First Sunday of Advent 2024

Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you as we take a look at this prophecy

that you gave Isaiah centuries and centuries before the birth of your son, that promised

that one day in the latter days you would right all wrongs and that it would be through

your son. Lord, we thank you that we have this wonderful truth that's been preserved

for us, but more than that, that it came to pass which proclaims to this world that you are good

and you are God and you are almighty and that everything is under your sovereign rule and

that's a good thing. So Lord, as we come to your word this morning, we pray that you would bless us,

help us to have ears to hear and minds to understand, and most importantly, Lord, that we

would submit ourselves to your word by your help and live according to it. And we pray this in Jesus'

name. Amen. Some of you, if you've been to New York City, I mean, there's a lot to see. Obviously,

it's an absolutely gigantic city, but if you've gone to the United Nations or the United Nations

Plaza, you might have seen this staircase that goes down into the plaza and on this wall that's

right beside, butted up right against the staircase, it has a portion of our text just emblazoned on

the wall. It says this, they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nations shall not lift sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. So I don't know if

this is the official title, but it's known as the Isaiah Wall. It's a beautiful message. It's a message of

hope and presents this ultimate goal that world leaders ought to aspire to, that war would not

mark this world any longer, that nations would be at peace. However, the Isaiah Wall has a problem,

and the problem is that it does not quote verse 4 in its fullness. Verse 4 in its fullness reads like

this, he shall judge between the nations and shall decide disputes for many peoples, and they shall

beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword

against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. No mention of God on the Isaiah Wall. Maybe it's

implied, whoever was the architect of it, maybe it was implied. I don't fully know the backstory,

but as it stands today on the Isaiah Wall, it's a portion of Isaiah 2 verse 4 and not the full thing.

Isaiah 2:4

No mention of the Messiah, only that one day in some way war will end, everlasting peace would prevail,

and yet not a generation later the Korean War happened. And after that the war in Vietnam as kind of

like the big wars, not to mention the dozens or so of skirmishes in civil wars and conflicts that have

existed unbroken until the present. Friends, swords are still swords. Spears are still spears. Peace

is not, it continues to elude us, it does not exist. So as we begin Advent, we're going to spend our time

in Advent over these four weeks in Isaiah looking at various prophecies. And as we begin Advent,

this time of preparation and anticipation for the birth of Christ, for the revelation of Christ,

we will see why the Son of God came to earth and why he clothed himself in humanity.

And we'll see that only he can bring about this fruition, this only he can bring to pass verse 4 of

chapter 2 of Isaiah's prophecy, because only he has the authority to judge, only he has the authority

to arbitrate between multiple nations and the peoples of the earth. Only through him can we approach

this mountain of the Lord, and we'll see that shortly, and participate in this glorious plan of

redemption. It is only through the Prince of Peace that we will know peace. So as we go through

Advent, we'll keep this thing in our minds that it's only through Christ will all of our hopes and

longings, both individually and collectively, all of our hopes and longings, will they be satisfied in

him? So we're going to look at Isaiah chapter 2. Well, it's only five verses, so we're going to

Isaiah 2 · chapter mention

somewhat slowly go through it. So if you have a Bible, please turn with me to Isaiah chapter 2.

Isaiah 2 · chapter mention

I've broken up the text, there's five verses, I've broken the text into four points, and it goes like

this, that Jesus, the Prince of Peace, can bring about peace, because in him we see the presence of

the Lord. Verses 2, in him we see the mission of the Lord. In him we see this and receive this call

of the Lord, that we actually get to participate in this mission, and finally we will see that he is

the Prince of Peace, because he is the Lord of all. So look with me verses 2, actually just verse 2,

and we'll look how Jesus is the culmination or the embodiment of the presence of the Lord,

and why this brings us peace. I'll read verse 2 for us again. It says this,

It shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be

established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills, and all the

nations shall flow to it. This verse opens with this term, this reference called the latter days.

You'll see variations of this throughout Isaiah's prophecy. Sometimes you'll talk about in those days,

or in the latter days, and this is a very comprehensive term. It's not just talking about

some future day that's kind of, it's in the future but doesn't really have a date. Rather,

it's a biblical expression for the future, specifically the time when the Messiah will come.

In Isaiah's day, the Messiah, this figure, especially if you get into the servant psalm,

songs later on in Isaiah chapter 40, there's this understanding of the Messiah being a Savior, but

Isaiah 40 · chapter mention

for Isaiah's time, this idea of the Messiah as we know him today in the person and work of Jesus Christ,

there's just shadows, there's whispers, there's allusions to him. But Isaiah is saying that

there will be a day when this Savior will come, and this is what he will do.

So this is what he's talking about, these latter days. This time marks, in the biblical sense,

the righting of all wrongs, the redemption of all that is broken. It's the beginning of the fullness

of time. It's the beginning of the end of the ages, and this inauguration of the good and everlasting

kingdom of God. So, like I mentioned, the New Testament understands this as the time when Jesus

will come. This would be the Advent season, the anticipation that we are in the latter days,

the beginning of the end of the age, the beginning of when the Messiah will come.

Jesus will live, he'll die and rise again, defeating death. It is a beautiful picture and promise from

God. But I also want to draw your attention to a second reference that might be familiar if you've

gone to church for a while, but can also be a bit confusing as well. There's this reference on the

second line here, at least in my Bible, it's on the second line, and it says this. We'll read the first

part, it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be

established as the highest of the mountains. And I'll pause there. This is certainly is a reference

to the temple in Jerusalem. If you've been to Jerusalem, the temple does not exist. There's just

the western wall. The temple would have been absolutely huge. It would have been a sight to see.

This is surely a reference to the temple. But what's interesting here is that the temple in

Jerusalem that is referenced here isn't called the temple. It's called the mountain of the house of

the Lord. It's not to say that the temple is now referred to as the house of the Lord. There's a lot

of overlap, but Isaiah's prophecy specifically uses this term, the house of the Lord, to signify the

very presence of God amongst his people in these latter days in this messianic age. Why? A house is

where somebody resides. And here we have a reference to the house of the Lord, meaning that there will be

a time where God will once again be with his people. He will reside with them. His presence will be among

them. Sin and the things that have come into the world because of sin have separated us from the

presence of the Lord. On one hand, God is everywhere. There's no place where he is not. But in terms of

a relational presence, because of sin, because of death, we are separated from this presence, this

relational connection to God. This is saying that one day in these latter days, that will all be

reversed. Redemption will happen. And the key bit to redemption, this beautiful salvation that this

Messiah will bring, this cosmic victory, is a promise that God will dwell with his people once again.

There's also a reference to this mountain. And all of a sudden, we start to see a bit of a picture

being painted here. Mountains are these high places, obviously. But in the ancient world, the mountain or

the high place would be where the transcendent would meet the temporal. The place where we would go to get

as close to the divine or to the divines as we could. Think about Mount Olympus, where the pantheon

of gods live. It's a mountain up there. You traverse, you get as close to Mount Olympus as possible. You

think about in the narratives of the Old Testament, where Israel would sacrifice to the false gods,

the Baals and the Asheroths would be on a high place. It's a symbol of religious might and

religious power. Now, Jerusalem isn't anything to write home about in terms of its height. It's about

2,500 vertical feet or so. It is not very high. Nevertheless, this mountain, this place where

the house of God would be, it would be grander and bigger than any other mountain on earth, which is to say

that the faith, the religion of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who created everything, Father, Son, and Holy

Spirit, he would be above all gods. That all faiths would not compare to him. That his mountain, his house,

would be the pinnacle of what it meant to worship anything. For he is the only one. He is the most

powerful. He is the Almighty. It is no wonder then that the nations would flow to it, which is somewhat

bizarre language. I'm not a physics major. I'm not sure if you knew that. I know enough to know that gravity,

it doesn't work in reverse, right? Things flow down. They don't flow up. So we start to see a bit of a

bizarre picture of what this end of the age would look like. That there would be this mountain

where God would dwell, and it would have this magnetic pull, and not just to the people of

Israel, the ethnic descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but that all nations would be drawn

towards the presence of the one true God. That from it, it will also say that peace would flow down.

So we have this picture of this mighty mountain where the temple, where the presence of God is,

where the house of God is. People are flowing up. Peace and his word and his truth and his ways are

flowing down. And all of it conveys to us that God's great desire for humanity, for men and women,

for families, for all nations, for you and I this morning, is that he would dwell with us and we would

dwell with him. This is it. It's this wonderful picture of God's desire to reverse

all that was broken because of sin. All the chaos, all the sin, all the disorder, the evil, despair,

the rage, the conflict. All that would separate us from him, he would traverse it. And that we who

would come to him, we would know his presence and would know a true godly peace and relationship with

our creator once again. So he states this purpose from the very beginning. Upon his mountain, in his

house, the Lord will be found and you can come to him. It's a beautiful picture. It also is covenantal

language. An agreement, a covenant is more than just an agreement between two parties. It is

a relationship that people enter into. There's very specific rules and obligations, but also joys in a

covenant. Marriage is a covenant. Adoption is a covenant. Here we have covenantal language used so

that those that would come to the Lord would enter into this relationship with him. Here's the thing,

though. This covenant that God has promised is an agreement made by him to us, an agreement that we

can't somehow make on our own, but that he has initiated. And therefore, he will promise us in this

covenant that if we are in him, we cannot fall out of him, that we are with him to the end.

The reality is we have no business being in the presence of the Lord, but because it is his will for

this to happen, it's because he has initiated the covenant. He makes what is impossible come to pass.

He makes rivers flow up.

He makes it possible for us to ascend.

Why is contentment so elusive for us?

For many in our city, I mean, again, I've,

the economy is that, it's like every headline,

and rightfully so. It's,

from what we've known in Canada, it is tumultuous.

But even,

even a difficult economy for us

would be some of the most affluent living

that people have ever lived in the history of mankind.

It's remarkable.

I'm not trying to downplay the economy

just to show our affluence.

And yet,

discontentment

is still very high in our culture.

We have,

it seems to be,

an insatiable desire for more.

We want more things,

more opportunities,

more progress.

We want more authority,

more prestige,

more fame,

immortality.

We want it,

and yet we cannot achieve it.

Our discontentment manifests itself

all the time,

often in unhappiness or disappointment,

but sometimes in anger and rage.

Could it be that we desire

the presence of God

without quite knowing it,

so that we try other things

in the stead of God,

instead of Him,

and we can't get it,

and it's frustrating?

We use temporal things

to achieve a transcendent joy,

and we can never achieve that end.

So we're unsatisfied.

Is that not because we were created

to know and be in the presence

of the triune God?

To know Him,

but more importantly,

to be known by Him?

It's remarkable then

that even though we have

all that we have,

we are constantly trying to create

and recreate ourselves.

Oftentimes in social media,

our identity is at the very top

of our priorities.

I'm speaking generally here,

but I'm sure it touches on all of us

to one degree or another.

But here's the wonderful thing

about the gospel of Christ

and the presence of God,

is that it becomes

our very identity

that when we know Him,

we are secure in Him forever.

And this is His mission.

This is the culmination

of all history,

that God is drawing people

to Himself.

Friends, this is the mission of God.

So how will He achieve this mission?

We'll see this in verse 3,

and this will be

the second point in verse 3.

It reads like this,

And many people shall come and say,

Come, let us go up

to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob,

that He may teach us His ways,

and that we may walk in His paths.

For out of Zion shall go the law

and the word of the Lord

from Jerusalem.

Like we've seen already,

nations are being drawn to the Lord,

entering into this covenant with Him.

So that the house of Jacob,

which is ethnic Israel,

becomes expanded,

so that non-ethnic Israelites

can claim the God of the house of Jacob.

It's a beautiful, incredible picture.

This is true inclusivity here.

It does not matter, then,

where you are from.

If you ascend the mountain,

if you know the Lord,

you are a part of His people.

You can enjoy His presence.

So the mission of God

towards humanity

is a mission of expanding His presence,

and most importantly,

His love,

so that all who are distant

will be drawn near

and will have satisfaction

for all eternity.

And I'll say this.

This is not just the mission of God,

but this is who God is Himself.

1 John chapter 4

1 John 4 · chapter mention

speaks of God being love.

It says,

God is love.

It's a wonderful passage,

chapter 4 of 1 John.

And this is precisely right,

not because it's in the Scripture,

but because we have a triune God,

a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

So St. Augustine,

from the 4th century,

he wrote a treatise on the Trinity.

High-level thinking,

high-level theology,

but he has this

absolutely remarkable

line of talking about

why God is love

and how He can be loved

and how only in the Trinity,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

can God be called

a God of love

and love itself.

This is what it says.

The Father is not the Son,

nor the Son the Father,

and the Holy Spirit

is neither the Father

nor the Son.

Here it is.

But the Trinity is one,

the Father who loves,

the Son who is love,

and love itself,

the Holy Spirit.

The Father who loves,

the Son who is loved,

and love itself,

the Holy Spirit,

so that in the Trinity,

because God has always existed,

there was never a time

when He did not exist,

the Father loves the Son,

the Son is loved by the Father,

and the Holy Spirit

is love itself.

That love is constantly

and integral

to the person

of the Godhead.

Three persons,

one God.

And here's the mission of God.

To invite us into

this love.

To extend the love to us

so that we would know

the Father's love

through the Son.

That the Son gives us

the Holy Spirit

to love,

not perfectly,

but to grow in our love

and to also know

the love of the Father.

And all of a sudden,

without becoming a part of God,

God is God,

we are not,

we get to participate

in the love of God.

And this is what He invites us into.

This is the mission of God.

So you see,

love is always

an expanding force.

It never contracts.

It always expands.

It always looks to invite

and go forth

and to find the lost

and to remedy brokenness

and to fix

the outworking of sin

so that people can

know what it is

to have the presence of God,

which is the presence of love.

This is the mission of God.

To seek and save the lost.

How wonderful is this mission?

It is not an invitation

to submit to a wrathful God

so that we can get crushed

and that we can become slaves to Him

and live a life of black and white.

But rather,

there is a God who is holy

who pays the penalty

for our sins

so that we can know His love

and live in 4K technicolor.

That we can enjoy

all the beauty of life

in its fullness.

And a part of this mission,

interestingly,

and this will lead us

to our third point,

is to include us

in this mission.

That we get to participate in it.

So,

you'll notice that

the nations

flow to God

but also,

in verse 3,

that there is

that for out of Zion,

the last part of verse 3,

for out of Zion

shall go the law

and the word of the Lord

from Jerusalem.

So,

the people come in

but also the law

and the word go out.

And this,

surely,

is a reference,

of course,

to the Spirit of God at work

but,

the call of God

to His people

to proclaim the goodness

and invite people

to know the one true God.

So,

this is the third point,

the call of the Lord

on our lives

so that we can too

participate in this mission.

We'll look at two verses here.

The first and the last,

verses 1 and 5.

And I'll read it now.

The word that the,

sorry,

the word that Isaiah,

the son of Amoz,

saw concerning Judah

and Jerusalem.

And then verse 5.

O house of Jacob,

come let us walk

in the light of the Lord.

So,

I mean,

it seems like a prescript,

verse 1.

It just says the word

just introduces this,

this prophecy

that's going to come from Isaiah.

But here's the thing,

if you notice.

It says,

the word that Isaiah,

the son of Amoz,

saw concerning Judah

and Jerusalem.

Judah and Jerusalem

represent the people of God,

the Israelites,

the ancient Israelites.

So this is the word for them.

And yet,

in the entire prophecy,

it's about the nations

coming to the God

of Abraham,

Isaac,

and Jacob.

That the message

for the people of God

is to expand the people of God

and to proclaim

the gospel message

so that the nations

could also be welcomed in.

verse 5 as well.

O house of Jacob,

come,

let us walk

in the light of the Lord.

That is a beautiful picture

of this outworking

of lives

transformed

by the one true God

to mimic him,

to imitate him.

And how do we imitate him?

In the same way

that we saw

in the previous section,

by seeking

and saving

those that are far away.

expanding love,

telling of the gospel

of Christ,

inviting people

to the mountain,

into the presence

of the Lord,

saying to people,

listen,

there is a better way.

There is a better way.

The rat race

does not have to go on

indefinitely.

The things that you find

that you look to hope,

that you look to for hope

that fail to produce

what you hope for,

you don't have to continue

looking for them.

We found the solution

and his name is Christ.

And this is the call

of the Lord

upon our lives,

to know him

and to make him known.

So as we grow

in our obedience

and trust,

in our holiness

and godliness,

those very things

will come to mark us.

And friends,

we,

and I've mentioned this

and I'll continue

to mention this,

there is a vacuum

of meaning

and purpose

in our society.

And I think

as we seek

by God's help

to live out

this life

where we have

a purpose

and an identity

that is not rooted

in the here and now

but in the eternal God

that is unchanging,

it will be

like a magnetic reaction

so that people

will be drawn to us

but also people

will be also repelled

for those that are called

but those that want

to deny.

So as we walk

in the light,

we learn to walk

in the Lord's favor

and in his presence

and care

and in his truth

and his revealed word

and it cannot

not be noticed.

It's a wonderful

picture of the redeemed,

the reality

of the culture

of heaven

being established

here on earth,

the latter days

coming to pass

that justice

will be promoted,

that mercy

will be promoted

and that the gospel

of grace

will be proclaimed.

And all of this

then leads us

to verse 4,

what true peace

looks like

and how it is

only through Christ

that the peace

that is proclaimed

on the Isaiah wall

at the UN Plaza

can really come to pass.

I'll read verse 4

one last time.

He shall judge

between the nations

and shall decide

disputes for many peoples

and they shall beat

their swords

into plowshares

and their spears

into pruning hooks.

Nations shall not

lift up sword

against nation

neither shall they

learn war anymore.

Learn war anymore.

The only way

that there can be

a true abolition

of war

is when all forms

of division

within the human race

will be eliminated.

This does not mean

that there will

be the elimination

of differences

but that

that there will be

no more division

within the human race.

The promise

isn't that

through Christ

humanity

will morph

into some

indistinguishable

ethnicity,

culture,

or even tongue

but only that

the divisions

that are brought about

by disordered

allegiances

are eliminated.

What do I mean

by that?

Here it is.

all forms

of nationalism

or culture

political ideology

all of the

things that are

unique to

different cultures

or peoples

or subcultures

or subgroups

that supersede

supersede

the supremacy

of the one true God

over all

of heaven

and earth

and the Lord

Jesus Christ

will inevitably

lead to differences

that cause

divisions,

distress,

conflict,

and war.

Differences

are threats.

They're not things

to be celebrated.

They must be treated

therefore accordingly.

If my

ultimate identity

is rooted

in my political

ideology

or in

my nationalism

and somebody

threatens that

I have to

eliminate the threat

or else

that's the end

of me.

It's not to say

that having

pride of your

country

or having

strong

political

convictions

or being

proud of

your heritage

cultural

ethnic

the language

that you speak

that's somehow

a bad thing.

Not at all.

It's a beautiful thing.

Differences

are beautiful

but they become

ugly

when they are

disordered.

When they are

not put in

their proper place.

When they are

elevated to supreme

where only God

is to be

supreme.

Friends,

in the

shadow of

two devastating

world wars

it makes sense

that the United

Nations

have these

grand

aspirations

to see

verse 4

come to pass.

And it's

and really

there's

I think it's a

good thing

in a sense

or at least

an understandable

thing

that our

Prime Minister

and many of

the Western

world leaders

have embraced

a type of

post-national

view.

I mean

nationalism

again I'm

speaking in

general terms

was a very

cause of two

horrendous

world wars

and it seems

like the

elimination of

nationalism

would be the

way forward

to everlasting

peace.

A globalist

ideology seems

admirable

however

any such

vision that is

unrooted by

recognizing that

only Christ

is the judge

and arbiter

will inevitably

collapse

into itself.

It lacks

the divine

authority

and power

to achieve

its lofty

goals.

To remove

the first

part of

verse 4

that speaks

of God

himself being

the judge

between the

nations

the arbiters

between peoples

to remove

that from

the rest of

the section

is to

kneecap

and cut

out the

legs

from any

hope of

peace.

The solution

isn't to get

rid of

nations

but is to

worship God

as the one

true supreme

God

and that

we recognize

that in

his son

the Lord

Jesus Christ

he has made

a way for

us to know

his presence.

It doesn't

mean peace

is going to

come immediately

but peace

starts to

work its

way out.

only in

Christ can

such differences

be properly

ordered.

And then

once they're

properly ordered

they can be

celebrated.

No longer

is somebody

else's

nationality

or ethnicity

or language

or way

that they've

gone about

life

no longer

is it a

threat.

With the

caveat that

there are

some

political

ideologies

that are

threatening

no matter

what.

But

generally

speaking

people

that are

different

no longer

become a

threat

they become

something

to

celebrate

in their

fullness.

The other

ceases to be

a threat

to our

personhood

because

our

ultimate

identity

cannot be

robbed from

us.

It can't

even be

robbed by

death.

So you

see if you

take Christ

out of the

equation

this utopian

vision

will be

hijacked

turn into

a dystopian

hellscape.

It will

have the

opposite

effect.

So it

is not a

hopeful thing

to quote

Isaiah

Isaiah 2:4

chapter 2

verse 4

partially.

It's

actually

leaving out

the very

power

and hope

of peace

that is

proclaimed in

the scripture.

So I'll

close with

this.

the vision

of verse

4 is not

just that

the practice

and mentality

and the

means of

war will

come to

an end

although that

is a huge

part of it

but there's

more to it

because here

it says

swords will

become

plowshares

and spears

will become

pruning hooks

which is to

say that it's

not just the

elimination of

war but

the

that there'll

be a return

so to speak

to the

garden joys

of Eden

where Christ

will be

among his

people and

that we will

see things

grow and

flourish and

we will have

a part to

play in the

cultivating of

the new

heavens and

the new

earth.

That the

reign of

Satan will

be forever

extinguished

and that

God will

dwell among

us once

again.

The

mountain of

the house

of the

Lord is

this picture

of a return

to Eden

but it's

more than

that.

For the

possibility of

messing up

Eden once

again will

be eliminated.

We will

know the

Lord and

he will

in us

make it

so that

we will

be like

him unable

to sin

in the

new heavens

and the

new earth.

The

mountain of

the house

of the

Lord that

God is

calling all

the nations

toward is

the very

presence of

God among

us.

It is

Jesus Christ

himself.

He is

God with

us.

He is

God present

among us.

He is the

place where

true worship

happens.

He is the

place of

everlasting

peace.

He's the one

who judges

with equity

and truth.

He is the

supreme

authority.

So in the

words of

Isaiah,

church,

church of the

Messiah West,

let us walk

in the light

of our

Lord and

Savior Jesus

Christ.

Let's pray.

Father in

heaven,

we thank you

for the

beautiful

and true

prophecy

that you

gave your

servant

Isaiah

centuries

and centuries

and centuries

before the

coming of

your son.

You promised

a day

and it has

come to

pass.

Lord,

help us

to look

to you,

to trust

in you,

to see

you as

supreme

in our

lives,

to know

your goodness

towards us

that you

purpose

to redeem

us and

that in

Christ you

have.

Lord,

help us

also to

be faithful

and obedient

by your

Holy Spirit

to proclaim

this good

news to

those that

are far

off,

inviting them

up to

you so

that they

through your

son would

know what

it means

to have

their

identity

and purpose

secured

forever,

never to

be robbed,

not even

by the

grave.

Lord,

thank you

for the

coming of

your son

this Advent

season.

Help us

in anticipation

of his

arrival.

Lord God,

to eagerly

search our

hearts so

that we

would be

ready,

that when

he would

come,

we would

be ready

to receive

him

worthily.

We pray

this in

Christ's

name.

Amen.

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in

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