“Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh,
“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;
And He will reign as king and prosper
And do justice and righteousness in the land.
— Jeremiah 23:5
How should God’s people respond to the wickedness of their leaders? Should they collapse in a heap owing to dejection and despair because “nothing seems to change”? Should they follow suit in glee, with an attitude of “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em”? Or should they try and follow “a middle path” where attempts at righteous living mingle with convenient compromise because “nobody’s perfect”?
As we go through our study of 1 & 2 Kings, we come face to face with a society, not unlike ours, where leadership has all but abandoned its moral moorings. Objective truth has been co-opted by subjective experience and tradition (1 Ki 22:6). What once were vices are now celebrated as virtues; what once were virtues are regarded as vices (Isa 5:20).As a result, evildoers are feted (Mal 3:15) and justice is perverted (Hab 1:4).
Nevertheless, in the midst of this gloom, God’s Word brings hope. This is not a grassroots revolution caused by men that will change things from the bottom up. Instead, this is a top down effect caused by God’s sovereign intervention despite what men may think or do. He promises to send His Anointed One who will reinstate righteousness and peace so that justice will reign.
We can be sure that this will happen, because the Anointed One, Jesus Christ, has indeed come. This incarnation of God taking on human flesh is what we will celebrate at Christmas. Nevertheless, as we remember His first advent as the suffering Servant, let us look forward to His return as the King of kings to fully realise the prophecies about Him. May this hope of a glorious future motivate us to faithful perseverance in the present.
— Contributed by Peter Rufus