Scripture reading: Isaiah 11:1-10.

Sermon text: Romans 15:4-13.

Devotional

Can God work with ruins?

Isaiah certainly thought so, because God had already proved it to him.

The nation faced ruin at the hands of the Gentiles, ruin brought about as punishment for their sins. The Tree of David would fall to the ax of Babylon, never to reach this height again in the lifetimes of those who lived through the experience. The cycle of nations — rising only to fall — would play itself out in the life of Judah.

Like a tree cut to the ground, however, the nation would rise again. The stump would live, and from the stump a “Branch” would arise to bring hope and salvation to the nation.

God would go beyond the simple restoration of a nation with this Branch. The Branch would bear the “Spirit of the LORD:” The Spirit of wisdom, of understanding, of knowledge, of counsel. The Branch would possess all the abilities necessary to rule not only the nation but the entire world. When the Branch ruled, peace would cover the earth.

Do you understand the lesson of this prophecy? It goes beyond the usual interpretation. Yes, Jesus will rule, and He will bring perfect justice and righteousness to a broken world. But there’s another lesson to this prophecy. If God can bring restoration to a broken nation and a ruined world, He can bring peace and joy to your life. Advent means more than waiting for God’s peace in a future world. Advent means hope to everyone willing to trust Jesus, the Branch of David, with the pieces of our lives; trusting Him to rejoin broken pieces into a glorious whole.

Sermon

I love the movie The Ultimate Gift. The grandson, Jason, thought he would inherit billions from his grandfather, only to find his inheritance relied on his completion of a series a series of tasks the grandfather had left for him. Compared to Jason, however, the rest of the family inherited practically nothing. At the end of the movie, Jason completed the tasks and finds himself wealthy beyond his wildest dreams, and not only monetarily. Jason learned something about life in the process of finishing the tasks.

When we examine the salvation history of God’s people in the Old Testament, we might think the Gentiles would understand how Jason’s family felt. God chose Abraham to serve as a blessing to the nations, saying that through him “all the nations of the world” would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3). God later chose the descendants of Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, to serve as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation  (Exodus 19:6). Then, at Mt. Sinai, God established a covenant with Israel, the tribes descended from Jacob. The covenant would give Israel the instructions to serve as priests to the world and show the Gentiles the behavior God expected from humanity.

Yet, Israel couldn’t keep the covenant; they behaved as badly as the Gentiles, and with fewer excuses. Any reading of ancient history shows that every civilization developed codes of behavior, but Israel alone possessed the law as given by God Himself. Just as the Gentiles should have found relief in Israel’s example of holiness, Israel failed, costing themselves and the Gentiles around them the benefits of a righteous relationship with God. It seemed that the Gentiles would never have a chance to experience peace with God.

Apparently, only God Himself would have to do something to restore humanity’s hope. Fortunately, God did. The time of waiting for the Gentiles finally ended with Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Holy Spirit’s arrival at Pentecost spread the good news of Jesus’ sacrifice throughout the world (Acts 2); inevitably, the gospel — the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection — would find its way to the Gentiles.

The gospel had spread to Rome, the capital city of the Roman Empire, well before St. Paul wrote his masterpiece letter to the Roman Christians in c. A.D. 57. St. Paul had written earlier in the letter about the universal need of humanity for salvation and God’s work through Jesus to fill that need. Today’s sermon passage beautifully summarizes God’s accomplishment in Jesus: The promise to Abraham, the failure of Israel, and Jesus’ fulfillment of the covenant to redeem humanity from sin and death. More than 700 years after Isaiah’s prophecy, St. Paul lifted the Romans’ hearts and reminded them of God’s desire to restore His relationship with humanity.

St. Paul wrote to the Romans, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” The Old Testament records more than God’s calling of Israel to serve as His examples to the Gentiles; it also records their failures to keep the covenant God had established. Isaiah’s book reads like a synopsis of Israel’s history: Wickedness and incompetence in the palace, unrighteousness in the streets, and a complete failure to fulfill even the most basic tenets of the Law. The Old Testament doesn’t show humanity as we wish we were; it shows us as we are, in our pride, selfishness, and arrogance.

The Old Testament also records God’s desires for us, desires for a promised land of rest and joy. These promises would bring “endurance” to the Christians in Rome as they realized God’s true desires for humanity.

The God who inspired the writing of the Old Testament, St. Paul wrote, also served as the God of “endurance and encouragement.” God had preserved the faithful remnant of Israel through conquest, captivity, and oppression; He had helped them endure the consequences of Israel’s sin and encouraged them throughout the history of the Intertestamental period, the time in which no prophets spoke to them. This God would grant believers the ability to “glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” through their “harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jesus.” If God could transform the failures of the Jews into victory in Jesus, He could also bring peace to all who believed in Jesus, His Son.

St. Paul wrote, “I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs.” Israel’s faithlessness to the covenant did not nullify God’s desire to bring salvation to all peoples. God had promised salvation through Abraham, the patriarch of Israel; Jesus, the Christ, had served the Jews in His lifetime and in His death. Jesus “confirmed” the promise God made to bless the nations through Abraham.

When the Gentiles heard the gospel of Jesus, they would “glorify God for His mercy.” No one who heard the gospel could deny that God cared about their broken relationship with Him, for He had fulfilled His promise to provide salvation to the nations. God had no reason to restore humanity’s relationship; He could have started anew, with another creation. However, God instead promised Adam and Eve that He would work through Eve’s descendant to restore the relationship. God mercifully kept His word: to Eve, to Abraham, and to every faithful Jewish believer in the covenant.

For that reason, St. Paul quoted from the Old Testament several verses that would remind the believers of God’s promises through the ages:

1. •“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name” (Psalm 18:49)
   

2. •“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people” (Deuteronomy 32:43)
   

3. •Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him” (Psalm 117:1)
   

4. •“The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope” (Isaiah 11).
   

The Gentiles could see examples of God’s mercy even in the writings of the Jews. The Old Testament clearly reminded all peoples that God had always desired to restore their place in His creation; God had always intended that every human have the ability to enjoy a relationship with our Creator.

For that reason, St. Paul wrote, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” When the Roman believers realized what God had done to accomplish their salvation, the “joy and peace” that came with their relationship would give them hope in this life and the life to come.

We cannot forget this lesson, especially in Advent. Like the faithful believers in Isaiah’s time, the Roman believers lived in an “in between” time; Jesus had warned in His teachings that persecution would come, and like the Jews in Isaiah’s time, the Romans would experience the fulfillment of that persecution in their lifetimes. Isaiah saw his nation ravaged by the Assyrians before God miraculously delivered them from Sennacherib in 701 B.C. The Roman believers would experience intense persecution from the emperor Nero less than a decade after St. Paul wrote his letter. St. Paul himself would die in Nero’s attack on Christianity.

We, too, find ourselves in between Isaiah’s promised reign of Christ and its fulfillment. Like the time of the Roman believers, the Church today finds herself in persecution throughout the world. We respond to the attacks of the world by reading the prophecies of the Old Testament, including the prophecies of a peaceful world with perfect righteousness and justice; by reading the fulfillments of the prophecies of a Messiah, prophecies fulfilled by Jesus Himself; and by rejoicing that God continues His work to make right the sins of the world. We endure the trials of life caused by Adam’s fall, and we encourage one another to remember Jesus’ victory over sin and death.

We also tell the world of Jesus’ victory through our own lives, serving as examples of godly living and by loving one another in the love of Christ. Unbelievers today wonder why they should believing in Jesus and confess Him as Lord of their lives. They should see why Jesus’ victory matters to them before they ever hear of it from us.

I read this week about a debate between noted atheist Christopher Hitchens and Tony Blair, the former prime minister of Britain and a devoted Christian. Hitchens said in that debate, “Once you assume a creator and a plan, it makes us objects, in a cruel experiment, whereby we are created sick, and commanded to be well.” I’d counter Hitchens by reminding him of the truth of Scripture: God created us well; we made ourselves sick with our own pride and arrogance; then, in mercy, God gave us a cure. God’s cure cost Him the death of His very own Son, who then rose again from the dead so that everyone who believes in Him will find himself included in the glorious inheritance promised to everyone who accepts God’s cure. No one need remain shut out of the inheritance.

I believe that’s why we find ourselves in the Advent season of the world, why God left the Church here to suffer and to overcome in the time between Jesus’ victory and His inevitable eternal reign. We have a message to tell, a message of hope for the hopeless, and a message of healing for those spiritually sick.

Tell the message, people of God. Rejoice that God has worked to redeem you. Praise Jesus for His victory. This Advent, let your joy shine in the lives of all around you, that they, too, will accept their eternal inheritance through their belief in the Branch of Jesse, Jesus Christ our Lord.