Advent Day 13: The Anointed One

Today, we light the Green Candle, the Black Candle, and the Blue Candle. The Green Candle represents life and all that Father God created in Christ, Good and Whole. The Black Candle represents the Evil and Corruption of Sin that entered our World through our rebellion. The Blue candle represents the Hope that comes from the Promises of a future Savior and King.

Psalm 2:7
I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me,
“You are my Son; today I have begotten you.”

Eventually, both the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah went into exile. The Lord brought this judgment on the people because they had not been faithful to listen to His voice. But, just as He had promised, The Lord brought the people out of exile and returned them to the land. The people are spared; the promises are protected.

When the people returned, they began to rebuild the land and the Temple that had been destroyed. The Lord raised up a few of His Prophets, during this rebuilding to guide the people in truth, and the faithful reflected on all that the Lord had revealed to them. It was a new beginning, but the nation was a shell of its former glory. All of God’s promises – of a great nation, of an everlasting kingdom – must have seemed like a distant reality. But the God of Abraham, of Moses, of David, is faithful.

In time, a great hope arose: The Lord would raise up a Son of David – The Anointed One, The Messiah – to rule over Israel and restore the nations fortunes.

When the Lord first led Samuel to David, Samuel anointed David with oil as a symbol of God’s choice for king. In Hebrew the term meshiach means “the anointed one.” “Messiah” is simply the transliteration of this Hebrew term. The Messiah would be the One to come who would rule not just over Israel, but over all the nations.

Psalm 2 reflects on this key truth:

Psalm 2:1–8
2:1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
2:2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,
2:3 “Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
2:4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
2:5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
2:6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
2:7 [The Anointed King speaks] I will tell of the decree:
The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.
2:8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.”

We see a common theme here: the nations have rebelled against the LORD God and His chosen, anointed King. But the Lord has established His true King, and this King is the Son of the Lord God. All the Anointed King has to do is ask for the Nations and the Lord will give them to Him.

This promise, however, seemed like a distant reality to the people of Israel. After their return to the Land, no son of David ever came to claim the Throne. It looked as if the line of David, David’s family tree, had been cut down, never to be restored. But the Lord is more than powerful enough to fulfill His promises. And He shows, over and over again, that He will be faithful. He uses His prophets to give the people of Israel Hope:

Jeremiah 23:5-6
“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD,
When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;
And He will reign as king and act wisely
And do justice and righteousness in the land.
In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel will dwell securely;
And this is His name by which He will be called,
‘The LORD our righteousness.’

A new king, one like no other king of Judah, was to come. He would be righteous and wise. He would save. He would secure. He would be their Messiah, God’s “Anointed One.” The Psalms – poems and songs of anguish and praise, many written by David himself – developed this Messianic Hope that would continue to grow over time:

Psalm 132:11, 17-18
The LORD swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back:
“One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne.”…
… There I will make a horn to sprout for David;
I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.
His enemies I will clothe with shame,
but on Him his crown will shine.”

How the people of God, returning from exile to a city in ruin, must have clung to these promises of a coming King!

Finally, the Lord sent the last prophet to Israel: Malachi. Speaking through Malachi, the Lord warned the people not to fall back into the sins that had led them to exile. He also warned that a final Day of Judgment – The Day of the Lord – was coming, a day of judgment for all the nations.

Before this Day would come, the Lord would send a messenger to prepare the way before Him:

Malachi 3:1, 4:5
“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts…
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

And then… The Lord goes silent. Malachi is the last prophet to speak to Israel.

For over 4oo years the Lord would remain silent. And the faithful would hope.

When will the Messenger come to prepare the way?

Would the Son of David, The Anointed One, The Messiah, the Great King ever arrive?