Today we begin the new Church year.

For folks from independent church backrounds,
it is a bit of surprise
that Advent
is not about Christmas.
It's about looking.
Advent is about looking back into prophecy,
to all the words about the first and the second comings.
The daily lectionary looks at Isaiah.
The Sunday readings are about the second coming,
and about judgement
preparation,
and John the Baptist!

No matter what the world says,
you know,
companies who hate your religion,
but love your gift giving,
Advent is a penitential season.
Advent is a season of self-denial,
and preparation.
Will you watch and be ready?
Will Jesus find faith
when he comes again on the earth?

One of the problems we westerners have
is our linear thinking.
The Bible is not linear.
It is multidimensional.
On Thanksgiving I took the morning to study the book of Revelation.
I had one of those mind blowing moments.
I realized that all the sevens aligned with the days of creation.
And then I saw that some events,
like the birth of Jesus,
and the second coming of Jesus
were presented on top of one another.
They were happening simultaneously in different dimensions.

I had to set it aside,
because my little brain couldn't process.
There is a looking back,
and a looking forward.

Before we get into the readings,
I want to talk a little about prophetic times.
I have several times of the year
when God seems to speak to me.
It's happened enough times to understand that times and seasons
in the spirit, and in the Kingdom of God
are related.
And these times and seasons also seem to correlate with the
church year
the Jewish calendar,
and the natural world.
Again,
we are talking about multiple dimensions.
I started paying attention to this in the early 1990's,
and I have had over thirty years to observe
and test my idea.
During the high holy days,
God speaks to me a lot.
Others have noticed this phenomenon.
I reason what I call
my "Marching orders" each year around that time.
The past two years God spoke to me every day during the time
between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
And then,
it seems like those words get tested for a season,
and the opposite begins to happen.
And then they begin to come together
and manifest around the first Sunday of Advent.
And by Christmas
the words I received at the High Holy Days
are in full force,
and the direction God set is moving.
This year has been interesting,
because several of the things God said would happen
have happened or are clearly happening.
God said this year would be a year of rest.
No striving or effort.
For me personally,
the Lord said this year would be a year of receiving repayment
on my investments.
That all the seed I have sown that has not born fruit would pay off.
This would be a year of dividends.
The Lord said there would be major correction among
media and news outlets, and that many would be silenced.
The Lord said that he was going to raise up kings and tear down princes,
that there would be a great move of God
and also an increase in persecution.
A lot of these things are already happening.
I have a sense it is going to be a fast moving season.

On this first day of Advent,
we are presented with a segment of Jeremiah 33.
Jeremiah is in prison,
and God gives him this direction:
"Call to me,
and I will answer,
and show you great and hidden things,
you do not know."

Then the Lord tells him about the destruction
of the temple,
the Babylonian captivity,
and the future centuries of Israel.
And then after this,
the people will be brought back,
Jerusalem will be restored,
and then God promises:

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfil the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring forth for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’"

Revelation 5:5
refers to Jesus as the Root of David.

Jeremiah is being given a promise:
the house of David,
which seems to be at a very low point,
is going to produce a Branch.
Isaiah tells us a
branch will come from the stump of Jesse.
And Zechariah also gives us this image
of a righteous branch.

In the ancient world,
and especially among royalty,
the idea of a branch
always refers to a royal line.
This is the Kingly line.
This is the Messianic promise
God made to David in II Samuel 7:
You will not build me a house,
but I will build you a house,
and someone will sit on your throne
forever.

We are looking back,
and we are looking forward.
Jeremiah
in a hopeless situation
is promised that a Branch will come forth,
and by this branch,
We will know the LORD is our righteousness.

And how does the Lord bring righteousness.
Isaiah tells us that he will tread the winepress alone.
His robes will be stained red.
He will give his back to the smiters,
and his face to the abusers.
The chastisement that brings us peace will be upon him
and by his wounds we will be healed.

This root,
this branch,
will be placed
upon a tree.
And that tree will go from the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
and become a tree of life.
Blessed is the wood
by which
righteousness comes.

In one phrase
God goes back to the garden,
and shows us that a root was planted that began to produce
a tree.
That tree went up through Abraham,
to Judah
and Caleb,
and Ruth,
and Jesse to David.
And out of David,
came another strippling,
and that became another tree,
and that tree went up through Joseph and Mary,
to Jesus.
And He is the Branch,
he is the LORD our righteousness.
And in the book of revelation,
chapter 11,
we are told,
The Kingdoms of this world
have become
the Kingdoms of our Lord,
and of his Christ.
And then there are peals of thunder,
and lightnings,
and God's temple in heaven is opened,
and behold
we see that mysterious object
that captivates thousands:
The Ark of the Covenant.
Where did it go?

And behold,
the ark is a woman
clothed with the son,
with crown of twelve stars on her head,
and the moon under her feet.
And she is about to give birth to a male child,
who will rule the nations.

He is the branch,
and he is the root.
And he is the tree.
And we are the branches.
And apart from him
you can do nothing.

Honestly,
I think of this season as the season of distraction.
Look at the birdie!
Look at the blinky.
Look at anything
but don't look at Jesus.
Every year
we are challenged
with the most vivid
and poetic images in Scripture.
These the inspiration
for the greatest works of music and art
in human history.

Take a moment over the next three weeks and choose quiet.
You don't have to do it all.
You can dial down,
and you can simplify.
Prepare yourself
for the coming of the Lord.
He is the tree of life.

There are moments
when every thing looks dark,
and dry,
and dead.
It is in that moment,
when in the midst of a great dead stump,
a green shoot emerges.
So many people have given up hope.
And yet,
in the midst of a prison,
and an impending invasion,
God tells Jeremiah,
there is going to be a branch.
This story is not ended.

I know that a lot of people have felt like giving up,
judging from the messages I receive.
Let's face it,
rather than choose to grow
and create
the UK believes that the best thing is to kill off it's population.
This is about the most hopeless outlook you can imagine.

God is not finished.
Look forward,
look up.
The Kingdom is coming.
The Lord our Righteousness is coming.
Get ready.
Even so,
Come Lord Jesus.