Advent Reader - 3rd December

3rd December 2019
Isaiah 42: 1-9
The Lord's Chosen Servant

42 Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
    my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him;
    he will bring forth justice to the nations.
2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
    or make it heard in the street;
3 a bruised reed he will not break,
    and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
    he will faithfully bring forth justice.
4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged
    till he has established justice in the earth;
    and the coastlands wait for his law.

5 Thus says God, the Lord,
    who created the heavens and stretched them out,
    who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people on it
    and spirit to those who walk in it:
6 “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness;
    I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
    a light for the nations,
7     to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
    from the prison those who sit in darkness.
8 I am the Lord; that is my name;
    my glory I give to no other,
    nor my praise to carved idols.
9 Behold, the former things have come to pass,
    and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth
    I tell you of them.”

 

A New Gift

“All things are full of weariness…what has been is what will be…and there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:8-9)

Solomon’s famous musings from Ecclesiastes teach us that nothing is ever new.  Everything runs in cycles.  The wind, the seasons, our actions, our sometimesquestionable Christmas gift ideas - everything in human history runs in a repetitious, often vicious circle.  

As we approach Christmas, we can look back at Solomon’s words and contrast them with what God says to us through Isaiah 42:1-9.  Through this lens, we are offered a clear view of how atypical - powerful - a gift God gives us in Jesus: 

“Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare.”  (Isaiah 42:9)

Solomon says nothing can be new, but God gives us something new in Jesus and it changes everything.  God explains to Isaiah that He gives us “a covenant for the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.”  This “covenant” is the same covenant under which we are redeemed; it is the same covenant by which we are no longer called “enemy”, but “sons and daughters”; rather than “sinner”, “pure”; rather than “imprisoned”, “free”; rather than “dead”, “alive.”

The gift of Jesus is unique in all of human history and we are blessed to receive it.  

 

Alex and Nicola