The Advent of the Kingdom

How should you prepare for the coming of the King?

We are entering the season of Advent – the weeks leading up to Christmas when we celebrate the incarnation and birth of King Jesus. Prior to that first coming of David’s promised descendant, many devout Jews, like Simeon, were “waiting for the consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25). They lived “righteous and devout” lives, feeding on God’s Word, serving His people, proclaiming His promises, eagerly anticipating the fulfillment of every promise by the “God of Amen,” the “God of Truth” (Isaiah 65:16).

Today we can profitably use this season prior to Christmas to prompt ourselves to live similarly as we wait for the final consolation, eagerly anticipating the fulfillment of all the remaining promises by the same God of Amen.

But note: God grants a partial fulfillment of those promises today! As we long for the final consummation, “all the promises of God find their Yes” in Christ Jesus. And that “Yes” means that today He establishes us, He anoints us, He seals us, He puts His Spirit in us (2 Corinthians 1:20-22) so that “as He is, so also are we in this world;” indeed, “love [is] perfected with us” (1 John 4:17).

This is how we rightly celebrate Advent today: Not as a preparation for gift-giving or carol-singing, but in living our lives today in light of God’s promises and their present and future fulfillment.

Consider Psalm 81 in this regard. Like us, the Israelites of the psalmist’s day had been redeemed by God (out of Egypt) and had received God’s promise that through their offspring all the nations of the world would be blessed. But, like us, they suffered over the years from both external enemies and their own internal tendency to stray. In words that echo the opening lines of the Ten Commandments, God says:

“Hear, O my people, while I admonish you! O Israel, if you would but listen to me!  There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god.  I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
“But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes.  Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him, and their fate would last forever. But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.” (Psalm 81:8-16)

There are at least five explicit or implied commands here – five imperatives that tell us how to live in anticipation of God’s fulfilling His every promise:

  • “Listen to me and to no other!” God says, “Hear! Consider what happens when you listen to my words of life! Don’t listen to other claims of authority, to other claims of what leads to joy!”
  • “Worship me and no other! Others will seem to display power, will seem to exhibit wisdom, will seem to offer salvation – don’t bow down to them!”
  • “Remember my redemption! You once were slaves, and groaned in your slavery. I redeemed you, and no other. So don’t put yourselves back under the yoke of a master who only desires to use you!”
  • “Do not harden your heart! You naturally have a stubborn heart; left to your own desires and preferences, you will not listen to me, you will not submit to me; your own counsels will lead you far from me. Since you naturally will fall away from me, you must fight to open yourself up to me.”
  • “So open your mouth wide, and I will fill it! I will fill it with the finest of wheat, with honey from the rock, with what is better than you could ever imagine! Yield to me – and I will give you the deepest joy man can experience.”

How do we open our mouths wide? What does that mean?

Surely it means in part obeying the first four commands: Feed on His Word, worship Him with joy, preach the Gospel to yourself daily, and guard your heart. The fight for joy in God consists in part in this internal fight to believe God’s promises and to trust Him with our thoughts, affections, and emotions.

But “open your mouth wide” also implies our stepping out in action. Step out to serve – and God promises to fill you and use you in ways beyond your imagining. Open your mouth wide to speak the Gospel – and God promises to give His power to that proclamation, to work miracles of salvation and encouragement. Show love to the hurting – and God promises to infuse that love with His own, so that the comfort received is the comfort of God Himself.

Do you see? When we rightly prepare for the (second) coming of the King, we not only prepare ourselves; we not only prepare those around us; we actually display the coming Kingdom now! God so works through His forward-looking people that His Kingdom is manifest today in acts of mercy and words of grace.

So how will you celebrate Advent? Who can you encourage? What mercy can you show? With whom can you share the Good News of God’s grace? How will God’s Kingdom come – today! – through you?

How Can I Approach God?

How can I approach God?

As we saw in last Sunday’s sermon, God reveals Himself as unapproachable. Paul tells us that God “dwells in unapproachable light . . . no one . . . can see [Him]” (1 Timothy 6:16). God sets up limits around Mt Sinai for the Israelites, and more than once warns the Israelites not to touch the mountain, on pain of death.

God tells us He is holy. He is other. We cannot study Him as we would a plant, or an insect, or another human being. He is above us. He is beyond us.

And yet this same God says to the Israelites that they can be His “treasured possession” (Exodus 19:5); He calls them His “firstborn son” (Exodus 4:22). He promises through Isaiah, “With everlasting love I will have compassion on you” (Isaiah 54:8). Indeed, the author of Hebrews says that those in Christ have “confidence to enter the Most Holy Place” (Hebrews 10:19 NIV).

How can this be? How can God, on the one hand, be unapproachable, and yet, on the other hand, invite us to enter into His very presence?

Keep reading in Hebrews 10: “We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus” (Hebrews 10:19 NIV).

Reflect on this. Don’t dismiss the idea, thinking, “Oh, of course, I’ve heard all that before.”

Let this thought seek deep into you: There is absolutely no way for you to approach God through your investigations, through your searching, through your moral choices – unless He chooses to reveal Himself to you. And He graciously has decided that there is one way He will allow those who deserve His condemnation to approach Him: Through their trusting in the death of His Son, through their uniting with His risen Christ, the Lord Jesus.

So we can approach this holy, other, unapproachable God through the one means He provides: His Son.

Some of you may be thinking, “Oh, yes, I did that years ago!”

But, my friend: Have you done that today?

God tells the Israelites to consecrate themselves before He descends on Mt Sinai and speaks to them (Exodus 19:10). What is the equivalent for us today?

Every morning as you wake and thus enter God’s presence; every Sunday before coming to worship Him publicly, live out Hebrews 10:19 by building up your confidence to enter boldly into God’s holy presence by appropriating for yourself once again the blood of Jesus.

How can we do this?

Begin by examining your heart (1 Corinthians 11:28): Pray that God would help you see if there is any grievous way in you, any hidden sin (Psalm 139:24; Psalm 19:12). Confess those sins you are aware of to Him. Pray words like these: “Father God, I am worthy of your eternal punishment. I deserve nothing from you, not even to be alive this moment. But you have showered me with your blessings, including . . . (thank Him for specific gifts). Most of all, you have opened my eyes to see the beauties of the Lord Jesus Christ, and have saved me from the punishment I deserve by His blood shed on the cross. Forgive these sins I have just confessed by that same blood; cleanse me from all unrighteousness as You promise (1 John 1:9). Amaze me once again that I have access to Your very presence through the cross. Enable me this day to worship you from the heart, to encourage others in their walk with you, spurring them on to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24-25).”

How can I approach God?

  • Not on the basis of my intelligence – His intelligence is of a completely different order of magnitude!
  • Not on the basis of my holiness – He “is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).
  • Not on the basis of my good works, or my obedience – for even my best works are stained by improper motives, and His command is, “Be perfect, as Your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

But I can approach God as a condemned sinner desperately in need of His grace. I can approach God through faith in His Son who died for His enemies. I can – and must – approach God daily as a supplicant, asking forgiveness on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice.

And when I do, He says to me: “I have loved you with an everlasting love.”

Preparing to Worship

[For a version of this devotion that is easier to print, follow this link.]

How do you prepare for corporate worship?

God gave the Israelites extensive regulations regarding how they were to prepare for tabernacle or temple worship; someone who was unprepared was unclean (see the first sermon on Acts 10). Living a normal life in this world could lead to uncleanness; explicit acts of sin were not necessarily involved.

Mark 7, Acts 10, and other passages make clear that the specific cleanliness regulations God gave the Israelites are not binding on Christians today. But those same passages make clear that the picture they provide of the need to prepare ourselves for worship still holds.

So we too must prepare ourselves for worship. How? (more…)