Romans 15:4-13, Matthew 3:1-12, Isaiah 11:1-10
Isaiah says a few things that ring true about Jesus. They’re meant to because this a prophesy – a prediction and a promise.
-As new branches sprout from a stump, so a new king will arise from among David’s descendants. Matthew gives Jesus’ genealogy in the first chapter showing that Jesus is descended from King David.
-The Spirit of the Lord will give him wisdom, and the knowledge and skill to rule his people. Was Jesus wise, did he have the knowledge and skill to rule? Read the biographies and see for yourself. Also bear in mind who he is – the visible likeness of the invisible God. Colossians 1:15(-20).
-He will know the Lord’s will and have reverence for him and find pleasure in obeying him. “My food,” said Jesus, “is to obey the will of the One who sent me and to finish the work that he gave me to do.” John 4:34
-He will not judge by appearance or hearsay; instead he will judge the poor fairly and defend the rights of the helpless. For example John 8:7 “Whichever one of you has committed no sin may throw the first stone.”
-At his command the people will be punished and evil people will die. Jesus spoke about the judgment that will come and the separation of good and bad people. For example Matthew 25(:46).
-He will rule his people with justice and integrity. Jesus is not capricious, he does not advance his own self-interest, he shows no favouritism and he is not bribable. See Matthew 4:1-11. If the devil can’t tempt him no one can.
All of these things apply now and will continue through eternity. From what we have seen we know we can trust for what we have yet to see.
These things give us hope – for now and the future – and we need hope, especially when everything seems to be going against us. Advent is about hope. Christmas is about hope. Hope produces joy.
In Romans, Paul reminds us that everything in the Scriptures teaches hope, patience and encouragement. Following Jesus’ example develops unity among us. Unity around hope engenders praise to God. We have an abundance of hope in the power of the Holy Spirit. Check it out or, as the Psalm says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”
We praise God for who he is and what he has done. We have faith because he reliably fulfills his promises. He has done it before; he will do it again.
We have hope because we have seen what the Lord has done and because we’ve believed what we’ve been told and because we know he’s got everything in hand.
Hope is a realistic expectation.
It’s faith because we don’t see it; it’s hope because it hasn’t happened yet. Yet its accomplishment is certain. ‘It will all come right in the end. If it’s not right, it’s not the end.’
Our son had to go to another town for work. Our grandson missed his dad a great deal. But they had hope that they’d get back together and, after 6 weeks, they are reunited.
In Matthew, John reminds us to make it easy for the Lord to get around. A couple of times this week we heard of roads being blocked by vehicles that had crashed into each other. Another time I was on Lake Road when a fire engine wanted to get through in a hurry. The road was full of cars which slowed the fire engine some, but the cars moved out of the way and the fire engine got through. None of these were deliberate hindrances but I also saw notices of road closures in the near future. For good causes, of course. But John is talking of letting God be free-range in our lives, of not putting any barriers in his way, not even for the best of causes.
We can have all sorts of really good reasons for doing what we do but none of them make what we do better than what God would have us do. We can’t hold a candle to God’s wisdom and we often need to change our plans and go with God’s plans instead. This is what John calls repentance.
Repentance, the way John pictures it here, is removing the barriers to God’s working in our lives. It is changing from doing things our way to doing things God’s way; changing from seeing things our way to seeing things God’s way.
Summary
Isaiah predicted it; Jesus fulfilled it. We have seen Jesus fulfilling Scripture. Jesus predicted things and we have seen that some of them have already been fulfilled. We trust God that everything yet to be fulfilled will be fulfilled. God will bring all things to completion just as he has said he will.
We have seen that Jesus is the ultimate leader, we experience that leadership in our lives day by day. We trust that leadership will continue for all time.
We have seen that Jesus is very on about justice, that his judgments are fair. We also know that he is judging all the time and that when he returns there will be a final sortout of those who follow him from those who don’t.
Therefore, take encouragement from the Scriptures and God’s fulfilment of his promises. Give Jesus free reign in your lives. Honour, praise and obey him in all things.
And “May God, the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace by means of your faith in him, so that your hope will continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13. Let your hope give you joy in Christ the Lord.