The last book of the Old Testament ends with mysterious promises of the coming Messiah. “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, He is coming, says the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 3:1) And again the Lord says through Malachi, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.” (Malachi 4:5)
And then it ends. Then there’s silence. In our Bibles there is a single blank page that rests between the Old Testament and the New Testament. One single blank page that represents 400 years of not hearing a single word from the Lord. The Lord had spoken. The Lord had promised to send an offspring. And now they were being called to wait, to trust, and to look for God to act on His Word.
Four hundred years is a long time to wait. Our own nation hasn’t been in existence for that long yet! Throughout those 400 years of silence there was much suffering that happened to the children of Israel…nationally, politically, and personally. And that suffering surely made it hard to wait. Surely it made it hard to trust. Surely, as time crept on and their suffering persisted, people struggled to believe that God would act on His Word. Surely these waiting people prayed often this prayer of David found in Psalm 13:
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
lest my enemy say, “Have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
BUT I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.”
This psalm reminds those struggling in their waiting to trust in the Lord’s steadfast love. And it is His steadfast love that moves Him to act on behalf of His people.
And act He did. For as we turn the blank page in our Bibles, the very first words we read say this: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” (Matthew 1:1) The mysterious promises of the Old Testament are being revealed and we begin to understand that the messenger of the covenant had come just as the Lord said He would. And His name is Jesus Christ. Jesus the Messiah…THE Son of David is THE King of Israel whom God had promised. He is the eternal king whose reign will never end.
Jesus the Messiah…THE Son of Abraham is the one promised to Abraham all the way back in Genesis. God promised that through Abraham’s offspring the world would be blessed. And this offspring is Jesus. How is “the world” blessed through Jesus? He, through His life, death, and resurrection, opened the way for the world - Jew and Gentile - to enter back into fellowship with God. Through His sacrifice on the cross, He paid for the forgiveness of our sins, taking on our judgment, giving us His perfect righteousness so that those who believe in Him, who receive Him by faith, are now a part of His kingdom. No matter what your heritage is, both Jew and Gentile have equal access to this salvation and the blessings of the covenant through faith in Jesus! This Jesus is not just the King promised for Israel, but He is THE King of heaven and earth and His kingdom is made up of “the world” - every nation, every tongue and every tribe are represented in the kingdom of God! What a glorious revelation of the mysteries of the Messiah we find in the person of Jesus!
God is faithful to His Word! Always. And as we celebrate Christmas we are celebrating this very fact. The God who promised is faithful. And Jesus the Messiah is living proof of this.
We are also a waiting people. Like the people of Israel in that 400 years who were awaiting the arrival of the Messiah, we too are living in a 2,000 year period of silence. And in our waiting we experience much suffering. There is national suffering, political suffering and personal suffering that we all experience daily. But as we look back on the reality that Jesus came, we can look forward with hope to the reality that He will come again.
In the same way that the book of Malachi ended with the promise of the coming Messiah, the book of Revelation closes with the promise of this same Messiah’s return. “Behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book,” Jesus said in Revelation 22:7. Again, He says in verse 12, “Behold I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.” And again, He says in verse 20, “Surely I am coming soon.”
In the midst of our suffering we wait with hope, reminded of the Lord’s steadfast love and His salvation. In the midst of the insecurity of our times, we wait with confidence, reminding our souls that His Word is faithful and true. And in the midst of the darkness of sin and oppression that has so enveloped our world, we wait with a longing deep in our hearts to see the light of His glorious face.
Amen. Come Lord Jesus!
Post a Comment