaceful mount outside of Jerusalem where Jesus and His disciples go to pray—being split in two during The Coming.  I know some want to take this literally and to weave it into an eschatological system, but today we won’t.

Today, we let the Advent words “the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him, ” lead us to three beautiful pictures of the new creation after The Coming!

First, there will be light—warm light, continuous light! The Coming is the end of cold and darkness!   As far apart as East from West are darkness and light. We are so frail in our flesh that the Bright Light sometimes causes blindness as it did with Saul of Tarsus, but as with Saul, when we are healed of our sins, the lust of our eyes is only for the Light!

The second image is continual flowing, living water. We hardly know what to do with this metaphor because water is just in the next room on tap.  But to have water in summer as well as winter was a necessity for life and extraordinarily difficult to supply in more arid countries like Israel.

We do know, however, this life-threatening kind of dryness in our souls–the dryness of emptiness, of hopelessness, of loneliness–and we know how withering these seasons of life can be. The Coming is not just the promise of spring rains, but rather the gift of a river of life that never runs dry because its source water is God Himself. The Water of Heaven has come down.

And, finally, the Lord will be king—that’s a familiar image to us. What really makes me pause, however, are the next words:  the Lord will be one, and His name one. This rings in my ears as the fulfillment of the prayer of Jesus in John 17, uttered in His last hours that His followers might be one.

The One Who Comes is One.  His Name is One.  Oh, Lord, make us who wear your Name one also!

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Reading: Psalm 50:1-6

The LORD, the God of gods, has spoken;
he has called the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.

Out of Zion, perfect in its beauty,
God reveals himself in glory.

Our God will come and will not keep silence;
before him there is a consuming flame,
and round about him a raging storm.

He calls the heavens and the earth from above
to witness the judgment of his people.

“Gather before me my loyal followers,
those who have made a covenant with me
and sealed it with sacrifice.”

Let the heavens declare the rightness of his cause;
for God himself is judge

Our God is not a quiet God. He speaks and the heavens appear; he speaks and the earth takes on form; he speaks and we breathe!

Because He is not quiet, we hear when He is around! Adam and Eve heard Him in the Garden of Eden and were afraid. Moses heard Him from a burning bush; Samuel heard Him in a dream; Elijah heard Him in a gentle whisper.  Our God is not quiet—and He is not far away!  If you listen, you will hear Him.

The Coming is not in silence! David said in Psalm 19, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech . . . There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”

The Coming occurs in a torrent of testimony!  Angelic songs are sung, and trumpets sound . . .and names will be called.

When God comes down, He will not keep silence.  He did not; He will not!

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Reading:  Isaiah 64:1-4

O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence—
as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
From ages past no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who works for those who wait for him.

One of the most memorable prayer scenes in more recent movies is the prayer to Baby Jesus in Talladega Nights (2006).  In the film, Will Ferrell (Ricky) continues to pray to Little Baby Jesus even when others at the table object. His response is that he likes the Christmas Jesus best, not the grown up Jesus. (If you want to see a cleaned-up version of this scene, you can follow this link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7pco3TTV5k.)

Isaiah’s movie version of The Coming would be very different.  Here Jesus comes ripping open the heavens, mountains shaking, waters seething! This is not Bambi popping through the bushes; rather, this is the great  I AM from the burning bush before whom you take off your shoes and hide your eyes—and you don’t set foot on His mountain—and you don’t touch His Mercy Seat—or you might die!

So God Himself came down—we didn’t expect it, of course!  Greek gods came down to sleep with beautiful women or to fight for (sometimes against) their favorite warriors.  Most gods stayed on their mountains or in their temples—as was expected!

But our God came down to do awesome deeds! No one has ever seen any God like You!

We sometimes trivialize the Epiphany by talking about how “God showed up.” We don’t mean to, but it sounds as if God is reacting to our sudden need. Perhaps the phrase is just our own version of “we didn’t expect it!”  God in us! God among us! God with us!

Skies and heavens ripped open, clouds rolling away, yes, The Coming Down cannot/will not be mistaken for anything else but . . . . well, The Coming!  Emmanuel! Maranatha!

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Reading: Isaiah 25:6-9
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines,
of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear.
And he will destroy on this mountain
the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
he will swallow up death for ever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
It will be said on that day,
Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

Good Cheer and Good Tidings of Great Joy are part of the Advent greeting. That is what makes family losses this time of year especially painful. Do you remember the Mash episode where Hawkeye turned back the clock so he would not have to write December 25 on the death certificate of the son of some mother and father?  How can The Coming change this?

What powerful images Isaiah uses to talk about The Coming: And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations.” There will be no moments when the casket is closed to separate the living from the dead.

And it is not just a trick of turning back the clock, so we can pretend that the moment is not real! No, the Coming completely obliterates Death into nothingness; no more tears, no more disgrace, no more empty chairs, no more broken circles—and no more waiting!

With The Coming our confession rolls across the New Creation: This is the Lord for whom we have waited!

No wonder the angels could not keep their joy pent up in heaven; their song of gladness and good tidings bursts out of heaven—surprising us perhaps, but completely fulfilling our Hope!

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The first two posts in this Advent Calendar are just hours apart, so if you missed the first post, you can click here and go straight to it  http://wp.me/pO3kT-bJ .

Reading:   Isaiah 4:2-6
On that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel. Whoever is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, once the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgement and by a spirit of burning. Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over its places of assembly a cloud by day and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night. Indeed, over all the glory there will be a canopy. It will serve as a pavilion, a shade by day from the heat, and a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.

The Coming is first a time of washing away of filth and a cleansing of bloodstains, an operation of holiness that God does in His great mercy.  We probably cringe to read the words “spirit of judgment” or “spirit of burning,” but we draw back from these words because we ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  We brought judgment and burning upon ourselves and we know it.

Yet the day of The Coming is to be beautiful and glorious because the Survivors—those washed and cleansed—have been recorded for life! Those who remain experience the day-and-night presence of the Lord and never need fear the elements of this world again.

I’ve never been in Israel in the summer, but I’ve been in Turkey and the summer heat is wilting. Every shadow is a shelter but shadows disappear as the sun moves across the sky.  A canopy, however,–a pavilion—a permanent shelter, now that is something to look forward to! Come, Lord Jesus!

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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!

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