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December 5

Jeremiah 23:5

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.

Leader after leader was getting it badly wrong.  The same mistakes were being made time and again.  The people were wondering where it would ever end.  Every time a new leader emerged, there was a moment of hope,  and then it was very quickly snuffed out once more.  No.  I’m not describing 21^st century Britain,  but Israel 600 years before the birth of Christ.  The prophet Jeremiah is speaking to the same kind of situation as Isaiah, yet the words could still be applied today,  couldn’t they.  Jeremiah says,  “The days are coming when I will raise up for David, a righteous branch” – but even as God made that commitment through Jeremiah,  He was still allowing those who held the reins of power to continue to make a mess of things.  Why?  We might well ask?

The same might be true of our own time.  This season of Advent isn’t just about preparing again to celebrate the coming of Christ to earth more than 2000 years ago.  It is also about that wonderful proclamation Christ has died,  Christ is risen, Christ will come again!   He WILL come again.  When?  Why not right now?

As Israel had to wait until the time was truly right,  so too do we.  It’s not for us to guess,  only to hope … and to wait….. and in the meantime, live in such a way that the life we live begins to reflect the Kingdom that will come.