When we feel sorrow over the brokenness of our world, including persistent injustice, senseless violence, and ominous diseases, we find ourselves in an Advent mode, yearning for God’s future, for an endless time of righteousness, justice, and peace.
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom, there will be no end.”
When we feel sorrow over the brokenness of our world, including persistent injustice, senseless violence, and ominous diseases, we find ourselves in an Advent mode, yearning for God’s future, for an endless time of righteousness, justice, and peace. That time will come. In the meanwhile, we wait with hope. That’s what Advent is all about.
We watched as the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, telling her that the Lord was with her. Mary received this news with uncertainty, wondering what it meant. The angel went on to explain that Mary had found favor with God (Luke 1:30). She would soon become pregnant and give birth to a son whom she would name Jesus. The angel continued, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom, there will be no end” (1:31-33).
The angel’s proclamation is filled with the words and images of Old Testament prophecy. In 2 Samuel 7, for example, the Lord, speaking through the prophet Nathan, told King David that he would raise up one of his offspring “and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. . . . Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. . .” (2 Samuel 7:12-13, 16). In Isaiah 9, the Lord offered this vision of the future, “For a child has been born for us, a son is given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this” (Isaiah 9:6-7). These prophecies sound a lot like Gabriel’s message to Mary, don’t you think?
So much could be said about these prophecies and how they were fulfilled in the life and ministry of Jesus. In today’s devotion, however, I want to focus on one particular theme: the endlessness of the kingdom. Through Samuel, God promised David that his kingdom “shall be made sure forever.” Through Isaiah, God spoke of “endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom.” The Davidic king will rule “with justice and righteousness from this time onward and forevermore.” In the same vein, the angel told Mary that Jesus “will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom, there will be no end” (Luke 1:33).
Many Jews in Mary’s world believed that the endless kingdom would be, quite literally, the kingdom of Israel. Once God expelled the Romans from the land, the Jewish kingdom would be established and this earthly nation would last forever. Some Jews, however, saw in the prophecies of an endless kingdom something more, something even greater. They envisioned the whole world flourishing under God’s kingly rule. Isaiah had seen a future in which “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9). The time would come when the Lord would redeem his people. He would show his strength “before the eyes of all the nations.” In that day, “all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (Isaiah 52:10). The prophet Daniel saw in a vision a human being (the Aramaic reads literally, “son of man”) to whom “was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed” (Daniel 7:14).
Whether they envisioned the future kingdom in nationalistic terms or as something covering the whole earth, Jews in the time of Mary longed for the coming of the kingdom. They yearned for a kingdom that would not be overthrown or passed away. They wanted something that would last forever.
We who believe that Jesus was the Messiah have inherited this longing, in a way. We are eager to see God’s kingdom established, with God’s salvation, justice, and righteousness filling the earth. But, with our full and busy lives, it’s easy to forget the future for which we are hoping. We tend to focus exclusively on the present. This is one reason why we need Advent. Advent is a season to reorient our longings and point them to God’s future. Advent stirs within us a passion for the vision of Jesus in the book of Revelation, where he is “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16). In words that inspired Händel’s Messiah, Revelation reveals that “The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15). Notice, it’s not just the kingdom of Israel that lasts forever. It’s the “kingdom of this world,” the whole world under the rule of King Jesus.
When we feel sorrow over the brokenness of our world, including persistent injustice, senseless violence, and ominous diseases, we find ourselves in an Advent mode, yearning for God’s future, for an endless time of righteousness, justice, and peace. That time will come.
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