God sent His son, they called Him, Jesus;
He came to love, heal and forgive; He lived and died to buy my pardon,
An empty grave is there to prove my Saviour lives!
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, because He lives, all fear is gone,
because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living,
just because He lives!
(Gloria and William J Gaither © 1971 MPI publishing)
So hopefully you have opened 6 windows on your Advent calendar and initially you were reminded of last Sunday’s bible reading as you saw two phrases from Isaiah’s prophecy. The following 4 windows revealed phrases from this morning’s bible reading. Read: Luke 1: 26-33
Today your advent calendar window revealed a crown and a phrase from our bible reading: “He will be great – His kingdom will never end.”
Luke in our bible reading goes on to describe (v.32) this ‘he’ as son of the ‘Most High’. He goes on to use this phrase another 4 times in his gospel, but we are perhaps more familiar with reading the phrase ‘Most High’ in the psalms where it is used in over 20 different psalms. It is a title which relates to status and power, it points towards remembering His supremacy, His sovereignty - that he is over all. I wondered if it was somehow connected with our use of HRH - His Royal Highness – but couldn’t find any definite link, although both titles are saying there is no one more important, no one higher, greater, more honoured than HRH Jesus, the Most High.
If one of the Royal Highnesses of our Royal family heard about a need we had and did all they could to fulfil that need – alleviate that worry, we would feel very, very honoured. While our HRH’s have great power and authority some problems and needs would still be beyond even the help our ‘royal Family’ could offer, whereas for ‘the Most High’, HRH Jesus there is no problem which is too difficult for him. He is ‘over all’ and ‘above all.’
Our human minds struggle with holding on to these truths about Jesus, trying to recognise that the same Jesus who knows us by name – knows all about us, understands us and wants to fill our lives with God’s love and care - is also Almighty, all powerful, the ‘Most High’ God. Instead, our human minds tend to want to focus on one or the other aspect of who Jesus is - we struggle to hold onto that middle ground of Jesus being both our friend and also HRH – ‘the Most High’.
Last week’s bible reading from Isaiah, and today’s bible reading from Luke both describe not only the power and authority of the Saviour which God sends us – the Lord Jesus, but they both also talk about him reigning over a kingdom which will last forever. Luke simply tells us this kingdom will never end, while Isaiah gives us a fuller description – telling us (Is.9:7) that it will be a kingdom built on Justice and righteousness (doing what is right)
So, the kingdom of our friend HRH Jesus will be a place illuminated by the Light of God – in this kingdom there is no injustice and no unrighteousness (no sin) instead, the light of God’s love will shine throughout it.
Our present experience of this Kingdom isn’t of a geographical place - we can’t map it and put border guards around it. At the moment, in this life, the kingdom is wherever a person acknowledges Jesus to be their king. The kingdom happens when we let Jesus reign over the way we live our life, as we let God make the rules by which we live our lives. We often tell God that we want to see more of his kingdom in our lives - we pray:
“thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven
‘In Heaven’ - that’s the place where at the moment Jesus is, alongside Father God. The bible tries to explain what that place is like, but it is obviously a place beyond description. I think those who in the bible give us glimpses of this place would definitely say ‘Words fail me.’ What we do know is about heaven is that angelic beings are instantly doing whatever God asks them to do. ‘In Heaven’ God’s is always listened to, and always obeyed, the kingdom of HRH Jesus is perfect. Here on earth - as we, his church proclaims the Good News of the kingdom of God through what we say and do, we are only able to show a very incomplete glimpse of what is to come ‘in heaven’
Here is something for you to think about: All the blessing we enjoy – your best experience of Jesus - is only a poor reflection of what the future holds for us. Each of us who have put our trust and faith in Jesus as Saviour and Lord has begun to experience something of what Jesus’ kingdom will be like, but we wont experience it fully until we see him face-to-face as our King (The Most High) but he will also still be our Saviour and friend.
Joy to the world, the Lord has come; let earth receive her King.
Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing…
He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness, and wonders of His Love…
(Isaac Watts 1674-1748)
Pray ‘the Lord’s Prayer’