Already, But Not Yet

Isaiah 7:1-16; Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19; Matthew 1:18-25

            A couple weeks ago I was with the preschoolers during the sermon time and it had started to snow.  When we went into the preschool room, the kids got so excited because it was snowing outside and they all gathered around the windows and were saying “It’s Christmas! It’s Christmas!”  They thought it was already Christmas because it was snowing and we had to tell them, “Not yet!” 

            In some ways it is Christmas already and has been since about Sept. 30^th  when stores had Christmas merchandise out.  Retailers would have us believing its Christmas as soon as school starts back in the fall.  But even though we already have decorations up and snow on the ground and presents under the tree maybe, it’s not yet Christmas.  It’s still Advent time, the time of waiting for what is already a reality, but is not yet here.

            In that sense Advent is a lot like pregnancy.  When a couple is expecting a child, they are already parents, but not yet.  The child exists.  It’s growing in the mother.  Two have already become three and you’re already setting up a nursery, gathering clothes, diapers, and all the supplies that the baby will need.  You’re already in love with the child and making decisions that will benefit the child.  You are in many ways already acting like a parent.  But the child is not yet born. 

            All of the scriptures we’ve read today are stories of already, but not yet.  Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth tells us that Mary and Joseph were pledged to be married but they had not yet come together.  They were making preparations to start married life.  Joseph would have been preparing their house and Mary would have been making the things she needed to set up housekeeping. When all the preparations were completed, Joseph would come to take Mary home and the marriage would be celebrated and consummated. They were already a couple pledged to each other and it would have taken legal action for them to break that pledge, but they were not yet husband and wife.  But before their preparations were complete, Mary was found to be pregnant.  Joseph assumed she had been with someone else because he knew she hadn’t been with him.  But because he was compassionate, he decided to just quietly divorce her.  And then an angel appeared to him in a dream and told him not to be afraid to go through with the marriage because Mary was carrying the Son of God, the Messiah.  So Joseph took Mary into his home.  He let everyone believe that he was the biological father of the child and shared with Mary the burden of the social stigma of becoming pregnant before the wedding.  So Joseph and Mary lived together, kept house together, planned for the birth of their first child together, but did not consummate their marriage until after Jesus was born.  They were already a married couple, but not yet.

            In the passages we read from Isaiah 7 and Psalm 80, there are other situations of already, but not yet described.  In Isaiah 7, King Ahaz of Judah has a problem.  Two other kings are plotting together to invade Judah and  Ahaz and his people are afraid.  So the Lord sends Isaiah to the king to give him the message to not be afraid and to keep calm because the Lord has already determined that this invasion plot will not work.  The Lord tells Ahaz to ask him for a sign that God means what he says, but Ahaz refuses to ask.  But the Lord tells him anyway and we have a prophecy of the virgin being with child and giving birth to a son.  When God is speaking to Ahaz, he tells him not to be afraid of these kings who are plotting against him because within 65 years, they won’t be a threat anymore and He says “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.”  (v. 9)

            When I read the verse that in 65 years these guys would no longer be a threat, I thought “that’s not really a lot of comfort.”  To God, 65 years is a blip but to a human 65 years is a long time.  I don’t intend to still be alive 65 years from now and that’s probably what Ahaz was thinking when he heard this as well.  But God takes the long view of things.  He knows these nations will not succeed in their threats.  Judah will not be overthrown by these enemies.  God has already determined deliverance and is willing to give a sign to reassure everyone of this.  Deliverance is already, but not yet.

            In Psalm 80, the people of God are crying out to God from a desperate place.  God is angry at them.  He has turned his face from them.  They eat the bread of tears and drink tears by the bowlful.  That sounds like a country western song doesn’t it – drinking tears by the bowlful.  Their enemies mock them but they still cry out to God to save them.  If God will hear and answer their prayer, then everything will be okay.  They cry out to God and ask for restoration because they know God has the ability to restore them.  All they need, God can supply.  He just needs to answer their prayer.  The solution is already there, but they haven’t received it yet.  They pray and cry out to God in expectation that God will hear and will give a good answer.

            The Christmas story, the story of Jesus’ birth, is the story of already, but not yet.  It teaches us that God fulfills His promises.  The people of Israel had waited a long time for God to send the Messiah who had already been promised but had not yet come.  The people prayed for God to fulfill His promises and He heard the prayers of His people.  He remembered His covenants with His people and He fulfilled them.  But God takes the long view.  It took a long time for Jesus to come.  And there are many other promises of God that are already but not yet.  Many prophecies have been fulfilled in the coming of Jesus but not all.  There are still promises and prophecies that are outstanding.  But Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3:8-9 “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.  The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”  In answering our prayers, in fulfilling His promises to us, God takes the long view.  We need to keep this in mind and not get discouraged.

            Jesus has already come, but not yet.  The kingdom of God is among us, within us, around us, but not yet.  There are many miracles that have been done, many prayers answered, many mighty works of God the world has witnessed.  But there is so much still waiting to be fulfilled.  The season of Advent is the time we wait.  We wait for the coming of a child, a Savior, a Deliverer, one who leads us out of darkness into light.  But all our time is Advent time.  We still wait for Jesus to come again.  We wait for the answer to our prayers, for the miracle we need, the healing, the restoration of relationship, the meeting of that financial need.  Whatever it is, we wait for it and we cry out to God for it because it has not yet arrived.

            As we wait, we need to remember that God is seeing with the long view and He’s saying to us, “It is already done, but not yet.  If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.”  Mary and Joseph had to stand firm in their faith as they waited for a child to be born that they did not make.  They had to believe in the provision and protection of God as that child was threatened with death and they had to leave the country to protect his life.  They had to believe and stand firm in their faith as he grew and they wondered about what kind of child is this who debates with the teachers in the Temple.  Mary had to stand firm in her faith as Jesus taught, ministered, and did miracles all over the country.  And she had to stand firm in her faith, believing in the God who keeps promises when her son was crucified and placed in a grave.

            God has given each one of us promises just as He gave to Mary and Joseph, to Isaiah and King Ahaz, and to the people of Israel whose prayer we read in Psalm 80.  We can cry out to him in prayer because He has promised to hear and answer us when we call on Him.  He already has answers to our prayers, but we have not yet received them all.  We have to stand firm in our faith in the God who keeps promises, or we will not stand at all.

            When Jesus was born, he wasn’t born blind, deaf, and mentally deficient.  We don’t serve a God who can’t see, hear, or understand our condition and our needs.  No we serve a God who is also our high priest and who, according to Hebrews 4,  has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin.  Our God is able to sympathize with us, He gets us.  And we are told that we can approach His throne of grace with confidence, not with fear of rejection.  It is in Him that we receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need – as we go to Him with all our need.  God has already determined to help us, to overthrow every enemy, to heal this world of every injustice.  And because He has determined it, it is already done.  But not yet.  We wait in Advent time until Jesus comes again and all things are made new.

            What is it you are waiting for in this Advent season?  What prayers are you offering that have not yet been answered?  What questions are you asking that haven’t been answered yet?  What breakthrough are you hoping for that hasn’t arrived yet?  The message to us today is wait for it.  Wait in confidence that God is working all things together for our good as He knows it needs to be.  He is acting on our behalf.  He has already determined to hear and answer our prayers or we would not have the scriptures that tell us to come to him with confidence.  We must commit ourselves to continue to wait in prayer for whatever our need is.  As the prophet Isaiah wrote, we are to “strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way, say to those with fearful hearts, ‘be strong, do not fear; your God will come…he will come to save you.’”  It may be years in the future that God’s answer will come.  It may be this afternoon.  No matter how long it takes for the answer to come, will you be faithful to wait and to pray for what is already but not yet?

            I’ll invite the worship team and the prayer team to come forward.  As we close our service, I’m inviting us as a congregation to commit to wait in faithful prayer and faithful living for the things we are hoping for that have not happened yet.  Maybe you are like Ahaz and are facing enemies that are pretty scary.  It can be hard to stand in faith when we see no answer and we are in the grip of fear.  But God is always on time.  He has promised not to leave us or forsake us and He will not give us up to be destroyed.  We have been promised life everlasting.  Maybe you are like the people of Israel who cried out to God in Psalm 80, feeling that God is angry at you or has turned His back on you.  Take courage from their example and cry out to God to turn back to you and to restore you to right relationship.

            Maybe you are like Mary and Joseph, facing things that seem overwhelming but trying to remain faithful.  Continue in that faithfulness and remain strong.  I want to give us the opportunity as a congregation to commit ourselves to stand together and wait for the promises of God to be fulfilled among us, to strengthen our feeble hands, weak knees, and fearful hearts.  The prayer team is here and prepared to anoint you with oil and speak a blessing over you.  As the worship team leads us, I invite you to come forward and receive this anointing and blessing and to once again, offer up to God the burdens and worries you carry, knowing that He hears and has already determined to answer. Commit to wait in faithfulness and in confidence that God will complete His good work in you, in your family, in your neighborhoods, in this congregation, and in our world.  Would you come?