The Days Are Coming...
Luke 21:25-36
Jeremiah 33:14-16
14 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’”
Do you ever find yourself longing for the good old days and the way things used to be? I know I do. Simpler times, less stress, fewer responsibilities. Of course, the reason we felt less stress and responsibility and things seemed simpler was because the stress and responsibility belonged to someone else. I’m not sure things were much better “way back when.” But that may be a sermon for another day...
I do know that sometimes I feel like a stranger in this world. There are times when this world is hard to recognize? Honestly, I feel that way after watching about 5-minutes of the evening news.
Such feelings are common... and natural, among God’s people. We live in the tension between what is, and what will be. The now and the not yet.
It’s a time of waiting... the space between the reality of what is, and the promise of what will be. It’s a place of anticipation and expectancy. And for Christians, it a place of hope...
The community to which Jeremiah was called to preach, could relate to this world that you and I experience. Because they were living in a time between, too. A time of tension.
The Babylonian army had devastated Jerusalem. Some of God’s People had been carried off into captivity in Babylon... taken from their homes, their land, their way of life. Others found themselves citizens of an occupied land. And Jeremiah, well, he was prison. The King, Zedekiah of Judah, had heard all he cared to hear from Jeremiah. So he had him arrested. It was a time of turmoil and chaos, for the nation, for God’s people... and for God’s messenger... for Jeremiah.
Of course, God’s Word makes it clear... the chaos and unrest was brought about by the sin of Jerusalem. The people and their leaders had turned from God... and God was allowing his people to reap the fruits of their disobedience.
Our circumstances may be different. We’re not under the thumb of a foreign power... but we, too, find ourselves living in “the time between!” The time between the promised Advent of our Savior, when God became Flesh and made his dwelling, his home, among us... and the Promised Second Coming, when Christ will once and for all time “make all things new!”
We certainly live in challenging times. Times of unrest. Days of “wars and rumors of wars” no doubt... still the result of sin.
And it can certainly be difficult living in the time between what is and what will be. Between the Fallen Creation we know, and the Peaceable Kingdom we’ve been promised? How do we manage the tension when it feels like everything is falling apart? Or as the psalmist asks, “How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land” (Psalm 137:4)?
Cowering in fear is no response for a redeemed people! Nor can we afford to grieve over, or pine for some imagined, perfect day that’s past. We’re called to engage the present moment, where God has placed us, knowing that Christ is still in the business of transformation. Christ is our hope... Jesus is our assurance... as we navigate a life that’s often chaotic and foreign... yet, all the while, Christ’s Hope echoes in our minds as we hear words from God spoken by the prophet Jeremiah long ago:
“Behold, the days will surely come,” says the Lord:
+ When I will fulfill the promise I made;
+ A righteous Branch will spring up; and
+ Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will be safe...”
Those are mighty big words from a man prophesying from a prison cell! They’re comforting words for a people who’d been overrun, deported or occupied. They are words of hope that still resonate with a people who need hope... but we have to be careful that we don’t misunderstand what hope is.
Our hope’s not found in passively waiting for God to show up and do something. That’s akin to wishful thinking! Hope is knowing (it’s the unwavering assurance) that our present and future is founded on the promises of God’s Word.
We live in hope when we trust and believe that “there is nothing too hard for [God]” (Jeremiah 32:17), for “with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). When we live in hope, we’re anticipating the day will surely come when weapons of war will become the tools of peace. And strife, and hatred, and division will end.
This hope comes to us as a call demanding a response. Anyone can give “lip service” to hope! We prove our hope by the way we live.
Maybe that’s why, in our First Lesson (the Gospel, Luke 21:25-36), Jesus says, “Stand up and raise your heads.” Maybe that’s the response to hope’s call in our lives. When there are signs in the sun, moon, and stars; when there is distress among nations; when people are fainting from fear and anxiety; when the heavens are shaken; when it looks like things are getting worse “stand up and raise your heads.”
When all you want to do is quit: “Stand up and raise your heads” when you want to do is run away... “Stand up and raise your heads.” When you feel like ducking and hiding, “Stand up and raise your heads.” When you’re tired and overwhelmed, “Stand up and raise your heads!” When everything seems hopeless... “Stand up and raise your heads!”
It’s as if Jesus is saying, “Don’t just sit there amid the doom and gloom. Get up! And look up!” Our hope, our assurance, our redemption is NOT in this world. We’re called to look beyond what our mortal eyes can see. Look to Christ.
As we make our way thru this Advent Season, may the Righteous Branch that sprouted in a lowly manger 2000 years ago... continue to spring up through our lives, as we share who and Whose we are with a world that needs us to be productive branches of the Vine! A world that needs us to bear the fruit of Christ, as we offer the hope that’s within us.
For “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made...”
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