The LORD at Israel’s Head

The Lord proclaims, for Israel, a ray of salvific hope: “I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob... Their king will pass on before them, the Lord at their head.”

~Micah 2:12a, 13c (NRSV)

When the darkness surrounds, particularly within a communal setting, as was the case that Micah was prophesying about, hope is made—for that moment—trivially irrelevant. What need is there of hope when all thought is consumed for abrogating fear? But such despair is a deception, for hope is the only true thing that can resolve such unparalleled darkness.

Such a hope is found wedded to repentance. Hope may not, otherwise, be true; that which God owns (i.e. hope) will only prevail in the presence of reconciliation, us with the Lord, by the acknowledgement of our sin.

Our Vision Beyond the Immediate Darkness

Visions of hope beyond any reigning darkness are contingent, as above, upon the recognition of wrongdoing, the commitment to turn back to God, and the plea for forgiveness.

Darkness may not always be linked to sin, but we can be assured that penitence on our behalf, in spite of any confusion, is always the appropriate response. That, there, is a biblical truism—judgment, however harsh and inappropriate it seems, can be alleviated by turning back to God. Unswerving is to be that act.

And though darkness may swirl, we must present hope for the dawning of a New Day.

The Dawning of a New Day

“So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

~2 Peter 1:19 (NRSV)

As an eyewitness to the glory of God in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle Peter attests, above, to the glory coming, even present today by foretaste, in the age to come—the Parousia: the second coming of Jesus.

There is a fullness of expectancy in the above verse: our hope is buoyed not in seeing, already, the rising of the morning star, but by faith of knowing this will take place—and, in our hearts.

The dawning of this New Day has a twofold, mirrored reality; we are privileged of a foretaste of the hope resplendent in salvation by the Messiah’s blood. But, we will more fully experience it at some later point to come.

Before us, at that time, will be our King; the Lord will be at our head. And even in our travail, the Lord, today, is there before us.

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A promise awaits the kin of God, by their repentance. The Lord will go before them; the Almighty at our head.

Despite the recounting of hopelessness, a counteracting sense of hopefulness remits itself at the immediate thought that God is not only with us, but before us, leading us.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.