So, Where's The Peace and Joy?
When you listen to the lyrics of Christmas songs, you’d think something really great happened when Jesus was born. “Joy to the world, the LORD is come, let earth receive her king.” That sounds pretty good, right?
So what do you say to people who might ask, “but where is the peace on earth the Christmas cards talk about?” Why are things still bad? Didn’t Jesus come to fix everything?
Welcome to Advent. “Joy to the World” is technically not a Christmas song, it’s an Advent song, it’s all about anticipation. Advent means “coming” in Latin. It’s the season when we focus on the preparation for Christ coming to earth. “Christ” is the Greek word for the Hebrew word “Messiah,” which means “the LORD’s anointed One.” God’s official anointed prophet, priest, and king. The One who will speak the Word of God as a His final prophet, represent the people to God in prayer and worship as His final priest, and rule and reign over all creation as His final King. That’s who the Messiah, the Christ, that’s who Jesus is.
Here’s what some people don’t understand: Advent isn’t just four weeks of looking forward to celebrating Christmas. We all love Christmas, but Advent is about more than Christmas. It’s a reminder that we’re still waiting for the big day. The day when Jesus doesn’t come as a helpless babe in a manger, but the day He comes back with power and glory carrying a sword. That day is yet to come, we’re still waiting for that one. Advent is a reminder that we haven’t given up hope. We also haven’t settled for the way things are.
Advent is like this: Imagine you’re in a dark alley in some big city. You’re unarmed and appear to be alone. Three bad guys suddenly surround you, they have weapons and are threatening to hurt you. This is pretty much what life on planet earth is like at any given moment.
But you’re not scared because you know something they don’t know. You just got off the phone with Superman and you know he’s going to come swooping down any second. You actually kinda feel sorry for the bad guys. That’s what life on planet earth for a Christian is like.
We’re living in those moments before Superman shows up. That’s the reminder of Advent. That’s the kind of peace on earth we have right now. The confidence that Jesus has promised to come again and make everything good—promised to save us. It should change the way we see things. We sing “Joy to the world” by faith.
Today we’re going to focus on the traditional liturgical reading for the second Sunday in Advent. It’s the first eight verses of the Gospel of Mark.
Mark is like a graphic novel version of the life of Jesus. It’s all action. Gets right to the point.
The author, a guy named John Mark, probably never met Jesus. Although some people think he might have been the Rich Young Ruler that Jesus told to sell all his stuff if he wanted to follow Him, but he went away sad because he had great wealth. They speculate that maybe he had a change of heart, sold his stuff, and started following. There’s a detail that’s only in the Gospel of Mark when Jesus gets arrested where it says,
“A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.” [Mark 14:51]
People think that might be Mark. It is the kind of detail you might add to the story if it was you. Also the kind of detail you might leave anonymous. Anyway, it’s just speculation. Kinda fun though.
We do know Mark was the nephew of Barnabus, who was St Paul’s partner in his early missionary journeys. Barnabus was the one who vouched for Paul when he first became a Christian—because before that Paul was kinda famous for hunting down and killing them.
On their first big mission trip, they took Barnabus’ young nephew with them. But when things got tough, Mark split. He went back to Jerusalem and Paul thought he was a coward. Wouldn’t have anything to do with him for a long time. Paul and Barnabus had a falling out over this.
Later they all made up and reconciled but Mark ended up doing ministry with Peter instead. He spent years traveling with him, hearing him talk about Jesus, listening to all of his stories and teaching. The Gospel of Mark is really a written record of Peter’s ministry.
Within about 25 years of the resurrection, the four Gospels and the thirteen Epistles of Paul were being read in Christian worship as Scripture. All of the New Testament was written by eyewitnesses of the life and ministry of Jesus or by someone who learned about it firsthand. And they were all in wide circulation and being used in public worship during the lifetime of thousands of other eyewitnesses.
Sometimes people wonder why Christians trust the Bible. This is why.
We believe Jesus is the final revelation of the Word of God—the Word of God made flesh, as the Gospel of John puts it. Jesus said the whole Old Testament was about Him, that He fulfilled it, that He was the One it was talking about. He was the point of it all. That it can only be understood in the light of who He is and what He did. So, since Christians believe in Jesus, we take Him at His word and completely affirm the 39 books of the Old Testament. Everything from Genesis to Malachi.
Then the New Testament is basically a commentary on the Old Testament. It tells us about Jesus and how we’re supposed to understand everything about God and His Word now that the Messiah has come and died and rose from the dead and returned to the Father in Heaven.
The New Testament is the teaching of Jesus, handed down to us by the apostles—the firsthand witnesses of His life and ministry. The 27 books of the New Testament explain how Jesus is the final Word of God and completes the story that was started in the Old Testament.
A bunch of us have been reading the Bible straight-through this year—several of you have already finished and are working on your second tour of duty. I’m so proud of you, it’s really remarkable.
The thing is, you have to understand this before it all comes together and makes sense. We believe in Jesus, that He’s who He said He is. Therefore we believe the Old Testament is God’s Word because He told us it is. And we believe the New Testament because it’s the written record of the teaching of Jesus passed down from the eyewitnesses that were there and saw the miracles and heard what He said.
So that’s why we’re confident in our belief in the Bible. And why we believe that
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.” 2 Timothy 3:16
Mark 1:1-8 “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
“I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way”—
“a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”
And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message:
“After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” [Mark 1:7-8]
Now, when I say the New Testament is a commentary on the Old Testament, here’s a perfect example. Right off the bat, Mark is quoting the Old Testament. He says he’s quoting Isaiah, and he is, but he’s also quoting Malachi, Exodus, and Genesis. He kinda expects the reader to be familiar with the Bible and recognize this.
Something I just learned this week, when I was studying for this message, is that all four Gospels start with a reference to Genesis. John is the most famous, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” This is a direct quote from the first line of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. “En Arche,” “in the beginning was the Word…”
Mark does the same thing, verse one says “arche,” “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God…”
They want us to know that Jesus is a new beginning. A new creation. God is starting something new in Jesus.
Then he jumps straight to an Old Testament quotation. He says he’s quoting Isaiah but Isaiah was referencing Exodus and Malachi references them both.
Malachi 3:1 says
“Behold, I send my messenger (malak in Hebrew), and he will prepare the way before me.”
This is clearly a reference to John the Baptist who would prepare the way for Jesus.
Exodus 23:2 says
“Behold, I send my angel (messenger/malak) before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.” Exodus 23:20–21
Now, this is talking about the “angel of the Lord,” the messenger whose “name is in him.” This is the Malak Yahweh, the Messanger of Yahweh. The One who would actually come bearing God’s name and power and authority. This is Jesus, the Messiah.
Then in Isaiah 40:3 it says,
“A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
John the Baptizer is this voice crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the LORD. And this is LORD in all caps. This is the name of God. Yahweh. John is saying “prepare the way of God.”
Mark starts his Gospel trying to tell us in as many ways possible that Jesus has full divine status. Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, He is LORD. Jesus is Yahweh. Jesus is Almighty God.
An interesting thing about Isaiah 40 is that it introduces the suffering servant, the One who will give His life for the people of God. The servant who will accomplish the will of God. Bring salvation and redemption. Bring the people from the four corners of the earth. This suffering servant is the central character beginning in Isaiah 40.
Most of us are familiar with Isaiah 53,
“by His stripes we are healed.”
It used to be part of the lectionary readings the Jewish people would use in worship but they stopped using it after the rise of Christianity, you know why? Imagine being someone who denies that Jesus is the Messiah and then hearing this read in your synagogue:
“Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. [Isaiah 53:4–7]
That would be very confusing for anyone who wanted to deny that Jesus was the Messiah. I saw a video of a missionary walking around modern-day Jerusalem reading this passage to people on the street and none of them had ever heard it before—they all thought it was something from the Christian Bible talking about Jesus and the crucifixion. And they’re right about that—but they were shocked when they found out it’s from the book of Isaiah, which is also in their Bible.
When Mark starts his Gospel with a quotation from Isaiah 40, he wants us to connect Jesus to everything Isaiah says about the suffering servant. It would be kinda like if I was telling you a story about a friend, and I started by saying something like, “My friend is really strong, like born on Krypton strong.” I don’t have to tell you any more than that if you’re familiar with the most famous son of Krypton. Jesus is the suffering servant from Isaiah.
But you’re not going to make these connections if you’re not familiar with the source material.
So John the Baptist, which means John the Baptizer, was the voice of one calling out in the wilderness. He baptized in the Jordan River. He wore a coat of camel hair with a leather belt around his waist. These are all Old Testament references.
John is dressed like Elijah, one of the most prominent prophets in the Bible. Listen to a description of Elijah from 2 Kings 1:7-8
“He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.”
And he said,
“It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
So John the Baptist is in full cosplay. He doesn’t want anyone to miss the point: Malachi 4:5 says
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.”
John wanted everyone to know that’s exactly what’s happening.
Why are they in the wilderness? Because in the Exodus, when Moses led the people of God out of Egypt, they spent 40 years in the wilderness preparing to enter the Promised Land. Jesus is bringing a new kingdom of God, a new Promised Land. So the people are leaving Jerusalem and wherever they are to go to John in the wilderness to repent—to prepare to enter this new kingdom.
Why is he baptizing in the Jordan River? Because the Jordan is the boundary between the wilderness and the Promised Land. It’s the entry point. It’s the line between the people of Moses and the people of Joshua. You should know this by now, because I’ve said it so many times, but “Joshua” (Yeshua in Hebrew) is the same exact name as “Jesus.”
So in these first eight verses of Mark, he tells us what’s going to happen in the rest of the book. Who Jesus is and what He’s going to do.
It’s a new Exodus. And Mark will make it very clear this new Exodus Jesus is doing is not just for the Jews. The only person in the entire book of Mark who is going to understand what’s happening is one of the Roman soldiers crucifying Jesus, when the centurion said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” A gentile is the only one who gets it. This Exodus is for all people, bringing them into the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. This is the big Exodus for the whole world.
Back to Joy to the World and peace on earth and why is everything still terrible…
In the Bible, all the references to God saving His people are a reference to an exodus. From Egypt, from Babylon, from false gods, from the devil and darkness and bondage. From lies and sin and death and hell. Mark wants us to know, and he made this clear in his first eight verses, that Jesus is the promised King of kings and Lord of lords who came to make a new Exodus for His people from all the oppressive fake rulers and kingdoms of this world.
Which is something we only know by faith right now. Like the person standing in the dark alley surrounded by violent criminals, unafraid, waiting for the son of Krypton to save them.
But it’s the Son of God who has promised to save us. A new Exodus. From sin and death and hell? From judgment? Sure. But also from anger, fear, shame, false hopes, false identities, isolation, hopelessness, despair, emptiness, meaninglessness, lack of direction and purpose, from self-deception and self-destruction.
Which should sound a lot like joy and peace if you’re really listening. Because Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. Because He is LORD. Because Jesus is Yahweh. Jesus is Almighty God…
Repent and believe! You are forgiven of all your sin. You have peace that goes beyond understanding. Your life has meaning and purpose. You have hope because your identity is in Christ, you are a beloved child of God, you are a Christian. You have a community, a spiritual family. You know the truth and the truth has set you free. You have been given the promise of salvation and wholeness and fulness.
Joy to the world the LORD is come. Is. Not “has.” That would only be past-tense. Is. Don’t be afraid of all that darkness surrounding you—the Son is coming.