The Covenant Begins
Old Testament
Scripture: Genesis
18:9-11; 21:1-3
“Where is your wife, Sarah?”
they asked him. “There in the tent,” he replied. One of them said, “I will
return to you about this time next year, and Sarah will then have a son.” Sarah
was listening at the entrance of the tent, just behind him.
Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in
years, and Sarah had stopped having her menstrual periods. The LORD took
note of Sarah as he had said he would; the LORD did for her as he had promised. Sarah became
pregnant and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time that God had
stated. Abraham gave
the name Isaac to this son of his whom Sarah bore him.
Meditation:
We all desire to
have an effect on the world, to make it a better place, or to leave some mark
by which we may be remembered. The desire of Abraham and Sarah for a child, for
a son, was even more than that – it was a desire to cooperate with God’s
creative order in the generation of a new human life, a person who would share their
life and come to know and love God. When they had almost given up hope, the
Lord surprised them, the Lord fulfilled this desire. In our own life, sin
creates a barrenness of soul, it keeps our actions from being truly fruitful
and meritorious in God’s eyes. However, God is not deterred, for He would not
have permitted the Fall without a loving plan to draw good out of the ensuing
brokenness and to give us the Savior, in Whom we receive eternal life. In the
second Advent station, we look to God as the source of all life. We place our
trust in Him, for we are children of His promise.
New Testament
Scripture: Romans 9:1-9
I speak the
truth in Christ, I do not lie; my conscience joins with the holy Spirit in
bearing me witness that I have
great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart. For I could
wish that I myself were accursed and separated from Christ for the sake of my
brothers, my kin according to the flesh. They are
Israelites; theirs the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the
law, the worship, and the promises; theirs the
patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, is the Messiah. God who is
over all be blessed forever. Amen.
But it is not
that the word of God has failed. For not all who are of Israel are Israel, nor are they
all children of Abraham because they are his descendants; but “It is through
Isaac that descendants shall bear your name.” This means that
it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the
children of the promise are counted as descendants. For this is the
wording of the promise, “About this time I shall return and Sarah will have a
son.”
Prayer: Almighty
God, Lord of all life: You fulfilled the longing of Abraham and Sarah, blessing
them with new life. You revealed Your Name to their descendants, making of them
a people to be Your own. By sending Your own Son to become man, You gave us the
One with the Name above every other name, the great and powerful Name which
saves. May all people, by joining in the worship of Your holy Church, come to
know and revere the Name of Jesus and receive all that You have promised. We
ask this in union with the Word made flesh. Amen.
O come, O come, great Lord of might
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times did give the Law
In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice, rejoice!
Emanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
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