reading for: 2 december

Mark 1:1-8

the Good News of God’s Coming

• READ

Mark begins his Gospel with the words: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”. He wants readers to know that Jesus is good news for everyone. Jesus is the long-awaited answered promise in Isaiah 40:9-11 and many other Messianic passages in the OT Scriptures. Jesus is the Good News - what God has been about all along.

In the midst of devastation and despair, of hopelessness and certain destruction, the exiles (those who have been dragged out of their land, robbed of their inheritance and forced into slavery) hear the good news: God is here, God is victorious, your God reigns. 

The Good News is not about going to heaven after we die. It is about God coming at Christmas and His invitation for us to live under His appointed King – Jesus of Nazareth. Through John the Baptist, the first part of the invitation is to repent - surrender our old lives, old ways of doing things. It is a turning away from self and turning to God. It is a baptism of repentance.  

The second part is when Jesus comes proclaiming the ‘Kingdom of God’- that God’s rule is now in effect. And he invites us to follow him. Because to follow Jesus is to enter into God’s realm of authority and blessings (Mark 1:14-15). 

In Acts 1 & 2, Jesus enables all to enter God’s realm by fulfilling OT Scripture (Joel 2:28) pouring out His Spirit (Mark 1:8, Acts 1:4-5, 2:1-47). 

• REFLECT

  Many people find all kinds of meaning and significance in Christmas. The Scriptures simply puts it as – God is with us through Jesus our King. The Good News of Christmas is more relevant to a suffering and pandemic-hit world today, than ever before. Do you dare believe that together, we can be a ‘voice crying out in the wilderness’, saying to broken families and friends this Christmas that God has come and He is putting things in order? Pray and invite someone to your home this Christmas. 

reading for: 3 december

Isaiah 40:1-11

the God Who Comes to Comfort

• READ

  The passage starts with a messenger crying out the unexpected but joyful message. “Comfort! Comfort!”. While chapter 39 hints of the coming Babylonian exile, chapter 40 starts with the end of exile. The path home becomes a level highway at the sound of the messenger because of the God who delivers. The time of God’s long absence from Jerusalem has come to an end. God will return to his holy city and again be accessible: “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed” (verse 5).

  In Isaiah 40:6-9 God commands the messenger to proclaim God’s entrance onto the scene. The contrasting images between frail humanity (grass, flower) and the eternal God whose Word will never fade, serves to highlight the gap between man and God. They remind God’s  people that they have sinned, but God has stayed true. God has heard the cries of pain and suffering of his people. Although they are no more than blades of grass or flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, He cares whether they live or die. He is restoring his relationship with Israel. He is coming to restore and strengthen them. And His gentle presence comes with gifts. “The Lord comes with might, and his arm rules for him...His reward is with him, and his recompense before him” (verse 10). “He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms. He will “carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep” (verse 11).

  Identifying John the Baptist as the messenger, and Jesus as the one who comes with power and tenderness, this passage is used by gospel writers to convey the significance of the coming of the long-awaited Messiah. It's the meaning and significance behind Christmas. The Presence of God, through Jesus, was an unparalleled gift of grace - so unexpected, unearned and unprecedented.  He is the Good Shepherd-king who has come to comfort. 

  In response to so great a love, as followers of Christ, the early Christians were called to the task of preaching: “Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion herald of good tidings” (verse 9). The message of Zion resembles the message given by John the Baptiser: “Here is your God!” (John 1:29-34). But the message doesn’t stop there. Today the message of Christmas - “God is with us” still rings loud and clear. 

• REFLECT

  How can you make the Message of Christmas (God is here with us) a living reality in your life? More than a one-day event or even a seasonal celebration?

reading for: 4 december

2 Peter 3:8-15

The God who invites a response

• READ

  This passage reminds us that the Church is a community that is faithfully waiting and yearning for our Lord’s return as we bear witness to God’s mercy in the world. 

  God’s time is not the same as ours because “the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.”  However, God’s time is not disconnected from our time and having to wait for God is not the occasion for unbelief or being cynical but an opportunity of hope, of living in the knowledge and expectation of God’s generosity, God’s mercy towards all. God’s people live by faith in His promises and by faithfulness, patiently awaiting the Day of his return. For the community marked by waiting, the Second Coming is not a fearful appearance, there is no need to flee from it. In fact it is hope fulfilled, and His unexpectedness of the arrival is welcome because He comes to set in order. Their waiting impacts and shapes the way they live, their values, priorities, decisions, attitudes and behaviours. With eyes on Jesus, the waiting church is being formed and transformed by lives of holiness and godliness. 

  On the other hand, for those who reject God and live their own lives outside of his Will, it will be a terrible day of God’s wrath and judgment. “The heavens being dissolved with fire ...and the heavenly bodies melting as they burn” is a vivid description of this final judgment. 

• REFLECT

  Are we longing for Christ’s return or fearful about it? Take the appropriate steps to prepare yourself for His return. While conversion of the heart is the work of the Holy Spirit, God calls us into partnership with Him. How can Christians help facilitate the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of family and friends?

reading for: 5 december

PSALM 85:1-2, 8-13 

The God who restores through his steadfast love

• READ

  Isaiah’s prophetic voice declares “Comfort, comfort my people” and an end to exile as the “Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him.” In Mark’s gospel, he announces the “beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ,” and 2 Peter provides confident assurance of the coming of the Lord, despite what is seen as a long delay. 

  Psalm also, speaks of the coming of God. can be divided into three sections: verses 1-3, verses 4-7, and verses 8-13.

  In the first three verses, the psalmist looks back with thanksgiving at Israel’s deliverance from exile, celebrating that God “restored the fortunes” of Jacob. 

  In verse 4-7 the focus is on God’s salvation. God’s people who once tasted the favour of God (verse 1) but now finds itself in distress (verse 5), recognises that its restoration and redemption lies with God, the source of their salvation. 

  This coming of God, however, is not some distant hope, but instead it is “near” (verse 9). In this coming of God, the steadfast love of God and the faithfulness of God will be fully visible, the world will be rightly ordered by God, leading to peace and the faithfulness of God —in short, saying that the whole earth will be radically changed.

• REFLECT

  Find a quiet space and go through this Psalm slowly, verse by verse and give time for your imagination to paint a picture in your mind of God in action, the people’s responses and the Psalmist’s posture. Journal or draw what you see and give thanks for it. Share with LG members.