The Cast of Christmas: Prophets

In reflecting on the story of Christmas, we're just so fond of focusing on figures who fit nicely into our nativity scenes: Joseph, Mary, shepherds, angels, wise men, assorted livestock. But behind the scenes and off-stage lurk others no less important to the full picture. Throughout the centuries and even millennia before that Bethlehem dawn, God sent a number of people we call prophets – human spokesmen given the privilege of eavesdropping on the heavenly counsel taken by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and then relaying urgent messages to the rest of us just in the nick of time.

So the prophet Abram heard that God would bring life from his good-as-dead body (Hebrews 11:12), and was reckoned righteous for having faith in a God of Resurrection (Genesis 15:6). He heard that, through the work of this Resurrection God, kings and nations would come from him (Genesis 17:5-6), centering on one Offspring who would inherit the covenant loyalty of the LORD (Genesis 17:7; cf. Galatians 3:16). Just you wait...

The prophet Moses heard that God would someday appoint a new Prophet from the people of Israel, a Prophet coming with a covenant like Moses did (Deuteronomy 18:15-18), when the LORD would circumcise his peoples' wayward hearts to love his justice and mercy (Deuteronomy 10:16; 30:6); and this Prophet-to-come would be one the LORD would hold all people accountable to believe (Deuteronomy 18:19). Just you wait...

Many years passed. Prophets like Samuel anointed kings like David, who himself was inspired to prophesy in his Psalms. Prophets like Elijah and Elisha worked great wonders in the land. The prophet Amos heard about judgment on Judah and Israel alike (Amos 2:4-8); he spoke of God trying to shake his people awake (Amos 4:6-13), calling them to seek him and live (Amos 5:4) – and after judgment passes through, God promised to raise up “the booth of David” and turn their land into a paradise forever (Amos 9:11-15). Just you wait...

The prophet Hosea heard about the LORD's deep grief at the unfaithfulness of his Bride, and his determination to woo her and wed her at last (Hosea 2:19-20). He recalled the days long before when the LORD adopted Israel as a son and led him up from Egypt with deep compassion (Hosea 11:1-4). But the people were long unfaithful, tempted by paganism and political pressure. After thundering judgment chapter after chapter, finally the LORD says, “My compassion grows warm and tender; I will not execute my burning anger” (Hosea 11:8-9). God contemplates, “Shall I redeem them from Death? O Death, where are your plagues? O Grave, where is your sting?” (Hosea 13:14). And so the prophet Hosea hears God's promise that one day all of God's countless people would be called “sons [and daughters] of the living God” (Hosea 1:10), gathered under a single Head to lead them (Hosea 1:11), who would be a faithful son of David (Hosea 3:5). Just you wait...

And then, how much the prophet Isaiah heard! He saw that, though proud nations like Assyria were God's axe (Isaiah 10:15, 34), sent to chop wayward Judah down to just a holy stump (Isaiah 6:13), out of this remnant stump would grow “a shoot from the stump of Jesse,” a fruitful “Branch from his roots” (Isaiah 11:1), that is, a King anointed with God's Spirit to rule with eternal justice (Isaiah 11:2-5). Isaiah explains that this will be a sign for the whole royal family: that “the virgin will conceive and bear a son,” who will be proof that God is with his people after all (Isaiah 7:14). In those troubled times of deepest darkness and greatest gloom (Isaiah 8:22), this great light was to burst forth in “Galilee of the Gentiles” (Isaiah 9:2) with the birth of a holy King called the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6), to rule a kingdom with eternal justice (Isaiah 9:7).

This would fulfill the prophecy that “the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him” to “tend his flock like a shepherd” (Isaiah 40:10-11). This king would be the faithful remnant of the remnant of Israel, the Servant of the LORD, and so God calls him “my Servant, whom I uphold,” and he comes bearing God's Spirit (Isaiah 42:1). He would be anointed to “bring good news to the poor, … to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives” (Isaiah 61:1). This royal Servant would be sent “to bring back the preserved ones of Israel,” but also to be “a light for the nations,” so that “salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).

This royal Servant, Isaiah says, would “act wisely” (Isaiah 52:13), but nonetheless be “despised and rejected by men” (Isaiah 53:3), becoming “one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers” (Isaiah 49:7). He would “give [his] back to those who strike, and [his] cheeks to those who pull out the beard,” and wouldn't flinch from those who spit in his face (Isaiah 50:6), but in all this the royal Servant would “not cry aloud or lift up his voice” (Isaiah 42:2), for “like a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). This was all so he will be, Isaiah foresees, “pierced for our transgressions” and “crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5), to “[bear] the sin of many” (Isaiah 53:12) once “the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). And so the royal Servant would be “cut off from the land of the living” and assigned a “grave with the wicked” (Isaiah 53:8-9), having “poured out his soul to death” (Isaiah 53:12). By this the LORD would “wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion” (Isaiah 4:4), and because of his atoning death, the LORD promises through Isaiah, “I will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25).

But the Servant would not be abandoned to this grave with the wicked or be “numbered with the transgressors” forever, but would later “prolong his days” and “see light and be satisfied” and receive “a portion with the great” (Isaiah 53:10-12). Isaiah promises that this Servant or “Branch of the LORD” would revive and be “beautiful and glorious” (Isaiah 4:2), living on to “reign in righteousness” (Isaiah 32:1). On his account, God would send messengers “to the coastlands far away that have not heard my fame or seen my glory, and they shall declare my glory among the nations” (Isaiah 66:19). Through this royal Servant would come a new “everlasting covenant” of love (Isaiah 55:3), embracing even foreigners and outcasts (Isaiah 56:3-8), and a family would form around him, for Isaiah says, “He shall see his offspring” (Isaiah 53:10). This is why God tells his Servant, “I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring” (Isaiah 44:3), who will be “saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation” (Isaiah 45:17). Just you wait...

In those years of Isaiah's ministry lived also the prophet Micah, who foresaw that an ancient ruler for Israel would emerge from “Bethlehem” (Micah 5:2), through whom God would “tread our iniquities underfoot” and “cast our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19). Through him, the LORD would gather the outcasts and the afflicted (Micah 4:6-7), and nations would come to seek the LORD and learn his ways of peace (Micah 4:2-3). This Ruler from Bethlehem would “stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD,” and would be “great to the ends of the earth; and he will be their peace” (Micah 5:4-5). Just you wait...

The prophet Habakkuk, in an hour of distress, heard that when this time comes, “the righteous shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4). The prophet Zephaniah, too, foresaw that all peoples would learn to “call upon the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord” (Zephaniah 3:9), once the LORD himself would dwell in Jerusalem's midst as “a mighty one who will save” (Zephaniah 3:17), to “save the lame and gather the outcast and … change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth” (Zephaniah 3:19). And the prophet Joel, in the face of a destroying army, declared that once the LORD's Voice would be heard in Jerusalem someday (Joel 3:16), “a fountain shall come forth from the House of the LORD” (Joel 3:18). God would grant plenty to his people (Joel 2:23-25), pouring down not just rain but his own Spirit (Joel 2:28-29), and “everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved” (Joel 2:32). Just you wait...

The prophet Jeremiah saw that, after the coming exile, the people would be brought back to seek and find their God (Jeremiah 29:11-14). Someday they would be ruled by a “Ruler [who] shall come out of their midst” (Jeremiah 30:21), when the LORD would “raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land; in his days Judah will be saved” (Jeremiah 23:5-6; cf. 33:15-16). In those days, the prophet saw, God will “make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah” (Jeremiah 31:31), and would thus “forgive their iniquity” and “remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). The prophet awaited the day when “all nations shall gather … to the presence of the LORD” (Jeremiah 3:17). Just you wait...

So too, the prophet Ezekiel heard that God would “rescue [his] flock” and “set up over them one shepherd,” a king from the line of David, who would “feed them and be their shepherd” (Ezekiel 34:22-23). Through him, God would make a “covenant of peace” with his people (Ezekiel 34:25; 37:26), reviving them to real life (Ezekiel 37:11-14), washing them “clean from all their uncleannesses,” replacing their resistant hearts with tender ones, and filling the people with his own Spirit (Ezekiel 36:25-27). In this way, they would become “one nation in the land, … and one king shall be king over them all” (Ezekiel 37:22), namely, the Good Shepherd from the house of David (Ezekiel 37:24-25). Just you wait...

The prophet Daniel came to bear witness to a “God in heaven who reveals mysteries” (Daniel 2:28) and who “removes kings and establishes kings” (Daniel 2:21). In visions he saw the great empires of history as metals like gold, silver, bronze, iron, even clay – but a holy Stone, carved by no human hand, would smash and replace them with a kingdom that would “stand forever” (Daniel 2:44). The prophet also saw the great empires of history as vicious inhuman beasts (Daniel 7:2-8), who would be tamed and replaced by a human figure, the “one like a son of man,” who would receive from God the right to rule that kingdom that stands forever (Daniel 7:13-14). And finally the prophet Daniel heard tell of an 'anointed prince,' the Messiah, who would come and “be cut off” at a very specific time (Daniel 9:26). Just you wait...

The prophet Haggai promised that when the “Desire of Nations” would arrive, the LORD would glorify his new temple more than the one Solomon built (Haggai 2:7-9). The prophet Zechariah promised that the holy Servant of the LORD called “the Branch” (Zechariah 3:8) would be a royal priest who would build God's true temple (Zechariah 6:12-13), and through whom, God says, “I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day” (Zechariah 3:9). This Branch was to be the King who comes in peace, “humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” into Jerusalem, “righteous and having salvation” (Zechariah 9:9). Though people would look on “him whom they have pierced” and “mourn for him” (Zechariah 12:10), this would be how “a fountain shall be opened … to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness” (Zechariah 13:1). This humble King would set prisoners free through “the blood of my covenant with you” (Zechariah 9:11), and would rule the earth forever (Zechariah 9:10). Only in this way would “many peoples and strong nations come to seek the LORD” (Zechariah 8:22), when the kingdom of God at last arrives (Zechariah 14:9). And the prophet Malachi warned that “the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple” to purify the people (Malachi 3:1-3); and when things seem too hot, “the Sun of Righteousness” would rise with healing in his wings for all who fear the LORD (Malachi 4:2). Just you wait...

Down through the centuries, the prophets kept hitting at so many of the same things. They saw the same things on the horizon, heard the whispers of God as he plotted it all out. And as the people inherited these promises over centuries, how many new years do you think began when they said, “This will be the year”? And then how many New Year's Eves rolled around, and they looked back and saw no messiah, no justice, no forgiveness, no glory? And so the elders reading the prophets' scrolls would tell the people, “Not yet, but someday. Oh, just you wait...” And so many did wait. In today's passage, we read of a man who was “waiting for the consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25), and of many people who were “waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38) – the very things of which the age-old prophets spoke.

Onto that scene walk two elderly prophets, Simeon and Anna. (I sure wish either of them had left a book of scripture behind!) He was “righteous and devout,” being led by the Holy Spirit, and had received a promise that he wouldn't die until the saw the prophets' words coming true – until he saw the Lord's Messiah, the anointed King from the house of David, face-to-face (Luke 2:25-27). She was a woman of the tribe of Asher, a widow most all her life, who stayed on sacred ground to fast and pray by night and by day (Luke 2:36-37). The both of them were waiting... waiting for an answer. Fasting, praying for an answer.

But then, amidst the milling throng in the temple courts, they beheld a forty-day-old baby boy in the arms of a peasant couple – too poor to afford a lamb, but only bringing a pair of pigeons for Mary's atonement (Luke 2:24; cf. Leviticus 12:8). And in seeing “the child Jesus,” they knew that their wait was over. Simeon could say, “My eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples: a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel” (Luke 2:30-32). This was what the prophets had always said: a public salvation, a public display of God's strength, to open Gentile eyes and fulfill Israel's destiny and put everything back the way it ought to be. The key act of faith would forever now be in looking at this Jesus and seeing the light of God shining clear and strong.

When Simeon and Anna saw Jesus, they saw everything they'd been waiting for all their lives. It might take a bit more time to unfold, but it was all there, all there in him. How would you have reacted, if you had been there that day? If you had been able to take the infant Jesus in your arms? If you had looked into his face and known that the hopes and fears of all the years were met in him one cold Bethlehem night? Had seen in him that the story of your life had reached its great resolution, and the tension of years was coming undone, and now the plot had its point? How did Simeon and Anna react?

Simeon thanked God for “letting [his] servant,” Simeon, “depart in peace.” He thanked God for being faithful to his word, after so many years of waiting (Luke 2:29). He blessed Joseph and Mary, and prophesied about what all this would mean (Luke 2:34). Nothing would be as it had been. Nothing could stay hidden. This Messiah would unmask the reality behind everyone, would ferret out the human heart and put it on display, “so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:35). God had chosen this Child to be the standard, this Child to be the centerpiece, the cornerstone: either people would trip over him and fall, or people would build on his foundation and rise – and there would be plenty of both (Luke 2:34; cf. Isaiah 8:14; 28:16; Romans 9:32-33; 1 Peter 2:7-8). His life would not be easy; he was a sign from God, just as the prophets said, but would be opposed and spurned, also as the prophets said (Luke 2:34).

And as for Anna, “coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38). Not only did she thank God for fulfilling his word and making good on his promises, but she went and found others who were waiting – who knew something was lacking in their lives, who knew that something was wrong with the way the world was – and she told them that she'd just seen the sign, this child Jesus, who would be the answer to all their waiting, too.

As we meander through the year, we wait for so much. We wait for consolation in our darkest gloom. We wait for a rescue from our addictions, for freedom from our slavery, for an end to the struggle with our vices and bad habits, our faults and our sins. We wait for peace in a war-torn world. We wait for unity in a divided society. We wait for reconciliation in the face of betrayal. We wait for a flicker of flame to melt and cheer the bleak midwinter. And how many times have we sighed, “Not yet, but someday”? And how many times have we felt anguish, and despaired, and murmured, “Not yet, and never”? How often have we asked what's the point? How often have we felt beleaguered, worn down, exhausted by the wait, bored with the monotony, pained by the need, ensnared by the tension, bursting with longing or bowed low with resignation?

But I leave you with this promise, as solid as all the prophets whose messages Simeon and Anna saw come true before their very eyes: In Jesus Christ, we no longer say, “Not yet, but someday.” In Jesus Christ, we say only two things. For some: “Not then, but now!” – “Now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). For others: “Not seen, but soon!” – for “by God's power [you] are being guarded through faith for a salvation [that's already] ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5).

And all those prophets who came before, who “searched and inquired carefully” into the things of God's Spirit – they “prophesied about the grace that was to be yours” (1 Peter 1:10). They were in fact “serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven” (1 Peter 1:12). So don't lose heart: all that the prophets long foretold is true, has come true, is coming true, will come true: Not then, but now! Not seen, but soon! So let us, like Simeon and Anna and the prophets before them, announce these things in the good news for others who are waiting for something they know yet not what. Thanks be to God! Amen!