Advent, Promise of Coming

First Promise Kept at the First Coming. 

            Christ’s first advent was the greatest to date “promise made, promised kept” that God fulfilled.

John the Baptist, in his moments of despair, asked Jesus, “Are You the Expected One, or should we look for another?” When imprisoned, the baptizer’s hopes were discouraged but not entirely dashed. He knew that if Jesus was not the promised one, that He could expect another because God is and was and forever will be faithful and true.

            As far back as Genesis 3:15, the Bible teaches that a seed of a woman (literally “sperm” or "seed" in both Greek and Hebrew) would crush the head of Satan. That curse against Satan was literally fulfilled in the virgin birth of Christ, the only literal seed of a woman ever recorded.

Another 3:15 passage, Galatians 3:15, also teaches about the seed (singular) of man being the promise made long ago being fulfilled. “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made… the covenant was confirmed before by God in Christ, and it does not nullify the promise. If the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise.”

The promise was also made to Sarah, “The word of promise…Sarah will have a son.” (see Romans 9:9). Paul preached in Acts 13:23 that Jesus was the promised Son of God and Seed of David who would become the Savior of Israel and of the world. “From this man’s seed, according to the promise, raised up for Israel a Savior, Jesus.”

Isaiah’s promise in Isaiah 1:9 was reiterated in Romans 9:29 that the Seed of the Lord of Sabaoth would come to save the world.

A Second Promise Kept: The Holy Spirit.

Another Promise Kept. Perhaps the second greatest Promise that God has made and Kept came 50 days after the Resurrection. When the Holy Spirit came down, it was the down payment of the Promise of a future Advent.

“Wait for the Promise of the Father” Jesus said in Acts 1:4. “I will send the Promise,” He had previously stated in Luke 24:49.

Simon Peter and those in the upper room experienced the fulfillment of that Second Promise kept. The Holy Spirit which Jesus Himself received was poured out on them all in Acts chapter 2. “The Promise of the Holy Spirit is being poured out today and this is what you now see and hear,” Peter preached in Acts 2:33, “the Promise is for you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

Peter never stopped being in awe of those two promises kept. From a dank and dungy Roman prison cell, the aged fisherman was not bitter. Not disillusioned. No fist shook toward heaven, despite the scars on his back, seeing the cruel death of his best friend James, and perhaps having survivor’s guilt when his own life was spared.

No, from the prison cell Simon wrote these words of encouragement.

The Third Promise Will Be Kept: Jesus is Coming Again!

“God has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, and also escape the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Promise made, Peter Proclaimed, and Promise Kept. Four more times the imprisoned apostle used the word promise, finishing up with this defiantly faithful and unquenchable fiery man of God preached through his pen which echoes in our Scripture readings to this day.

“In keeping with His Promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.”

And then as a nod to fellow prisoner in Rome, the Apostle Paul, Peter wrote “and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation which also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you.”

The Silence Is Broken!

    This Saturday and Sunday, Rief Kessler has asked me to take on the role of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, in the Christmas Cantata.

    A monologue of a man who was struck mute for nine months? I did not think this would be a very big role! However, my part is AFTER he gets his voice back and as I have practiced it, it is about a ten-minute monologue.

    At first, I was a little worried. I had recited the 17^th chapter of John a few years ago at Easter, and that was a challenge, but at least that was Scripture and a passage with which I was very familiar. I wondered if my memory would retain the almost 1,000-word script, marvelously written by Rief Kessler.

    Getting into the role of the aged father of the “greatest man who was ever born to a woman” (as Jesus called John the Baptist) really got me to thinking. What did Zechariah ponder all this time while he was silent?

    Many theologians (Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Elisabeth Elliot, Richard Foster, and Martyn Lloyd-Jones) have written about the “spiritual discipline” or “spiritual exercise” of silence. On my bookshelf, I have a book entitled Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney, a professor of biblical spirituality and associate dean at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Whitney states in chapter 10 that there are biblical reasons for silence and solitude, including:

• to follow Jesus’s example,
• to minimize distractions in prayer,
• to express worship and faith, to seek restoration, wisdom, and the will of the Lord,
• to learn to control the tongue,

    For me, the most profound reason for the discipline of silence is found under Whitney’s section on “To Regain a Spiritual Perspective”. He cites Billy Graham, A.W. Tozer, Sarah Pierpont (whose silence attracted Jonathan Edwards to propose marriage to her), C.H. Spurgeon, and Susanna Wesley among great leaders who gained great spiritual insights after being in silent solitude.

    He begins this section on regaining a spiritual perspective with Zechariah. Having been disciplined by the Lord, the priest from the order of Abijah climaxes his prophecy with these insightful words of wisdom, gleaned from nine months of silence (see Luke 1:76-79, NLT):

“And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord. You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins. Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.”

    The angel Gabriel tells Zechariah that he and his wife will have great joy and gladness. That is how I will play this man of God. And by coming, I believe you too will find the Thrill of Hope.

Blessings in Him!