Word on Wednesday with John Mason

Once again, I’ve been intrigued by the promotion of Advent calendars, online and in large retail stores. The calendars are becoming a pre-Christmas accompaniment, advertising wine, coffee pods and chocolate and, of course, the calendars themselves.

Back in November 2016, Ysenda Maxtone Graham drew attention in The Spectator UK to the season of Advent. She spoke of Advent as ‘a season of death, judgment, heaven and hell’ (November 26, 2016).

‘I relish the frisson of gloom,’ she wrote, the ‘foreboding and fear of judgment you get at Advent, alongside the hope. The Holly and the Ivy is all very well, but it’s the minor chord at the end of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel that I crave.’

‘More goose-pimples erupt in the naves and transepts of our cathedrals during the Advent service, than at any other in the liturgical year’, she comments. ‘It’s the mixture of bitterness and sweetness that does it,…’

It was Isaiah the prophet, writing in the 8th century BC, who was amongst the first of the prophets to speak, not only of the first coming of God’s King (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6-7), but also of his second coming (Isaiah 11:1-9).

It’s important we think about this. Too often we don’t think about the elements of the Christian heritage that touch people in our wider society. Christmas retains an ongoing point of connection. Now we’re seeing an interest that extends back into Advent.

Given this interest let me consider one of the readings set for this Advent season – for this Sunday, December 14.

The Book of Isaiah, chapter 35, verses 1 and 2 read: The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.

A brooding theme in Isaiah chapters 1 through 39 is God’s impending judgment of his people. In 586BC the Babylonian forces would destroy the city of Jerusalem and take its people into exile. But Isaiah chapter 35 shines a light in the darkness, bringing news of God’s promise of a new day.

Isaiah’s poetry is powerful as he likens the experience of joy and singing at the coming of the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God, to our response when flowers burst into bloom in parched lands after refreshing rain.

It is a vision that inspires courage and fearlessness: Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God..’ (35:3-4a).

But Isaiah chapter 35 also sounds a warning: because God is holy, his very nature means that he must judge what is unholy.

In chapter 35, verse 4b we read: …He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. We would be much happier to overlook this aspect of God’s character. We’d prefer to listen to and pass on a message of blessing – of justice without judgment, of salvation without a cross.

However, the wonderful news is that the nature of the God of the Bible is always to have mercy. Isaiah continues: ‘…He will come and save you’ (35:4c).

We know that despite the incredible advances in science and technology, humanity continues to make a mess of relationships – between the nations and amongst families. It is self-evident we have no power of ourselves to save ourselves. Spiritually we are blind and deaf, lame and mute (Isaiah 35:5-6).

The wonderful news is that God himself promises us a future. He will build a highway for his people into his very presence! He will bring us to our true and lasting home where there will be joy and gladness… Sorrow and sighing shall flee far away (35:8, 10).

Isaiah uses the language of redeemed and ransomed of the Lord (35:9-10) to speak of every one who is brought into God’s presence. These words look back to the rescue from Egypt; they also look forward to the saving work of Jesus Christ.

And there’s something here we often miss. The highway to God is called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it… (35:8). Having been rescued we are now called upon to work at the quality of life that reflects the holiness of God. Paul the Apostle puts it this way: we all… beholding the glory of the Lord, will be transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Isaiah chapter 35 is a great reading for Advent. We see in it another facet of Isaiah’s vision of the glory of the Lord as he points us to the glorious day of the final coming of the Lord. We can drink it in and take new courage as it speaks to us of the everlasting joy and gladness we will then know.

Surely this is news we will want family and friends to know – so they too will see glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.

The interest in Advent reveals the deceit of a secular progressivism insisting that life now is all there is. This is cruel, denying the reality of a day when perfect justice will be done. It also rejects what, deep down in our hearts we know: eternity exists (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

As I write, I am praying that we will all have a renewed commitment to shape our priorities, decisions, and relationships in the light of Jesus’ return. Yes, he will return – perhaps when we least expect it.

So, will you join me in praying for two or three people who don’t yet know Jesus? You may also consider getting two or three copies of my recent book, The Jesus Story: Seven Signs. It’s available globally through Amazon. I’ve written it to encourage God’s people in our walk with Jesus, and as an easy-to-read book to pass on to family and friends – perhaps as a present for Christmas.

If others don’t hear, how can they be prepared to meet God’s King?

A prayer. Almighty God, we pray that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered through your guidance that your people may joyfully serve you in all godly quietness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

© John G. Mason

Inscribed on a clock-case in Chester Cathedral, England, is a poem, Time’s Paces, attributed to Henry Twells. It reads:

  ‘When as a child I laughed and wept, Time CREPT;

   When as a youth I waxed more bold, Time STROLLED.

   When I became a full-grown man, Time RAN.

   When older still I daily grew, Time FLEW.

   Soon I shall find, in passing on, Time GONE.

We do everything we can to deny the passing of time. We pay attention to the skillful marketing of products that can supposedly delay the ravages of the passing years or even reverse the process. But no one is able to stop the advance of time.

In Mark chapter 13, verses 24-27 we read some very sobering words from Jesus: “In those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.”

There are times when significant events occur that impact the course of history. We saw this with the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, the destruction of the twin towers in New York on September 11, 2001, and the unprovoked, barbaric attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The world around us seems to be growing more selfish and corrupt. Nearer home, parents are concerned about the influences of social media and the impact of gender issues. Drugs and alcohol, homelessness, violence and rape seem more prevalent. Any sense that humanity is the special creation of a personal God seems to be gathering dust on the shelf of history.

Will there ever be a time when the evil and troubles of the world are brought to a close?

In Mark chapter 13, we read that Jesus doesn’t beat about the bush concerning the realities of our troubled world. He speaks of suffering and using metaphors, predicts global, catastrophic events. In this context he forewarns us of a day of his return.

His expression, the Son of Man, takes up the prophecy of Daniel some five or six hundred years before. Daniel chapter 7 speaks of the Son of Man coming in dominion and glory and that all peoples, nations and languages will be brought under his rule.

Consider for a moment the splendor and pageantry of royal occasions on earth such as a coronation, then multiply the scene a million times, and then a million times more. We might just begin to imagine the dazzling glory and the awesome power of the return of God’s king.

The idea of an end of time is dismissed these days. The thought is laughable. Catastrophic events impacting the world is a theme that books and films play with. But in the human mind such catastrophies never mean an end of time. Movies such as 2012 and The Road portray humanity coming to the rescue in the aftermath of any global catastrophe. Opinion-makers today tell us there will always be survivors to carry on and chart human destiny.

How different is the picture that Jesus portrays. He foreshadows a world catastrophically consumed by fire and his appearing across the skies for all to see – all of which may seem fanciful. Yet he is clear. He points to an end-time and the beginning of a totally new age – one where there will be no crying or mourning, where death itself will have passed away (Revelation 21:4).

What we forget these days is the Person who speaks so clearly and firmly about these matters. Prophecies made by people such as Nathan (2 Samuel 7), Isaiah (Isaiah 7, 9, 11 and 61) and Ezekiel (chapter 34) centuries before Jesus was born, came true with Jesus’s birth and life. Furthermore, his specific predictions about his death and resurrection came true. And he was correct in his predictions about the destruction of the temple and fall of Jerusalem that occurred in 70AD. Is it not conceivable that his further prediction about his return will also be fulfilled? We would be foolish not to pay careful attention to him.

In his Pensées, Blaise Pascal, the 17th C French philosopher, mathematician and chemist, wrote: “Either Christianity is true or it’s false. If you bet that it’s true, and you believe in God and submit to Him, then if it IS true, you’ve gained God, heaven, and everything else. If it’s false, you’ve lost nothing, but you’ve had a good life marked by peace and the illusion that ultimately, everything makes sense. If you bet that Christianity is not true, and it’s false, you’ve lost nothing. But if you bet that it’s false, and it turns out to be true, you’ve lost everything and you get to spend eternity in hell”.

In Mark chapter 13, verses 28 through 30, Jesus uses the analogy of the fig tree to illustrate his remarks about the future. Just as the sprouting leaves on the fig tree indicate that summer is near, so do catastrophic events indicate the coming of God’s new age.

When will this happen? As history reveals, star-watchers don’t help us with an answer. And Jesus tells us that not even he knew (Mark chapter 13, verse 32). However, he is sure of this: there will be an end time when he will return. Indeed, he tells us that despite calamitous cosmic events in the world, his words will not pass away.

Why is it then that we so easily put aside this thought? Why is it that we don’t pay greater attention to what our Bibles say? Are we too busy? Do we not believe Jesus’s words?

We may forget that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. The giving of the law to Moses caused people to tremble with fear as they stood at the foot of Mt Sinai (Exodus 19:16). Isaiah’s vision of the Lord in the temple caused him to cry out, “Woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips…” (Isaiah 6:5). Significantly in Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 11, Paul the Apostle writes: Knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others…

How then should we now live? Watch, pray and work. Watch. Be aware that this world is passing. Be prepared for the return of the King. Pray. Pray that God, in his compassion, will open blind eyes and soften hard hearts. Work. God calls us to partner with him in rescuing the lost and bringing them to their true home in knowing, loving and serving Jesus Christ.

If you will allow me a personal note, you might consider getting two or three copies of my book, The Jesus Story: Seven Signs. It’s available globally through Amazon. I’ve written it to encourage God’s people in our walk with Jesus, and as an easy-to-read book to pass on to family and friends – perhaps as a present for Christmas.

I didn’t tell you there’s a last line to that poem in Chester Cathedral: ‘Soon I shall find while travelling on, time gone. “Will Christ have saved my soul by then?” I asked.’

A Prayer. Blessed Lord, you have caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning, grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them, so that, encouraged and supported by your holy Word, we may embrace and always hold fast the joyful hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

© John G. Mason

Hallelujah is a wonderful word! It’s a compilation of two Hebrew words: Hallel which means praise and Jah which is a contraction of God’s name, Jehovah or Yahweh. Hallelujah is an exhortation: ‘Praise the Lord’. It’s the word that forms the bookends of the last five psalms.

Hallelujah challenges us to ask, who is God that we would want to praise him? We can only truly worship God when we know something about him. In his conversation with a woman at a well in Samaria that we find in John’s Gospel, Jesus says that true worshippers worship God in spirit and in truth (4:23).

Significantly, Psalm 146, following the opening call Hallelujah, tells us about God. Two themes stand out: False Hope and True Hope.

False Hope. Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish (verse 3).

Psalm 146 was most likely written in the 6th century BC, when the Jewish people were in exile in ancient Babylon. But as earlier prophets had indicated, they were given the opportunity to return to Jerusalem – something Cyrus, the Persian leader decreed in 520BC.

But the psalm warns, Don’t put your trust in princes. Princes is a reference to the powerful and the rich, the elite, the celebrities and influencers, who seem to offer a better world – more often than not, as opposed to God. Even good leaders will disappoint, the psalm warns, for none can offer true, lasting solutions to the world’s problems. They’re not saviors. And their biggest problem is that they all die.

Now, Paul the Apostle in his Letter to the Romans, chapter 13, tells us that God has given us governments for the good order and protection of society. Nowhere is the Bible against governments. In a flawed, troubled world God in his mercy uses governments to provide a framework for justice and peace, and – in most democracies – security, education, healthcare and so on. Furthermore, in his First Letter to Timothy, chapter 2, Paul exhorts us to pray for all in authority so that everyone may enjoy peace and so that the gospel can be promoted.

Interestingly, despite being a global celebrity Taylor Swift acknowledges that she isn’t able to offer solutions to the longings or pain we feel – she is not a savior. In the chorus of Anti Hero she sings, “It’s me, hi/ I’m the problem, it’s me”.

And, to apply the warning of Psalm 146 to my own ministry, I ask everyone to work with a paradox: trust me when I say, don’t put your trust in me. I am in need of a savior to rescue me from my failings before the Lord; also the day will come when I will pass from this world. And even Mary, the mother of Jesus, called God her Savior (Luke 1:46-47).

The warning of Psalm 146 about false hope has lost none of its relevance through the millennia.

True Hope. Where then can we find true hope? In verse 5 we read: Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God,…

I’m sure you have noticed what the psalm is saying: God who made unbreakable promises to the Jewish people, is not only the source of true help in life, but also our only hope.

Who is this God? Verse 6 tells us: The Lord who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever;… The God who created all things, isn’t fickle. He always keeps his word.

And as the psalm continues to unfold, the focus is on God as creator, his faithfulness and his justice, his love and his commitment to give us life and hope.

The notion of a creator God is aggressively dismissed today by opinion-shapers. Yet some of the finest scientific minds agree that we are not here by chance: the universe is the work of a supreme intelligence.

For example, Dr. John Lennox, emeritus professor of mathematics, Oxford University, writes in God’s Undertaker: Has Science Buried God? ‘To the majority of those who have reflected deeply and written about the origin and nature of the universe, it has seemed that it points beyond itself to a source which is non-physical and of great intelligence and power’.

Furthermore, God is truly the God of good news. In verses 7 and 8 we read: …who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;.. He opens the eyes of the blind. He lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.

The oppressed, the hungry, the prisoners, the blind, and the righteous, the sojourners (immigrants), the widow and the fatherless (verse 9), are the recipients of God’s help.

The flow of the sentence tells us that these are not different groups of people, but the same people. It speaks of God’s people as a whole. The righteous are those who are righteous by faith. They don’t put their trust in the influential or powerful. They put their trust in the God who is faithful, the God who has good news to offer, the God who offers hope and a future.

Now the psalmist is not saying that there is no place for human agencies. That’s not his point. His question is: ‘Where do you put your trust – in human princes or in God?’

Let me ask, do you truly worship God? Let me urge you to open your mind and heart to him and to the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider God’s unchanging character, his special love and his majesty which one day will dazzle and be seen in all its glory throughout the universe. God’s final triumph will eliminate all evil and rebuild once and for all the paradise of Eden lost.

Friends, when we focus our minds on him and let our hearts be drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ, we will find that whatever our song of experience was in the past, it can finish with Hallelujah, the heartfelt song of praise, of hope and of joy, because God is truly good, loving and merciful. His beauty, glory and love are now perfectly revealed for us in his eternal Son whom we know as the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let the concluding words of Psalm 146 reach into the depth of your soul: The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord!

Now that God has come amongst us in person, the Lord Jesus Christ, we have greater reason to sing with the Hallelujah Chorus of Handel’s Messiah: And he shall reign forever and ever.  Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Prayer. O God, the author and lover of peace, in knowledge of whom stands our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom; defend us your servants in all assaults of our enemies, that surely trusting in your defense, we may not fear the power of any adversaries, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

© John G. Mason