A Shoot from the Stump: Advent Hope

Isaiah worked hardas a prophet, trying to convince the king and the people of Jerusalem that Assyria was not inevitable, that they were not supreme, that they were not universal, that as powerful as they seemed, their time would pass. Their power would fade. All throughout his prophecy, he tries to remind his people and the kings of Jerusalem that if anyone was inevitable, if anyone had true power and universal sovereignty, it was their God. Not the God, the so-called God of Assyria,but the God of Jerusalem, the God of Abraham and Jacob and Isaac. That was where their power came from. That was the God who had true staying power. [00:19:49] (47 seconds)  #GodOverEmpires

Assyria invaded, destroyed,and laid waste to the nation all around Jerusalem. All of Judah was destroyed. And Assyria came to the very doorstep of Jerusalem. And everyone believed that the inevitable had finally come. That Jerusalem would be destroyed like Samaria before it. But God intervened. And inexplicably, Jerusalem was saved.It was not overtaken. Assyria turned back and went home. [00:22:33] (32 seconds)  #JerusalemSaved

There is something still growing.Something that will appear. And we know that that branch that grows from the stump, that shoot of life, is Jesus who was born just seven miles outside of Jerusalem. 700 years later. And when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Assyria had long been forgotten. I would venture to guess that today is the most you've ever heard about Assyria in your life. Assyria was no more. It had been gone for 600 years by that time. [00:26:06] (36 seconds)  #BranchFromJesse

Unlike the empires who ruled by powerand violence and military strength, the new king would rule from a right relationship with God, full trust in God's ways. And the kingdom he would rule over would be a peaceable kingdom,a kingdom of peace like none had ever seen before. Not just a temporary peace, not just a peace that relies on strong enforcement of the border. This kingdom will have the kind of peace where even the animals would be at peace with one another. Their very nature would change. [00:28:01] (38 seconds)  #PeaceableKingdom

``That's what Advent is about. It's about our hope in this coming kingdom, our hope in Jesus bringing peace to this world, and our belief that this kingdom of Jesus, the shoot that grew from the branch, from the stump, that kingdom is inevitable. Jesus is inevitable.Peace is inevitable. Justice and mercy and love, these are the things that are inevitable. [00:29:50] (31 seconds)  #AdventHope

All those rulers of the world who brag and boast and threaten, they will be forgotten one day,as memorable as Assyria. And Jesus will stand. Jesus will stand as the king, as the new ruler, and he will judge the world with justice and righteousness. Jesus will lift up the poor and the meek. Jesus will take the swords and the guns and pound them into shovels and rakes. He will take the tanks and turn them into tractors. [00:30:22] (34 seconds)  #SwordsToPlowshares

Jesus will forgive the sinners who repent. He will offer grace tothose who have failed. We are the people who know what is inevitable. We are the people who know who who is inevitable. It is Jesus and his kingdom. Evil and power and violence and injustice and greed and despair. These are the things that are disappearing. These are the things that are going away. They have no staying power. They will all expire. They will go the way of the Assyrians. [00:30:57] (39 seconds)  #GraceWins

God has good news for you. There is always hope. There is always the chance of reversal, of God bringing life where you saw no life. We've seen this pattern before. A stump where life seems over. A cross where they tried to eliminate the Savior. But our God sends shoots from the stumps and brings resurrection and salvation from the cross. [00:33:05] (29 seconds)  #ShootsFromStumps