Listen here.
Welcome to Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the
appointed Scripture readings for the upcoming Sunday. Thank you for being with
me today.
I am Pastor Eric Tritten from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in
Hudson, OH.
This coming Sunday is the 1st Sunday of Advent. The
new church year carries on with themes similar to the end of the old church
year. For the fourth Sunday in a row we read about God’s judgement, however,
the fearful judgement of God at Jesus’ second coming is held in tension with our
preparations to celebrate His first coming in the Incarnation – his conception,
gestation, and birth. Yesterday we read from Mark 13 in which Jesus urged us to
stay awake and watch for his return. In today’s lesson we hear Isaiah longing
for God to come and rescue His people in strange and awesome ways. This leads
us to consider the strangeness and awesomeness of the salvation that has come
through Jesus’ Incarnation as well as his Death and Resurrection.
The Reading: Isaiah 64:1-9 (ESV)
Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains might quake at
your presence--
2 as when
fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
and that the nations might tremble
at your presence!
3 When you
did awesome things that we did not look for,
you came down, the mountains quaked
at your presence.
4 From of
old no one has heard
or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
who acts for those who wait for
him.
5 You meet
him who joyfully works righteousness,
those who remember you in your
ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
in our sins we have been a long
time, and shall we be saved?
6 We have
all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are
like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind,
take us away.
7 There is
no one who calls upon your name,
who rouses himself to take hold of
you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have made us melt in the hand
of our iniquities.
8 But now,
O LORD, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our
potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
9 Be not
so terribly angry, O LORD,
and remember not iniquity forever.
Behold, please look, we are all
your people. (Isa. 64:1-9 ESV)
Comments
One of the
things that I love about this reading is the way it uses vivid imagery to help
us long for the day of God’s coming to save us. Isaiah says, “O that You would
rend the heavens and come down!” He’s calling on God to remove the barriers that
separate Him from us. He is saying, “God I want you with me, please come to me!”
And God has answered that prayer in the most remarkable way in the coming of
Jesus, who is God in human flesh who dwells among us.
He
longs for God to do things unlooked for, displaying his glory and might. Isaiah
thinks of this in terms of fire and quaking earth - like when God came to the
Israelites on Mt. Sinai. He remembers how God acted mightily to save his people
– an action that was unheard of among the gods. But now God acts in a new and
unlooked for way in which the Son of God doesn’t just save us, but he becomes
one of us. He comes down from heaven in human flesh and blood to redeem us and
reconcile us to the Father.
Yet,
Isaiah is clear as to what separates us from God. He knows that our sin angered
God, and our long disobedience has raised the question: shall we be saved? The pollution
of sin, which we so often consider insignificant, is graphic. It is so
pervasive that even our righteous actions are like a garment stained with
bloody discharge. It is so devastating that it leaves us like a leaf – dry,
brittle, and tossed about be the wind. It deludes us to think that all is well
when, in reality, our sins would cause God to turn his face away so that our iniquity
can corrode us and we melt away.
How
could we be saved in such a wretched state? Only by God’s action. And why should
He act on our behalf? Because He is our Father. He is our Creator. We are His
people. God loves His creation. He loves His creatures. So he has rend the
heavens and come down – and that rending was announced by angel hosts in the
country side of Bethlehem by angel hosts. “Unto you is born this day a Savior,
who is Christ the Lord!” “Peace to those with whom he is well pleased!” And
again, at the end of Jesus’ life, when He died the curtain in the temple was
rent asunder and that which separated God and His people was removed.
We
know the salvation of God in our lives. How would we not long for God to rend
the heavens and come, knowing that He has already come to redeem us? That
longing leads us to prayer. It leads us call out to God in repentance to change
our lives, asking him to help us turn away from our sin. And, in His mercy, God
comes to us through the Holy Spirit to dwell in and among us, to shape us as
the potter shapes clay. He forms us as his people, and keeps us as we await the
day when the heavens will disappear with a roar, and we will see Jesus coming
in the sky.
Prayers
Collect for the 1st
Sunday of Advent
Stir up Your power, O
Lord, and come, that by Your protection we may be rescued from the threatening
perils of our sins and saved by Your mighty deliverance; for You live and reign with the Father and
the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Thank you so much for using Devotions for Worship, I pray
that our time together has blessed you and given you something to meditate on –
some reminder of God’s grace to rattle around in your brain – for the rest of
the day.
Don’t forget that Advent is a season of repentance, and one
of the devotional habits that fits the season is the giving of alms. We shouldn’t
confuse the giving of alms with our regular offerings to the church. God calls
us to return 10% back to him, to give regularly and generously to support the
ministry of the Gospel. On top of that He gives us the opportunity to give alms
– donations to help the poor, the hungry, or those who are otherwise in need. I
encourage you to look for those opportunities and to give thoughtfully and
prayerfully.
One of the things we can do to help us meditate on God’s
word is to memorize it. Psalm 119:11.
Memory Verse: Isaiah 64:4 – From of old no one has heard or
perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who
wait for Him.
Would you do me a favor? If you got something out of this
devotional time, would you like and/or share it on Facebook, Twitter, or
wherever you do social media? That would help me get the word out, and
hopefully help these devotions be a blessing to others.
God bless you!
Comments