A Message of Judgment and Hope
“The celebration of advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Isaiah 9:1-7
1 Nevertheless, the gloom of the distressed land will not be like that of the former times when he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the future he will bring honor to the way of the sea, to the land east of the Jordan, and to Galilee of the nations.
2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness. 3 You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. The people have rejoiced before you as they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils. 4 For you have shattered their oppressive yoke and the rod on their shoulders, the staff of their oppressor, just as you did on the day of Midian. 5 For every trampling boot of battle and the bloodied garments of war will be burned as fuel for the fire. 6 For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.
Isaiah 6:1
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and the hem of his robe filled the temple.
2 Chronicles 26:3-5
3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem. 4 He did what was right in the Lord’s sight just as his father Amaziah had done. 5 He sought God throughout the lifetime of Zechariah, the teacher of the fear of God. During the time that he sought the Lord, God gave him success.
2 Chronicles 26:16
16 But when he became strong, he grew arrogant, and it led to his own destruction. He acted unfaithfully against the Lord his God by going into the Lord’s sanctuary to burn incense on the incense altar.
You see how dangerous the successes of prosperity generally are, so that those who could not be injured by adversity are ruined, unless they are careful, by prosperity; and those who in the conflict of battle have escaped the danger of death fall before their own trophies and triumphs.
John Cassian
Isaiah 2:5-22
5 House of Jacob, come and let’s walk in the Lord’s light. 6 For you have abandoned your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of divination from the East and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines. They are in league with foreigners. 7 Their land is full of silver and gold, and there is no limit to their treasures; their land is full of horses, and there is no limit to their chariots. 8 Their land is full of worthless idols; they worship the work of their hands,
what their fingers have made. 9 So humanity is brought low, and each person is humbled. Do not forgive them! 10 Go into the rocks and hide in the dust from the terror of the Lord and from his majestic splendor. 11 The pride of mankind will be humbled, and human loftiness will be brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted on that day. 12 For a day belonging to the Lord of Armies is coming against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up—it will be humbled— 13 against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up, against all the oaks of Bashan, 14 against all the high mountains, against all the lofty hills, 15 against every high tower,
against every fortified wall, 16 against every ship of Tarshish, and against every splendid sea vessel. 17 The pride of mankind will be brought low, and human loftiness will be humbled;
the Lord alone will be exalted on that day. 18 The worthless idols will vanish completely.
19 People will go into caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the Lord and from his majestic splendor, when he rises to terrify the earth. 20 On that day people will throw their worthless idols of silver and gold, which they made to worship, to the moles and the bats. 21 They will go into the caves of the rocks and the crevices in the cliffs, away from the terror of the Lord and from his majestic splendor, when he rises to terrify the earth. 22 Put no more trust in a mere human, who has only the breath in his nostrils. What is he really worth?