Day 18 “Thine Advent” O come, thou Dayspring, 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! Immanuel shall come to thee, O Israel. “Cheer our spirits by thine advent” . . . . well, of course, Christ’s coming will cheer our spirits, won’t it? The prophets had a rather different take on whether the Lord’s coming would bring us cheer. Yes, there would be cheer, but not for all. Listen to the rumbling of prophetic thunder from a few of the ‘minor’ prophets: “Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord, is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes. Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?” (Joel 1:15-16) “Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light; as if a man fled form a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned with his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?” (Amos 5: 18-20) “Thus says the Lord: Behold against this family (those who oppress the poor) I am devising evil, from which you cannot remove your necks; and you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be an evil time. In that day they shall take up a taunt song against you, and wail with bitter lamentation . . .” (Micah 2: 3-4a) Similar warnings are found in the writings of other prophets. Yes, the day of the Lord would come, but that day would by no means be unequivocally positive for everyone. “He shall come again to judge . . .” says the Apostle’s Creed. The quality of the day of the Lord depends on where we stand in relationship to the Lord and the Lord’s ways. (And lest you think that it’s just the “Old Testament” prophets who are a bit glum, listen to John the Baptist: “I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Luke 3:16-17) Perhaps we ought to be careful when we expect ‘cheer’ at the Lord’s coming. Where do we stand at the Lord’s coming? Will it be darkness for us, or will it be light? Despite the fierce warnings of the prophets, the Heidelberg Catechism reminds us that for those who follow Christ, his return will indeed be (as we sing during the Lord’s Supper) “a day of great rejoicing, of peace and victory.” Question 52. What comfort does the return of Christ ‘to judge the living and the dead’ give you? That in all affliction and persecution I may await with head held high the very Judge from heaven who has already submitted himself to the judgment of God for me and has removed all the curse from me that he will cast all his enemies and mine into everlasting condemnation, but he shall take me, together with all his elect, to himself into heavenly joy and glory. The Lord’s return will bring cheer, good tidings, to us. We wait for the Lord’s coming with heads held high. Judgment will come, but for us, judgment has already passed for those who are in Christ. The curse of sin has been removed. Heavenly joy and glory await. (That bit about ‘his enemies and mine’ needs to be handled with a bit of care, if by enemy we mean the fellow who won’t mow up to his property line or other nuisances.) To some this sounds scandalous. They would prefer a God (or a religion) in which, in the end, everyone gets what he or she deserves. If you want such a religion, sign up for something other than Christianity, because our faith declares that while we deserve condemnation, we receive grace instead. Christ has taken the condemnation for us. Do we deserve grace? No. Does God grant it anyway? Yes. Why? The Bible doesn’t say, except to say, in so many words, ‘Well, because that’s the way God is.’ So we hold our heads high with gratitude for God’s free gift, and wait with confidence, because for those who are in Christ, judgment has passed. And we’ve been proclaimed redeemed. Lift up your heads, then, and be of good cheer: your ultimate redemption is drawing near! Preparation for Prayer: Does the prospect of “the last judgment” strike you with a sense of fear or of joyous anticipation? How might your celebration of the Lord’s Supper be influenced by a confidence that what awaits you is redemption? O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, Sun of justice: Come, shine on those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death. Come, Lord Jesus.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 11:03:31 +0000
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