Reflections

‘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?

• The young woman symbolised Judah or Jerusalem and that Immanuel symbolised the Assyrian King who was to be God’s instrument of justice at that time. Possible, But unlikely!
• Isaiah’s own wife and son. Unlikely!
• The wife of Ahaz and a Royal Heir from the House of David as of yet unborn, namely Hezekiah. Very Possible!
• Mary and Jesus.

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.

• Ahaz, for whatever reason, seemed reluctant to trust in God.
• Yet even when prompted to do so, as a means of providing ‘evidence’ that God can be trusted, still Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign from God.
• There is little doubt Ahaz believes in God yet still he wants to ‘hedge his bets’ and form an allegiance with others – just in case??
• What then does this say about his relationship with God?

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.

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.

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.

Advent

Advent is a time of waiting and anticipation, a time when we dare to look forward with hope as we allow the peace, joy and love of Jesus Christ into our hearts, and perhaps this year in particular, when we have all experienced so many challenges and times of uncertainty, we need to know these in our life more than ever. At a time when we approach the shortest day of the year and therefore the darkest time of the year, Advent allows us to look to the light of Jesus Christ and in that light we find not only hope, peace, joy and love, but clear reminder that through His Son and by His Spirit God is with us and always will be. So as we journey through Advent let’s invite Him afresh into our lives and know His presence with us each and every day.

Read Isaiah 9:2-7

As we allow these verses to reach into our very heart and soul what do they actually say to us?

• In our times of darkness, whatever form that may come in, God has promised to shine His light upon us. A message of hope if ever there was one.
• It will be a time of joy, a time for rejoicing in what God has done.
• This light will be revealed to us through God’s own Son and all things will be laid upon His shoulders.
• Look at the ‘name’ given to Him – Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
• Even here, before any notion of the Trinity came into being, we have this idea of God the Father and God the Sone being one and the same.
• This light will be everlasting, there will be no end. (Remember what John says in the prologue to his Gospel.)

All too often in times of despair and despondency we can feel as if our sorrows will never end but in these few verses we are reminded that our Lord is always with us and if we can hold on to that, then even in our darkest days we can know the hope, peace, joy and love that God has given to us through His Son.

The question is – as we journey through Advent how will we respond to this message of God offered through Isaiah?

Will we allow the Son of God to enter into our hearts?

Read Jonah 4

How does Jonah respond to God’s mercy on Ninevah and what does this tell us about Jonah?

• It seems that Jonah is furious with God, so upset that he asks God to take his life from him as he would rather die than live.
• This reaction begs the question, does Jonah truly understand God – or does he dislike God.
• Jonah knows God is gracious and compassionate, he has experienced God’s mercy for himself.
• But it seems that Jonah wants God to be exclusively for the Israelites and to show grace, mercy and compassion to only them and no-one else.
• When he goes off to sit outside the city it’s almost as if he is still hoping for God’s judgement to fall upon Ninevah in the way it did with Sodom and Gomorrah
• In behaving in this way Jonah is acting selfishly and irreverently –and in disliking God’s compassion for others, he is effectively disliking God Himself.

Have we ever behaved in this kind of a way?

Have we ever become upset or angry when God showed mercy and compassion to others who we though undeserving?

What does that say about our relationship with God?