Coming on the heels of the beautiful visions of Zechariah 10, in which all those scattered in the Diaspora return to Jerusalem, and of Isaiah 65, in which God promises to create a new heaven and a new earth, we turn to the final two passages of this 100 Passages series with hopes and expectations high, ready for the wait to be over. Yet for however long we might feel the wait for Jesus’ arrival has been this Advent season, it pales in comparison to the centuries-long wait for the words of the prophets to come to pass!

From the start of the Second Temple period in 539 BCE, there had been a growing dream that one day God would take back control of history. No longer would the people need to live under foreign powers like the Babylonians, Persians, or Greeks. Instead, God’s kingdom would finally be established in full — the ultimate fulfillment of the covenant promises once given to Abraham all the way back in Genesis, yet expanded to include all the nations of the earth. At the core of this understanding was a building concept of a Messiah — a person from the line of King David who would help to usher in God’s kingdom here on earth.

Our final two passages this week are influential texts in that vision. The first is from the final book of the Old Testament in the Christian canon, the book of Malachi, which writes of a coming day of the Lord, accompanied by a messenger who will help pave the way (whom we understand as John the Baptist). The second is from the book of Daniel, in which Daniel has a vision of a coming “Son of Man” who is given “dominion, glory, and kingship. ... His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away.”

Even after the people came under control of the greatest empire the world had ever seen, there was still a belief that this messianic figure would ultimately triumph over Rome, establishing God’s kingdom forever. That was the world into which Jesus was born — and I look forward to celebrating soon that hope being born anew with you!

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