Solus Christus: Jesus is Coming Soon

While focusing on Jesus' second advent so far this week, we have seen that He is the Lion and the Lamb and that He will bring us into the New Heavens and New Earth. For our final Advent meditation I would like to look at Jesus' words about His immanent return. We find them at the very end of our Bibles in Re. 22:

⁶ And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”
⁷ “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
⁸ I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, ⁹ but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”
¹⁰ And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. ¹¹ Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”
¹² “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. ¹⁵ Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
¹⁶ “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
¹⁷ The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
¹⁸ I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, ¹⁹ and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
²⁰ He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
²¹ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. (Re. 22:6ff)

In the above Scripture passage I’ve italicized Jesus’ words just so there’s no mistaking who is speaking to whom. This is, of course, a theologically packed passage (as many of the passages at which we have looked have been), but I want to use it for our last Advent meditation because three times in it Jesus says, “I am coming soon.” Do you think He means it? If you repeat something to someone three times in a single conversation, don’t you really mean it? But, it doesn’t seem “soon,” does it? When you pray for Christ’s return, do you sometimes feel like a child in the back seat of your parents’ car on a long road trip asking “How long?” and always hearing “Soon”? Almost two thousand years doesn’t seem “soon” to me. Of course, I’m not the only one who’s thought that for even the early Church wondered why Jesus had not yet returned. Many of them thought Jesus would return before they died, and even Paul appears to have believed this early on in his ministry (cf. 1 Th. 4:15). After several decades passed they started to wonder, “What happened to ‘soon’?” If they asked it then, how much more may we ask the question two thousand years later?

As you might imagine, there have been many over the centuries who have attempted to answer this question in a variety of ways. Indeed, this is a very complex question on which Christians have come to no sort of consensus. That means I don’t believe I have the final answer to this important question, but I would like to give you two things to consider that I think will help put the question in a less ominous context. First, consider Peter’s answer to this question. Peter acknowledges that his readers were asking this question and answers it but not in the detail for which we (or they) might have hoped:

¹ This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, ² that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, ³ knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. ⁴ They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”
…⁸ But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief…. (2 Pt. 3:1-4, 8-10)

Peter knows there will be “scoffers” who will basically say, “Where’s your God now? It’s been two thousand years and He said He would come ‘soon.’” His answer is not a systematic defense of how “soon” can be reckoned with a long delay of Jesus’ second advent. He simply says, “Look, God doesn’t perceive or calculate the passage of time the way you and I do, so stop acting like He does and forcing our view of ‘soon’ on Him. What you call ‘slowness’ I call ‘patience’ for the Lord is waiting so more can repent and believe.” Then, Peter tells us that the day will come like a thief, which is the proverbial way of saying that we have no idea when it will come. He wisely doesn’t try to answer a question no one can answer completely but appeals to God’s timelessness and mercy for an explanation of His delay. There are more God wants to become Christians and He is waiting until they do (cf. Mt. 24:14).

The second thing I think we need to consider is the nature of biblical prophecy. There is in prophecy a characteristic perspective that foreshortens time and presents the future from a theological perspective as a whole with the chronological gaps unaddressed. So, for example, the prophets of the Old Testament could move from the destruction of Judah to the coming of the Messiah in a single step even though there would be almost six hundred years in between. The same is true of Revelation. In it, the future is presented theologically and is seen in terms of its entirety, not in its chronological detail. Prophecy is a theological interpretation of history, however long it endures. Think about that for a moment. Theologically speaking, what is the next important event after Jesus’ death, resurrection, ascension, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost? It’s the second coming of Christ. Everything in between is incidental compared to those important, redemptive events. John’s prophecy in Revelation, then, can make a chronological jump of unknown duration because theologically Christ’s second coming is near, and it is looked at as part of the redemptive whole of Christ’s work. So, Christ is coming soon, but we need to look at “soon” from God’s perspective on time, in the context of His awesome mercy, and theologically not chronologically.

Today let this final day of Advent remind you that Christ is coming soon. What He means by “soon” may be different than what you and I think of as “soon,” but we know it’s the next important redemptive event and it could happen at any time. Remember that God is delaying Jesus’ return because He is rich in mercy towards the unbelieving world, not because He’s trying to drive Christians crazy. Ask Him to give you a love for the lost like He has because as our love and compassion for the lost grows, we will understand His delay and see it as a chance to spread the gospel more. Ask Him to give you a deep anticipation of His immanent return so that your love for Him will increase, your love for this world will decrease, and your concern for the lost will grow. Perhaps today could be the day.

By His Grace,

Taylor

Solus Christus: Oaks of Righteousness

I know yesterday I said we would look at some of the prophecies about the Messiah that are in other books of the Old Testament besides Isaiah, but there is a prophecy in Isaiah which aptly follows yesterday’s subject: our righteousness coming from the Shoot of the stump (dead humanity). Unlike yesterday’s prophecy from Isaiah, however, today’s Scripture comes from the last section of Isaiah. Most of that last section of Isaiah (chapters 40-66) is made up of prophecies about the coming of the Messiah. Chapters 40-66 of Isaiah are often called the “comfort section” because this final section contains prophecies concerning God’s purpose of peace (ch. 40-48), His Prince of peace (ch. 49-55), and His program of peace (ch. 56-66), which would all be fulfilled in Jesus. In Is. 61:1-3 we read about the redemption that Jesus would bring:

¹ The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
    because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
    he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
    and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
² to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,
    and the day of vengeance of our God;
    to comfort all who mourn;
³ to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
    to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
    the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
    the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified. 

And, lest anyone try to convince you that this prophecy was not about Jesus, Jesus Himself says in Lk. 4:16-21 that He fulfills it:

¹⁶ And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. ¹⁷ And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
²⁰ And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹ And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

This prophecy reminds us of the grace that God has given us in Christ Jesus. In Christ, we have comfort instead of mourning, a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, gladness instead of sorrow, a garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, and we have become oaks of righteousness. Whose righteousness? Certainly not our own for there is none righteous (cf. Ro. 3:10). Jesus earned it, and we have received it by faith alone (cf. Ro. 1:17; 4:11; Php 3:9). That’s why this prophecy follows yesterday’s mediation so well. Jesus is the Shoot from the stump of Jesse who has become our righteousness. That righteous Shoot has changed dead stumps like us into living oaks of righteousness. Indeed, the Church is a forest full of oaks of righteousness that all come from the righteous Shoot that was born in stable in Bethlehem—our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

This is what Advent and Christmas declare to us. They declare the grace of God; the year of the Lord’s favor for the poor, the brokenhearted, and the captives of sin. What is this grace? Grace is not just God not giving us what we deserve—punishment for our sins—but God giving us the glorious opposite of what we deserve—peace with Him for our rebellion, Jesus’ righteousness for our sinfulness, adoption into His family for our alienation by our sin, and eternal life with Him for our fate of eternal punishment in hell. Grace is not simply unmerited favor, as if we were just neutral people, but it is demerited favor. We get in Christ the glorious opposite of what we deserve in ourselves. And, in this prophecy we see that in Christmas we celebrate God sending His Son and anointing Him for the task of freeing the captives to sin so that we could have this grace and be called “oaks of righteousness” in Jesus.

Today let Advent remind you that you are a living oak of righteousness but not because of anything you did. You’re an oak of righteousness only because the Shoot from the stump of Jesse became your righteousness and gave you new life. Remember you are righteous before God because Jesus came to earth, lived a perfect life, and took the punishment you deserved. Remember that since you are righteous before God in Christ, you can’t do anything to make God love you any more or any less. Bask in that free, unconditional love, and ask God to use that gospel truth to change more and more into likeness of Jesus so that you can die unto sin and live unto righteous.

By His Grace,

Taylor

Solus Christus: A Branch from the Stump

I know we’ve looked at a lot of prophecies from Isaiah. It may seem like he’s the only one through whom God spoke to the Israelite people about their Redeemer, but Isaiah was not the only prophet to prophesy about the coming Messiah. Prophecies of the coming Christ are all over the Old Testament. There are more than I can write about in these short devotions, but we have time to look at some of them. For today’s devotion we’re going to look at how both Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesied that the coming Messiah would be a branch from the stump of Jesse—the house of David—and would be our righteousness before God:

¹ There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
    and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
² And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
    the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and might,
    the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
³ And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
    or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
⁴ but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
    and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
    and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
⁵ Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
    and faithfulness the belt of his loins. (Is. 11:1-5)
⁵ ”Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶ In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’” (Je. 23:5-6)

Both Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesied that the Messiah would come from the line of Jesse (David’s father), and both likened him to a shoot or a branch. Both declared that He would save God’s people, and both proclaimed that He would be a man of righteousness. Then, of course, centuries later Jesus came and was exactly that. He’s the one through whom we have righteousness (cf. Ro. 5:12-21). Indeed, as Jeremiah prophesied (above) and Paul declared the Corinthian believers: Jesus is our righteousness (1 Co. 1:30). God demands righteousness from humanity and He provides it for His people in Jesus—the shoot and branch from the stump of Jesse. As the Westminster Confession of Faith states in 11.1:

Those whom God effectually calls, He also freely justifies; not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone; nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness by faith; which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God. 

As Moses reminded the Israelite people, “The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty.” To stand before God, we must be righteous. To be judged by Jesus in righteousness and not be sent to hell at the Final Judgment, we must be righteous. We can’t do that on our own, but God knew that and provided a Messiah whose is Yahweh Tsidkenu—the Lord is our righteousness (Je. 23:6). Thank God for that branch—that shoot from the stump of Jesse—for we have no righteousness of our own that would ever be acceptable to God.

By the way, did you notice the Messiah arose from the stump of Jesse? He didn’t come from a thriving tree or even from a sickly tree. He didn’t come from a people who just needed a little extra help to be acceptable to God. He came from the stump, i.e. spiritually dead humanity (Eph. 2:1). Indeed, He arose from the very same dead humanity that He came to save and give new life.

On this day of Advent remember where God found you, where God found all humanity when He sent His Son to be our sacrifice and our righteousness. We weren’t just sick in our sins. We weren’t just a “basically good” people who just needed a good example to follow. As Paul tells us in Eph. 2:1, we “were dead in the trespasses and sins in which [we] once walked.” Dead men have no hope of life except by a miracle. Remember on this day of Advent that the Miracle was born two thousand years ago in the little town of Bethlehem from the stump—dead humanity. Praise Him for coming down to walk amongst those dead in their sins so that they might have life again in Him. Praise Him for giving you new life and for giving you righteousness when you deserved the exact opposite. Praise Him for being the Lord your righteousness.

By His Grace,

Taylor

Solus Christus: The God Who Heals

The God who personally became man for us—the prophet, priest, king, judge, shepherd, and suffering servant—is also the God who heals the weak and the hurting. For today’s Advent devotion we again look to a prophecy about the Messiah in the book of Isaiah:

¹ Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
    my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him;
    he will bring forth justice to the nations.
² He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
    or make it heard in the street;
³ a bruised reed he will not break,
    and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
    he will faithfully bring forth justice.
⁴ He will not grow faint or be discouraged
    till he has established justice in the earth;
    and the coastlands wait for his law. (Is. 42:1-4)

Matthew tells us in Mt. 12:15-21 that Jesus fulfilled this prophecy too. Jesus came to earth and suffered, so that He could identify with us in our suffering and heal our suffering (cf. He. 2:10-18). Have you ever confessed a sin to another Christian, admitted a doubt to another believer, or expressed the pain of your heart to another child of God, only to have them condemn you for that sin, doubt, or pain? That’s called breaking a “bruised reed.” The Church is made up of a bunch of imperfect, sinful, and at-times-judgmental people, which means all of us will at one time or another break a “bruised reed” or quench a “faintly burning wick.” But, we never have to worry about that from our Savior. He will “faithfully bring forth justice” without breaking the bruised reeds like you and me. In fact, He will heal the bruised reeds by forgiving our sins, casting our doubts, and comforting us in our pain.

This doesn’t mean all our diseases will be healed; this doesn’t mean we won’t experience heartache in this world. It doesn’t mean we won’t at times suffer the consequences of our sins in this world or be scolded for our doubt (cf. Mt. 14:31). It does mean that when we’re bruised, He won’t make it worse but He’ll care for us until we’re healed. When we’re barely burning, He won’t quench us but He’ll love for us until we’re burning with His love again. This is why Jesus says to believers, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” And, soon He will return to take us into the new heavens and new earth where there will be no pain, no crying, no sin, and no death (Re. 21:1-4). That’s what the suffering servant secured for His people by becoming man. That’s why we can celebrate Christmas.

Today let Advent remind you that Jesus is gentle with His people. Let God’s promises about His Messiah remind you that you can go to Him with your doubts, sins, and pains and never worry about being rejected, despised, or crushed because He was rejected, despised, and crushed for you (cf. Is. 53:1-12). Unfortunately, because we’re all still sinful people, we can’t say that for certain about anyone in this world. We can’t say beyond the shadow of a doubt that another human won’t reject us, but we can say with absolute certainty that Jesus won’t reject any who come to Him in faith. Remember that you can always go to Him and He’ll always love you. I know this to be true because He became like you and died for you.

By His Grace,

Taylor

Solus Christus: God With Us

We’ve seen in past devotions that God’s promise of redemption, which first showed itself in Ge. 3:15, has taken many forms in the Old Testament but most often it took the form of prophecy. In God’s promise of redemption, He’s told us many things about the Messiah—that He would be a prophet, priest, king, judge, shepherd, suffering servant, and much more. God even went so far as to tell us how the Messiah would come into the world and who the Messiah would be at the very core of His being. In today’s meditation we’re going to see this in a prophecy God gave to King Ahaz through Isaiah:

¹⁰ Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, ¹¹ “Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” ¹² But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.” ¹³ And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? ¹⁴ Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Is. 7:10-14)

Nearly seven hundred years before Christ, God promised that His Redeemer would be born into mankind from a virgin, and He promised that at the very core of His being the Messiah would be God Himself with us. Then, at the turn of the eon, when Joseph needed assurance that Mary had not been unfaithful to him, an angel appeared to him in a dream and said:

²⁰ ”...Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” ²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
²³ “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
    and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). (Mt. 1:20-23)

The Messiah is God Himself with us. Jesus is God Himself with us. The baby boy conceived in Mary’s womb is God with us. This is, of course, what we celebrate at Christmas and what we prepare to celebrate in Advent. The second person of the Godhead became man to save us from our sins. God not only promised redemption but God Himself came to accomplish it. Jesus is God with us, born of a virgin, and it was prophesied seven hundred years before it happened.

On this day of Advent remember that God not only planned to redeem His people but that He planned to redeem His people Himself. Remember that He didn’t just sit on His throne in heaven and provide some impersonal, distant way of redemption but that He sent His only Son—the second person of the Trinity—to accomplish it personally. Advent reminds us that the God we worship isn’t some remote, divine dictator who rules His universe from a distance. He’s the God who came into the dirty, sinful world personally to save His people through the second person of the Trinity and now personally makes His residence in His people through third person of the Trinity. He’s also the God who will one day create a completely new heaven and new earth for His people where He “himself will be with them as their God.” Praise Him on this day of Advent for His glorious, personal presence with you. Ask Him to speed the day of Christ’s return so we can be with Him personally for all eternity in the new heavens and the new earth. Perhaps today could be the day.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Solus Christus: The Suffering Servant

Yesterday we saw that Jesus is the good Shepherd who is so good and who loved His sheep so much that He laid down His life for them. This was God’s plan for Him from foundation of the world (cf. Re. 13:8). That means that many of God’s prophecies about Jesus are not going to be happy prophecies because they will tell of His death. One of the saddest tells us that the Servant—the Messiah—will be a suffering servant:

¹ Who has believed what he has heard from us?
    And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
² For he grew up before him like a young plant,
    and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
    and no beauty that we should desire him.
³ He was despised and rejected by men;
    a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
    he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
⁴ Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.
⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.
⁷ He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
    yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
    so he opened not his mouth.
⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
    and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
    stricken for the transgression of my people?
⁹ And they made his grave with the wicked
    and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
    and there was no deceit in his mouth.
¹⁰ Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
    he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
¹¹ Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
    make many to be accounted righteous,
    and he shall bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
    and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
    and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
    and makes intercession for the transgressors. (Is. 53:1-12)

He was despised, rejected, pierced, bruised, and God laid on Him our iniquities. Indeed, it was “the will of the Lord to crush him.” That was the plan for the incarnation of Jesus. It was the plan when God the Father commissioned God the Son to take on the work of redemption (cf. Is. 49), and Jesus willingly took on that responsibility. He willingly came into the world knowing that God the Father’s wrath against the sin of believers would only be satisfied by the “anguish of his soul.”

The Westminster Shorter Catechism calls this the “humiliation” of Christ. It asks in question #27, “Wherein did Christ’s humiliation consist?” and it answers, “Christ’s humiliation consisted in His being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time.” Even becoming man was part of this suffering that Jesus was commissioned by God to take. Coming into this world was how he was “numbered with the transgressors” even though He Himself was perfect. The incarnation, the glorious event that we celebrate at Christmas, was a humiliation for Jesus, but it was one that He willingly accepted for the sake of His people. Paul tells us that Jesus “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” He willingly gave up the glorious riches of heaven and became one of us. Indeed, not just one of us but a servant for us. He voluntarily subjected Himself to the miseries of this life by leaving the perfection of heaven and being born of Mary. Paul also calls this the grace of Jesus: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich.” This is the true meaning of Christmas—that Jesus became poor and suffered so we, by His poverty and suffering, might become rich.

Today let Advent remind you of the suffering Jesus endured so that “we might become the righteousness of God.” Remember that even becoming human was a humiliation for Him and part of His suffering. Let Advent remind you of the intensity of and depth of the love that led Jesus to do this for His people. When you celebrate Christmas, do rejoice in the fact that our Lord became man, but also remember that in order to do so the King of the universe had to “[empty] himself, by taking the form of a servant.” Never forget that Jesus knows what it’s like to suffer in this world. (Indeed, He suffered in ways we could never imagine.) Never forget that “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Ask Him to work these truths into your heart so that you want to show Him how thankful you are with every part of your life.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Solus Christus: The Second Sunday of Advent

Today is the second Sunday of Advent. Throughout this past week we’ve been looking at the story of redemption and the offices and attributes of our Redeemer. We started in the beginning with creation, the fall of Adam and Eve, and the first promise of redemption in Ge. 3:15. Then we looked at how God prophesied that His Messiah would be a prophet, a priest, and a righteous judge. In today’s devotion, we’ll see that He is also our King—the King God promised to David that would rule on an everlasting throne:

⁷ “Now, therefore, thus shall you say to my servant David, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people Israel... ¹¹ When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹² He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. ¹³ I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you, ¹⁴ but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.’” (1 Chr. 17:7, 11-14)
²⁶ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” ²⁹ But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰ And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Lk. 1:26-33)

God promised David that one of his offspring would be the King whose throne would be “established forever.” Then, a thousand years later, the angel Gabriel told Mary that her son—the “Son of the Most High”—is that eternal King God had promised to David. This King, however, is unlike any other king this world has ever known. In fact, He’s so different that the Magi (the Wise Men) almost missed Him. When they followed the Bethlehem star in order to find the king of the Jews and worship Him, they went looking in Herod’s castle expecting to find a king like all other earthly kings. Jesus’ kingship, however, goes far beyond any earthly idea of king in two very important ways. Let’s read what Paul says about His kingship in Col. 1:9-17:

⁹ And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰ so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. ¹¹ May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. ¹³ He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. ¹⁷ And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

This is obviously a theologically dense passage whose depth we cannot exhaust at this time (here is my sermon on it if you want a more detailed explanation), but in it Paul shows us that Jesus the universal King (vv. 15-17) and our personal King (vv. 9-14). In those two ways His kinship goes far beyond any earthly idea of king. His universal kingship is absolute; you can’t not be under it. He’s the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, so everything in it is in Him, through Him, and for Him, and He controls it all with absolute authority. His personal kingship, however, is over those whom God has “qualified” (the good news of the gospel!) through the work of redemption that He accomplished in Jesus. Did you hear that? God qualifies us—those who have faith in Jesus—through Jesus’ work. We don’t qualify ourselves. We can’t work to qualify ourselves. We don’t come under Jesus’ personal kingship by anything other than God’s unmerited gift of grace.

On this day of Advent, remember that the universal King became poor and was born in a stable, so that He could accomplish redemption and forgiveness of sins and bring those who repent and believe under His personal kingship. Remember that the King of the universe—the Son of God in whom “all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible” —became a lowly, frail, fragile human like you and me. Remember that He lived in this world with all its pains and miseries, and He went to the cross to die for the sins of His people. What other king would ever do anything like that? Could ever imagine an earthly king doing anything like that for his people? No, and that’s because Jesus is a very different kind of king. You won’t find this kind of king in a castle ruling an earthly empire. He’s ruling and upholding the universe itself, and He lives the hearts of His people through the Holy Spirit.

By His Grace,

Taylor

Solus Christus: The Judge

Not only did God promise that His Redeemer would be a prophet like Moses, not only did He foreshadow Jesus’ priesthood in the high priests of the Old Testament, but He also told us through the prophet Isaiah that Jesus would be the righteous Judge of the world from the line of King David:

¹ There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
    and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
² And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
    the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and might,
    the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
³ And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.
    He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
    or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
⁴ but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
    and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
    and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
    and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
⁵ Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
    and faithfulness the belt of his loins. (Is. 11:1-5)

Our Redeemer is the Messiah who will one day judge the world in righteousness. But, what did Isaiah mean when he prophesied that the Messiah would judge the world “in righteousness”? Well, let’s turn to what Jesus Himself has to say about this judgment in Mt. 25:31-34, 41, 46:

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…. ⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels…. ⁴⁶ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

With His “wisdom and understanding,” “counsel and might,” and “knowledge and… fear of the LORD,” Jesus will separate the righteous from the unrighteous; those whose name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life from those whose is not. Then He will judge them according to their righteousness. This is good news (indeed the gospel!) for believers because we’ve been given Christ’s righteousness and will be judged according to that imputed righteousness. But, Advent should remind us that for this to be good news, we must be in Christ—we must have His righteousness credited to our account. Those who are in Christ are the sheep who’ll be placed on His right and who will hear the words, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Those who are outside of Christ will also be judged in righteousness, but since they are not righteous, the righteous judgment on them is condemnation and “eternal punishment” in hell. This should remind us that we need to spread the good news of Christmas to the world.

On this day of Advent, think about your non-Christian friends and family members. Jesus is the righteous Judge and He always judges in righteousness, but for that judgment to be “Well done, good and faithful servant,” one must accept Him as Lord and Savior in this life. This is a solemn reminder of Advent but a much-needed one for all of us (especially me). The Judge is coming, and we need to be spreading the good news of Christmas: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”

By His Grace,

Taylor

Solus Christus: The Prophet

God’s promise of redemption through the Messiah took many different forms in the Old Testament. Most often this promise took the form of prophecies about the Messiah to come. These prophecies are throughout the Old Testament, and today we will look at one given by Moses in Dt. 18:15-19:

¹⁵ “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— ¹⁶ just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ ¹⁷ And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. ¹⁸ I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. ¹⁹ And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.

Jesus is the prophet of whom Moses spoke, and those who saw His earthly ministry knew it. Nearly fifteen hundred years after Moses foretold about a prophet like him, Jesus called Philip to be an apostle. When He did, Philip went to get his brother Nathanael and exclaimed, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” The people who followed Jesus, listened to His teaching, and saw His miracles knew it as well for they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” When Peter addressed the Jews in Solomon’s Portico, he reminded them that Jesus is the prophet who was to follow Moses (cf. Ac. 3:22). And, finally, when Stephen (the first recorded martyr) was before the Sanhedrin charged with preaching the gospel, he too told his accusers that Jesus is the prophet Moses promised (cf. Ac. 7:37-38).

The office of prophet is one of the offices that Jesus executes for His people as our Redeemer. The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks in question #23, “What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer?” and it answers, “Christ, as our Redeemer, executeth the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation.” Then, to further explain what this means, in #24 it asks, “How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?” and it answers, “Christ executeth the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by His word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.” A prophet was God’s spokesman who revealed to the people the will of God for their salvation and bore witness to the Messiah. In the Old Testament, there were many prophets, but now that Christ has come and God’s Word is complete, there is only one and it is Jesus Himself. Through His Word He informs us of all we need to know about God and His will, and through His Holy Spirit He gives us wisdom and understanding of it.

Did you notice why the Israelite people knew they needed a prophet? They had said to Moses, “Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.” They knew that if they had to face God themselves, they would be consumed. So it is with us. We can’t bear to be in the presence of God without a mediator—one who stands between us and God. Jesus as the incarnate God-man is that Mediator, and as our Mediator He reveals to us God’s will. Without Him, we would've been left without “hope and without God in the world.” Thank God for the prophet like Moses, indeed greater than Moses (cf. He. 3-4)!

On this day of Advent remember that you would not know anything about salvation, Jesus, Advent, or God, if it were not for Jesus being your prophet. He is necessary for us to know God and He is also sufficient for us to know God—we need no other prophets in our lives. When you read His Word (one of the means by which He reveals God’s will to us), ask Him to make it clear to you by the Holy Spirit. Don’t be satisfied with your own mental abilities; ask for the Spirit’s illumination. He will give it to you!

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: Jesus, the Greater Judah

As has been the case in almost every sermon passage so far in this series, there is so much in Ge. 48:1-20; 49:1, 8-12 that we cannot possibly cover it all in this Sunday's sermon post. In fact, the sermon will only highlight one major aspect of this passage. So, in this devotional, we will talk briefly about Judah's blessing, which is really a prophecy of Jesus Himself.

In Ge. 49:8-12, Israel blesses Judah with nothing less than a prediction that the Messiah Himself will come from Judah's line, which is an amazing grace to Judah (the grace aspect of this blessing will be brought out in Sunday's sermon post). Take a look at Israel's words to Judah:

8 "Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
    your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
    your father's sons shall bow down before you.
9 Judah is a lion's cub;
    from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He stooped down; he crouched as a lion
    and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
    nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him;
    and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
11 Binding his foal to the vine
    and his donkey's colt to the choice vine,
he has washed his garments in wine
    and his vesture in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes are darker than wine,
    and his teeth whiter than milk."

There are four aspects of the coming Messiah--Jesus Christ Himself--that are brought out in this blessing and prophecy given to Judah: His praise, His preeminence, His power, and His prosperity. Let's take a brief look at each of those.

First, praise: Israel says, "Judah, your brothers shall praise you..." From a language standpoint, this is a literary play on Judah's name which means "to praise" in Hebrew, yet its meaning goes much deeper. This prophecy may have had a minor fulfillment in Judah's personal relationship with his brothers, and it did have a proximate fulfillment in the kings of Judah, of whom king David was the greatest. Yet, it finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Himself. When Christ was raised from the dead, He was given the name that is above every name (Php. 2:9), so that at His name every knee will bow and every tongue confess His lordship (Php. 2:10-11). Presently, this prophecy is fulfilled in the true children of Abraham (i.e. Christians, cf. Ga. 3:7) giving praise to the Greater Judah who comes from the line of Judah. It also will be fulfilled in an ultimate sense when every knee bows to Jesus at the final judgment, whether they want to or not (Php. 2:10-11, explained in more detail in this sermon here).

Second, preeminence: Israel tells Judah that he will be greater than all his enemies, that his brothers will bow to him, and that the scepter will not leave his house. Now, while this may have had some minor fulfillment in Judah's lifetime, this too is ultimately about what would come from his line. Israel does nothing less than predict that the right kingship of God's people will come from Judah's line, and in v. 10, Israel makes it clear that the kingship of Judah's line will have no end. This kingship began to be true with king David but has its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Himself. Out of the line of Judah has emerged the Messiah who is king (e.g. Ps. 2; 89; Is. 11:1-16; Je. 33:15; Am. 9:1-14), and this messiah is Jesus (Lk. 1:32-33; Ro. 1:3; Re. 22:16). He is the King of kings and Lord of lords (Re. 17:14; 19:16), who rules over everything (Col. 1:15-17). Presently, His rule may not be recognized by all, but one day, it will be (Php. 2:10-11, cf. Re. 20:11ff).

Third, power: Israel likens Judah to a lion in this prophecy, and, of course, the lion is a picture of power and might. The lion is the most enduring image of Judah in the themes of redemptive history. This theme is carried through to the time of the judges, then to the reign of king David, and ultimately is fulfilled in the victorious reign of the Lion of the tribe of Judah: Jesus Christ Himself (cf. Re. 5:5, 9-10). This enduring image of the Lion of Judah is often set with the image of the Lamb of God to serve as the quintessential image of Christ (i.e. power and sacrifice). Here, though, there is no hint of the lamb; there is only the power of the lion. Jesus is the powerful lion who protects, defends, and fights for His people, both now and forever more.

Fourth, prosperity: Finally, Israel tells Judah vv. 11-12 that his prosperity will be unimaginable. Now, the language of these images may seem a little odd to our culture today, but to Judah they were a picture of great prosperity. The binding of the foal and the donkey to the choice vine shows this because a foal and a donkey would eat the vine to which they were tied, which means Judah has such a successful vine harvest that it doesn't matter whether a choice vine is eaten, for there are so many more. In modern terms, it might be like us saying that someone can park their Lamborghini in the worst part of town with the keys in the ignition because they have so much wealth that one car, as expensive as it is, doesn't really matter. The washing of his garments and vesture (i.e. cloak/robe) in wine is a similar picture: so much that it does not matter how you use it. Wine is an expensive liquid (imagine your water bill calculated at the price wine is sold), so to use it to wash clothes like one would use water shows that the wine harvest is as abundant as water to them. Finally, the color of his eyes and teeth are along a similar line: Judah has so much wine that his eyes are becoming colored like the wine and his teeth are white when seen against the foreground of his red, wine-stained lips. All these images show the immense prosperity of Judah. And, like with the previous predictions, such a prosperity may have had some fulfillment in Judah and the later kings from his line (e.g. king Solomon's prosperity), but it is ultimately fulfilled in Christ and what He has secured in the new heavens and the new earth. The description of the new Jerusalem in Re. 21:9ff shows us this kind of lavish wealth in different terms but the end result is the same: unimaginable prosperity. And that, Christian, is the inheritance that those adopted into the family of God through Christ will have one day. That is our hope in Christ, not anything in this world.

Judah's blessing is really a prophecy about Jesus Himself. So, when you look at Judah's blessing, remember that he is just a picture of who Christ is as the exalted King of kings, Lord of lords, and head of the Church. And, He is your Savior.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: Jesus is Coming Soon!

In this Sunday's sermon, one of the things that we will see is Israel's hope in the promises of God that looked forward beyond the promised land to "a better city, that is, a heavenly one" (He. 11:16). Now, he didn't know as much about it as we do, but he knew enough to place his hope not in this world but in a "city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God" (He. 11:10). We know now that this city is the new heavens and new earth (cf. Re. 21) into which Jesus will take us when He returns.

When thinking about Jesus' return and the solid hope we have in it because of the truth of the gospel, sometimes we wonder why He has not yet returned. Didn't He say He was coming "soon"? Well, yes He did in Re. 22:

⁶ And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”
⁷ “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
⁸ I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, ⁹ but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”
¹⁰ And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. ¹¹ Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”
¹² “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. ¹⁵ Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
¹⁶ “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
¹⁷ The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
¹⁸ I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, ¹⁹ and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
²⁰ He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
²¹ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. (Re. 22:6ff)

In the above Scripture passage I've italicized Jesus' words just so there's no mistaking who is speaking to whom. This is, of course, a theologically packed passage, but I want to use it for this devotional since His return to take us home is our ultimate hope and because three times in it Jesus says, "I am coming soon." Do you think He means it? If you repeat something to someone three times in a single conversation, don’t you really mean it? But, it doesn't seem "soon," does it? When you pray for Christ's return, do you sometimes feel like a child in the back seat of your parents' car on a long road trip asking "How long?" and always hearing "Soon"? Almost two thousand years doesn't seem "soon" to me. Of course, I'm not the only one who's thought that for even the early Church wondered why Jesus had not yet returned. Many of them thought Jesus would return before they died, and even Paul appears to have believed this early on in his ministry (cf. 1 Th. 4:15). After several decades passed they started to wonder, "What happened to 'soon'?" If they asked it then, how much more may we ask the question two thousand years later?

As you might imagine, there have been many over the centuries who have attempted to answer this question in a variety of ways. Indeed, this is a very complex question on which Christians have come to no sort of consensus. That means I don't believe I have the final answer to this important question, but I would like to give you two things to consider that I think will help put the question in a less ominous context. First, consider Peter's answer to this question. Peter acknowledges that his readers were asking this question and answers it but not in the detail for which we (or they) might have hoped:

¹ This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, ² that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, ³ knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. ⁴ They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”
…⁸ But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief…. (2 Pt. 3:1-4, 8-10)

Peter knows there will be "scoffers" who will basically say, "Where's your God now? It's been two thousand years and He said He would come 'soon.'" His answer is not a systematic defense of how "soon" can be reckoned with a long delay of Jesus' second coming. He simply says, "Look, God doesn't perceive or calculate the passage of time the way you and I do, so stop acting like He does and forcing our view of 'soon' on Him. And, what you call 'slowness' I call 'patience' for the Lord is waiting so more can repent and believe." Then, Peter tells us that the day will come like a thief, which is the proverbial way of saying that we have no idea when it will come. He wisely doesn't try to answer a question no one can answer completely but appeals to God's timelessness and mercy for an explanation of His delay. There are more God wants to become Christians and He is waiting until they do (cf. Mt. 24:14).

The second thing I think we need to consider is the nature of biblical prophecy. There is in prophecy a characteristic perspective that foreshortens time and presents the future from a theological perspective as a whole with the chronological gaps unaddressed. So, for example, the prophets of the Old Testament could move from the destruction of Judah to the coming of the Messiah in a single step even though there would be almost six hundred years in between. The same is true of Revelation. In it, the future is presented theologically and is seen in terms of its entirety, not in its chronological detail. Prophecy is a theological interpretation of history, however long it endures. Think about that for a moment. Theologically speaking, what is the next important event after Jesus' death, resurrection, ascension, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost? It's the second coming of Christ. Everything in between is incidental compared to those important, redemptive events. John's prophecy in Revelation, then, can make a chronological jump of unknown duration because theologically Christ's second coming is near, and it is looked at as part of the redemptive whole of Christ's work. So, Christ is coming soon, but we need to look at "soon" from God's perspective on time, in the context of His awesome mercy, and theologically not chronologically.

Today let He. 11:8-16, 39-40 (which will be discussed in Sunday's posted sermon), and the above passages remind you that Christ is coming soon. What He means by "soon" may be different than what you and I think of as "soon," but we know it's the next important redemptive event and it could happen at any time. Remember that God is delaying Jesus' return because He is rich in mercy towards the unbelieving world, not because He’s trying to drive Christians crazy. Ask Him to give you a love for the lost like He has because as our love and compassion for the lost grows, we will understand His delay and see it as a chance to spread the gospel more. Ask Him to give you a deep anticipation of His immanent return so that your love for Him will increase, your love for this world will decrease, and your concern for the lost will grow. Ask Him to help you be a testimony to the hope that you have in the gospel to the lost around you and younger generations. And, pray like John, "Come, Lord Jesus!" Perhaps today could be the day.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Solus Christus: Jesus is Coming Soon

For our final Advent meditation I would like to focus on Jesus’ second advent and look at His words about His immanent return. We find them at the very end of our Bibles in Re. 22:

⁶ And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”
⁷ “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
⁸ I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, ⁹ but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”
¹⁰ And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. ¹¹ Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”
¹² “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. ¹⁵ Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
¹⁶ “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
¹⁷ The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
¹⁸ I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, ¹⁹ and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
²⁰ He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
²¹ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. (Re. 22:6ff)

In the above Scripture passage I’ve italicized Jesus’ words just so there’s no mistaking who is speaking to whom. This is, of course, a theologically packed passage (as many of the passages at which we have looked have been), but I want to use it for our last Advent meditation because three times in it Jesus says, “I am coming soon.” Do you think He means it? If you repeat something to someone three times in a single conversation, don’t you really mean it? But, it doesn’t seem “soon,” does it? When you pray for Christ’s return, do you sometimes feel like a child in the back seat of your parents’ car on a long road trip asking “How long?” and always hearing “Soon”? Almost two thousand years doesn’t seem “soon” to me. Of course, I’m not the only one who’s thought that for even the early Church wondered why Jesus had not yet returned. Many of them thought Jesus would return before they died, and even Paul appears to have believed this early on in his ministry (cf. 1 Th. 4:15). After several decades passed they started to wonder, “What happened to ‘soon’?” If they asked it then, how much more may we ask the question two thousand years later?

As you might imagine, there have been many over the centuries who have attempted to answer this question in a variety of ways. Indeed, this is a very complex question on which Christians have come to no sort of consensus. That means I don’t believe I have the final answer to this important question, but I would like to give you two things to consider that I think will help put the question in a less ominous context. First, consider Peter’s answer to this question. Peter acknowledges that his readers were asking this question and answers it but not in the detail for which we (or they) might have hoped:

¹ This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, ² that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, ³ knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. ⁴ They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”
…⁸ But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief…. (2 Pt. 3:1-4, 8-10)

Peter knows there will be “scoffers” who will basically say, “Where’s your God now? It’s been two thousand years and He said He would come ‘soon.’” His answer is not a systematic defense of how “soon” can be reckoned with a long delay of Jesus’ second advent. He simply says, “Look, God doesn’t perceive or calculate the passage of time the way you and I do, so stop acting like He does and forcing our view of ‘soon’ on Him. What you call ‘slowness’ I call ‘patience’ for the Lord is waiting so more can repent and believe.” Then, Peter tells us that the day will come like a thief, which is the proverbial way of saying that we have no idea when it will come. He wisely doesn’t try to answer a question no one can answer completely but appeals to God’s timelessness and mercy for an explanation of His delay. There are more God wants to become Christians and He is waiting until they do (cf. Mt. 24:14).

The second thing I think we need to consider is the nature of biblical prophecy. There is in prophecy a characteristic perspective that foreshortens time and presents the future from a theological perspective as a whole with the chronological gaps unaddressed. So, for example, the prophets of the Old Testament could move from the destruction of Judah to the coming of the Messiah in a single step even though there would be almost six hundred years in between. The same is true of Revelation. In it, the future is presented theologically and is seen in terms of its entirety, not in its chronological detail. Prophecy is a theological interpretation of history, however long it endures. Think about that for a moment. Theologically speaking, what is the next important event after Jesus’ death, resurrection, ascension, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost? It’s the second coming of Christ. Everything in between is incidental compared to those important, redemptive events. John’s prophecy in Revelation, then, can make a chronological jump of unknown duration because theologically Christ’s second coming is near, and it is looked at as part of the redemptive whole of Christ’s work. So, Christ is coming soon, but we need to look at “soon” from God’s perspective on time, in the context of His awesome mercy, and theologically not chronologically.

Today let this final day of Advent remind you that Christ is coming soon. What He means by “soon” may be different than what you and I think of as “soon,” but we know it’s the next important redemptive event and it could happen at any time. Remember that God is delaying Jesus’ return because He is rich in mercy towards the unbelieving world, not because He’s trying to drive Christians crazy. Ask Him to give you a love for the lost like He has because as our love and compassion for the lost grows, we will understand His delay and see it as a chance to spread the gospel more. Ask Him to give you a deep anticipation of His immanent return so that your love for Him will increase, your love for this world will decrease, and your concern for the lost will grow. Perhaps today could be the day.

By His Grace,

Taylor

Solus Christus: The Great Commission

Last week we looked at the covenants God made with His people in the Old Testament. We saw how those covenants were not isolated promises but built on one another because they were all under the one covenant of grace. Indeed, we saw that God’s plan of salvation in Christ has been the same since the fall of Adam, and He revealed that plan in various ways through the Old Testament covenants. For today’s Advent meditation we’re going to return to Isaiah’s prophecies of the Messiah by looking another prophecy from the “comfort section.” (As we mentioned earlier in this series of devotions, chapters 40-66 are the “comfort section” of Isaiah in which Isaiah prophesies to the Jews in exile the deliverance that God will bring from Babylon and ultimately in the Messiah.) We’re going to look at the prophecy which contains the Great Commission. Did you know that the “comfort section” of Isaiah contains the Great Commission? “Hang on a minute,” you might be thinking, “the Great Commission is in Mt. 28:16-20.” That may be what your ESV or NIV heading tells you, but with all due respect to those translators, they’re wrong. The Great Commission is in Is. 49:

¹ Listen to me, O coastlands,
    and give attention, you peoples from afar.
The LORD called me from the womb,
    from the body of my mother he named my name.
² He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
    in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
    in his quiver he hid me away.
³ And he said to me, “You are my servant,
    Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
⁴ But I said, “I have labored in vain;
    I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my right is with the LORD,
    and my recompense with my God.”
⁵ And now the LORD says,
    he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
    and that Israel might be gathered to him—
for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD,
    and my God has become my strength—
⁶ he says:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
    to raise up the tribes of Jacob
    and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
    that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
⁷ Thus says the LORD,
    the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
    the servant of rulers:
“Kings shall see and arise;
    princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
because of the LORD, who is faithful,
    the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” (Is. 49:1-7)

Do you see God the Father’s commission to His servant—God the Son—there? The heart of it is in v. 6: “I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” Now, is it really the Son who’s being addressed here? This can be confusing because sometimes the one being addressed is called “Israel” and sometimes “servant” (Isaiah’s common designation for the Messiah in the comfort section) and they seem to be one person, but in v. 5 the servant and Israel are distinguished. Why this confusing association and dissociation between the servant and Israel within just a few verses? Because God’s Messiah was not the nation of Israel itself, yet He could be identified with the nation because He was their covenant head (v. 8)—their representative (cf. Ro. 5:12-21). So here, whether being called “Israel” or “servant,” the one being addressed is the Messiah.

You know, Paul and Barnabas saw this passage as the Great Commission too. They did; they quoted from v. 6 in Ac. 13:47 when they were forced to defend before the Jewish leaders their missionary efforts to the Gentiles: “For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” Notice that they said God gave the command to them. The commission certainly was not given to them, right? Yes, it wasn’t given to them directly, but the Disciple’s Commission was, in Mt. 28:16-20. Jesus, who was given the Great Commission by God in Is. 49, passed the missionary torch to His disciples in Mt. 28 by commissioning them just as He had been commissioned by God the Father. So, Paul and Barnabas could say the command in Is. 49:6 was given to them. It was given to Jesus and He, in turn, passed it on to them.

In Is. 49, God commits Himself to give His Son—the second person of the Trinity—to die for His people, which don’t only come from Israel but from the “the nations... to the end of the earth.” But, when did this commission occur? Well, we do not know for certain because Isaiah doesn’t tell us when the words were spoken. He recorded the words in the eighth century BC as a prophecy of the coming Messiah, but God the Father most likely commissioned the Son long before that. In fact, the commission was probably given before time began: Christ speaks of a task given to Him by God the Father (cf. Jn. 5:30, 43; 6:38-40; 17:4-12) and the plan of redemption was part of God’s eternal decree (cf. Eph. 1:4ff; 3:11; 2 Th. 2:13; 2 Ti. 1:9; Js. 2:5; 1 Pt. 1:2), therefore Jesus’ task must also have been part of God’s eternal decree before the world was even created.

The baby born in a manger in Bethlehem is the servant, Israel, the Messiah to whom God speaks in Is. 49. He’s Jesus—the Son, the second person of the Trinity—and He was commissioned by the Father to save His people even before we fell in Adam. The missionary activity of the Church was started by God before there even was a Church or even a heaven and earth. The Advent of Christ as the incarnate Son is the inauguration of that activity in the world, but it was part of God’s plan before there even was a world. Jesus accepted the plan from God the Father, passed it on to His disciples, and it has been passed down again and again for two thousand years. Soon, however, Jesus will return in His second advent to finish what He started and take us all into the new heavens and new earth. But, for now we celebrate the first advent and continue to fulfill the Great Commission, which was given to the Son by the Father and passed on to us by the Son.

On this day of Advent remember that God had planned to save you even before the world existed. Indeed, Paul tells us that God “chose us in him before the foundation of the world.” Remember also that Jesus accepted the task of becoming your atoning sacrifice even before sin had entered the universe. Think about the Great Commission given to Jesus and the Disciple’s Commission given to us, and consider how you can obey this commission by spreading the good news of Christmas this Advent season. Remember that there is a world out there full of sinners in desperate need of Jesus—the “light for the nations.” Ask God to give you opportunities to fulfill this commission by sharing the gospel, and ask Him to help you not to duck when He gives you those opportunities.

By His Grace,

Taylor