Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him,and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. -Matthew 3:5-6
With repentance comes confession. Even in the time of Advent, when we look forward to the coming Messiah, we must remember the importance of confession:
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. -Romans 10:9
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. -James 5:16, KJV
As we prepare for the Messiah, it has to include the preparation of our hearts, as we confess our sins to God and to others and are baptized.
God in Heaven, we have sinned against You. As we confess, we thank You that You are faithful to forgive.
Tradition holds that the second week of Advent is about preparing ourselves for the coming Messiah, with John the Baptizer being our model. This is when our focus turns from the promises to fulfillment of Messiah. Obviously, there is a connection between each week, as we begin by looking out our need for the promised Savior, and then we move to finding the truth of the living Savior.
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. -Isaiah 40:3, KJV (see Matthew 3:3, Mark 1:3, Luke 3:4)
John was prophesied centuries before either he or his cousin, Jesus, lived. John is also the final of the Old Testament Prophets. He was the last to prophecy the coming Messiah before Jesus began His ministry.
He was an ascetic – someone who separates from society in many ways through denying comforts and desires, including diet and habits, for religious purposes. (See Numbers 6 to understand more of John’s asceticism, known as the Nazirite vow.) He seemed pretty crazy and weird, but he laid the groundwork for the Messiah.
What did this mean?
He called out sin, decried fame, and [literally] pointed to the Lamb of God, the Messiah.
As Christians – believers in the life, death, and resurrection of the Son of God, Jesus – we are likewise called to point to the Savior. We are to prepare the the way for His return and encroaching Kingdom.
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. -Matthew 28:18-20
How are you pointing others to Jesus?
Good Lord, give us a passion for sharing the Good News of Jesus – to call out sin, love people, and glorify Your Name.
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. -Isaiah 1:18, KJV
As we finish out the first week of Advent, we look back at Isaiah. He was able to hear directly from God that He was coming to wash away all of our sins.
The irony of this is that God calls our sins scarlet – dark red – and will be washed white as snow and wool, and this by the washing through His own blood. His red blood washes us whiter than snow.
And He says, “Come and talk to with me about it. I will show you your sin and need for a Savior, and then I will show you how you can be cleaned and saved.” (A slight paraphrase of the verse above.)
The Prophets looked forward to the coming Messiah, and we can point the world today to that Messiah who is come and will come again.
Lord, thank You for washing us clean. Give us Your words and wisdom to share this good news with the world.
Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the Branch. For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree. -Zechariah 3:8-10
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The great news of Zechariah is that the Branch of Jesse, the descendant of David, the Servant King of Israel, would be coming to His people, and in a single day He would manage to remove all the sins of His people.
Through this Branch, all people will be able to come together in peace and love, living by the fruit of the Spirit in all facets of life and relationships.
This is not simply some feel-good story, but the source of the peace we celebrate at this time of year.
It is also the hope that we will one day see this fulfilled completely. It will be fully realized when our Lord returns to reign on Earth for eternity.
Lord of hosts and Righteous Redeemer, thank You for taking our sin upon Yourself and reuniting humanity with You. Guide us in bringing Your Kingdom to this world.
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. –Isaiah 64:6, KJV
Even our good works are tainted by sin, making it so that there is never enough good works we can do to tip the scales to outweigh our sins and earn forgiveness from God.
As we continue our journey through Advent, we remember the longing for a Savior that the Prophets sought and preached.
We may volunteer our time at the holidays, donate clothes, food, and toys to those in need, or even welcome strangers into our home. But it takes the perfect love of God moving through us to have any true impact.
See your need for a Savior, the One who gave up all power, glory, majesty, and honor to live a simple, faithful life to sacrifice His body for our benefit.
Gracious Lord, You see our sinful natures and every motive of our hearts. Help us to see Your forgiveness through Your great sacrifice, and change us and clean us to do good works in Your name.
Tradition holds that the first week of Advent reminds us of the importance of prophecy and that we are desperately in need of a Savior. The Hebrew Bible – the Old Testament – reveals much through the Prophets and Wisdom literature and poetry.
If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him; If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles. For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear: Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away: And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday: thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning. And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety.
Job 11:13-18
We first need to see our need for cleansing from sin. Then we need to remember that, through Christ, we have already been cleansed of our sin.
This knowledge gives us hope.
Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.
Psalm 27:14
Therefore, we no longer wait, as Israel did, for an unknown Savior. Rather, we wait for the return of our Lord, when all misery, pain, and tears will cease. He shall reign as God and Lord over a remade and perfect Creation.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
Isaiah 9:6-7
Heavenly Father, we have sinned against you, but You sent Your Son to save us from our sin. Thank You for revealing Jesus’ first coming through Your Prophets of old and His immanent return through the Apostles. Give us a grateful heart and a sense of urgency to spread this Good News with the world with humility and grace.
Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress? For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord , and he ponders all his paths. The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
Proverbs 5:20-22, ESV
This passage reminds us of three things:
Sex is supposed to be reserved for marriage (yes, one man and one woman);
God knows and judges even our thoughts;
Sin is pernicious, touching every area of life and holding on fast.
Firstly, think about society today, throughout most of the world, and how fixated are on sex. The more we stray from God, the more we seem to crave and then celebrate sin. Just look at the variety of “gay pride” parades and festivals, websites for “personal pleasure” and even affairs, and the use of sex in advertising and popular entertainment.
Secondly, we tend to live either as atheists or as though God is not omniscient nor hates sin. How? In the way we think, convincing ourselves that “it’s okay to look” and “no one else is getting hurt.” Yet, Jesus reminds us that lust is adultery (Matthew 5:28) and that God even judges our thoughts.
And finally, those songs and thoughts do affect everything else, especially the more one dwells on and/or lives out sins. Ask the adulterer or the couple whose marriage fell apart who started by “only looking at porn.” Look at how many people are defined by who they are attracted to or what they look like on the outside. And remember: the urge to look does not go away just because you “put a ring on it.” Lust becomes a habit.
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1:13 ESV
“I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh” – Proverbs 1:26
This morning I was reading through chapter one and got all the way to verse 26. I may go back and look at some other verses later, but this one really stood out to me today.
Can you imagine God laughing at somebody in trouble? Actually, I can imagine someone saying, “That’s not a very Christian thing to do!” (FYI, that’s a typical “gotcha” zinger atheists – both real and pretend – love to throw at believers)
But what we see in this verse is exactly that – God laughs at people in trouble.
However, it’s not just any people; it’s those who follow after other gods when He doesn’t seem to meet their needs. Consider what God told the children of Isreal in Gilead:
Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation. – Judges 10:14
While the above passage doesn’t mention God laughing, it does show Him essentially saying, “Hey, I told you so! Now, go on with your bad self and see if your little “g’s” are all you thought they were.”
But the Lord does laugh at those who want to “break the bands” of objective truth and live their own lives without Him…
“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision (mock, deride, ridicule).” – Psalm 2:4
It’s worth thinking about. God wouldn’t offer a way of deliverance if He didn’t love and care for us. But when we brush off his help like dandruff off our shoulder (I’m bald, so I don’t have that problem), don’t you think it breaks His heart?
That’s why, I believe, you see so many people crying out to God for deliverance, yet get no response. What’s it gonna take to convince us those other gods are the real failures? How many more times will I hear someone say, “I don’t believe in God anymore…I prayed to Him when I really needed Him, but nothing happened”?
I just shake my head.
That’s what God does: He shakes his head, put’s his hand on his forehead, and says, ‘Oh Myself.'”
Yeah, I know, it’s not funny. But sometimes you’ve just got to laugh at the insanity of it all.
Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.
Equally amazing is how an adulterous woman can satisfy her sexual appetites, shrug her shoulders, and then say, “What’s wrong with that?” (NLT Life Application Study Bible).
No-one seems to know much about Agur, the writer/compiler of Proverbs 30. One thing that we do know is that Agur was not a scientist (Proverbs 30:18-19). When Agur watched eagles in the sky and snakes on the rocks he was amazed by their movements. Agur couldn’t understand how a ship could be navigated across the ocean without GPS, and he wasn’t too sure about matters of romance either. But all of these mysteries paled into insignificance when Agur considered how people could do something that crossed the boundaries of behavior laid down by God and then ask, “What did I do wrong?” Although Agur used an adulterous woman as an example, the same principle applies to many other scenarios and situations, as it has since the day that Adam and Eve shared forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.
If Agur lived today he could read books or watch television documentaries to gain an understanding of eagles and snakes, ocean navigation techniques, and love. But Agur would have been absolutely stunned to discover that adultery and the like have become completely acceptable to so much of society. As it was in the days of Noah, so it is now. Men and women do as they please, eat and then wipe their mouths and ask, “What did I do wrong?” We see it in our politicians, in our workplaces, in our churches, and even in our families. And no-one is amazed anymore. Now that is amazing, especially when history records the rise and fall of societies, and the reasons that they fall.
As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. (Matthew 24:37-43 NIV)
Proverbial Thought 