Poor. Brokenhearted. Captive. Imprisoned. Mourning. Such a picture of despair, darkness, helplessness, and hopelessness! Yet these are the words that Isaiah uses in our Scripture reading for today to describe the people God the Father had in mind when he chose to send Jesus as the world’s Savior.

In the original context, Isaiah was speaking about the Israelites who were held captive in Babylon for 70 years as a punishment for their defiance against God. We read about what happened in Daniel 1:1,2: “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God.”

The Lord delivered them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar and into captivity. Before this account, Judah would have seen the northern ten tribes of Israel crushed by the Assyrians as a result of rebelling against God. Clearly, Judah didn’t learn from Israel’s example. Instead, they persisted in their sinful ways, and the Holy One of Israel allowed them to suffer punishment for it. Blood, tears, torment, and loss became their new existence. This may hurt our hearts to think about, but we must also remember that sin has consequences—for Judah back then, for the people of Jesus’ time, and for us today.

During Jesus’ ministry on earth, those first-century Jews would certainly have remembered the horrors of the Babylonian captivity and what it meant for their people. Babylon was a symbol of evil, bitterness, destruction, and enemies of God. But as Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecies in their presence, his followers witnessed a different type of deliverance—Jesus had come to heal them.

Can you imagine how awesome it would have been to witness these healings? To watch the blind person suddenly able to see God’s creation, loved ones, and the face of the Healer? To see the lame person walk for the first time? To see the diseased person set free? To see Lazarus emerge from the grave? Each of these accounts provides such a glorious, tangible picture of what it feels like to be delivered from a bodily form of captivity.

Jesus healed many people of their physical hurts, diseases, and even death, but this wasn’t the ultimate form of healing or deliverance for which he came to this world. It was for the spiritually poor who are bankrupted by their sin. It was for broken sinful natures. It was for the lives lived in captivity, imprisonment, and mourning because of defiance against a holy God.

Jesus’ healing was for them, and his healing is for you this Advent season! Instead of despair and darkness, you have deliverance. Instead of helplessness and hopelessness, you are held in the hands of your loving Lord. Praise God for sending his Servant, our Jesus, to proclaim this good news, bind up our broken hearts, declare us free, and give us comfort for all eternity!

If we could share a coffee right now, I would ask you all about the vocations God has called you to. How do you spend your days? Do you teach? Do you operate? Do you counsel? Are you a caretaker? a mentor? Do you create? organize? keep books? Then I would boldly ask this: In which moments do you feel less than adequate for your callings? Is it when you lose your patience? make mistakes? compare yourself to those who shine brighter? Is it when you fail?

Whatever your vocations, I would guess that you have had humbling moments when you wondered, Am I really good enough for this gig? And if you question your ability to live up to the standards of the people around you, you also might ask something more precarious: Am I really good enough for my holy God?

Standing alone before our God is not supposed to end well for sinners like us. Even though the voices around us downplay our shortcomings (“It happens to all of us!”), or worse, try to tell us God won’t mind our sins (“What else could you have done?”), God’s expectations of us don’t falter. Be perfect! Our reflection shows the smudges on our faces. We do not belong in the company of a holy God. It is painful to admit how rotten we are, isn’t it? But friends, it is so worth it.

Here’s the great news: The babe of Bethlehem came to find you just as you are. He does things backwards again and places a crown of life on our small, sorry, sinful heads. Unearned, undeserved, we will be with God in heaven forever because Jesus makes us worthy. That takes care of the more precarious question: Am I really good enough for my God? In Jesus, absolutely!

Now circle back with me to the conversation I wish we were having over coffee. Especially the part where you got real about your inadequacies. I have a few thoughts to share:

• Feeling inadequate is not such a bad thing. It pushes us toward repentance and reminds us that we absolutely depend on Jesus. When you are weak, find strength in him!
• That heavy backpack you are carrying? You know what’s in it because it weighs you down daily. Drop it at the cross as you cast your cares on Jesus. Let go of the sins he has already forgiven.
• Are you traveling a difficult road? Or do you want to implement a challenging change for the better? You can count on your Savior’s support. He will be with you each step.

In spite of your shortcomings, you are still chosen by God to be the mouthpiece of the gospel. You do this as you shine your light for him in your vocations in life. You do this as you serve your family, friends, and neighbors. You also do this as you simply tell others what the Lord has done for you. If we could have that coffee together, I would leave the conversation encouraged, knowing that God has gifted you for a unique part in his plan. He has put you in the exact place where he wants you to be to accomplish great things for his kingdom with the gifts he has given you. May God keep giving you the desire, strength, and courage to share his love in all areas of your life.

It was tiny. It held very little significance. Bethlehem Ephrathah didn’t even make the top 100 cities that belonged to the clans of Judah. As a traveler crossing through the region, you would hardly notice the city. Now squint toward the barley fields. There you would find the spot where the poor foreigner named Ruth gleaned in Boaz’s field. The locals of her day wouldn’t have given Ruth a second glance. She was an outsider who had fallen upon tough times, desperately trying to make ends meet. Like Bethlehem, she doesn’t seem extraordinary at all.

Continuing our tour of Bethlehem, we approach the location of the humble home of Jesse, surrounded by fields that are dotted with sheep. When the prophet Samuel walked this road, he was searching for the next great king of Israel. Someone strong. Commanding. Mature. But God rejected the ones who fit those descriptions. Instead, God instructed Samuel to anoint the youngest brother, who didn’t even make the original lineup. Like Bethlehem, David didn’t seem like much.

Eyes like ours fixate on the talented, the important, the influential, and the famous. But God delights in using the weak, the poor, and the unexpected for some of the greatest roles in the story of salvation. Lowly Ruth became the wife of Boaz, the great-grandmother of King David, and part of the family line of the Savior. Little David became the greatest earthly king Israel had seen. With God’s help, David led the army to great victories and ushered in a time of peace for God’s people.

By the time Gabriel visited Mary, the once-thriving nation of Israel had been cut down. Isaiah referred to it as a twisted, gnarly stump. This was thanks to Babylon, then Persia, then the Greeks, then the Romans, all of whom took their turn wielding power over the area. But take a closer look at the stump of that royal line. It is not completely dead! We behold a branch shooting up out of its ugliness! The lovely bloom from that branch is our only hope, Jesus, born in Bethlehem.

Jesus himself didn’t appear glorious to eyes like ours. He was born to a carpenter and placed in a feed box. As Jesus began his ministry, he was a wanderer with less of a home than the foxes and birds. Somehow, some way, this humble preacher determined the eternity of us all.

Bethlehem, Ruth, David, and Jesus—they all show us how God looks with favor on the lowly. How the Almighty does great things. How he has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. Though Jesus hid his glory in his earthly existence, he was nothing less than our holy and true God! He traded his heavenly throne for our sins and exchanged what he deserved (glory) for what we deserved (the punishment of hell). As we see Bethlehem evolve from a tiny, unimportant city to the birthplace of the King of kings, let us also remember how God took us from dead in sin to alive in Christ. Now we lay claim to full rights as daughters and sons of the King.

In the corner of our backyard, we have a tree that was not doing well. It was kind of ugly, was an odd shape, and was starting to lean over the fence. It was the hunchback of trees. But, once a year, it would still bloom beautiful green leaves and white flowers, so we let it be.

This past May, we had a terrible storm come through our area, and high winds caused a lot of damage. During this storm, our tree succumbed to the winds; snapped about three-fourths of the way down; and left a very uneven, jagged stump. We thought for sure this was the end for that tree and had plans to cut it down the rest of the way. But we didn’t get around to it, and then, do you know what happened? The tree came back to life! It started blooming green leaves and growing new branches, and now seems like it’s going to make a full recovery.

Things looked bleak for the line of Jesse. After all, it had been about 1,000 years of waiting for this family tree to produce its fruit, and people were starting to doubt if it was going to happen. Then a new root was born, and suddenly this once-dead stump made a full recovery and sprouted life.

Why? Because we have a God who keeps his promises, works things for our good, and always has a purpose. We are reminded of this when we see in the Bible how God kept his promises to Adam and Eve by sending the Savior to crush the serpent’s head, to Noah by saving his family and never flooding the world again, to Moses and the Israelites by giving them the Promised Land, and to David by ensuring that from his line the Messiah would be born. Each of these stories could have had dead ends, but God restored them and used them for his purpose. We can trust he will do the same for us.

Do you have a dead-tree story in your life? Maybe your family is fighting and you don’t think there can ever be a reconciliation. Maybe you’re at a dead-end job and have resigned yourself to being miserable for the rest of your life. Maybe you have a prayer that doesn’t seem like it’s ever going to get answered. Maybe you have an unhappy marriage.

Whatever it is that seems dead, like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel, remember the stories of the Bible. Esau forgiving Jacob, Saul turning into Paul, Hannah receiving Samuel, Zechariah and Elizabeth being blessed with John. God used sin, hardships, ailments, sickness, emptiness, and even death for his good and for his purpose. In the Bible, we see the purpose of everyone mentioned: to point to Jesus for our salvation.

The same is true for you! God is using all the dead-tree moments of your life to point you to Jesus, to encourage you to cling to him, and to remind you he is carrying you until that dead tree sprouts new life. Whether that’s in this life or the next, live confidently knowing God will always work for your good and his purpose: to give you life.

As the end of 2024 approaches, another election year has taken its toll, the economy is threatening a “light” Christmas, and we’re left wondering just what the New Year might bring. Does it all feel hopeless? Does it feel like our lives will never be the same? Does the future seem more uncertain than ever? My friends, we are not alone; these are not only 21^st-century problems.

Long ago, the Israelites were going through similar struggles. They were watching their country crumble around them, experiencing fear that their enemies would overtake them, and worrying that everything they had ever known was changing. It seemed hopeless for them. God was allowing them to suffer because of the faithlessness of their leaders, the sins they refused to leave behind, and their own willingness to turn away from God’s Word.

There were a small number of faithful few who remained true to God’s Word and followed his commands with true faith, but it was hard to see them through the masses of unbelievers. Israel was known for being God’s chosen people, but this was often in name only because their hearts were far from belonging to the Lord. It was hard to see how God’s promise of a Savior would come from the line of Jesse when so many of the kings and followers had fallen so far away from God. This family tree had certainly died spiritually and was close to dying out physically as well.

Isaiah was prophesying to a lost and hurting people, and here he gave them hope. They would not be divided forever. They would not remain dispersed. God would restore them and silence their enemies—just not the way they thought or anticipated. He would preserve the line of Jesse so that the King of kings could be born from this line. A king who would have much more power, riches, and wisdom than David and Solomon. A king who would bring them eternal peace, rest, and glory. A king who would make alive what once was dead.

God remained faithful to his people and faithful to his promises. A remnant returned to the mighty God and leaned on him for strength, hope for the future, and peace. The line of Jesse that had turned into a rotten stump would not prevent God from providing a new root. This new root would bloom in the face of adversity and be a sign for the people to rally around and be filled with hope that their wait was over.

The Root of Jesse would come to establish his heavenly kingdom, which could never die. He would fight all the evils of this world to rescue God’s people from their enemy. Even more amazing, this sign they were awaiting would be God himself in the form of a humble infant, born in a manger, willing to die on a cross to take away the hopelessness, worry, and uncertainty the Israelites felt and that we still feel today. In its place, he gave them—and gives us!—hope, peace, and rest in his eternal glory.

I can hardly wait! In these days leading up to Christmas, a child’s anticipation bubbles over and makes it hard for them to concentrate on anything else. They long for time to go by quickly because they know the wonder yet to come. It’s an early experience of an earthly reality—waiting.

I can hardly wait! Adam and Eve must have uttered these words in the early days of humanity. With the birth of each of their many children, I can imagine them wondering each time if this would be the one who was promised. In reality, they wouldn’t see the fulfillment with their own eyes, but they would cling in faith to that first gospel promise of a Savior. It would be worth waiting for.

I can hardly wait! As generations of Israelites came and went, they passed on the continued prophecies that foretold the offspring of Eve who was yet to come and clung tightly in hopeful anticipation to the details revealed to them. Maybe this would be the year the wait would be over.

I can hardly wait! We know the story of his first coming so well that we can practically picture the scene in our minds: the baby Jesus in the manger with the virgin Mary on one side and Joseph standing guard. The little family surrounded by various barn animals who look on, mildly curious and only slightly put off by the intrusion—or is that joy on their faces that their Creator would pick their home for his birth? The shepherds who have just raced down from their posts, perhaps still slightly out of breath and surrounded by a few of their flock that could keep up with them. They stand in awe and wonder if the events of this night could ever be truly expressed. The mysterious light from the sky illuminates the scene, and we agree with those first witnesses to the Word made flesh that this was worth the wait.

I can hardly wait! Are you as tired as I am from living under the curse of sin? Day after day, there’s a battle raging inside of us to do the good we want to do versus the sin we actually keep on doing! It’s exhausting and extremely frustrating. Then there are our relationships and experiences of living in a sinful world that hates God and everything he stands for. “Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus” (Revelation 12:17). Thankfully the promise of hope given to Adam and Eve was also meant for us because if God had not intervened in that very moment in the garden, we would still be friends with Satan now. Can you imagine? While we still have battles to fight here on earth, we have an inner peace knowing that our relationship has been made right with God through Jesus. Our anticipation of finally being set free from the curse of sin and the dream of walking in the garden with God like Adam and Eve did before the fall will happen. Hold fast! He is coming! I can hardly wait!