Advent: Peace 2024
Advent Dox
Call to worship / OT reading:
pasotr andrew Logionw
Isaiah 9.6-7
NT reading:
pastor zachary mcguire
Luke 2.8-14
song:
Hark the herald
Historical reading:
dr. brett eckel
advent collect 2 BOCP
song:
Sing we the song of Emmanuel
Confession & Pardon
pastor michael champoux
song:
O come all ye faithful
Sermon:
dr. alex loginow
Advent: Peace 2024
Introduction
Dr. Brett asked me to write the advent email devotional this week and in it I mentioned the traditional Christian greeting: Peace be with you. That got me thinking that the Jewish community has a similar greeting; they say Shalom. When I was a kid I had a friend who was Jewish and through his family I experienced cultural Judaism. When we were 13 I went to his bar mitzvah; part of our requirements to graduate was community service hours and I served with him at a Jewish food bank. Every time I was in that setting they always greeted each other saying shalom – shalom for hello, shalom for goodbye. Whenever I saw my friend’s mom she always greeted me: “shalom.”
Shalom means peace. What do you think of when you hear the word peace? We often think of the absence of conflict, but in the Old Testament the word peace (שָׁל֔וֹם) means more than that; it means, “Whole, complete, sound.” שָׁל֔וֹם Is often connected with the idea of Sabbath or rest. When we talk about peace (שָׁל֔וֹם) we have no choice but to do so in an aspirational way because when we take a look around at the world we can see that there is a lack of peace; a lack of שָׁל֔וֹם. Not only does conflict abound, but also the biblical concept of שָׁל֔וֹם doesn’t mirror what we see around us. So many things in the world are not as they should be: there is a lack of wholeness, completeness, soundness, rest, peace from the darkest corners of our hearts to the ends of the earth there is not שָׁל֔וֹם.
Promise of Peace
But it has not always been so. When God created the world there was שָׁל֔וֹם. Genesis 1.31 tells us that God created the world very good. Everything worked as it should; all of God’s creation was whole, complete, sound. There was no sin and no death. Heaven and earth were one; God’s cosmic temple where He dwelt with His image bearers and blessed us and we worshipped Him righteously – holistically, completely, soundly. But that שָׁל֔וֹם no longer exists. Why?
We saw in Genesis 3 that שָׁל֔וֹם was lost when Adam fell in sin. The world now lacks peace, שָׁל֔וֹם because of sin. Sin, death, brokenness, natural disasters, hurt, pain, guilt, shame – everything is not as it should be – all because of sin. But even in His judgment, God poured out His grace. Genesis 3.15 tells us how the curse of sin and death is reversed through seed of woman who will crush the head of the serpent
From Genesis 3.15 forward the vibe of the Old Testament is anticipation, longing, expectation, hope in that Genesis 3.15 promise. All of the laws, stories, poems, and prophesy serve the Genesis 3.15 promise and sit in anticipation. This is what we intentionally do in advent – we’re sitting in anticipation for the incarnation of the Son of God. Advent is the season every year where, in a sense, we voluntarily take on the perspective of the Old Testament in anticipation, expectation, hope, longing for the incarnation of the Son of God.
And that anticipation couldn’t be more palpable than in our Scripture passage in Haggai 2. The background of this short prophetic book is that Israel had been exiled because of sin – they had broken the old covenant; they were living in complete disregard of the 10 Commandments, so God exiled them from the Promised Land for 70 years. When the 70 years expired, the Persian King Darius sent them back to Jerusalem to rebuild city and the temple. This time period in redemptive history – often called the time of the restoration, or the post-exilic period – is one of the low points – Israel was under Persian dominion; they had no national autonomy, no king, and no temple.
So they retuned to Jerusalem and the 1st thing they did was build themselves homes before they began rebuilding the temple. The problem is they settled into the daily routines of farming, defending the city, raising kids and what not but they didn’t start rebuilding the temple. This is where the prophet Haggai comes in. In chapter 1 Haggai calls them out for building their own homes and not building God’s home.
We need to pause right here for reflection and pastoral encouragement. Do you build God’s house or do you only care about building your own house? Do you regularly give of tithes and offerings? On December 22nd we’re going to receive a 2nd offering to help pay down our church mortgage – have you been praying about what God wants you to give? Giving is a means of grace and not giving is sin; it reveals that you are not grateful for God’s provision and that you trust your money more than you trust God. For the good of your own soul, do not neglect building God’s house for your own.
The encouraging thing is that the people respond to Haggai – they actually get to work. They repent for neglecting God’s house. But once they get going the older generation, the generation who may have seen Solomon’s temple in their youth, or heard their parents talk about the 1st temple, quickly get discouraged because this 2nd temple will be nowhere near the glory of the 1st. This seems to be a temptation for people, as they get older: bitterness seems to more easily taker root.
Nothing is ever as good as it used to be. My elderly brothers and sisters don’t fall into this temptation of the devil. I love nostalgia as much as anyone, but God doesn’t want us to live in the past. We live in the present and for the future. Things are not getting worse. God is in control and He’s moving all things foreword for His glory. Make the most of the time you have left – pour in to younger people, serve the church, pray, give, encourage, love.
The older generation in Haggai allowed bitterness and despair to overtake them and they were tempted to wonder whether God was going to keep His promises. yhwh had told King David that the Genesis 3.15 seed of the woman would come from David’s line and sit on his throne forever, but there is no Jewish king by Haggai’s day; Darius the Persian is their king. They have no hope of keeping the Law without a temple and it’s becoming clear that this 2nd temple will not be like the 1st. This was indeed a time of great darkness.
But it is in this darkness that, like an advent candle, the light of God’s Word shines once again. Haggai declares words of hope in the depths of despair. Haggai reminds the people of God’s faithfulness 1st by evoking the covenant name of God: yhwh. yhwh is the one who gave Adam the Genesis 3.15 promise. yhwh is the one who brought Noah through the flood and the Patriarchs through their sojourning, and Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. yhwh is the one who established David’s eternal throne and filled the 1st temple with His glory. And yhwh is speaking to them now. The name yhwh evokes the steadfast love, the covenant faithfulness of God – God will keep His promises because He is yhwh – faithfulness is His identity.
And it has been so from the beginning and Haggai points us back to the beginning recapitulating Genesis 1 creation language. God will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. Haggai calls the people to believe the promise because God’s not done yet. He’s going to do something akin to what He did when He created the world. Notice the continuity of the Genesis 1 vocabulary, but also the discontinuity – God’s gonna shake things up. What will be the result of this global shaking?
The LORD says He will fill this house (the temple) with glory, with treasures, or the desire of the nations. This sound like Solomon’s original temple, doesn’t it? The temple where the glory of yhwh rested; the temple that was filled with treasures from the nations. But the glory of this new temple will be greater than the former because in this temple there will be Peace (שָׁל֔וֹם). The peace that was lost in the garden, the שָׁל֔וֹם they’ve been anticipating, longing for, the promise they’ve been trusting in will arrive in this new temple.
Prince of Peace
What are we to make of these promises? Were they ever fulfilled? When I was writing my dissertation I read some progressive commentaries that said Haggai was clearly wrong. The statements he made never happened.
The glory of yhwh never returned to the 2nd temple like it filled the 1st. The treasures of the nations never filled the 2nd temple like Solomon’s. There was never peace in the temple. The 2nd temple saw nothing but unrest until it was destroyed in AD 70. Just google the Maccabean revolt or other Jewish history during the intertestamental period and you’ll find anything but peace. When we arrive at the 1st century, Jerusalem and the temple are no longer under Persian control, but now are under Roman rule – same story, different characters. Was Haggai wrong? Is there error in God’s Word?
God promised his peace in the temple. But as we move farther up and further in to God’s story, the New Testament reveals that God’s promise was much bigger than a building in Palestine. John 1.14 tells us that in His incarnation the Son of God “tabernacled among us.” The tabernacle was the portable tent Israel used in the wilderness, a sort of pre-temple; it was where yhwh dwelt with them before Solomon built the temple. And St. John tells us that this baby that Mary nurses to sleep is the Word of God tabernacle-ing in flesh.
Not only that, but isn’t it fascinating that the only story in Scripture about Jesus’ life between birth and His ministry is the scene when Jesus was 12 years old and His parents left Him at the temple. They come back to find him teaching all of the teachers in the temple.
Not only that but Matthew 12.6 says that Jesus is “greater than the temple.” Do you have the eyes to see the connection the Spirit makes between the prophet and the apostle, between Haggai and Matthew? Haggai said the latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former. Matthew tells us that Jesus is greater than the temple. It’s the same word in the LXX and in the Gospel (μεγας).
Not only that but in John 2.19-22 Jesus explicitly explains the true meaning of the temple:
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
Jesus is the true temple. He is the one to whom the temple was pointing.. Jesus is the meaning of every nook and cranny of that ancient structure. And so Jesus is our שָׁל֔וֹם.
When Jesus was born the angels announced: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased” (Luke 2.14). When Christ was baptized the Holy Spirit descended on Him as a dove, the symbol of peace (Matt 3.16). On the night that the Lord Jesus was betrayed, He ended the upper room discourse with these words: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world (John 16.33).
The Father sent His Son to overcome the world and restore peace (שָׁל֔וֹם). Jesus restores peace through His life – His active righteousness. Peace (שָׁל֔וֹם) was lost in the world because of Adam’s sin. The federal head of humanity broke the covenant of works, he sinned against God and so everything under his headship – his posterity and the creation itself – is condemned, but Jesus is the last Adam. Jesus kept God’s Law in word, thought, and deed inaugurating a new covenant.
And Jesus restores Peace (שָׁל֔וֹם) through His passive righteousness – His death on the cross. Every element of the temple – the sacrifices, the priests, the holy of holies, atonement, God’s dwelling among His people – they all lead us to Good Friday, to the death of that baby that Mary nursed, to the death of the Word made flesh. Jesus took His active righteousness, His obedience, His sinlessness to the cross where He voluntarily took our judgment. Jesus Christ stood condemned in the place of His elect, exhausting God’s just wrath against sin. Because the hindrance to peace, sin, had been justly atoned for, the death of Jesus reestablishes peace (שָׁל֔וֹם) between God and His creation.
And because Christ was righteous, the penalty for sin, death, couldn’t justly detain Jesus so He rose from the dead on the 3rd day. The resurrection of Christ inaugurated the new world defined by שָׁל֔וֹם. The seeds of the new world walked out of the tomb with Jesus on that 1st Easter morning and has been spreading with the church all over the globe for the last 2 millennia. It’s here now; we’re experiencing it now as we gather together around the Word and sacrament this morning.
Practicing Peace
So for us Peace (שָׁל֔וֹם) is genuine – peace with God and peace with others. We saw last week in Romans 5.1 that we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ because we have been justified by faith. Justified means declared righteous. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our deepest universal human need – sin and the judgment sin rightly deserves – is made whole, complete, sound. The righteousness of the Lord Jesus is imputed to us so that we are forever declared righteous before God. And that justification, that declaration of righteous, is applied exclusively through faith.
Faith means knowing who Jesus is and what Jesus did and assenting to that good news – confessing the death and resurrection of Jesus, not denying it. Faith means trusting in Jesus alone for the forgiveness of your sin and the hope of eternal life. Do you have faith in Jesus? Do you trust in Jesus? He is the only way to be justified; He is the only path to peace with God.
If you do have faith, that will be revealed in your repentance. Repentance is the confession of sin the turning from sin. Have you confessed your sin? Do you confess your sin? Have you turned from your sin? Do you turn from your sin? If not, then reflect on whether you’re actually trusting in Jesus because a lack of repentance reveals a lack of faith, which means a lack of justification, which means a lack of peace with God. You need peace with God. Look to Jesus. Look to the manger and the cross and the empty tomb.
When we have peace with God through faith in Jesus, Scripture says that the fruit of the Spirit is peace (Gal 5.22). Because peace is a fruit of the Spirit, Romans 12.18 requires that if possible, so far as it depends on us, [that we] live peaceably with all. That doesn’t mean we necessarily have an absence of conflict with all, remember biblical peace doesn’t mean an absence of conflict, it means wholeness, completeness, soundness. So to live peaceably with all, means having a whole, complete, sound relationship with others, so far as it depends on you. It means love and fidelity in marriage; it means raising kids in fear of the Lord; it means charity towards the least of these – the poor, the sick, the imprisoned, the unborn, babies, children, the mentally handicapped, the physically handicapped, the elderly – anyone that would not qualify for the “survival of the fittest;” it means humility; it means honesty (that your yes be yes and your no be no); it means sharing the good news of Jesus with those who don’t believe; it means calling each other to repent when we’re in sin; it means valuing all people as image bearers of God. This is how we live in peace (שָׁל֔וֹם) with all.
Conclusion
When we live in this peaceable way; when we live in this holistic, complete, sound way, others get a glimpse of the שָׁל֔וֹם that will define the world when the Lord Jesus returns to raise the dead, judge the world, and make all things new. The only passage in the New Testament that quotes the book of Haggai is Hebrews 12. The author of Hebrews tells us that Haggai 2.6-9 is ultimately about the 2nd advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. On the last day God is going to shake the world order so that everything that corrupts שָׁל֔וֹם will be abolished and the Kingdom of Christ is the only kingdom that cannot be shaken – in this place God will give peace. Are you building your life on the only unshakable kingdom?
The book of Revelation describes the new creation as the New Jerusalem (foundation of peace). That’s because when Jesus Christ returns Peace (שָׁל֔וֹם) – wholeness, completeness, soundness – will be fully and finally restored. The center of the new world is the city of peace. Today we hope in that peace, we hope in the advent of Jesus and it is only through faith in Jesus, that we can truly say and truly mean peace be with you!