Introduction
On this last week before the Christmas week, I spent time away – and no, it wasn’t really the vacation as I thought it’d be. It was as much an immersion as it was an escape.
I was immersed in driving – Although my good nephew Ben was not only willing but definitely much more able to brave and conquer the far stretches of road that connect Baguio to Tuguegarao and everywhere in between, I also had a hand – rather, both hands on the wheel as I commandeered my faithful warhorse of a Toyota Revo down the winding Ambuklao road, through Nueva Viscaya and beyond.
More importantly, I was immersed in Ilokano – that’s right, this trip was not without a severe testing of my knowledge and usage of the primary language of the northern regions of our beautiful country. I mentioned my nephew Ben, and although the guy could speak English and Tagalog easily, he was clearly more comfortable expressing himself in Ilokano. This meant that I had no breaks, speaking the language in the car and obviously wherever we stopped and rested, with relatives and just the people there. All this excited me because it was a direct application of what I read from Scott Young’s Ultralearning book, where he described how he and his friends forced themselves to not speak English but French when they toured France – They even dared to force themselves to speak Chinese when they spent time in Hong Kong and Shanghai (or, well, wherever they actually were in that side of the world).
Obviously you learn much more than the actual language but the preferences and the expressions of the local native speakers as well. You also hear and consequently apply them. One of the words I found myself using was ‘bareng’ or ‘barbareng’ – ‘hopefully’ or ‘I am hopeful’, as in ‘barbareng mapan ak dita Monday’ (‘Hopefully I go there this coming Monday’, and forgive me if I butchered that but I believe that was the point, at least).
Now let’s take a step back, not only covering this week, but this quarter. During what I’m assuming are the first parts of this final quarter of 2023, one verse that was playing on my mind was the fabled and famous Jeremiah 29:11, where God says that He has plans to prosper the people of Israel, and not to harm them; He has plans to give them a bright future, and… a hope.
They say that while the actual ‘eye’ of a storm is very peaceful, it’s the area around it which is the most turbulent and most dangerous part; Not somewhere you want to be in. I’d like to think that we’re in the most dangerous part of this typhoon I’m calling December, that is, the week before Christmas – the storm before the calm.
We’re in the Christmas hustle and bustle, where we are tested and consequently drained of our social capacity through all the parties, reunions and social events; Our logistical skills are pushed to their limits off by the many gifts we buy, give and receive, and if it’s not the prevalent worldview of Christmas that’s grinding us to a paste from outside, we – well, I also face my own internal issues; Through the years, I’ve been assaulting myself with thoughts of condemnation, stating that I haven’t made the most of this year, and I haven’t achieved everything that I set off to to at the beginning of the year – you know, that sort of stuff.
But even in the presence of all that’s happening around and within, well, I’m also hearing something from all around me, something that’s also stirring within me – that is, hope. With all the gale force winds that hit us from the outside, and all the self-sabotaging thoughts that crumble our balance from within, it’s no accident that we see, of all things we CAN see from the story of the birth of our Savior – that we have a Hope, and this Hope serves as a steady Anchor for our souls.
Throughout the Old Testament, the prophets guided the people of Israel by way of warnings… but they also gave us hope.
I’ve had a nice conversation with my brother (and sister) from another mother, Xyrus and Leslee. As my congregation knows, it’s Xyrus (more known to them as Marion, as his full first name is Xyrus Marion) whose voice is featured in our Psalm reading videos at the beginning of our services. In our conversing, we were trying to figure out a Psalm appropriate for this December, and this Christmas Season… but he decided to make a twist of things and offered not to read outside of the Psalms; and of all the Scripture, he decided to read Isaiah 61.
Isaiah 61
The Year of the LORD’S Favor – The Chapter is topped with the heading, ‘The Year of the Lord’s Favor’; But what exactly does this ‘favor’ entail? What exactly are we hoping for?
We Hope for Freedom
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’S favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
While in any other time we may already know that all of this is already quoted by no less than Jesus Christ Himself, at a synagogue in Nazareth, I don’t think it’s an accident that we’re about to look at this prophecy now, during this Christmas season. For, see, even before the Christ was born, we were already given hope of what He would do.
Are you brokenhearted? Christ was sent to bind you – and while that doesn’t sound so appealing off the bat, look – the word for ‘bind up’ is chabash (khaw-bash), which, among other meanings, meant ‘to wrap about’, ‘govern’, and ‘heal’. Those of us who have had their hearts broken this year, and even those of us who have themselves broken the hearts of others (a reflection or a result of the state of their own heart) would have all the pieces their hearts gathered together, bound and arranged (governed), and in the process, healed, as only the master Crafter can heal. Are you captive? Are you bound, as in a prisoner, in a physical jail, or in a dungeon of your own mind? Are you a prisoner of others’ doing, or a prisoner of your own doing? Christ was sent to do two things: To literally open the prison, and in proclaiming liberty, He also tells you, should you fail to notice… that He has set you free.
Joseph Prince, at one point, had a good insight to what followed – Christ, at Nazareth, proclaimed that prophecy had been fulfilled… up until what He read, which was until the line, ‘to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor’ – He closed the book before it read ‘the day of vengeance of our God’. From another standpoint I’m led to share; First, the Lord’s favor supposedly lasts for a year, but God’s vengeance is a day – the word for ‘year’ also means a full revolution of time, while the word for ‘day’ means a ‘space of time’; And just as a day is merely part of the year, so I’m led to thinking the vengeance is only a part, or a component of the entirety of the favor of the Lord. This tells me now that we probably should be so fixated at vengeance and the judgment, as it is only part of the complete plan of God’s favor upon us all; I think it’s also in line with what I say when I say that Christ turning over the tables at the temple, or Him rebuking Peter straight to his face – they’re all done out of the His everlasting love and His eternal mercy for us.
It’s as if to say that part of the binding of the brokenhearted, and part of the liberty of the captives, is the vengeance upon the enemy who has broken our hearts, and who has subjected us to captivity.
Hope of Restoration
They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks; foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers; but you shall be called the priests of the LORD; they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; you shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory you shall boast.
Through Christ, we have been set free, and in spite of all that seeks to bind us and imprison us, we have been reminded that we WILL continue to be set free. In this season remembering His birth, we remember that He comes to set us free – He IS our Freedom.
And because we were, are and will be set free of what binds us and what imprisons us, it allows us to move forward from the anxiety that such things deal, to restoration – of both ourselves, and all the concerns us. We’re free to rebuild that which has been destroyed and neglected.
And as we’ve been ministered to by Christ who is our Freedom, so we are able to minister to others as well; Being reconciled, we’ve been brought to be seen as ministers of our God, who to us is a God of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-21), and not merely ‘priests of the Lord’, but a Royal Priesthood, a Chosen People, a Holy Nation, and God’s Special Possession (1 Peter 2:9)!
Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy.
Christ is born! Let us therefore rejoice, for He shall turn our mourning into dancing; He shall put off our sackcloth and gird us with gladness! Oh, let our tongue and our heart and everything glorious within us sing praise to Him, and not be silent, indeed (Psalm 30:11-12 AMPC)!
Hope of Vindication
For I the LORD love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
Notice how we mentioned earlier how it is the ‘year’ of the Lord’s favor, and the ‘day’ of God’s vengeance. By the way, notice that it’s ‘God’s vengeance’, and not our vindication mentioned – Not that He does not want us vindicated, but the words chosen imply that it is HIS vengeance that will be served, and to me, that means that He WANTS to set us free.
Also, notice how it’s only in this small part of the entire chapter where He mentions justice, hating robbery and ‘wrong’, and recompense; While it is present, I believe it is a mere part of the entirety of God’s favor; in other words, justice and recompense are PART and not the WHOLE of His vengeance, and our vindication.
Again, this is to say that while we will be bound up (that is, collected, arranged and healed), and while the doors shall be opened and liberty shall be proclaimed to us, the Lord will also give the enemy who has bound us his recompense; our enemy will be the one who will be dispersed, cancelled, and broken. The doors shall be closed all around our enemy, and constraint shall be spoken and proclaimed unto him.
Epilogue
Their offspring shall be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are an offspring the LORD has blessed.
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.
What have you hoped for this 2023? Have you ended up satisfied and/or disappointed? What are you hoping for in the upcoming year, 2024? No matter what hand we’ve been dealt this year, or no matter how we perceive what we receive in the upcoming year, let us remember that we have Hope.
A ray of hope flickers in the sky
A tiny star lights up way up high
All across the land, dawns a brand new morn
This comes to pass when a Child is born
Yes, the birth of Christ is more than just a reminder, but a renewal of our Hope.
Merry Christmas to one and all.
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