Jonah Albrecht

Advent Candlelight

December 2024

Isaiah 40:9-11

Advent Anticipation: Anticipation that Brings Comfort

Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” 10 Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

Grace and Advent Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

INJ who fills our anticipation for His return with comfort and peace, DFR

Have you ever heard the figure of speech, “The anticipation is killing me!”? It isn’t that uncommon to hear this time of year. The Advent season is rife with anticipation. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day is what it is all about. The presents, the festivities, the family; everything that everyone loves about this season and they just have to make it through Advent. Certainly, you can see how the anticipation is unbearable.

Jesus left His followers with an anticipation for His return, similar to the anticipation the people in Isaiah’s day had of the Savior’s first coming. In both cases, God’s people are left with an Advent Anticipation: Anticipation that brings comfort.

Whether it is 2500 years ago, or the 21st century, the best way to proclaim a message for everyone to hear is to climb to a pinnacle so that when you blast your message out, the sound will carry without anything in its way. That is the picture the LORD paints through Isaiah for those who proclaim the good news of the LORD. This is a message that God wants every single soul on earth to hear. Note the repetition: Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not;

There is no limit as to who should hear this message. Young, old, rich, poor, whoever is graced to hear this message will receive something truly life-changing. What is that message? Redemption, deliverance. 10 Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

For the people of Judah, this redemption would come after they will have been in captivity for 70 years. For 70 years they would have the anticipation of deliverance and restoration. But this anticipation did not have to be an anticipation that kills. For those who trusted in the LORD, their anticipation would be one of comfort because they had this promise, and hundreds others, from the LORD that their deliverance was as good as done. Though they remained in captivity, they were free as children of God.

As is the case with most prophecies God has given, there is a long-term fulfillment. For the people of God will receive the long-awaited, anticipation inducing, promise fulfilled of the Messiah being born. God Himself coming to deliver His people, and the world from the bondage of their sin. That is the anticipation we remember this Advent season.

The great might of the LORD that was realized in the death and resurrection of our Savior who overcame the world’s sin, who triumphed over the grave, and who lives forevermore to bring blessing and glory to His people. The birth of the Savior meant the death of the world, the sin that reigns in it, and the Devil who finds his domain over it. Jesus’ victory means that all who have faith in Him can have the anticipation for His second coming where He will bring us home to heaven.

But even then, this prophecy of Isaiah has more to comfort to give us because it shows us how God actively comforts His people while they wait for His deliverance: 11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

There is hardly a greater picture that God uses for His relationship to us than that of a shepherd to a lamb. In John 10, “14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” A lamb depends on the shepherd for everything. Without a shepherd who cares and who actively protects, the lamb is as good as dead. We are not guarded by just any shepherd, but the Good Shepherd. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, committed Himself to the greatest act of service for you, He died for you. That isn’t all. He also knows you.

A good shepherd would be able to tell you one sheep from another. Jesus knows you even more personally. He compares it to the relationship between God the Father and Jesus, the Son. You cannot know anyone more than that. It means that Jesus knows what you struggle with the most. He knows what you fear the most and what weighs the heaviest on your heart. He uses that knowledge to carry you through life, to lead and guide you in the way that you should go. Though the means of this guidance isn’t as visible as they were with the Children of Israel when they left Egypt, His guidance is even more clear and complete in His Word.

Peter writes, And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. What you and I have in Scripture is the entire will and testimony of God. It is the source of your eternal life; it is His guidance for your life; it is the assurance that no matter how dark and sad this world gets, His redemption is sure.

We will always live our lives in anticipation of Jesus’ return, of that day when we are removed from all pain and suffering. But because of the sure Word of God, the completeness of Jesus’ work of salvation for you, you can wait with an anticipation of comfort that your God will always be your Good Shepherd. Amen.