Advent: Stories of Love

 

Isaiah 43:1-7

You, like I, may have thought or said along the way, “God of the New Testament is a God of love, but God in the Old Testament is all about wrath….” We do find more “wrath” in the Old Testament, but today’s reading reminds us of the unchanging nature of God—God loves us. In this passage, we find God calling us “precious and honored” and we hear God saying, “I love you” (v.4).

Isaiah speaks God’s word to the scattered and shattered people of Israel—some who have wandered far away from the Promised Land and from God, some who have been taken away forcibly, and some who have stayed right at home but who have turned their backs on God. No matter, God says, I’m bringing you all back to me; I’m redeeming you from every corner of the world because you are “my sons and my daughters…whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” (v.6-7).

While God speaks these words over the people of Israel 2500 years ago, God speaks these words over us today. At times, we, too, have wandered far from God and the life God wants for us. Some of us have been taken away by ideas and promises that have come to nothing. And some of us still sit each Sunday in the sanctuary, but our hearts and minds have turned their backs on God. God longs to redeem our lives, to bring us back, because we, too, are God’s sons and daughters…created for God’s glory, formed and made by God.

In this passage, we find two beautiful, hope-filled promises: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze” (v2). At times, we feel as if we’re drowning in all that surrounds us, we feel that the circumstances of life are washing over us. God says we will not drown in all of that. Sometimes we feel as though the fires are popping up all around us. At work we talk about “putting out fires,” not literal fires, but the things we feel threaten us, threaten to burn things down. God says that we will not go up in flames.

The second promise is not a new promise but an old promise, a promise that we need to be reminded of again and again: “Do not be afraid, for I am with you” (v5). Fear begins as a choice in our lives and quickly becomes a habit. Fear grows out of our sense of powerlessness, out of our realization that we cannot change things or make things happen. God reminds us that this does not matter when God is with us! Where we are weak, God is strong. Where we don’t know, God knows. 

In this Advent season we have been reminded of the hope God longs for us to have. We remember the peace that God brings—God’s shalom. We recall that God longs to fill us with joy—something far more substantial than the happiness predicated on happenings. And today, we are reminded of the loving God who has longed to redeem us from the very beginning. God reveals this love in sending Jesus to the world to live for us and to die for us. Jesus is Immanuel—God with us. What better news could we have as we come to the manger in Bethlehem once more this Christmas season?

May the hope, peace, joy, and love of Christmas be yours…now and all through the New Year!

Sunday, December 21, 2025
Advent: Stories of Love
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