Advent Day 26
Isaiah 52:7-9 ESV
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 ESV
Imagine if you will Jerusalem lays in ruin.
The year was 587 B.C.
The strongest and best of Israel are taken into captivity to Babylon.
The Prophet Ezekiel was taken into captivity. Daniel had been taken there nine years earlier.
For the most part only the old men and women remained in Israel.
BUT…in Temple you heard the words that Isaiah wrote.
It’s believed the words of Prophet Isaiah were written between 740 B.C. and 700 B.C. The prophet foretold what was to come (https://www.quora.com/When-was-the-book-of-Isaiah-written).
In Isaiah 52:7-10 we read:
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news,who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy;for eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion.
Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem,for the Lord has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations,and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.”
You heard it and you believed it. You have hope. You are told ONE will come who will bring good news. The ONE coming will speak of peace and salvation.
It will be clear that the God of Israel reigns supreme.
You were told OUR GOD REIGNS!
You visualized the watchmen who lifts up their voices and in unison they sing for JOY!
You remember being told you will SEE the Lord returning to Zion.
As You heard the words being read you sing together.
Even the wasted places will REJOICE!
The Lord comforted You with those words,
And You KNOW you are redeemed…
You see the Lord roll up His sleeves before all the nations getting everything ready for the perfect moment.
It’s the moment when everyone on earth will SEE the Salvation of the Lord God.
As you walk home after hearing the words, you thank God for the promise of salvation to come. You wonder who the ONE will be and when the ONE will come.
Later, even years later you tell your children there IS hope…ONE will come.
It’s a promise.
Years later even when your eyes grow dim you remember the words and you recite them to your children’s children. You tell them, there IS hope. You tell them every time you speak to them and you ask them to repeat the promise to you.
ONE will come.
You tell your children’s children to be sure to tell their children and their children’s children so all the generations will know…
ONE will come from Israel and all the nations will SEE. Love the Lord God with your heart and soul and might. Write the words on your heart. Teach them to your children when you sit, when you walk, when you lie down, and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand and between your eyes.
One will come. We WILL be saved.
Just as the Children of Israel learned and repeated The Shema:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).
God Rejoices. Everyone rejoices because ONE came and will come.
Spiritual Practice: ONE Came
Remember that ONE will come again and Thank God.
In God, Deborah
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