Today is the second week of Advent. We light the second candle; in the midst of the darkness, the light of hope increases! Typically this day is a day to reflect on the fact that God keeps his promises. But I will reserve that discussion for the week of Christmas. For those of you less familiar with the Bible and the person of Jesus, I want to take this week to share who this Savior is supposed to be. In my previous post, I mentioned the beginning of the story, the beginning of beginnings, the fact that we are created by God, and that we have turned our faces away from Him. And I mentioned that God promised, even from the beginning, that he would send a savior to draw us back to himself.
So what would this savior look like? Well God described this savior to a group of people, the group from which most of the authors of the Bible come. This group was the nation of Israel (以色列). Israel was given the detailed promises of God through the Bible, and was also given a law and a culture. If they followed the law given to them by God, and waited for his promised savior, they would be blessed, and would be able to bless other nations. Throughout their history, Israel had special people called prophets who heard from God and reminded people about His promises. And among those promises were descriptions of what the Savior would look like. Here are a few:
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will bet n his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” —Isaiah 9:6
This promise tells us that a child is to be born, and he is to be a King! He will be Mighty God. That means he will have authority, even authority over creation. God with a capital ‘G’ in the Bible always refers to the God who created the universe.
He will be Wonderful Counselor and Everlasting Father. He will be one who comforts, who understands us, who can make us feel whole. He will make the human race feel like one big family. He will be a prince of peace. A ruler who will truly bring peace. Have you ever wished that the kings of this earth could bring a true peace? In all of history, has a king or ruler ever brought true peace? Isn’t this something we all long for?
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; “ —Isa 61:1-2
The Savior is supposed to be a bearer of good news, the words he speaks will satisfy the longings in our hearts and bring hope. He is to heal those whose hearts are broken, to free those in chains, to bring hope to the hopeless.
“I saw in the. Night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him, and to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” —Daniel 7:13-14
The Ancient of Days is another name for the God of creation. This Savior is to be a King whose kingdom will last forever. His kingdom is to include people from every kingdom and tribe. He is to be commissioned, crowned, and sent by God himself. He is to be worshiped! Can you imagine a kingdom that includes all peoples of the earth in unity and peace?
Isa 53:2-3 “For the [savior] grew up before [God] like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs ad carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—everyone—to his own way; and the lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
When we think of the previous descriptions, we may have an image of a great and glorious king that would come, but this passage tells us something different. How will we recognize this savior? He will look like a common person! With no ‘majesty’ that we should look at him. He will be a person that many people reject and discount. Yet this prophecy says that this savior will be a person of sorrow, who knows the bitterness and suffering of life. So he will be like you and me. He will know what it means to suffer. Yet his suffering will be a righteous suffering that will be a fitting sacrifice so that the wrath of God can be satisfied! By his suffering he will make peace between us and God! His life is meant to heal the broken relationship between us and God. And it is a comfort to me that he, living a life of suffering like mine, can understand the difficulties and pain that I face, and help me get through it. What a wonderful savior!
All of these prophecies were written between around 740 to 400 BC. Well before Jesus was born. Yet the people of ancient Israel were indeed waiting for Jesus. In fact, the name ‘Jesus’ has a special meaning: “God is salvation!” A good Chinese translation is 救主. And Israel was waiting for God to save them! And God was faithful throughout ancient times to send reminder after reminder that one day, Jesus would come.
Have you ever waited for a promise or anticipated a good thing? Maybe an acceptance letter from a university or particular job? Maybe you were waiting for a certain person to propose to you. Or perhaps you have waited for the arrival of a child. What was it like to wait? What was it like when you finally saw the promise or the event unfold? What are you waiting for and longing for now? Next week we will talk about the waiting. How do we deal with the doubt that maybe what we long for won’t happen?