Written by Steve Kilgore, Pastor of Equipping
2 Samuel 7:10–15, Isaiah 62:6–7, Isaiah 52:8, Luke 2:29–32, Hosea 12:6, 1 Thessalonians 1:6–10
So, what are you waiting for?
The arrival of Christmas—with its gatherings, and gifts, and time off?
Or the next phase of life—when you graduate, or get a new job, or get married, or have children, or retirement?
What are you waiting for? And what emotional response does your waiting produce?
Does your waiting create anticipation or dread?
Anticipation: a longing for something…exciting or good
Dread: a fretting in light of what might be…a challenge or the unexpected and undesired
In what we now call “the first century,” Jews, particularly those living in Israel, had a very strong desire and expectation—an anticipation. Their “waiting” created a “watching.”
They had been living under the oppressive rule of foreign occupying forces for over 150 years. In reality, they had only experienced infrequent and temporary true self-rule for few decades over a period of almost 600 years.
Some individuals turned that discouragement into pragmatism—they simply sought to make the best of a bad situation. Others turned their waiting into nationalism—they sought to fight against the oppressors. But others looked back at their own history and more specifically at their Scriptures—and had a growing sense of anticipation. They did not just wait; they were watching for Messiah. Their promised deliverer, who would restore the hope of the nation.
Their anticipation—their watching—was built on both general expressions in their Hebrew Scriptures of God’s faithfulness to His promises, and also to a number of specific promises, motifs, and images.
They understood that God had promised a king from the house of David on the throne of Israel:
“And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.” —2 Samuel 7:10–15
The prophets used the imagery of a watchman (at least 23 times in the Old Testament)—a guard who kept watch, to warn people of a problem or of an approaching message from another city. And often in the Old Testament, images of waiting, watching, and watchmen were intended to cause the people to change their behavior and, most expectantly, to have anticipation. To be watching.
“On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth.” —Isaiah 62:6–7
“The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the LORD to Zion.” —Isaiah 52:8
“His watchmen are blind; they are all without knowledge; they are all silent dogs; they cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.” —Isaiah 56:10
“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” —Luke 2:29-32
This perspective of anticipation—of watching—was something Jews took seriously.
“’Therefore wait for me,’ declares the LORD, ‘for the day when I rise up to seize the prey. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger; for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed.’” —Zephaniah 3:8
“So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.” —Hosea 12:6
And for the first century Jews, these promises focused their waiting, and empowered their perseverance, while inspiring their continual watching.
“…but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” —Isaiah 40:31
“Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” —Psalm 27:14
“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.” —Psalm 62:5
For us, Christmas should create anticipation. We look back and we look forward.
We look back to wonder of the second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God, becoming the God-man, the incarnate Jesus the Christ. His coming fulfilled many promises and provided the ultimate pivot of history as God came near to bring us near to God.
But, just as first century Jews looked forward—watching with anticipation—so do we. We look forward to the completion of God’s redemptive plan in Jesus the Christ. A plan to bring heaven and earth back together as He intended from the beginning.
“And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” —1 Thessalonians 1:6–10
So, what are you watching for?
How is your watching changing your perspective and interactions?
How is your watching changing your relationship and priorities?
