THE PREDICTION AND THE FULFILLMENT          Mark 1:1-8  (Isaiah 40:1-11)

Rev. Yvonne Miloyevich           Second Advent Sunday Dec 6, 2020

Mark was the first gospel book written. It is the shortest and most concise, so it is easy reading. Mark wrote his gospel to Roman Christians where he was located. The Roman Empire was a good place and time to share the ‘good news’ about Jesus the Christ. The Empire covered a vast territory, had a common language, excellent transportation and excellent communication systems. The message of Jesus would have spread easily and quickly.

Mark doesn’t start his story with the birth of Jesus, but with a 700-year-old prophecy from the last great prophet of Israel – Isaiah. The prophecy foretells about the messenger, John the Baptist, who would be sent ahead of the Messiah. Let’s think about that prophecy. For 700 years the Jewish people had heard that prophecy proclaimed. For at least that long, if not longer, they had talked about and waited for the Messiah. And now, Mark is telling them about the actual fulfillment of that very prophecy in the life and story of John the Baptist and Jesus the Christ – Jesus the Messiah.

Prophecy and the fulfillment of prophecy. How exciting is this! This is what we remember in the weeks of Advent, as we approach Christmas and the celebration of Christ’s birth. Because what we are celebrating and remembering is prophecy and the fulfillment of ancient prophecies. Which told us that God’s promises are real and trustworthy, and that God is real and trustworthy. Prophecy is promise. And just like Mark, we who believe in Jesus Christ know the fulfillment of the promise – Jesus Christ – the Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6:

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.”

That is why on the second Sunday of Advent, we light the Candle of Peace. We celebrate the approaching birth of the Prince of Peace. Today, we sometimes look at the world around us and wonder where is this Peace? We don’t see it anywhere, it seems. Or if we do, it comes and goes. Warring factions seem all around us in the world. So where, we wonder, can we find this Peace? Mark and the other gospel writers tell us this kind of Peace that is lasting, can only be found in the person of Jesus Christ, and our personal relationship with the Prince of Peace. Because Jesus came to show us God’s love and promised this to his followers:

(John 14:27)

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

If Jesus is the Prince of Peace, we can trust his promise that his peace is lasting, not like the rest of the world’s peace. In this statement and promise of his kind of Peace, Jesus also states what can disturb that peace if we allow it – fear and a troubled heart – worry. Jesus demonstrated for us that we also have an Enemy of our souls. That enemy, Satan, is also an enemy of our peace. Not just an opponent of our peace – but a thief, as Jesus told in John 10:10. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

Jesus, the Prince of Peace, came to share his Peace with us – but the Enemy of our souls seeks to steal, kill and destroy that Peace. If we don’t have Jesus’ Peace in us, how then are we different from the rest of the world – running around frightened, worried and panicking?

When we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we also receive the Holy Spirit and Jesus’ Peace, as well as God’s love and forgiveness. What is our responsibility? God has done all the hard work and sacrifice by sending God’s only Son to earth to die for our sins and wrongdoings – in exchange for a right relationship with God and this Eternal Peace. So, what is our part? Repentance, confession, admitting we were wrong, and receiving God’s forgiveness and Peace. But there’s more.

Ephesians 4:3 tells us to make “every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” We are to make an effort – to work at maintaining this Peace. Peace with God. Peace with ourselves. Peace with one another. Jesus gives us this Peace first, but our duty is to maintain it. That’s where the work comes in on our part. This work is not one-time, but ongoing. Why is it ongoing? Because we are still human and we do have an Enemy who desires to destroy this Peace given to us by Jesus. Not only do we have a spiritual Enemy, but we also have other humans stirring up trouble, seeking to destroy Peace in others. I always wondered why would anyone want to ‘stir’ up trouble. I finally realized – because those individuals have no ‘Peace’ in their own hearts or lives. And as we all have heard: “Misery loves company.” Beware of those who want to disturb your Peace.

The first step to obtaining this unshakeable Peace – receive Jesus and His unshakeable salvation. Ephesians 2:13, 14: “But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He is our Peace.”

Galatians 5:22 tells us that the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives is Peace. This comes along with the other fruits: “love, joy, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Peace is a fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Where might you ask, does this Peace reside? In our hearts – where first we receive Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Jesus said: “My Peace I give you – not as the world gives you.”

In the Old Testament, Proverbs 4:23, we are told to guard our heart with all vigilance, because from it flow the springs of life. Peace is also lodged in our hearts. This Peace we need to guard diligently with vigilance. It’s interesting that after Jesus rose from the dead, three times his greeting to his disciples was “Peace be with you!” When he was alive, Jesus never used this greeting. Perhaps because Jesus, the Prince of Peace himself was there with them and among them. But after Jesus left, he must have known that Peace was the single-most thing we would miss as humans, as well as the most important thing we need as humans in a troubled world.

As we approach communion, the Lord’s Table – let’s remind ourselves of Jesus’ promise of Peace. Romans 8:6 tells us that “to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” Just as the Spirit of God now lives in our hearts – so too does the Peace of God. Let’s be careful to guard our hearts and guard our Peace against anything or anyone that would disturb it.

“Seeing God”- Exodus 33: 12-23

Moses was an ordinary man who ‘saw’ God many times in his life.  He experienced the power of God and God’s favor in his life many times, even from infancy, when his very life was threatened. He was put into the Nile by his own mother to save him from Pharaoh’s edict that all Hebrew male babies were to be thrown into the river to die. But God caused Pharaoh’s daughter to come by the river that day to bathe. She saw and rescued the baby Moses and raised him as her own.

Moses grew up in royal splendor (Exodus 3) in the favor of Pharaoh’s house, even though he was a Hebrew. But one day when he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own kin, he killed him and hid his body in the sand. He fled from Pharaoh’s house after someone identified him, saying that he knew what Moses had done. He fled to Midian, a land to the east, where Moses lived as a shepherd. But God still had a claim on Moses, and one day Moses met God in an unusual way. While keeping a flock of sheep in the wilderness, watching over them, he came upon an unusual sight – a bush that burned but was not consumed by the fire. Out of this bush on fire God called to Moses. Moses heard God for the first time and God introduced himself to Moses. God tasked Moses to do a hard thing – to lead his people out of Egypt, slavery, and bondage – just with his voice and the unusual manifestation of the bush that was burning but not consumed.

Then God showed Moses his power and strength in three miracles. The first – God asked Moses to throw his shepherd’s staff on the ground and it became a snake. Taking it up by its tail the snake again became a staff in Moses’ hand. Miracle 2 -God asked Moses to put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous. When God said put it back into your cloak – his hand returned to normal. The third miracle – Moses was to take water from the Nile and pour it on the ground in front of Pharaoh and when he did it became blood. Moses ‘saw’ that the voice speaking to him was God. These signs and miracles were given to show the Hebrew people and Pharaoh that yes indeed, God was with Moses to lead the people out of Egypt and slavery.

This was just the beginning of miracles and signs to show all that God was truly with Moses – so the people could also ‘see’ God in his power and strength.

Then came the 10 plagues (shown so well in the 1956 movie “The 10 Commandments.” Plague One – the water became blood. Plague 2 – frogs.

Plague 3 – lice. Plague 4 – flies. Plague 5 – all Egyptian livestock died. Plague 6 – boils. Plague 7 – hail storms that killed slaves, animals, plants. Plague 8 – locusts. Plague 9 – total darkness for three days. Plague 10 – death of the firstborn, animal, and human.

Not only did Moses ‘see’ God in the power and destruction of the plagues, but so did all of Egypt, and eventually even Pharaoh himself, who finally agreed to release the Hebrew slaves. But he changed his mind and pursued them through the desert right up to the Red Sea – where Moses and the people saw God move in the miraculous parting of the waters, so that they could cross to the other side. Then they saw the waters close again to drown their Egyptian pursuers.

That is why the miracles and signs that people witnessed and experienced with Jesus were so telling and important. Because not since Moses and the prophets had they ‘seen’ or experienced God in such ways. God also led Moses and the people through the wilderness in a visible way – a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. God’s presence was always with them to encourage and lead them on through uncharted territory.

Moses had ‘seen’ God in many ways, experienced God personally. And now here in chapter 33 of Exodus, and their journey through the wilderness which lasted 40 years, Moses asked again for God to reassure him. In verse 13 Moses asked God: “Show me your ways.” Verse 18: “Show me your glory.” Why did Moses need reassurance?

This story happens after Moses had been up on Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights to receive instructions from God, and the 10 Commandments, written by God on stone tablets. Because Moses was so long away, the Hebrews waiting for him got restless and begged Aaron, Moses’ brother, to let them build an idol. When Moses came down from the mount carrying the stone tablets, he saw the chaos and the idolatry, and the people running wild. He threw down the tablets in anger and disgust, and they broke. God dealt with those idolaters with death. I believe Moses was asking here in our scripture once again for God’s reassurance and presence. Possibly to renew his own faith, hope and strength – even though Moses had seen God work so many times before in unusual and powerful ways.

“Show me your ways.” “Show me your glory.”

And God hears Moses. God is gracious to Moses. God assures Moses with: “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (verse 14) – indicating Moses’ weariness. God would provide the power, the strength and rest that he needed to go on.

And we learn an important fact about God here. God says in verse 20 to Moses: “But you cannot see my face; For no one shall see me and live.” And yet, it tells us previously in verse 11, that the Lord used to speak to Moses “face to face” out of the cloud that would descend around the tent of meeting – the place where Moses would meet with God before the Tabernacle was created. Did Moses actually ‘see’ God? No. Because God said: “No one shall see my face and live.” Commentators tell us that the phrase “face to face” indicates an interaction with the presence of God – distinct and different from dream or vision. It is not to be taken literally. But there was indication with Moses that he had been with God because something happened to him physically. His face would shine so much that he had to wear a veil over it, because people could not bear to look at it. And yet all Moses ever got to see of God was his back. Verse 22 tells us this. The Lord said: “While my glory passes by you, I will put you in a cleft of the rock where you shall stand, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.”

So, the way of God was to show himself in certain manifestations – cloud, fire, and in various miracles. The presence of God could be palpably felt but not seen except in the physical impact upon Moses’s face. It glowed or radiated the glory of God – the evidence that yes indeed, Moses had been with God. This is how Moses and the Hebrew people ‘saw’ God – experienced God in his awesomeness.

So how do we experience God? How do you or I experience the presence of God? How do we know that we have been with God? Do we have to wear a veil over our faces?

Well, for starters, there ought to be a change. No one can be in the presence of God without a major happening in themselves. Because when you truly ‘see’ God in divine purity and holiness, the contrast is so great between us and God’s presence, that our total humanity, our lack of holiness is exposed – our sinfulness you might say. Our need of change, our need of God is revealed, because light dispels darkness. Light reveals what we so carefully often try to cover and hide about ourselves and our lack of holiness. God’s presence purifies us, changes us. Will our faces glow? Perhaps. For those who have spiritual discernment, they might pick up or see a difference in a soul after having been in the presence of the divine.

How do we meet the presence of God? We pray. We enter into a friend-to-friend relationship with God. Moses was called God’s friend. We praise, we sing. Music is one way to enter God’s presence and to meet the Spirit of God. Through God’s Word. This is not an ordinary book, the Bible, which we know as God’s Word. It contains the keys to unlock the presence of God in your life and mine. But you need to spend time in it – allowing the Word into your spirit, into your life. To allow it to change and transform you into the new creature that scripture tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “a new creation.” Romans 12:2 tells us that we are transformed by the “renewing of our minds.” Being in the presence of God will break and remake you. Spending time in God’s Word will bring the healing, the restoration, the strength, and the power of God into your life and spirit. God will reveal his glory and show you his ways – because it says in Acts 10: 34-35 that God is no respecter of persons. God shows no partiality. What God has done for one, God can and will do for another.

Yes, Moses had a special call from God. But so do you and I. God has a plan and purpose for each one of us. But until we spend time with God in his Word, and in prayer, we will never know what that is. God invites us all to come into his presence daily, to spend time with God – so that we too, like Moses, can be called friends of God.

Jesus came to show us God in the flesh. Jesus came to be present with us – to share God’s love, mercy, power, forgiveness, and God’s promise of eternal presence with God.

Have we tapped into this great and precious gift? Have you spent time in the presence of God this week? God is calling. God is inviting. God is waiting for you.

 

The love of God a perfect plan

Is planning now for thee,

It holds “a future and a hope,”

Which yet thou canst not see.

Though for a season, in the dark,

He asks thy perfect trust,

E’en that thou in surrender “lay

Thy treasure in the dust,”

Yet He is planning all the while,

Unerringly He guides

The life of him, who holds His will

More dear than all besides.

Trust were not trust if thou couldest see

The ending of the way,

Nor couldst thou learn His songs by night,

Were life one radiant day.

Amid the shadows here He works

The plan designed above,

“A future and a hope” for thee

In His exceeding love.                                – Freda Hanbury Allen

“And this is the victory that conquers the world – our faith” 1 John 5:4 NRSV.

What can we give thanks for in troubling times and times of distress, when we face the unknown? We continue to give thanks for our faith which does not fail, and God’s mysterious plan for our good, in spite of all. As Jesus once asked his friend Martha: “Do you believe this?” He was asking this very practical, ‘hands-on’ woman whose brother had just died, did she believe in life after death. Because Jesus was just about to do an amazing miracle, and call her brother Lazarus out of the tomb. She had watched her brother die, and she was just about to see him resurrected from death, and freed from his grave clothes.

During this pandemic time much of our old ways have died…ways of being, working and relating to others and our world. But our God is the God of Resurrection Life. Of new beginnings, fresh starts, new ideas, new ways of being and doing. Through it all, God has a plan for you and I. For the church, for the world. Can we perceive it? We need to stick close to God, when the way is dim and the familiar landmarks are gone. Because God has a plan. God makes a way where there is no way. Only God makes a way in the wilderness.

Isaiah, prophet of old, tells us: “Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you…See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them” (chapter 42:5-9 selected.)

“Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Chapter 43:19.)

Jesus is asking us, the saints of God today…do you believe this?

Rev. Yvonne Miloyevich