OLD TESTAMENT
PROMISES OF THE MESSIAH:
ADVENT AT HAND.
In
the name + of Jesus.
St. Peter wrote, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness” (2 Peter 3:9). Peter’s
comment is regarding Jesus’ second coming.
It has been almost 2,000 years since Jesus promised, “Surely I am coming soon” (Revelation 22:20). Jesus has long passed our definition of “soon.” But time is a relative matter.
We experience the
relativity of time, too. For children
who are anticipating Christmas, the days are dragging. The school days last forever. Adults may feel that there is not enough time
between now and the weekend to finish up everything you want to. The days go fast. As you get older, the years go faster. Christmas will be here soon. Parents are haunted by the word “soon” because
it is coming so fast. Children would
argue, “Not soon enough.”
The prophet Malachi
foretold the first Advent of the Lord. “Behold,
I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he
is coming, says the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 3:1). It would be soon. It would come suddenly. But then the people waited some more, as if
they had not already been waiting long enough.
Advent had been announced. Advent
had been awaited. Malachi said that
Advent was at hand. “Soon” proved to be
a relative term.
If our focus is on
the timing, we may begin to question the Lord’s faithfulness. The comfort comes from the content of the
promise rather than the timing of its fulfillment. The promise was extended as soon as it was
needed. God did not let Adam and Eve
twist in their fear and guilt for a good long time so that they really felt the
consequences of their actions. God’s presence
in the Garden produced intense fear and guilt.
God also did not wait for Adam and Eve to muster up the courage to ask
for mercy or hope. They had become blind
to God’s goodness as soon as they had rejected God’s command. They had become hostile to God’s word,
harboring anger against God for upholding the very judgment he said he would. Why would they expect a better word from
him? But God, who is rich in mercy,
issued a promise—a promise unforced, unasked, and unearned. God promised a Savior to deliver all people
out of sin, its curse, its penalty, and its consequences. Advent was announced. The Savior would come.
And then time went
by. God repeated his promise, but the
fulfillment remained a future event.
Advent was awaited—by Abraham, by Moses, by David, by Isaiah, by Zerubbabel. The Lord seemed slow in keeping this promise,
but “the
Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness” (2 Peter 3:9). The
Lord reinforced his promise through the prophets. Far from drawing back, he continued to add
more details to his promise so that people could recognize its
fulfillment.
The last prophet
of the Old Testament to pen words for God’s people was Malachi. Malachi preached to the Israelites who had
returned from captivity in Babylon. The
Babylonian Captivity was God’s chastisement upon Israel for years of apostasy
and rebellion. After seventy years, the Persian
king, Cyrus, issued a decree that the Jews could return to their homeland. The returning remnant had been refined as God’s
people and were refocused on God’s covenant.
They came back to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. The temple they rebuilt paled in comparison
to the magnificence of Solomon’s temple.
The old people who remembered that glory wept when they saw the new
temple. But this temple would be greater
than Solomon’s. Solomon’s temple is
where the Lord dwelt with his people in a cloud above the ark of the
covenant. Zerubbabel’s temple would receive
God in the flesh.
Malachi was sent
to these people to issue one final promise from God. Malachi said, “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he
is coming, says the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 3:1). The Lord was not slow in fulfilling his word
as some understand slowness. The Lord
was faithful to his word. Advent had
been announced. Advent had been
awaited. Now, Advent was at hand. The Lord was coming soon, suddenly.
I suppose Malachi’s
words stirred up anticipation. The coming
of the forerunner was announced with, “Behold!”
Surely, he would come soon. Then
the Messiah would come suddenly. For faithful
Israel, “soon” could not come soon enough.
It is like the children who still have two days of school left and for
the first time all year cannot wait for a Monday to get here (Christmas Day).
But Malachi’s
words would hang in the air for 400 years.
“Soon” proved to be a relative term.
The Lord seemed slow to act. But
he did act. John the Baptist came just
as the Lord foretold. On the heels of
John came the Messiah. Malachi pointed
to the Messiah, and his words begged for their fulfillment. John the Baptist pointed to the Messiah—literally. Malachi’s words stretched out into the
future. John’s finger stretched out to a
man. John pointed to Jesus and declared,
“There is your Christ. There is the Lamb
of God.” When the time had fully come,
God sent forth his Son. “Soon” found its
time. Advent was at hand. Suddenly, the Messiah had come.
We are at the
forefront of another presidential campaign season, as if they ever really go
away. The parties will have a convention
when they will formally adopt and introduce their candidate for president. People will go into a frenzy at the candidate’s
introduction, even though that candidate has not yet done anything. They will make promises. They will find reasons to blame the opposing
party for every unfulfilled promise. “They
made such a mess of things that it will take way too long to fix. They are opposing all our good ideas so we
cannot get anything done.” You know the
rhetoric.
Malachi foretold
the coming of the Messiah. Of course,
the Lord’s promises were not merely for the Messiah’s arrival. The promises included his work. No one would be saved by Jesus’ birth. It would be Jesus’ death and resurrection
that would secure our salvation. But his
birth marked the beginning of every fulfillment. Advent was at hand.
The birth of the
Christ is reason to rejoice. But after
Jesus’ birth, there was more waiting—thirty years until Jesus began his work as
the Messiah. Then, for three years,
Jesus taught and preached about the kingdom of God. He summoned people to himself, claiming that
he would fulfill all the promises and that he would win salvation for all people. All the sacrifices—centuries upon centuries
of bloody sacrifices—would culminate in one pure, innocent, bloody death on a
cross. And then Jesus claimed that he
would rise from the dead, that he is the refuge for all the dying, and that he
is the source of everlasting life for all who take refuge in him.
Those are
magnificent claims for anyone to make.
But Jesus proved that his claims are not like campaign promises which
sound great but then go unfulfilled. Jesus
was true to his word. The promises found
their fulfillment. And this time, “soon”
came quickly. Jesus submitted to the
sinister plots of his enemies who unwittingly brought to fulfillment the
atoning sacrifice which had been promised.
Again, “soon” came quickly. In
three days, so many promises found their fulfillment. On a Friday, Jesus paid the price for all
your sins by his death on the cross. Salvation
was purchased and won. On the third day,
Jesus rose from the dead to verify that the payment for sins has been made in
full and that the grave can, therefore, no longer keep its dead. Everything was fulfilled, just as God had
promised and just as Jesus foretold it.
Just as God has
proven faithful in sending the Messiah, so he proves faithful with every
promise. When God makes a promise, it is
not merely announcing his intentions. He
is firmly putting his plans in place and setting future events. So, when Advent was announced, it was a
certainty. As Advent was awaited, people
were confident that God would bring it about.
The Lord was not slow as some understand slowness. God is always faithful to his word.
We have not
learned the lesson. We grow impatient
with the Lord. We are not good at waiting
on God to fulfill his promises. When God’s
timing is not according to our liking, we doubt the content of his
promises. We challenge God’s love and wisdom
when sufferings linger or when things go badly.
We call out in pain, in anger, or in helplessness, “God, why don’t you
fix my life and heal everything that’s broken?”
Isn’t that the promise? Jesus has,
indeed, promised to make all things new and to restore all things to purity and
perfection. But when? How long, O Lord? The answer: Soon. When Jesus comes again, he will put an end to
all evil. As it was with Jesus, so it
will be with us—the glory comes after the resurrection. Meanwhile, Jesus forgives us for our
impatience and our outbursts against him.
He speaks tenderly to us, extends his mercy, and repeats his promises. For he is not slow to comfort.
The prophet
Malachi had the final word in the Old Testament. His promise hung in the air: “Behold, I
send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he
is coming, says the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 3:1). And, of course, the Lord fulfilled his
word. The New Testament has a similar
ending. This is the final word: “He who testifies to these things
says, ‘Surely I
am coming soon’”
(Revelation 22:20). As it was with Malachi, so also this promise
just hangs out there, waiting for its fulfillment. And as the final word of the Old Testament saw
its fulfillment, so with the final word in the New Testament.
The Advent of Jesus’ second coming has been announced. The Advent of Jesus’ second coming is awaited. And it is at hand. The Lord will come soon, and those who wait for him will not be put to shame.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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