Advent Day 19: Love

THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT – THURSDAY December 19, 2024

READ Micah 4:1–7
Micah describes the New Jerusalem where the Messiah will dwell. He will rule, and all nations will know peace.

4 In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established
as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
and peoples will stream to it.

² Many nations will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
³ He will judge between many peoples
and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
⁴ Everyone will sit under their own vine
and under their own fig tree,
and no one will make them afraid,
for the Lord Almighty has spoken.
⁵ All the nations may walk
in the name of their gods,
but we will walk in the name of the Lord
our God for ever and ever.

⁶ “In that day,” declares the Lord,

“I will gather the lame;
I will assemble the exiles
and those I have brought to grief.
⁷ I will make the lame my remnant,
those driven away a strong nation.
The Lord will rule over them in Mount Zion
from that day and forever.

REFLECT
We read in Revelation 21:4, “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Jonathan Edwards, in his sermon “Heaven, a World of Love,” puts it like this:

“The most stately cities on earth, however magnificent their buildings, yet have their foundations in the dust, and their streets dirty and defiled, and made to be trodden under foot; but the very streets of this heavenly city are of pure gold, like unto transparent glass, and its foundations are of precious stones, and its gates are pearls. … There are many principles contrary to love, which make this world like a tempestuous sea. Selfishness, and envy, and revenge, and jealousy, and kindred passions keep life on earth in a constant tumult. …

But oh! What rest is there in that world which the God of peace and love fills with his own gracious presence, and in which the Lamb of God lives and reigns, filling it with the brightest and sweetest beams of his love; where there is nothing to disturb or offend, and no being or object to be seen that is not surrounded with perfect amiableness and sweetness; … where there is no enemy and no enmity; but perfect love in every heart and to every being; where there is perfect harmony among all the inhabitants, no one envying another, but everyone rejoicing in the happiness of every other; … where love is always mutual and reciprocated to the full; where there is no hypocrisy or dissembling, but perfect simplicity and sincerity; where there is no treachery, or unfaithfulness, or inconstancy, or jealousy in any form; … where there is no division through different opinions or interests, but where all in that glorious and loving society shall be most nearly and divinely related, and each shall belong to every other, and all shall enjoy each other in perfect prosperity and riches and honor, without any sickness, or grief, or persecution, or sorrow, or any enemy to molest them, or any busybody to create jealousy or misunderstanding, or mar the perfect, and holy, and blessed peace that reigns in heaven!”

Because our Savior was born, and went to the cross, that is our future. That is our living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

PRAY
Thank God for the amazing future he has promised and planned for us. Pray that God would help us contemplate our future and set our minds “on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:1-4).