In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’” Luke 3:1–6
Preparing the Way….
We love to take family hikes near Saugatuck State Park. There are many trails that weave through the forest and bring us to the miles of Lake Michigan beach. We take our golden retriever, Lucy, and wander through the familiar sandy terrain. Sometimes we will hear other people or families walking ahead of us. Their voices echo through the woods, and we can hear them call out to each other even though they’re quite a distance away.
As I reflect on this passage, God’s voice through John the Baptist and through Isaiah echoes throughout the generations. Prepare the way of the Lord!
During the time that John was quoting this passage, he was traveling throughout the region and around Jordan. He was desperately trying to call the people to a change of heart. John spoke these words in such a powerful parallel to when Isaiah wrote them, hundreds of years before (Isaiah 40:3–5).
These words bring a challenge as well as a promise. John seeks to give warning, encouragement, and a call to action for the restless wandering of his people.
Although we live in a vastly different time than Isaiah or John, the Holy Spirit allows the Bible to continue to bring eternal relevance to each of us. Where are ways that we need a change of heart in our own lives? Where are there desolate and restless longings in our lives today? As we prepare for the season of Advent and Christmas, how can we be prompted to surrender our hearts to Jesus again? As busy as we are in this season, may we be encouraged to slow down, reflect and see the big picture of God making a way in the wilderness.
I am thankful for continued opportunities to remember, to surrender, and to prepare the way of the Lord.
Pam VanPutten is the coordinator of mentoring and internships at Hope College’s Center for Ministry Studies.
“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:25–36
For years I’ve lived far from family, and the time between November and January would invariably include at least one sizable road trip. I’m actually kind of proud of the many miles I’ve logged on the road over the course of the years, so allow me to bring myself down a few notches by revealing a confession. I have a bit of a problem with missing exits.
West to Chicago or east to Cleveland? I can premeditate all I want, but under pressure my choice might as well be a coin flip. It’s not so much a failure to read the appropriate highway signs so much as success in additionally reading the extraneous ones. In today’s reading, Christ urges his people to keep their eyes glued to the signs of the coming kingdom while the “cares of this life” compete for our attention.
Maybe the most instructive part of the road trip analogy is where it breaks down. We are not traveling to Christ’s kingdom but rather it is the kingdom that is brought to us. We watch for it. In a further plot twist, his church itself is a road sign pointing to this kingdom. Ephesians 2:20–22 describes his people, with Christ as the cornerstone, as God’s temple: A visible sign of his presence on earth. The church is to point to King Jesus who “comes on a cloud with power and glory” and to magnify the name of Christ as a city on a hill that outshines competing and extraneous road signs.
May we in our imperfection, together with every part of fallen creation, eagerly live in the promise that the redeemer is making and will make all things new. And may we not be caught off guard as he does so.
Neil Silveus is an assistant professor of economics at Hope College.
For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?
Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. 1 Thessalonians 3:9–13
Heaven and Nature Singing!
Imagine pastor and hymn-writer Isaac Watts waking up one morning in 1719 to do his Old Testament and New Testament readings.
Perhaps his Bible was open to Psalm 98 for his Old Testament section, where he read about making “a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth; break forth in joyous song and sing praises!” Then, after reflecting on that, he may have been led to 1 Thessalonians 3 for his New Testament verses, where Paul is sharing with his friends in Thessalonica all the joy he feels for them. Pastor Watts would have noticed that these New Testament verses seem to resound with the same joy evident in the Psalm he had just read! He could probably feel the joy that Paul was clearly sharing “at the coming of our Lord Jesus,” and he may have thought, “I think I’ll write a song about this!” Maybe that’s how it happened…
Paul reminds us of our own longing to be with family and friends over the holidays as he prays that God will make a path for him to be with his “family” in Thessalonica. It’s the same joy we might feel knowing there is a place of belonging where we can experience the “wonders of His love.”
Paul also encourages his friends to “increase and abound in love for all, as we do for you.” Why? So that we would be blameless before God! No blame on us from the Jesus of Christmas… talk about the Joy to share with the world!
The challenge for us is to bring that same sense of joy to our family, friends and communities by letting heaven and nature sing through us! Be that joy of remembering a Father who sees us blameless because of His great love for us!
Now that is something we can all sing about!
Kelvin Blom is the transportation services manager at Hope College.
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it shall be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’” Jeremiah 33:14–16
Have you ever found yourself feeling like your emotions don’t match the expected “Christmas spirit” around you? Whether due to grief, loss, job stress, world events, or underlying anxiety and depression, it can sometimes be challenging (and even painful) to walk through a season where the default expectation is nonstop cheer and excitement.
The prophet Jeremiah offers two gifts for us to unwrap.
The first is the gift of lament. Jeremiah witnesses the destruction of his nation and the subsequent deportation of his people. He is brutally honest about his pain, even going as far cursing the day he was born (Jeremiah 20:14). He authors an entire book, Lamentations, to record his emotional wrestling match. Lament reminds us that God doesn’t expect plastic displays of happiness in the midst of life’s pain. He welcomes our honest expressions and our tears.
Jeremiah’s second gift is hope. Not the “I hope I get everything on my Christmas list” kind of hope, but the kind of hope that clings to God’s promises and God’s character in the midst of difficult circumstances. It’s this prophetic hope that reminds Jeremiah that God has promised righteousness, justice, salvation, and security. These promises are anchored in God’s covenants and in His very character. And, they are fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
At Christmas we celebrate the baby who literally embodies the fulfillment of God’s promises, born to bring hope into a world of injustice and unrighteousness. God sees our pain, hears our cries, identifies with us through Christ, and will one day put all things right.
Today we can find hope in the promises prophesied by Jeremiah who anticipated the coming of the righteous Branch, Jesus, who would spring forth from a desolate landscape to make his blessings known, far as the curse is found.
Gerald Longjohn is the senior associate dean of students at Hope College.
In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”
Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:1–12
Someone is Coming!
In this scripture, we encounter John the Baptist, a voice crying out in the wilderness, preparing the way for the Lord. His message is clear and urgent: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 3:2, NIV). But within this passage, one line in verse 11 stands out to me with profound anticipation: “Someone is coming.”
John’s proclamation isn’t just a warning; it’s a promise. Someone is coming who is greater than John, someone who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. This “someone” is Jesus, whose arrival changes everything.
The Advent season is about preparation and expectation. Just as John called people to prepare their hearts through repentance, we too are called to ready ourselves for the coming of Jesus. Advent is a time to reflect on our lives, to turn away from the distractions and sins that pull us away from God, and focus on the hope that Jesus brings.
So, over the coming weeks as we light Advent candles and sing carols, may it all remind us that “Someone is coming.” Jesus, the promised Savior, is on His way. We are preparing not only for a historical event, but for the living presence of Christ in our lives.
In our preparations, let’s also remember the humility of John the Baptist. He pointed away from himself and toward Jesus. In the same way, may our lives and the entire Hope community reflect the light of Christ, pointing others to the living hope He offers.
Someone is coming, and His name is Jesus. Let us prepare the way for the Lord.
Matthew A. Scogin is the president of Hope College.
Welcome to Hope College’s fourth annual Advent devotional!
This years theme, Heaven & Nature Sing, is from a line in Isaac Watts’ classic hymn “Joy to the World”:
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come; let earth receive her King, let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing.”
“Joy to the World,” written in 1719, is one of the most popular English Christmas carols ever written, and it was inspired by Psalm 98:
“Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!” —Psalm 98:4
It’s easy to see why Watts’ song became a Christmas favorite. The Incarnation of Jesus Christ is the greatest occasion for joy and celebration that the world has ever known. The King of the World came to us as a newborn babe in Bethlehem. Joy to the world, indeed!
But what makes the song most interesting (to me, at least) is that Isaac Watts didn’t write his hymn about Christmas: He wrote it about the Second Coming of Jesus, not the first. This dual nature of the carol — that it looks both backward to Christmas and forward to Christ’s second coming — makes it especially suitable for our Advent reflections this year. Advent is the time when we wait for our annual commemoration of the Nativity as a small picture of our greater waiting for Christ to return.
There’s one more reason I like this line, and that’s the insistence that nature itself is singing for joy. The idea that nature can express itself is nothing new, of course. All of creation has been groaning, Saint Paul tells us in Romans 8:23; Jesus himself tells us that even the rocks can cry out (Luke 19:40); and the psalmist wrote that “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).
But here we see that at the coming of Jesus Christ, nature doesn’t groan or cry out or declare or proclaim — no, it sings! More than that, it sings for joy. Join the song, won’t you?
If you follow along with us, every day of Advent — beginning tomorrow, December 1 — you will find a new devotional reflection by a member of the Hope College faculty and staff. (If you haven’t already done so, please subscribe.) Each scripture passage will be adapted from the Revised Common Lectionary readings for Advent.
Please join us for this Advent journey toward Christmas Day!
Hope College is pleased to announce its fourth annual Advent devotional, Heaven & Nature Sing!
Beginning on December 1, 2024, faculty and staff from Hope will guide us on a devotional journey to Christmas Day. Every day of Advent, you will find a new meditation on a scripture passage adapted from the Revised Common Lectionary.
If you haven’t already subscribed to receive daily emails, please sign up below. (If you already subscribed in previous years, there’s no need to re-subscribe.)
Or, you can follow along online right here at the blog.
And please, share this with your friends and anyone else who might be interested in joining us.
And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them. Luke 2:1–20
Merry Christmas!
Today, on Christmas Day, our passage is a very familiar one. Whether you’re a Christian or not, you probably know this piece of scripture. Personally, my mind immediately goes to Charlie Brown when I hear this passage. As a kid we watched the Charlie Brown Christmas Special every year on Christmas Eve. It’s a tradition that Sarah and I have continued with our own kids.
Within this well-known passage is one of the most famous lines of scripture — “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace.” Interestingly, if you ask people on the street what Christmas is all about, a common answer would actually be the right one. A lot of people would say that Christmas is about peace on earth. It’s a rare example where a person-on-the street interview would actually yield the right answer!
But, of course, the critical question is what kind of peace. What kind of peace are we actually talking about? When Jesus comes on Christmas, what kind of peace does he bring?
The most common misperception is that Christmas is about political or international peace. There is a whole slew of Christmas pop songs about peace on earth — from John Lennon singing “so this is Christmas, war is over” to Amy Grant’s “Grown Up Christmas List,” wishing for “no more lives torn apart, that wars would never start.” But this isn’t the kind of peace the angels were talking about. And that’s obvious just by the plain fact that here we are 2,023 years after the first Christmas, and war isn’t showing any signs of abating. To be clear, God will one day bring this kind of peace, as promised in the book of Isaiah. It’s just not the kind of peace He brings on Christmas.
So, we assume then that if Christmas peace isn’t political peace, it must be about inner peace. It must be that when the angels declare peace on earth they are talking about some kind of internal, phycological peace. But anyone who has been a Christian for any length knows that, yes, sometimes we have an internal “peace that surpasses understanding,” as Paul talks about in Philippians 4. And yet, other times following Jesus brings us the complete opposite of inner peace.
The very next story in Luke 2 describes an episode where Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the temple to dedicate Him to God. This wise prophet Simeon comes to bless the child. He looks at the baby, and then he looks at Mary and says, “a sword is going to pierce your soul.” In other words, Jesus is going to bring anything but internal psychological peace into your life. He’s going to bring great pain and suffering into your life as you try to raise this child that you don’t understand, and watch him be tortured and suffer and die.
So what kind of peace are the angels talking about? The answer is found in the next line of that verse (Luke 2:14) – “goodwill toward men.” On Christmas, God comes to earth and brings His goodwill to us.
That’s a big deal, because we first rejected Him. And God isn’t the kind of guy you can blow off without repercussions. Which is why all throughout the Bible, when God shows up the first reaction people have is fear. That’s precisely the reaction the shepherds have here. And the angels basically say, “I understand why you’re afraid, but we have something we want to show you, and when you see it, you’ll realize that you no longer have to be afraid of God.”
God has to enter into the world in a way that can get past our fear. So He comes in disguise, in the form of a baby — “veiled in flesh the Godhead see.”
And He comes to bring peace. Not political peace. Not inner peace. But peace between us and God.
As you celebrate with family and friends today, may you celebrate that God has come to earth to get back what He lost — us. He’s come to restore peace between us and Himself.
Matthew A. Scogin is the president of Hope College.
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4–7
A beautiful Methodist rite exhorts the congregation, ”Remember your baptism and be grateful.” How often do we thank God for the gift of our baptism? Though, perhaps we might be asking first, why should we be grateful for our baptism?
Throughout the Scriptures, God creates and heals his world through water and the Holy Spirit. In creation, the Spirit hovers over the face of the deep waters. In the flood, Noah sends out a dove (symbolic of the Holy Spirit in the renewed world) who returns when he finds an olive tree. In the Exodus, the Spirit goes ahead in a pillar of cloud leading the Israelites through the Red Sea to freedom from slavery. At Pentecost, Peter says, “Repent and be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” God uses water and the Spirit, something earthly and something divine, to create his world and to recreate it.
In our reading today, Paul tells Titus that it was not our own efforts that saved us, but God’s mercy. “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” We are washed from our sins, given a new birth from God, and made new again by the Holy Spirit. So, there is much to be grateful for! God has made us clean and forgiven our debts; he has made us part of his own family so that we are properly his children; and he has given us a new source of life and power so we can live as God lives. And if we live the life of the Spirit given to us in baptism, we can be assured of inheriting eternal life.
Dr. Jared Ortiz is the Lavern ’39 and Betty DePree ’41 Van Kley Professor of Religion at Hope College.
On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth. The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: “I will not again give your grain to be food for your enemies, and foreigners shall not drink your wine for which you have labored; but those who garner it shall eat it and praise the LORD, and those who gather it shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.”
Go through, go through the gates; prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway; clear it of stones; lift up a signal over the peoples. Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.” And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken. Isaiah 62:6–12
I am not going to pretend that I understand the nuances of Isaiah’s words. I don’t know what this passage means completely because it is confusing. I want to think it is about the birth of Christ, but Jerusalem is not the praise of the earth. I know that for sure.
I want to connect it to my toil — so often my days feel more like toil than the celebration feast. I try to tend to my little patch of earth but for what? I eat someone else’s grain. I drink wine made in vineyards unknown to me. Not only is Jerusalem not the praise of the earth, but there don’t seem to be watchmen who are never silent on the walls.
I cannot help but connect the passage back to all the laborers of Israel when Isaiah wrote this poem. So often their grain, their wine, their harvest, all the fruits of their labor are taken by someone else. Both the bread that is their sustenance and the wine that is their joy. Their mourning and work must have been intermixed. Something like, “Why did you take us out of Egypt just to die in the desert?”
I start to see that the passage knows that without Christ’s incarnation all of history would be pointless toil. All it would be is injustice, stealing, and working only to see the fruits of your labors turn to ashes. Life would be toil and strife without end — both an end in time and a teleological end. At least that is what Ecclesiastes has convinced me of.
But now I am wrapped up in trying to understand a deeper layer of this poem. I think it is true that the world has deserted the watchmen who have been set on the wall. That indeed the watchmen have not remained silent. That the work and toil was not pointless. That the restless days and nights of waiting were worthwhile. We can and should say to “Daughter Zion, ‘See, your Savior comes!’”
The bread and the wine were stolen from our lips. The enemies were not just taking their hard-earned fruits, they were stealing the communion. The work of our hands which Christ made sacramental. Our bread and our wine becomes His body. This is not a passage about the way being prepared for Him. It is about the way being prepared, “for the people.”
He is calling us back to Jerusalem. It is a city for the nations. It is a city that will never be deserted again. His coming incarnation is the cornerstone of the Jerusalem that Isaiah prophesied about.
We must continue the watchful waiting, and we must not be silent. He is waiting for all the Holy People to be called. Can we patiently wait for even just one or two more? Can we turn this Advent observance into waiting for His final return? A time when our communion is no longer stolen?
Can we endure the injustices of this world for a while longer? Even if it is the rest of our lives?
I get to eat the bread and taste the body and drink the wine and savor the blood. I get to taste that city that is here and is yet to come. To live is Christ, but what is coming is life everlasting.
See, your Savior comes!
Greg Lookerse is an assistant professor of art at Hope College.
