This is the first in a series of Advent reflections… Read more about that here!

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The prophet Jeremiah wrote:

¹⁴ The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill my gracious promise with the people of Israel and Judah. ¹⁵ In those days and at that time, I will raise up a righteous branch from David’s line, who will do what is just and right in the land. ¹⁶ In those days, Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is what he will be called: The Lord Is Our Righteousness. [Jeremiah 33:14-16; CEB]

The time is coming…

It’s not a threat. It’s a promise.

I say that because more than once I’ve heard a parent say to a recalcitrant child, “Your time is coming…!!!!” As if warning someone that there will be consequences for one’s actions will automatically make them straighten up. (The modern day equivalent… ‘don’t make me stop this car!’)

Like that ever worked…

This promise is not a vague threat of action. It also not a “distant future” event, where there is anticipation with no real expectation. It will happen. It will happen sooner than you think. And the timeline, hidden from our eyes, is clear and purposeful in the Omniscient ways of the Almighty.

We’ve just come out of a bitterly fought political season, where one party claimed that they had God on their side, and to vote for other candidates was tantamount to rebellion against God. I know whereof I speak; I received more than one chastising (and in some cases, profane) comment about my announced voting plans.

Whatever.

No human candidate, no political party, NONE have a corner on the truth. NO ONE really can say they speak and act for God.

This passage lifts us beyond political rhetoric and human democracies, republics and city-states. It puts our well-being into the just and righteous Hand of God. We would do well to panic, just a little, if all of our motives and self-aggrandized opinions were to be suddenly exposed to the Light of God’s justice.

Adonai Tsidkenu
The Lord our Righteousness

The time is coming… when we all will see the “gracious Promise” of God — one for all peoples who hear and respond.

What will I do to change?

What do I really expect God to do?

Do I see those signs of the promise at work around me?

O the time of rejoicing, when we see our Saviour’s face,
And the fullness of His glory we adore;
But we’ll tarry a little, in the keeping of His grace,
Showing forth His blessed image more and more.
~Eliza E. Hewitt