Rachel’s Reflections

Advent continues.  Today is the second Sunday of Advent and the start of the second week of Advent.  We continue to look forward to Jesus’ coming–both in anticipating Christmas and in anticipating his coming again.  For celebrating Jesus’ Advent must needs include both a looking back and a looking forward–it must include more than one dimension of time.  For Jesus’ redemptive work, which is what Advent celebrates, is both already finished and not finished yet.  Jesus saves us from our sin in the past, present, and future.  He has saved us from the penalty of sin, He is saving us from the power of sin (sanctification), and He will save us from the presence of sin.

The theme of this week and Sunday of Advent is Peace.  Jesus is our peace.  He is our hope of salvation from our sins (week one) and He is the means of peace with God.  He is the means by which our sins are forgiven, taken care of, and we are reconciled to God.  And in the future, He will one day bring peace to this earth.  There will be no more sin and warring and oppression, but “the lion will lie down with the lamb.”  Even so, come Lord Jesus!

PEACE

The second purple candle is lit.

Isaiah 9:6

For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 11:10

And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.

Isaiah 11:4

But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.

Ephesians 2: 13-14, 16

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation.  And that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

Romans 5:1b

We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I Thessalonians 5:23-24

May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it.

Micah 4:1-3 (Isaiah 2:1-4)

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the mountain of the LORD’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And peoples shall flow to it.
Many nations shall come and say,
“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion the law shall go forth,
And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between many peoples,
And rebuke strong nations afar off;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.

Ezekiel 34:28

And they shall no longer be a prey for the nations, nor shall beasts of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and no one shall make them afraid.

(You can listen to this hymn here.)

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold;
“Peace on the earth, good will to men,
From Heaven’s all gracious King.”
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come
With peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heavenly music floats
O’er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains,
They bend on hovering wing,
And ever over its Babel sounds
The blessèd angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing.

And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing!

For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophet-bards foretold,
When with the ever circling years
Comes round the age of gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.