Reading Isaiah 12:2-6 & Luke 3:7-18
Luke 3:7 John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
When Luke recorded our text for today. “You brood of vipers” it is hardly the way to draw people into your confidence. John the Baptist is using the strongest language, to remind them that they don’t have a leg to stand on, therefore they cannot make any excuses.
Our Advent theme for today is Joy. But before we begin any thought of relationship with God we need to start from the understanding that we have nothing to offer in our relationship with God.
Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the LORD GOD is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.” Isaiah 12 2
What will happen in the future? It depends on how you see the future.
In the Greek language there are two words which translate future. One is “ta mellonta”, which is a future that connect the past and the present. But there is a second Greek word for future. Parousia (Arrival of a king) which recognises a future coming from outside our experience.
So the prophet Isaiah says, “God has become my salvation”.
1]. Since the fall God has planned a future. “Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine,” (Exodus 19:5)
Like any creator/father, God was not about to abandon his creation.
In the fall, humanity reaped a harvest of eternal death, “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” (Genesis 2:17)
2]. The cross: What did God do, he sent his Son on a rescue mission to re-capture the territory we had lost.
As our text says, “Surely God is my salvation”. Or as Isaiah goes on to prophecy “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”
It is the cry of victory, to those who recognise this fact.
3]. God has played his part, Christ has conquered all, now we must play ours “I will trust and not be afraid”. I will look to the future that God has prepared, not to the future that I deserve. I will trust that God will see me through to that day.
Isaiah 12 2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the LORD GOD is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.”
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