Lord, Keep Your Advent Promise!

1st Sunday in Advent, 11/30/14
Isaiah 63:16b-17; 64:1-8


Lord, Keep Your Advent Promise!
I. Come down in judgment.
II. Come down in grace.


“I’ll be there for Thanksgiving. I promise.” Almost every person here this morning either made such a promise or heard such a promise. “I’ll be there to spend Thanksgiving with you.”

So how did it go? Were those expectations met? Were those promises kept? I’m assuming they were, unless illness, accident or snowstorms prevented it. Our enjoyment of special observances throughout the year revolves largely around the presence of the people whom we love. It’s not so much about the food, or the good things to drink, or the presents. It’s about the people we love. We either want to be there with them or we want them to be here with us. So we make and receive promises.

Today marks the beginning of the season of Advent, the season in which we prepare ourselves for the coming of our Lord. And while the Advent season might be viewed simply as a preparation for the next season—the season of Christmas, it’s so much more than that. As the scripture readings during this season remind us, Advent is our season of preparation for our Lord’s return to this earth.

And that return, like our Thanksgiving gatherings, is based on a promise, a promise from our Lord to return.

This morning’s sermon text from Isaiah reminds us that his promise to return isn’t simply a nice gesture on his part to be with us; it’s critical to us as God’s people living in this sinful world. We desperately need him to return. And so we pray this morning, “Lord, keep your Advent promise.” Isaiah’s words remind us why his return is so critical. We need his return. Let’s see why.

Part I.

Have you ever gotten to the point in which you just can’t take it anymore? Maybe it’s chronic pain that won’t subside and it’s gotten to the point that it consumes you. Maybe it’s your employment environment. The negativity has drained all the joy out of earning a living. To make matters even worse, you’re convinced your co-workers or your supervisor are covertly working against you. They’re going to make sure you fail. Maybe it’s a relationship that has gone from bad to worse. Your heart hurts so much you can’t concentrate. You have trouble making it through your day. I imagine we’ve all been there before. The desperation is unbearable.

Now take that up a level. When can’t the Church take it anymore? What’s happening out there that’s making it harder and harder for us in here, so much so that we wonder if we can take any more? For one thing, it appears we’re vastly outnumbered. There are far more of them than there are of us. And if you had to state your opinion, do you think it’s getting worse in our country or better? Are the days gone when we could count on the American people to do the “Christian thing”? Probably so and it wears on us. We don’t know how much more we can take.

Worse yet, evil abounds. Violence occurs daily, and not just in some big city on one of the coasts; it’s right here in the Miami Valley. It even occurs in some local rural areas. Law and order are no longer observed. Mobs rule whenever justice is in question. It seems each week brings the news of another gunman firing into as many innocent and unsuspecting people as he can. And it’s no better overseas. Brutal and gruesome acts are committed in the cause of a “holy war.” Scores of young women mysteriously disappear. Immorality is the new norm and we’re told to accept it because that’s the way it is. How much more can Christians take?

It’s no wonder that we call on the Lord to keep his Advent promise! Here’s the way Isaiah stated it, “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you!” Come down here, Jesus, and show the world who’s boss!

Realize, however, that there are times when Jesus carries out his judgment before he returns to this earth. Isaiah lamented, “Why, O Lord, do you make us wander from your ways and harden our hearts so we do not revere you?” Isaiah saw it happening among his own people. They refused to listen to the Lord’s call to repentance and so he removed his grace from them. The same thing happened to Pharaoh before the Jews left Egypt. He refused to listen, so the Lord hardened his heart. During Jesus’ ministry here on earth, the Pharisees attacked his teachings, so Jesus spoke in parables so that they couldn’t understand what he was saying. Surely Jesus does the same thing today when he deems it best. But that still leaves these hardened unbelievers here on earth where they continue in their wicked works.

That’s why our prayer as God’s people will always be for Jesus to rend the heavens and come down. And we’ll make that our daily prayer until we see it occur. For thousands of years God promised to send the Savior into the world, and when the time was just right, he kept that promise. We’ll celebrate it once again this Christmas. That very Savior promised almost 2,000 years ago to return not as the world’s Savior, but as its Judge. That will occur when he determines the time is just right and not a moment earlier. Just when we think the Church can’t take it anymore, he’ll return.

Lord, keep your Advent promise. Come down in judgment.

But if we’re going to pray that way, then we need to get busy. Our hearts are not to be filled with spite and hatred for all those who oppose our Lord and his word. Our hearts are to be filled with love and concern for them. It’s not our job to determine whom Jesus should condemn. The Lord reserves that for himself. He’s only told us to share his gospel with as many people as we can. You see, the threat of judgment doesn’t change a person’s heart. Only the gospel does that. Only the truth of our Savior’s sacrificial love does that. Let’s not forget that. Our God has given us his power to save sinners. He doesn’t want a single soul to perish. Neither should we. So, while we pray for our Lord to keep his Advent promise, let’s get busy. There’s a world full of souls to save.

Part II.

Whether you spent Thanksgiving at home or away from your home, you had to make preparations. Hosting Thanksgiving for your family is a duty that most people look forward to. You do it out of love, not obligation. But it’s a huge job. You try to make your home look as clean and as festive as you can, and you nearly wear yourself out doing it. And then there’s all the food that needs to be purchased and prepared. If you traveled this Thanksgiving, you had to be sure you had all the necessary items packed, that your vehicle was ready or your airfare reserved, and that your home would be secure while you were away. You did all these things so that you could spend time with your loved ones.

Are you ready to spend time with the One who loves you most of all? If you pray for Jesus to rend the heavens and come down, are you ready for him? Being with Jesus hasn’t always been a pleasant experience for sinful people. When the Lord appeared to Moses on Mt. Sinai, the people of Israel prayed for him to stay on that mountain. They wanted Moses to relay his message to them. They didn’t want to meet their Maker.

When Peter recognized the risen, holy Lord Jesus, he instantly realized he didn’t belong there because he was a sinful man.

Isaiah had the same sensation. After calling on the Lord to come down, he was confronted with his sinfulness and spoke these familiar words, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” If you think you’re spiritually hot stuff, think again. Isaiah throws reality in our faces. We stink. We stink with sin. We deserve to be blown away from our God, not cuddled by him. And we want the Lord to return?

Indeed we do! Because we know the grace of our God. That grace is like bookends on this text. Look again at the opening words of our text, “You, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.” Our God has redeemed us; he has bought us back. That’s what Christ’s work was when he came to earth the first time. He came to make us his own. He did that work by keeping God’s holy law for us and by sacrificing himself for us. As his redeemed children we can look forward to his return.

And our text closes with that same grace. “Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” We’re not self-made children of God. Our God made us his children by his grace. He made us to declare his praise now as we wait for his return. He made us to praise him forever in his presence after he returns. It’s all about his grace, his undeserved love for sinners.

Lord, keep your Advent promise. Come down in grace.

And Jesus will do just that. He will come down in grace for those who trust that grace. He will come down in grace for you. Make sure of that by continuing in that grace. Recall that your daily righteous acts are like filthy rags before him. Remember that it’s not your works but his that make you acceptable to him. Find your Advent confidence in his death and resurrection for you. The reason he came the first time was to make you ready for his second coming. By faith in him as your Savior you’re ready, as ready as you’ll ever be. And in the readiness of faith make this your daily prayer, “Lord, keep your Advent promise!” Amen.