This past Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent, a season of anticipating the coming of the gift of the person of Jesus. For the past five years, I have tried to help our church think about the coming of Jesus by giving to Grace Fellowship Church the gift of four Advent Poems to correspond to our Advent candles. As we step into this season this year, we as a church find ourselves in the midst of a study of the vision of the prophet Isaiah. Few Old Testament prophets tapped into the longing for the Messiah and the hope of his light more than Isaiah, and so I am using some of his most well know Messianic prophecies to inspire this year’s Advent sonnets.
The first prophecy is found in Isaiah 7:14:
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
“The Unexpected Seed and Sons”
A Poem for the First Sunday of Advent
Our God’s way is to miraculously speak life
Into the bitterest and bleakest hours of night.
Even the curse of the Fall and its resultant strife
Held forth the promise of the Seed and his light.
At seventy-five years of age, Father Abraham was told
Sarah would bear a son of that same promised seed.
And after twenty-five years, his faith had grown bold
So a hundred-year-old father held Isaac and believed.
But the light grew dim after David’s glorious reign;
Enemies and exile imperiled the Promised Son’s line.
Could anything now cleanse the dark bloodstains
On the hearts of God’s people – on yours and on mine?
Isaiah answered with a sign we are still called to believe:
“God will come to cleanse us because the virgin will conceive.”