In the stock market, nanosecond waits to buy and sell can cost millions. In technology, a fraction of a second data transfer wait times can be the determination of if a new product can keep up. In track, a hundredths-of-a-second wait can mean second place. In relationships, waiting too long can mean no relationship. In the age where Star Trek inspired replicators are becoming office fixtures, video-chatting through a phone is archaic, and 4K streaming must be on demand, we have little time for waiting.
But for 4000 years, waiting was all they had time for. The balance of life had been knocked off kilter by sin, and there was nothing they could do to make life true and right and whole again except wait. Wait for what God had promised.
And though we possess that for which God’s people have waited, we still live in a waiting room. We wait for a place where things are right, we wait for redemption from this broken way of life. This Advent, we are waiting with vigilance, repentance, patience, and a promise.
God has made a promise and left signs throughout history that point to that promise. Every prophecy Jesus fulfilled historically and theologically so that we know he is the one whom God has promised. Let the signs he fulfilled strengthen our faith that he’s the One and give us assurance for the days to come. Let his unique nature as God and man give us confidence that his redemptive work has completely accomplished what God set out to do. In the God-man Jesus, our waiting is over. We now wait for the fulfillment of our redemption with the confidence that comes from God’s promises kept and the ones he’ll keep.
Pastor Zach Gebert preached this sermon on December 21, 2019 at the Family Worship Gathering of Bethany Lutheran Church’s Lynndale campus in Appleton, WI.
Learn more at www.bethanyappleton.org