BUT NOT QUITE YET!
Opening Prayer
God of stars and stables, God of angels and shepherds, I praise You for the gift of the Christ child.
Read ISAIAH 9:8–17
The Lord’s Anger Against Israel
8 The Lord has sent a message against Jacob;
it will fall on Israel.
9 All the people will know it—
Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria—
who say with pride
and arrogance of heart,
10 “The bricks have fallen down,
but we will rebuild with dressed stone;
the fig trees have been felled,
but we will replace them with cedars.”
11 But the Lord has strengthened Rezin’s foes against them
and has spurred their enemies on.
12 Arameans from the east and Philistines from the west
have devoured Israel with open mouth.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
his hand is still upraised.
13 But the people have not returned to him who struck them,
nor have they sought the Lord Almighty.
14 So the Lord will cut off from Israel both head and tail,
both palm branch and reed in a single day;
15 the elders and dignitaries are the head,
the prophets who teach lies are the tail.
16 Those who guide this people mislead them,
and those who are guided are led astray.
17 Therefore the Lord will take no pleasure in the young men,
nor will he pity the fatherless and widows,
for everyone is ungodly and wicked,
every mouth speaks folly.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
his hand is still upraised.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.’1
Think Further
As a child I always enjoyed Boxing Day. It was a time for the wider family to catch up and for eating up the wonderful leftovers and playing with presents! Now in adult life the sense of regret that it was now over for another year is, I have to admit, also accompanied by a sense of relief! Isaiah wants to make sure that the faithful among God’s people have grasped the extent of the great hope that is theirs of their wonderful future, both in human history and in eternity. However, he doesn’t want the faithless to think they are off the hook. He has rightly proclaimed the future hope and now turns back to the other prophetic tasks to ‘tell the truth in a society that lives in illusion, [and] grieve in a society that practices denial’!2
It is something of a surprise to see just how relevant Isaiah’s words are in our world. Whatever our political allegiance, we are all used to the next government telling us how bad the previous regime has made things and how wonderful the future will be with them! Verse 10 describes this thought exactly! God’s anger is directed to His chosen nation and not directly to any modern country, but His people today need to heed the warnings. Christmas provides us with a real opportunity to talk to our family, friends, and neighbors about the hope that the coming of Jesus brings to us. However, we are also called to expose the bad things in our world – and indeed, sadly, sometimes in today’s church – and let people know that we are grieving about the corruption, the division, the nastiness, the greed, and the mistreatment of God’s creation, etc., that we see all around us. Otherwise our Christmas message is not much more than chocolate and toys.
Apply
‘O holy child of Bethlehem, / descend to us, we pray; / cast out our sin and enter in; / be born in us today.’3
Closing prayer
Dear Father, You are so faithful and patient with me. There is goodness in the world but so much evil as well. If it was not for You and the hope You give, I would be overwhelmed with despair.
1 Luke 2:14 2 Walter Brueggemann, 2014, see note for 23 December 3 Philip Brooks, 1868, ‘O little town of Bethlehem’
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