To Rescue And Redeem December 3, 2023 Advent

TO RESCUE AND REDEEM December 3, 2023

Text: Isaiah 64:1 - 9

Isaiah 64:1-9  Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!  (2)  As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you!  (3)  For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.  (4)  Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.  (5)  You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved?  (6)  All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.  (7)  No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to our sins.  (8)  Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.  (9)  Do not be angry beyond measure, LORD; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all your people (NIV).

The origin of "advent" is from the Latin word adventus, which simply translates as "coming" or "arrival." Not only is the Christian meaning for preparing and celebrating the coming of Jesus Christ, his birth at Christmas, but also to celebrate the new life when someone accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior, and lastly, the anticipation of Jesus returning again. https://www.crosswalk.com/special-coverage/christmas-and-advent/the-beautiful-meaning-and-purpose-of-advent.HTML

Today’s text presents us with a hungry people. They are ripe for change. They want to be to be pampered by God and yet they have given God the “spare-tire treatment”. That is why today’s text is a great fit for the theme of Advent.

Have you ever felt like God hid Himself from you? In verse 5, there is a hint of anticipation, expectation as well as anxiety about salvation. Verses 1 - 4 exclaims power to make the nations quake and the mountains tremble; helping the faithful and admonishing and disciplining the disobedient. Back to the question of verse 5, “How can we be saved?” Isaiah describes our ancestors (as well as us) as filthy (Isaiah 64:6) and wandering sheep (Isaiah 53:6) who are under God’s judgment as the seventh verse says “You have hidden Your face from us and given us over to our sins”.

If we are given over to our sins and we know that the wages of sin are death, then how can we be saved?

In today's text, we see God’s chosen people and their hunger for salvation and how God is always in the picture. .

POSTER NATION

Have you ever heard of a poster child?

We have all heard of the poster child, the model child or person who sets the example ----the standard of what it means to be the best of the best as a role model.

1) Poster nation: Israel was was God’s chosen nation who would be God’s poster nation---the role model nation for the to emulate. The world in that day was full of people who worshiped others gods rather the God who created them. He chose the nation of Israel to be a light---the poster nation---the role model to all of the others nations of the world. God chose Israel to be a light to he nations (Isaiah 60:3).

2) A city on a hill: Matthew 5:14  "You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 

God chose Israel, but America had whom we call our forefathers who chose to make a new start as they chose God to be the cornerstone. God chose Israel but America chose God who has blessed both nations through their covenant relationship with God.

3) Counterfeit gods: Paraphrasing Jonathon Cahn, there are pagan gods of the Old Testament who are making their return in our world today. What’s the results? When you have more than one god, you have more than one truth which distorts God’s truth and disrupts, divides, deceives and destroys God’s people. (Jonathon Cahn. Return of the Gods.) That is why we need Jesus who is the way the truth and the life (John 14:6).

How can we claim to be with God and yet rebel against His love?

1) Position of honor: In choosing Israel, God gave the position of honor. Think about how wonderful it is that God chose the nation of Israel. Think also about how wonderful it is that “God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love” (Ephesians 1:4 NRSV).