A. B. C. Christmas Option 2. Series

Isaiah 62:6-12; Psalm 97:1-12; Titus 3:4-7; Luke 2:1-20.

A). A CITY NOT FORSAKEN.

Isaiah 62:6-12.

I reside just outside the walls of a quaint old English city - so quaint, that there is still a civil servant who holds the office of City-crier. This is a man with a bell and a loud booming bellowing voice, who makes public announcements in public places. Thankfully, his office does not usually encroach upon the night time - but imagine the watchmen in our text who are instructed by God to “hold not their peace day nor night” - these that “make mention of the LORD” who are commanded to, “keep not silence” (Isaiah 62:6)!

It is the LORD who sets the watchmen, raising up a people of prayer to watch over Jerusalem. Importunity is the order of the day, every day: “give Him no rest UNTIL He establish, and UNTIL He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth” (Isaiah 62:7). We are drawn back to the words of David - ‘Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee’ (Psalm 122:6).

We too should pray for the peace of Jerusalem, but we should also pray for the peace which flows from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3) - ‘peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Romans 5:1). We should pray for the salvation of Israel, but also that ‘the full number of the Gentiles be gathered in’ (Romans 11:25). We are drawn beyond the walled city of Jerusalem itself towards that which Jesus began to establish there, proclaiming His kingdom to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

For the watchmen first envisaged by Isaiah, this call to holy boldness is confirmed by an oath (Isaiah 62:8-9). The watchmen are to declare that which the LORD shall surely accomplish (Isaiah 45:23). Our prayers should be based in truth, and in the promises of God (Hebrews 6:16-18).

There are aspects of our salvation still to be worked out, but the promises of God are sure: and ‘yea and Amen in Christ Jesus’ (2 Corinthians 1:20). That which God has begun in us will not fail (Philippians 1:6). We can take courage from the parable of the importunate widow (Luke 18:1-8), and draw strength from the conclusion which Jesus draws from her example: ‘Shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them?’ (Luke 18:7).

There is a level of fulfilment for those Jews who lived in the days of Cyrus king of Persia (Ezra 1:1-4). At the raising of God’s banner (Isaiah 62:10), they were able to leave behind the gates of Babylon (cf. Isaiah 52:11), cross the desert as if on a highway, and return to rebuild Jerusalem (Isaiah 62:10). Yet this is not all: the proclamation which follows (‘Hear ye, hear ye!’ bellows the City-crier) announces, in words not dissimilar to Isaiah 40:10, the coming of salvation - in the Person of our Saviour, no less (Isaiah 62:11).

In the gospel, a banner has been raised to the nations (Isaiah 49:22-23). This was doubtless anticipated in the return from exile, but reaches its fullest fulfilment as the nations look to the LORD (Isaiah 60:6; Isaiah 60:9-10; Psalm 68:31). The ‘wise men from the east’ who came to worship the One ‘born King of the Jews’ (Matthew 2:1-2) were the first fruits of the on-going Gentile mission.

In the end, speech about Jerusalem and its walls gives way to a consideration of ‘Zion’ as consisting in: “The holy people” who are “The redeemed of the LORD” - who are named, “Sought out. A city not forsaken” (Isaiah 62:12).

B). A PSALM OF PROCLAMATION.

Psalm 97:1-12.

1. This Psalm is not just another enthronement Psalm: but a declaration of the One whose kingdom has been - and is being, and will yet be - revealed in creation, providence, and redemption. “The LORD reigns” (Psalm 97:1) - not because I say so, or because I have ‘received Him as King in my heart’ (though I must do that) - but because He has been enthroned from all eternity, and is ruling in the realm of time. The kings of Babylon, Persia and Rome have been forced to acknowledge this. Even their might and power, like that of the kings of Israel and Judah before them, was forced to yield like putty in the hand of the LORD (Proverbs 21:1).

Jesus is ‘born King of the Jews’ (Matthew 2:2). Likewise, He dies with the accusation written: ‘This is Jesus, the King of the Jews’ (Matthew 27:37). However, Jesus died not for their sins only, but for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2) - and thereby the LORD comes to be acknowledged as ‘the King of all the earth’ (Psalm 47:7; Zechariah 14:9).