Tuesday, December 12th – Words of Joy

Posted on December 12, 2017 Updated on December 15, 2017

Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent – Year 2
Psalm 45
Zechariah 2:1-13
Revelation 3:14-22
Matthew 24:32-44

Words of Joy
Zechariah 2:1-13

Earlier in our Advent readings, we’ve encountered the harsh reality that accompanies the coming of God.  Like Matthew’s gospel, the book of Amos makes it very clear that the coming of God is a time of dread.  God’s coming always brings judgment on those who aren’t fully prepared, and preparedness always has to do with a full obedience to God’s will.

As we begin to turn the corner toward Christmas Day, the coming of God becomes a more joyful event.  For Israel at least, God’s coming leads them off into the judgment of exile.  God’s second coming leads them home.  For Zechariah, the ugly realities of exile are drawing to a close.  He’s having visions of his people returning to the land they once called home.  Zechariah meets a messenger from God who is measuring the perimeter of Jerusalem.  He’s seeing if it’s big enough to hold all of the inhabitants who will now dwell in a renewed Jerusalem.

In an interlude between his third and fourth visions, Zechariah begins to encourage the people to sing and rejoice because God is coming again.  This time, God is not coming in judgment but with reconciliation and restoration.  God is coming, not to condemn but to dwell in the midst of the people.  While these words would have been powerful for those in exile in Babylon, they have not lost their power for us today.  We too sit in the darkness of exile, but we hear Zechariah’s words as words of joy because God is coming, not to destroy the world but to establish his residence in our midst.

We must never skip over the tough parts of the Bible, which pronounce terrible things like judgment and exile.  We must not skip those parts because they always encourage us to live lives of complete obedience and faithfulness to the Father.  Yet, we must always read those parts of the Bible with one eye toward the future, with on eye fixed on passages like this one in Zechariah.  Judgement without hope is useless.  Our hope is a faith-filled hope.

In the middle of woe and weal, in the middle of hardship, that of our own making and that of which has been showered on us by others, we must always remember that God is coming again to free us from those things.  God is coming to bring us home, to situate himself in our midsts.

As you move off into your day today, remember that Christ is coming to live among us as one of us.  His purpose is to bring us home from exile.  His mission is to undo all of the hurt and pain in our world.  Have faith.  Have hope.  Rejoice because our God is coming.

Prayer: Oh God, help us to wait patiently for your coming.  Help us not lose hope that you’re coming again to make the world right.  Amen.