Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord…’
This much loved hymn, based on the Magnificat, is one that we sing at this time every and is one of the most joyous hymns in any hymn book. But I wonder just how often, if at all, we have taken time just to read through the words of it. Do so now – read of the power, dominion and majesty of God – and then give thanks for all those unnumbered blessings that He pours upon us every day and for the fulfilment of His promise to us through His Son.
‘Behold my servant whom I uphold…’ (Isa. 41:1)
The first portion of Isaiah 42 is often referred to as the Servant Song, one of four found in Isaiah, and point to the Messiah coming to fulfil God’s promise to reconcile Himself to us, and of course we look to Jesus as the fulfilment of that promise. In all He said and did throughout His earthly ministry, and through His death and Resurrection, Jesus would not only fulfil this task, but also reveal God to the world. As we continue through Advent we not only look the celebrate His birth but also look forward to His coming again to establish His Kingdom once and for all. In the meantime we are called to emulate our Lord in humility and service and to play our part in revealing God’s Kingdom to all. So let’s pray for the courage, strength and faith to play our part in doing so and let’s pray for the Church of Jesus Christ at this time, that all who would claim to be His Disciples would do likewise that more people may come to know Jesus this Christmas time.
Background Information
The date for this prophecy is around 734 and the city of Jerusalem is about to come under siege from the Kings of Israel, the Northern Kingdom, and Aram. So Ahaz, the King of Judah, found himself in a desperate predicament, yet still he found it difficult to trust in God, preferring instead to offer tribute to Tiglath Pileser, the King of Assyria, the same King who around ten years after this situation, in 722 BC, overthrew the Northern Kingdom of Israel. In response to this behaviour from Ahaz, God offers the words of this prophecy that we now all know so well. However, when we look at it as a whole, on first reading it doesn’t really sound like such good news – so what then are we to make of this.
Read Isaiah 7:10-17
As we look at these verses we find some verses that have given rise to much theological debate over the years. Who was the young woman and who was Immanuel?
Whatever the answer, it was clearly taken by the early Christians to refer directly to the Birth of Christ, one of the most famous Messianic Prophecies and Matthew’s Gospel in particular appears to endorse that belief. But could it have had more than one meaning? Did Hezekiah fulfil this prophecy in his own way some 30 years later when he surrender to Sennacherib thus saving Jerusalem from destruction at that time? And what was Isaiah thinking at that time?
But at a personal level there is something else we need to consider here.
And what can we learn from this?
What does it mean to be a loyal and faithful believer in God?
How does our trust compare to that of Ahaz?
Do we ever ‘hedge our bets’ in others – just in case?
And when God does send us a ‘sign’ how do we respond to it?
‘The Lord is coming; don’t lose heart. Be blest; prepare the way…’
As we go about our daily business we can at times fill our lives with ‘clutter’, things which are no at all important and in fact go some way to preventing us fulfilling the lives we are meant to have. As we look to Christmas and celebrating the birth of our Saviour, ask the Lord to help you remove all that clutter which is not really needed that you might better prepare yourself to invite Christ into your hearts once again.
‘The voice of God goes out to all the world…’
As we think of the words of this Advent hymn I wonder if we ever stop to consider that today we are called to be that voice of God, that as followers of our Lord and Saviour, we are the ones who are called to spread that Good News far and wide. So pray today for guidance, courage, boldness and faith that we might be the voice that God would have us be.
An audio recording of the service will now be available every Sunday from about 2.00pm and can be accessed through the YT Link on the website homepage.
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God…’ (Isa. 40:1)
Pray today for all who are suffering in any way – those known to us as well as those we don’t know. Whatever their pain, whatever their heartache, whatever they are going through, pray that they would know that comfort that only our Lord can give.
‘Make way, make way, For Christ the King…’
Every day our lives seem so full of hustle and bustle and all too often it seems if we never have enough time to do all that we set out to do or all that we wished to do. In the midst of all this busyness it’s easy to lose sight of our Lord and without even realising it, He is the one who gets left out of our busy schedule. So let’s pray and reflect on the words of this well known hymn and let’s make way for Jesus in our lives, today and every day.
Sunday worship will be held in both churches this Sunday. In Bendochy at 10.00am and in the Abbey Church at 11.15am.
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel…’ (Isa. 7:14)
Immanuel – God with us. As we continue through Advent pray that the Lord will be with us all, every single day, as we prepare to celebrate His birth and look forward to His coming again.
