27th November 2022 (Advent 1)
Title: Stay Awake
(Scripture Reading: Isaiah 2:1–5 & Matthew 24:36–44)
By Heeyoung Lim
God’s ultimate plan is for all people to live in peace, worship him, and enjoy his holy presence. God leads us to learn to obey his ways. Isaiah and Micah both used the same call to worship from the Jerusalem temple to speak to God’s people. This would mean that God used the temple hymnody as a source for his inspired word. Praise the Lord for this season of Advent.
The prophetic hope is that God’s word will become the world’s weapon. People will learn to live according to God’s ways. They will obey his teachings. Nations will come to Jerusalem, because they are attracted to Jerusalem by the God who lives there and the wisdom he gives there. They no longer have to fight to settle their differences. In Jerusalem, God will be the great mediator who will settle all human disputes without battle or military weapons.
In Isaiah 2:3, many people shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountains of the Lord and worship in his temple.” However, this worship is not limited to the temple but shines forth in everyday life as people walk in the light of God’s word. As in verse 4, they will pound their swords and their spears into rakes and shovels; they will never make war or attack one another.
People should not dominate the world through military power. God wants them peace instead of battle. They could become the hope for the world if they obeyed God’s word, walked where He led them, and showed the world God’s way of life. Christ is our hope, and we are waiting for His coming. May we walk in the light of the Lord and become hope that shine the light of Christ.
World peace depends on God’s actions and on our obedience to His words. War is not God’s plan for His people. In 2023, may we learn God’s ways and word more and work in God’s ways for peace in the world. May we Invite people of all races and nations and generations to join us in worshiping God.
How wonderful it is to have so many good people in our church, and how glad we are that we learn many things from each other. However, everywhere we go temptation reaches out to our lives in the chaos and darkness of the world. Whenever we try to come closer to God, turning to Scripture and praying to God are necessary.
Today’s text reminds us that our only hope rests in God and what he does, not in us and what we do. All the work we do to live or help often brings worry and long hours of effort. What do we want in our lives?
The word Isaiah used was shalom which means peace, wholeness, fulfillment. We all need shalom, but we cannot achieve it by ourselves. May we accept it as God’s gift to us and praise Him for such a wonderful gift.
Devotion to God and worshipping God bring His peace through God’s unexpected and hidden ways. May we find ourselves resting in God’s peace rather than resting on our achievements or something else. May we ask God to deliver us from self-centred life to the life of worship and peace that only he can give in the light of the Lord.
Jesus’ disciples were equipped to know his return by the signs. The Messiah is certain to come, but we cannot know when he will come. This detail belonged to God. The fact that the time of Christ’s second coming is unknown motivates Jesus’ disciples to be ready for his return. The uncertain timing is a challenge and opportunity to his followers at the same time.
Today’s gospel reading is also a warning to those who claim to know the time of Christ’s return. Such claims have been made for centuries, but the Messiah has still not come. If there are those who insist on the exact time of the second coming, they are all deceivers. In the Bible, many people ignored prophesies to God’s people to be obedient and Jesus’ teaching to believers to be always ready. The sinful people of that day were unprepared for God’s judgment.
Their worldly lifestyle would have gone on without interruption if God had not brought the Flood. The people did not believe God’s words up to the day Noah entered the ark. They observed Noah and his sons building the ark and did not believe Noah’s testimony concerning God’s anger at their sin and the coming judgment. They did not recognize the warning until it was too late because they remained stubborn and ignorant.
In verse 40 and 41, Jesus gave two examples of the two men working in the field and the two women grinding grain at the mill from the contemporary lifestyle of his day. The message contains that everyone needs to listen to these warnings. One of each pair was prepared because he or she listened to Jesus’ teachings, had watched for the signs, and had remained obedient. The other in each pair was unprepared because he or she ignored Jesus’ teaching and not lived according to His word. The message is, be prepared.
Those who listen to Jesus’ warnings and watch for the signs would be saved. Those who ignore them would find sudden judgment before they could realize what and why was happening. History is filled with many horrible things, but we must be careful not to assume that these things mean the end is near. May we be discerning of false teachers whenever they convince and deceive believers. The time of his return will be sudden and unpredictable, and Jesus wants us to stay awake.
The uncertain timing of the Messiah’s return should motivate us to remain faithful, so we are ready whenever he comes. As Noah spent time and energy preparing for the Flood, so people living prior to Christ’s return must spend themselves in being alert and ready for his coming. The command is, Keep watch. In the Lord, may we get ready for these future events by believing in Jesus and living correctly in the present.
The coming of the Messiah will be accompanied by miraculous signs and his visible return. I hope we can watch for signs and read the times in faith. The end that has come requires that the disciples must learn to wait. In spite of all the hardships, we must endure faithfully to the end. We are called to be continually obedient and faithful, always ready for the Messiah’s return. In light of the future of hardship and ultimate salvation, may we stay ready for Christ’s return and receive his rewards by living, loving, and obeying.
Jesus is our hope. May we participate in God’s working places in the light of Jesus’ coming. May our Christ give hope to the world’s hopeless through our faith and life. And I pray that God will give you strength and protection for now and the last days. May we be alert to what is happening and be prepared to stand before our Lord as true believers and followers in the light of Christ’ coming. In Advent, may we walk in the light of the Lord and serve as God’s instruments to take the gospel to all peoples of the earth.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
(Ref. Bible, commentaries, theological books, UCA materials)
