Advent: Anticipating the Coming of Messiah
Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.
In the end, everyone is going to get what they want. This is the beauty and tragedy of being loved by an eternal Father. Love requires free will. Free will means I get the freedom to have my own will. Everyone will get their will empowered in the end. For the same love that gives everyone what they want, there is a delay in the giving over to desire. God gives us time to change our mind that we could learn to want what He wants for us....that our will could be conformed to His.
Judgment...even the seals, trumpets and bowls of Revelation...are simply the giving over of mankind to what it wants, even though what it wants is not good. It happens incrementally and in a process so that we could repent....that we could see what we want won't really satisfy, and change our minds. That's why the end time judgment comes in 21 steps.
In the delay is heart-sickness or life. We get to pick...like Pharaoh enduring the 10 plagues, he could have chosen to see God in Moses' correction or get a harder and sicker heart.
This delay is throughout the Bible.
We see the delay in the story of Israel waiting 400 years for the Spirit of Elijah to come on the scene and prepare her for the coming of the Messiah. The hope deferred caused many hearts to become sick, and the desire of the nation wandered to other Messianic ideas...Israel was promised a humble and holy Messiah, but in the waiting her heart sickness took that desire far off course...so far that when he Messiah came, few recognized Him for the light that he was.
John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. 6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 15John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ” 16And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
The very Messiah Israel was waiting for came without much fanfare to a humble manger. This is God's way. The second coming of Jesus will be even harder to discern than the first! Strong delusion is poured out in the second coming. Even more, people are turned over to their own desire. It happens at midnight, in the midst of darkness....as in the days of Noah, as Jesus claimed...buying selling, marrying...going on as completely normal will be the unfolding of the Book of Revelation.
Even though shepherds were told directly by angels who this Messiah was, no one followed him, or camped outside the barn hoping to follow him for the rest of their lives...after that glorious moment of visiting Jesus in the manger, the shepherds went back to work and life went on. Jesus grew up in relative obscurity.
Christmas began with a time in the church known as advent. Advent was a time to anticipate the second coming of Jesus. Like all things, over time this wonderful desire, which came with fasting and praying, has become corrupted. The deference of hope has left many desiring something different than the loving "God who waits".
Instead of fasting we feast, instead of looking for all the ways Jesus is coming, we look for ways he isn't. Where is the promise of his coming?
2 Peter 3:1Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, 3knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 8But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9The Lord is not slack concerning Hispromise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 10But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
We aren't waiting on God. We really aren't waiting on the second coming of Jesus. The second coming of Jesus is waiting on us to hasten the day with a honing of what we are hoping for. The second coming of Jesus actually isn't waiting at all...it is literally unfolding all around us. I believe very soon He will be here among us. Sure, it will be shocking and confusing at first, but then people will go back to trying to hold their lives together and their power in place. The world will declare war on Jesus. Many reading these words will be with them...for delusion. They will think antichrist is Jesus and Jesus is the enemy. It is guaranteed....it is prophesied:
Revelation 16:8Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire.9And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.10Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain.11They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds.12Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared.13And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.14For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.15“Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed ishe who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”16And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.17Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!”18And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth.19Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.20Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.21And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great.
Right now, many are being given what they want in small increments, more and more, closer and closer together. It's easy to see what is happening as victory, even though it's judgment...and vice versa.
When the church starts saying "peace and safety" like the world has for years, then sudden destruction.
Delusion is a sick heart, that once hoped for the right thing, getting given over to what it wants NOW, in impatience and fear, to the point it completely forgets what it originally wanted.
The promise of that Proverbs 13 passage is that whatever we wanted, as it is given to us, becomes a living growing thing that feeds us...it becomes our shelter. Like Jonah's little shady weed as he waited for Ninevehs destruction. The desire becomes a tree that we feed off of. We reap what we sow. If I sow to impatience, I will grow an impatient stronghold that must be judged...must be torn down for me to ever have a chance at living in the patient kingdom. Jesus is the tree of life...the only that will last forever.
It is the testimony of the Bible that it will always seem that there is a delay on the coming of Jesus. Always.
Matthew 25:5“But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6“And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ 7“Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8“And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9“But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 10“And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11“Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12“But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
It's what I do in the delay that matters. Do I press in for the Messiah that is here in me now and let Him become my tree of life, or do I look for another?
This is what the Messiah is like:
Isaiah 42: 1“Behold! My Servant whom I uphold,
My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. 2He will not cry out, nor raise His voice Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. 3A bruised reed He will not break,
And smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth. 4He will not fail nor be discouraged,
Till He has established justice in the earth;
And the coastlands shall wait for His law.” 5Thus says God the LORD, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it,n And spirit to those who walk on it: 6“I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand;
I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles, 7To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house. 8I am the LORD, that is My name; And my glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.
9Behold, the former things have come to pass, And new things I declare; Before they spring forth I tell you of them.” 10Sing to the LORD a new song, And His praise from the ends of the earth, You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,
9Behold, the former things have come to pass, And new things I declare; Before they spring forth I tell you of them.” 10Sing to the LORD a new song, And His praise from the ends of the earth, You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,
You coastlands and you inhabitants of them! 11Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice, The villages that Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing, Let them shout from the top of the mountains. 12Let them give glory to the LORD, And declare His praise in the coastlands. 13The LORD shall go forth like a mighty man;
He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies. 14“I have held My peace a long time, I have been still and restrained Myself. Now I will cry like a woman in labor, I will pant and gasp at once. 15I will lay waste the mountains and hills, And dry up all their vegetation; I will make the rivers coastlands, And I will dry up the pools. 16I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, And crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, And not forsake them. 17They shall be turned back, They shall be greatly ashamed, Who trust in carved images, Who say to the molded images, ‘You are our gods.’
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