Monday after Ad te levavi, The First Sunday in Advent
Posted on December 4, 2023 by under
Scripture: Jeremiah 33:14-18 (NKJV)
33:14 ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah:
15 ‘In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David A Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
16 ‘In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called:
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS’
17 “For thus says the Lord: ‘David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; 18 nor shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man to offer burnt offerings before Me, to kindle grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually.’”
Devotion
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that I will perform that good thing which I have promised.” These words summarize the whole season of Advent. While Advent is a time of preparation, it is also a season filled with hope—the faithful anticipation of God’s fulfillment of His Word. Hope, like a candle, shines brightest in the darkness. And darkness was the state of God’s people when Jeremiah penned this prophecy.
While the Lord promised King David that his Seed would sit upon his throne, the house of David had fallen into disrepair. His kingdom was torn apart, and the dynasty which was promised to endure like a great tree was seemingly felled as both king and people departed more and more from God’s Word. But the Lord never forgot His promise. He made good on His Word and directed the Prophet to kindle hope in His faithful people. The description of our Savior as a tender plant springing up from a desolate place is the very image of hope: from the dead stump of the house of David the Messiah came forth, like a shoot springing up from the roots.
In our current age of spiritual darkness, when hope seems scarce, let the words of the Prophet rekindle hope in His promises to us in this latter time, so that we always look forward to the day when our righteous King will come and deliver us from this sin-darkened world into the world to come.
Collect: Stir up, we beseech Thee, Thy power, O Lord, and come, that by Thy protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins, and saved by Thy mighty deliverance; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
