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Big Kings Come in Small Packages: The King Who Brings Justice
Today’s advent reading is found in Isaiah 25:6 – 26:6. You are welcome to click the link above and read the passage in your favorite translation or read it below as written in the New Living Translation (NLT).
“In Jerusalem, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat. There he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth. He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears. He will remove forever all insults and mockery against his land and people. The Lord has spoken! In that day the people will proclaim, “This is our God! We trusted in him, and he saved us! This is the Lord, in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings!” For the Lord’s hand of blessing will rest on Jerusalem. But Moab will be crushed. It will be like straw trampled down and left to rot. God will push down Moab’s people as a swimmer pushes down water with his hands. He will end their pride and all their evil works. The high walls of Moab will be demolished. They will be brought down to the ground, down into the dust.
In that day, everyone in the land of Judah will sing this song: Our city is strong! We are surrounded by the walls of God’s salvation. Open the gates to all who are righteous; allow the faithful to enter. You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock. He humbles the proud and brings down the arrogant city. He brings it down to the dust. The poor and oppressed trample it underfoot, and the needy walk all over it” (NLT).
It never ceases to amaze me that the same God who saved an enslaved people who messed up, screwed up, and always wanted to give up (read: The Israelites) is the same God, thousands of years later, who wants to save me and you – mess ups, screw ups, the ones who always want to give up. If that doesn’t exemplify a righteous God who is unchanging in his desire to build faith and bring freedom, then I don’t know what does.
Despite the infidelity of a stubborn people (then and now), God extended to us a new covenant come as a child: Christ the King. Jesus was the Messiah long prophesied and long waited for. The very cry of Christ broke through a still and silent night and in an instant, offered redemption to an oppressed people awaiting a messiah. He was their Messiah, the fulfillment of a prophecy intended not only for some, but for “everyone in the land of Judah.” This was and still is a big deal. He is our Messiah.
Christ the King will again come, bringing with him in invitation to feast with him at his banqueting table. At that time, we will gather to declare of mind, mouth, and heart, “This is my God! I will trust in him! And he saved me!” There will be no more injustice – the poor will gain the wealth and riches of eternity with their Savior. Their beloved will embrace the widowed as they’re welcomed in as the bride of Christ. The orphaned will run into the arms of their Eternal Father and laugh with tears of inexplicable joy streaming from their face.
He is the Lord in whom we have waited.
This week, pray for those suffering from injustice in your neighborhood. Have the poor, the widowed, the orphaned, those oppressed darkened your doorsteps? Have you brought light to their doorsteps? Ask God to show you how to share life with those in need this season, that they may see the Life and Light within you. The King Who Brings Justice has come and is coming still.
Photo adapted from original photography © James Cooper.