It’s Christmas! Some dream for a white Christmas, others for a Hawaiian Christmas. It’s a time of gift giving and a favourite time to get engaged, fulfilling dreams. So how does Psalm 126 fit into a day like today? James Mead writes, “Think of all the times we have heard someone say — or we ourselves have said — “I don’t know how I should feel during the holidays.” The mix of conflicting emotions and the memory of past blessings obscured by current crises can leave us feeling disconnected from our moorings. Psalm 126 … assures them that someone understands how they feel and, more importantly, can offer them hope.” Christmas is a time of hope and joy for most people, and I’ve had many of those joyous Christmases, but have also experienced loss and grief during Christmas; making Christmas a time of mixed and confusing feelings.
Psalm 126 is a psalm of ascent, one of the psalms sung by the people as they travelled to Jerusalem. It’s a psalm of joy to the Lord for the favour he’s shown Israel in restoring them. It’s believed that this psalm was written after the return to Jerusalem after the 70 years of exile in Babylon. During those 70 years of slavery, the people could only dream of freedom and home. Now, as they travel the road home, “their mouths are filled with laughter and tongues with songs of joy.”
The people know that this is something the Lord has done. It begins with Nehemiah hearing news from Jerusalem, Nehemiah 1:2–3, “Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” Nehemiah prays to the Lord to bring his people home again. Deuteronomy 2–3 was likely part of his prayer, reminding the Lord “and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you.”
God uses King Artaxerxes to restore Israel, allowing them to go home to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. Can you imagine the excitement and joy as the Israelites head home! The peoples’ dreams of going home are coming true. Our dreams always promise us more than we normally end up getting though. It’s hard; not everyone is able to go home, many stay behind in Babylon. Still God’s people celebrate. The nations around Israel make it hard for the Israelites, yet even they have to admit that Israel’s God is doing great things for his people. When the temple’s rebuilt, there’s celebration and yet the older people weep because it’s so much less than Solomon’s temple. Reality is much less than their dreams. The fortunes of Zion were never fully restored, even though they could go home, they still weren’t really free. The restoration is still incomplete.
The psalmist knows this, “Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.” The Negev’s a desert. The streams in the Negev were undependable and relied on rainfall, which don’t happen often or regularly. The psalmist continues with this image, the tears of those who sow will nourish the dry soil so the seeds will grow and bring joy as they harvest the sheaves. Our hope this Christmas day is found in the coming of Jesus. We know that the sorrow and pain which is still part of our world, finds healing in the coming of Jesus.
On this Christmas Day, we celebrate with joy the coming of the Son of God who brings light into our darkness, and is the living water that nourishes our hearts and souls. We now experience the fulness of life that’s only found in the Messiah. Israel’s been dreaming for the coming of the Messiah for thousands of years and now the dreams are fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. In Luke, we see God sending angels to shepherds working in the fields, to an old priest, a young teen girl, and a righteous man, preparing them for the coming of the Messiah. There’s no place in the rest of Scripture where so many people in such a short time encounter God’s messengers at the same time. In each of the encounters, a message of good news is shared: The Messiah’s on his way! The people will be filled with joy as the dreams are fulfilled. Isaiah foretells, old men will dream dreams and young men see visions, signs that the kingdom of heaven is nearby.
In the past 4 weeks, we’ve been given glimpses of the type of Messiah coming through the dreams of Jacob, Joseph, Solomon, and Daniel. Today we meet the Christ they’re pointing to: the bridge connecting us to God, the one to whom everyone will bow, the wisdom of God who comes to live with us, the rock that rolls in to establish the eternal kingdom of heaven. All their dreams become real, bringing “good news of great joy that will be for all the people, news of a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.”
Israel’s dreams come to life in Jesus. Jesus brings freedom from the oppression of sin, healing for their souls. He comes to restore the fortunes of his people, to restore their relationship with God, and to lead them to be the people God has called them to be among the nations. As followers of Jesus, we receive these gifts as well.
Pastor Peter Slofstra writes, “Does the news of Jesus' birth leave you wondering whether you are dreaming a dream that's too good to be true? Wonder no longer. The dreams and the reality are the same. The kind of glorious, terrifying, mind-boggling event that only seems possible in dreams has actually taken place. You are wide awake and Jesus the Savior has been born…. for from God's messenger we learn that all our dreams find their fulfillment in Jesus. And like the captives brought back to Zion and the shepherds returning to their fields, we are "like those who dream" (Ps. 126). The great fortune-restoring thing God has done for us through the birth of Jesus has "filled our mouths with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy."
Psalm 126 was sung as the people journeyed to Jerusalem. It inspired them to praise the Lord even when they knew that the temple, the city of Jerusalem, and their situation was still difficult; yet still they sang praise to the Lord. As we look at the world around us, as we reflect on our own dreams and situations, it’s still not the way many of us dream it should be, and yet we keep praising God, knowing that he’s in control and is working his plan of redemption and restoration of all creation. We look to the return of Jesus and the making of all things new again. We get glimpses of hope. I think of Christmas Eve 1914. The Imperial War Museum describes what happened, “Late on Christmas Eve 1914, men of the British Expeditionary Force heard German troops in the trenches opposite them singing carols and patriotic songs and saw lanterns and small fir trees along their trenches. Messages began to be shouted between the trenches. The following day, British and German soldiers met in no man's land and exchanged gifts, took photographs and some played impromptu games of football. They also buried casualties and repaired trenches and dugouts. After Boxing Day, meetings in no man's land dwindled out.” In the midst of war, the soldiers remember the hope of Jesus’ birth and for a moment enemies celebrate the coming of God with us. We live in the hope of Christmas day and Jesus’ return as the King of Peace.
We dream today for the glorious day of Jesus’ return. John writes in Revelation 21:2–5, “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” May your Christmas be filled with the joy and peace of our Lord!
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