LEFC Family Advent Readings: Let Earth Receive Her King!
Psalm 98 :: December 13, 2020
Week #3: Watch the Blessings Flow
“Advent” means “coming.” Christmas is coming. Jesus has come and is coming again.
For this year’s unique Advent season, we are focusing on Psalm 98, the biblical inspiration for Isaac Watts’ beloved Christmas carol, “Joy to the World.”
Psalm 98 is a victory song of the once and future king of the entire Earth. The psalm is a joyfully celebrates the marvelous things the Lord has done in history and will do when Christ comes again.
Our first candle was a candle of preparation.
[LIGHT FIRST CANDLE AGAIN.]
Just as we are preparing for the coming of Christmas, we should be preparing our hearts for the coming of Christ. Psalm 98 invites us to ready our hearts for His return.
[LIGHT SECOND CANDLE AGAIN.]
Our second candle was a candle of celebration. The coming of the Messiah is worthy of the resounding exultation of the whole creation. Heaven and nature will sing!
[LIGHT THIRD CANDLE.]
Our third candle is a candle of anticipation. Psalm 98 thrills our hearts with a glorious picture of an entire globe no longer marred by the ravages of sin.
[READ PSALM 98:1-3]
The psalmist sings a fresh and rapturous song because he has just watched the LORD do marvelous things for Israel, and his song prefigures the marvelous things that Jesus would do when He arrived.
At His first Advent, Jesus won our salvation on the Cross and at the Empty Tomb. At His second Advent, we will watch as Jesus applies that salvation to every inch of the new creation, undoing everything that is spoiled, broken, and wrong.
Let this candle’s light lead us to anticipate that glorious day when Jesus makes all things new.
“No more let sin and sorrow grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make his blessings flow
Far as the curse is found!”
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