Pondering the Word
Waiting for Heaven to rip open
by Sheila Klassen-Wiebe
”O, that you [God] would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake . . . so that the nations might tremble at your presence!” These words from Isaiah 64:1-2 capture well my own longings on the eve of the war against Iraq in 2003. I hoped desperately for divine intervention—a sudden change in the hearts of world leaders, or a malfunction in every fighter jet heading to Iraq.
When personal tragedy strikes or when a global crisis feels overwhelming to us, we yearn for “new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home” (2 Peter 3:13). The biblical texts for this Advent and Christmas season show God’s people waiting and longing for God to act on their behalf. Along with these texts anticipating God’s mighty saving action comes a story about the ordinary birth of an extraordinary child. In this Savior, God does “tear open the heavens and come down”—not in a way we or the people of old might have expected, but as a vulnerable baby.
Advent 1: Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19. As we enter this season we hear a communal lament from people whose relationship with God has been fractured. Their sin has brought God’s anger against them, along with oppression from their enemies. The people’s longing for God’s salvation moves them to mourn, to repent, to cry out to God for help. Their lament, however, arises out of a relationship of deep trust in God their Creator: “You are our Father . . . we are all your people.” “We are the clay and you are our potter.” During Advent our own longing for God’s restoration in a broken world can lead us, too, to mourn our own brokenness and repent of our unfaithfulness. Like Israel, we come to God in penitence, confident that we are God’s people and that God will restore us.
Advent 2: Isaiah 40:1-11; 2 Peter 3:8-15a. These texts address different groups of people who are waiting in hope for God to act. Isaiah envisions the end of exile for the Jews in Babylon and announces to them Yahweh’s future return to Zion. The writer of 2 Peter, addressing first-century Greekspeaking Christians, anticipates the Day of the Lord, and a new heaven and new earth. Both writers envision God “tearing open the heavens and coming down” but don’t know when it will happen.
In a fast-paced world that expects everything instantly and “to go,” it is difficult to wait patiently for what we cannot see. These texts remind us that waiting for God’s salvation is part of the story of God’s people. Sometimes, it seems, God takes a long time to act, but 2 Peter reminds us that God is “not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness” (3:9). Advent reminds us to wait patiently for God’s purposes to be fulfilled. Our texts also remind us that such waiting is active and expectant. As they wait, God’s people lead godly and peace-filled lives (2 Peter 3:11-12, 14), preparing for the Lord’s coming by participating in the “leveling of mountains” and the “filling in of valleys” (see Isaiah 40:4).
Advent 3: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8- 11; Psalm 126. Here we have a fuller picture of what God’s redemption will bring: freedom for captives, restoration in places of devastation, and good news for the oppressed. Both texts use images of sowing and reaping to communicate the movement from sorrow to joy that occurs with God’s saving action (Isaiah 61:11; Psalm 126:5-6). This movement mirrors our own journey through Advent. What we sow in repentance and patient waiting will bear fruit in praise; we remember that the one who bound up the broken-hearted is the one whose birth we celebrate. Even as we wait for the fulfilment of God’s promises (2 Peter 3:13), we catch glimpses of the glorious salvation that God has in store for all people.
Advent 4: Luke 1:47-55, 26- 38. Mary, like Isaiah and the psalmist, sings about God’s power to establish justice on the earth, lifting up the lowly and overturning the powerful. But now the sweep of God’s action suddenly shifts. The camera, which so far has offered panoramic views of God’s justice, wrath, and mercy, suddenly zeroes in on one tiny corner of Galilee. The focus is on one girl who is perplexed by an angel’s gracious words and incomprehensible promises. God’s promises to a people longing for God to “tear open the heavens and come down,” will be fulfilled in a surprising way. The Messiah who will reign over Jacob forever will appear as a baby born of this virgin.
Christmas Day: Luke 2:1-20. The account of Jesus’ birth confirms the strange wonder of God’s way of saving the people. The Son of God is laid in a manger, and angel choirs appear to common shepherds. Citizens of the Roman Empire would have heard the “good news” that the Emperor Augustus would bring peace on earth. But now, the Gospel story reveals that the Savior and Lord who will bring peace and joy to all is not the mighty Roman emperor but a baby born to ordinary parents in the backwaters of Palestine. The ancient visions of God’s restoration thus find their fulfilment in the humble event of Jesus’ birth. Similarly, in our own lives, we recognize that God often acts in ways that are ordinary and extraordinary at the same time.
New Year’s Day: Luke 2:22- 40. Luke takes us back to Jerusalem, the city destroyed by Babylon six hundred years earlier. Simeon and Anna exemplify the faithful people of God, waiting and longing for the “consolation of Israel” (v. 25), and “the redemption of Jerusalem” (v. 38). They receive the good news that God’s promises of old are finally being fulfilled in Jesus. In addition, something repeated in the Advent texts is now made explicit. The Prophets and Psalms testified that God’s gracious and mighty acts would attract the attention of nations surrounding Israel (Isaiah 40:5; 61:9, 11; Psalm 126:2). The salvation that God has prepared in Jesus is indeed for all—“a light for revelation to Gentiles” as well as for Israel (2:30-32; cf. 2:10). The actions of God in this small corner of Palestine will extend through time and space to touch us today also. We therefore wait in hope for the new heavens and the new earth, where righteousness is at home. We know that in Jesus the Messiah God has torn open the heavens and walked among us, offering salvation to all.
Sheila Klassen-Wiebe is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, Manitoba.