Here as we begin the season of Advent we are waiting. Our prayer is that our King would come to us. As we wait for our king to come we are in a place of transition. We are in an in between state, a time of waiting and watching. There are a lot of ways you might think of yourself as waiting:
Not quite winter yet, not quite the end of the pandemic yet, not quite time for Christmas yet or for a new calendar year. Parents are waiting for children to grow up and grow into their future callings and places in life. Regardless of where you are in some ways you are waiting.
Many of our hymns and songs for the season of Advent celebrate the end of waiting with the opening of gates as our King comes. “O Savior rend the heavens wide; Come down come down with mighty stride, unlock the gates, the doors break down; unbar the way to heaven’s crown.”
“Lift up your heads, you everlasting doors, and weep no more! O Zion daughter sing, to greet your coming King: Now wave the victor’s palm and sing the ancient psalm, “Lift up your heads you everlasting gates! Your king awaits!
Psalm 24 provides to us this imagery of the king entering through opening of the everlasting gate: “Lift up your heads, o gates! And lift then up O ancient doors, that the king of glory may come in.”
The fact that doors are described as ancient and gates as everlasting implies that there has long been a chasm and division between Our God and His people, back to ancient times, back to the Fall into sin:
This world is so full of imperfection and sin, and Heaven is perfect and full of the glory of God. How is it that the two can meet? How is it that Jesus our king can come to us? When there is a barrier and a chasm between heaven and earth?
Our Old Testament Reading from Isaiah calls for this divide to be broken wide open: “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence.” The coming of our king is no light undertaking, but something that shakes the earth.
Gates and great doors to ancient cities kept control over who could come and go. The gates protected the city so that those who would bring harm would be kept out and those who would bring blessings and goodness to the city could be let in.
The imagery in the scripture describes all of creation as the city, and in order for the renewal of creation to occur, the gateway needs to be open to a visit from a realm beyond our creation, from heaven.
One thing is abundantly clear, we cannot open the portal, we cannot raise the gates. We wait for God to come to us and bridge the divide.
We cannot raise the gates, but our Lord Jesus has come to burst open the chains that hold us down in sin, to open the way for God’s kingdom to come among us. Let’s look a little more closely at God’s Word for us to today in Isaiah chapter 64: “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence- as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil- to make your name know to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence.”
The plea for the Lord to come down is made out of dire need to see deliverance from the hands of enemies. For Isaiah it was those who destroyed Israel who were the threat.
For us today there are no shortage of enemies of the church, including our own sin.
When we pray for God’s kingdom to come this is not just asking for Jesus’ coming in judgement of the unbelieving world, but also this includes Jesus coming to judge us, bringing us the consequences of our sin.
This would be a frightening thing if not for the work of Jesus for us on the cross where he has covered our sin with his righteousness. We pray for the Lord to continue to curb our sin and with His mighty Word that cleaves down to bone and joint, to cleanse us of our sin and make us a new creation in Christ.
It seems impossible that the chasm between heaven and earth could ever be bridged. Many scientists claim that there is no way to measure the existence of God, as they claim that we can only know what we can observe and see in the created realm and everything else is not possible.
We continue reading in Isaiah chapter 64 with the next verse, 3 “When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.”
Nowhere in the world has it ever been heard of where a God who acts for those who wait on Him- except for the God of Israel. Who parted the Red Sea, who opened the flood gates of the waters to deliver His people from pharaoh’s army.
When Jesus returned to Capernaum it was discovered that he was at home and many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he preaching the word to them. And they came bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay, And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “My Son, your sins are forgiven.”
The scribes questioned in their hearts: “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Indeed never since the beginning has anyone ever had the authority to forgive sins- to speak words and change someone’s standing from separation with God to peace, from condemnation to salvation. “But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins- he said to the paralytic, “I say to you rise, pick up your bed and go home.” As he picked up his bed and walked before them all in plain sight, they said: “We never saw anything like this!” The heavens were opened and God’s kingdom was coming.
We all need this healing for our sins. The reading from Isaiah continues: “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” It is because of our sin that we need Jesus to come, not because of what we have done to build His kingdom on earth. As we recognize how unclean all of our deeds are we see there is nothing to look forward to our hope in through what we accomplish.
The American dream is to earn prosperity and make something of your life through your career. It may sound appealing in early years of life to see how far you can make it in life, and which dreams you can make true. But in the end what we accomplish cannot bring lasting joy, we are still in the in between state in life, waiting for His kingdom to come among us in fullness.
Isaiah continues: “There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.”
Our actions and accomplishments do not bring God’s kingdom closer to us- they do not life the gate even an inch. Only Jesus has the authority to forgive our sins and bring us to His kingdom.
“But now, O LORD, you are our Father, we are the clay, and you are the potter, we are all the work of your hand.” Jesus has given His authority to us. Through Christ our hands can serve as the hands of Christ. In Christ we can create beautiful things in the kingdom.
A pastor was once out visiting a woman who was a shut in: “God can’t take me yet.” Stella said, and her pastor was surprised. He had been visiting shut ins for years and was accustomed to their prayers. Many of his congregants were ready to die. But not Stella. This afternoon she said just the opposite, “God can’t take me yet.” She said. Why? Her pastor asked. She responded, “Because there are just too many people I need to pray for.”
Stella’s hands were weak and frail. Some days she had trouble even holding a cup. But she knew that when folded in prayer her hands were mighty. They could even move mountains. And there were so many mountains to be moved. She had children and grandchildren, friends and former neighbors, the prayer list she saw in the bulletin at church. All of these people were in Stella’s prayers. She did not know if they prayed for themselves, but she knew that God had given her time and given her the gift of prayer. Day after day Stella was fervent in prayer that God would come into people’s lives and assure them of his care.
Jesus comes to us, He opens the gates of heaven to shape us as His own. In this time of transition in our lives, we pray shape us Lord in this difficult time, even at the summit of darkness create anew as vessels for your glory. Come to us in our time of waiting so that we see that even on the journey as we wait for the gate to open- you are already with us.
Christmas decoration are a good thing and may bring joy to young and old alike. But the decorations are not just there to give us a sense of awe over the moment of the birth of Jesus. We need more than moments of feeling good and cheerful. We need the presence of Jesus with us, the presence of the Savior who rends down the heavens and comes down. Whose death on the cross brought the mountains and the whole earth to quake.
Open the gates we pray. And as we wait for the gates to open we do not give up, we do not grow weary if we shall be delivered- for we have a God who acts in love. None of the rulers of this age understand this, as they say ‘where is your god’ “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.” We wait in hope for his coming.