The Promise is Love
(Sorry, initial notes only. The sermon text was the unfortunate victim of operator error… yeah, I erased the wrong file.)
Malachi 3:1-4 (God’s promise to send a messenger to prepare the way of the anointed and the anointed’s purpose in coming)
3See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; 3he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.* 4Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
(You do not purify and sanctify what you do not love… so what is spoken of here in Malachi is an act of love)
Luke 3:1-6 (God’s fulfilling God’s promise to send a messenger to prepare the way of his anointed… his Christ)
3In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler* of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler* of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler* of Abilene, 2during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 4as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, ‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth; 6and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” ’
The Word of God came to John… he went into all the region around the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance and the forgiveness of sins… and all flesh shall see/witness (not necessarily experience) the salvation of God
The fulfillment of God’s promise: 1. if my people will seek my face and turn from their sin I will forgive their sin (2 Chr. 7:14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land) 2. God will send a messenger to prepare the way of the coming of the Messiah
In the Old Testament, the land acts as a spiritual barometer registering the people’s loyalty and devotion to the Lord… God’s response to Solomon’s prayer reminds the people that through worship at the Tempe God has provided a way for the forgiveness of sins… that beyond the broken covenant are divine resources for healing and restoration… the land is a symbol for the people… it suffers as result of the people’s sinfulness
Why is this important? Because the temple will be destroyed along with Jerusalem and their will no longer be the focal point for divine healing and restoration or forgiveness of sins… But God himself has interceded and prepared the way by establishing both a new temple and the sacrifice for the sins of the people…
So God’s promise of forgiveness is preceded by God’s call to repentance and that promise is being fulfilled by John as the one who goes before (as God promised) the one who is the Promise and the fulfillment of the Promise
The key is highlighted in the above verses: John shared God’s Word (not John’s)… the Word (God’s promise is a message of repentance and forgiveness) is an expression of God’s love… that calls us back to a way of living that honors God and our relationship with God as well as others and our relationship with them.
In Malachi the image of the Lord’s anointed is that of judge… but in reference to God’s people… those that kept covenant with God… the judgment is not one of eternal separation of God but that of refinement or sanctification… where all impurities will be removed and we will be made like Christ Jesus at the coming of the Son of Man (from last week). This can (and I believe should) be understood as an expression of God’s love in that we are not punished but disciplined.
But even for non believers the message should be one of hope based upon God’s love for us and God’s desire that all flesh should experience the salvation of God… the way the passage from Luke reads “all will see” but not all will experience the salvation of God… but God’s desire is that all will experience it. We get this understanding from numerous places in the Bible but perhaps the most well known is John chapter 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that all who believed in him would not die but have eternal life…”
The call to repentance is God expressing God’s desire for us to accept God’s gift of love and forgiveness for the things in our lives that separate us from God…
Like Isaiah the promise is not only for the Son of Man who comes but that there will be one before him that is to prepare the people for the coming of the Lord’s anointed.
John the Baptist was the messenger… the one who came before with God’s Word of forgiveness and acceptance pointing to the One who was in essence the giver of the promise and the one who would make the promise effectual for all who received the promise
This is a call to repentance for us so that we too can share in the receiving of God’s promise… in Advent repentance is part of our preparation to receive the Christ child…
we are the objects of God’s love and desire… the reason for the incarnation and birth of Jesus
The call to repentance is an expression of God’s love
We need to be ready to claim the promise (accept God’s gift of faith in Jesus… just as we prepare to receive in Spirit the Christ child) and we need to be ready for the coming of the Son of Man… the day of judgment that is promised
The coming judgment is also an expression of God’s love
Focus on God’s faithfulness in keeping God’s promises…
God’s nature is self-giving love… God’s promise is lived out exactly that way in the life of Jesus
Jesus is the giver of the promise and fulfillment of the promise—on God’s behalf as well as ours--
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