Waiting for Deliverance

Preached at St Alphege, Solihull at Choral Evensong, 6.30pm 09/12/07 (Advent 2)

Readings: Isaiah 40:1-11 Psalm 80 2 Peter 3:8-15a

There is a theme of waiting for deliverance in our scripture readings today.
First of all the choir sang for us psalm 80. This psalm was clearly written during one of the low points of the history of the Jewish people, perhaps during the period when exile in Babylon in the 6th Century BC. The psalmist pleads with God to come and save his people. The psalmist compares Israel to a vine which the Lord brought out of Egypt and established in a fine vineyard, such that it prospered and grew and extended. It sent our branches to the sea, and shoots to the river. But now it feels to Israel as though God has abandoned the vine. The vineyard wall have fallen down and any person or animal who wants a grape can just stroll in and strip whatever they want from the vine.
So, the psalmist pleads with God, “You have taken so much trouble over this vine, gone to such lengths to nurture it and to help it flourish, why now have you abandoned it? Look down from heaven and have regard for this vine that your right hand has planted. Put away the vine’s enemies and restore the vine, so that Israel may be saved [paraphrased].”
Our reading from Isaiah chapter 40 comes from the later end of this traumatic period when the Jewish people were in exile. The prophet tells the people that comfort is at hand. They should take heart. Jerusalem’s penalty has been paid. She has served her term and has paid double for all her sins. Now, at last, God is coming. Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight a highway for our God. Lift up the valleys, lay low the mountains for the Lord is coming and his glory shall be revealed. Because even though human beings come and go like grass, and grow up and fade away like the flowers of the field, the word of the Lord stands for ever. So stand up on the high mountain and proclaim the good news. God is coming with great might, and when he comes he will take care of his people, like a gentle Shepard taking care over his flock.
For Christians this prophecy is most perfectly fulfilled in the coming of Christ, but it is also fulfilled in the end of the exile in Babylon. This came about in a dramatic and extraordinary way. In 555BC the Persians and Medes conquered Babylon. Soon afterwards King Cyrus of Persia encouraged the Jews to go back to Jerusalem and to start rebuilding the temple. (Ezra 1:1-4)
This theme of waiting for God to come and deliver his people is also picked up in our New Testament lesson from the second book of Peter. Peter, and indeed all the church have been waiting for the second coming of Christ. Jesus had always been very clear that nobody, not even Jesus himself, knew the time of the second coming, but despite this there was a clear expectation in the early church that it would happen quickly. But the years went by and after a time scoffers had appeared, saying “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” In other words, “You should forget him, he’s not coming”.
Peter responds by telling us that 1000 years in God’s sight is like a day, and a day is like a 1000 years. The Lord is not being slow in making good his promise, rather he is being patient. He is allowing time for people to come to repentance, so that no one may perish. Peter remains adamant in his expectation that the whole earth will be destroyed by fire, but we await the new heavens and the new earth where righteousness is at home. Therefore we should continue to wait for the coming of the Lord, living lives of holiness and godliness, without spot or blemish and be grateful that the Lord is so patient.
Well 2000 years have gone by and we are still waiting. Surely God is being extremely patient!
But we must not underestimate what has happened in the last 2000 years. Christianity has spread from the original 12 disciples to cover about a third of the world’s population. And it is important to notice that Christianity continues to move forward and grow, especially in Africa, in the former communist countries and particularly in China. In the UK, and in much of the Western Europe we might well feel that Christianity has been in decline for 100 years, but that decline has no more significance than a big wave reseeding when the worldwide tide is still coming firmly in. So we should not underestimate the value of 2000 years of patience.
But let’s remind ourselves of Peter’s advice about this time of waiting. Peter describes it as a time to come to repentance, in which we should live lives of holiness and goodness. He says that we should strive to be found by the Lord at peace, without spot or blemish. What does he mean by this? What does it mean to come to repentance?
Let’s stop for a moment and think about this word, repentance. It is a word we use a lot in Advent, but what does it mean? Well I think it means many things.
Repentance means putting God in the first place in our lives and making sure that everything else (family, job, house, car, friends) finds its rightful places in our lives under God.
Repentance means knowing our need of God. It means remembering that it was God who created us, it is God who sustains us and it is above all God who wants our good. He wants to share with us the life of heaven.
Repentance means letting to of our own will, in order to follow the things that God wills for us. He made us, and knows better than we do, what is good for us.
Repentance means turning away from sin and all rebellion against God, in order to be obedient to God and to follow him in all that he wants from us.
Repentance means owning up to our sin, our human frailties, our fears, our inner hurts and entrusting all these to God’s mercy and compassion. In this way we become free of sin, from fears, from hurts and they cease to have power over us. This allows us to walk in the way of God without carrying loads of baggage.
Coming to repentance is therefore a process rather than an event. It takes time, so we can be grateful for the time that God has given us on this earth. Over time we orientate ourselves ever more perfectly in God’s love for us. Little by little we become more precise in our adherence to God’s will. Step by step we let go of our baggage that gets in the way and learn live in the freedom of God’s love.
So this use the time we have this Advent to come to repentance. Let’s make sure that God is in the first place in our lives, and other things find their right place under him. Let’s be ready to let go of our own will, in order to follow the things that God wills for us. Let’s own up to our sins and put them behind us. Living repentance will bring us to live lives of holiness and godliness, peace without spot or blemish, just as Peter recommends. And if we do this we prepare ourselves well for the second coming of Christ, or indeed for our own deaths if these should come first.