Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord. For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with His truth. (Psalm 96:12-13)
This passage contains a very interesting component, not so obvious in our English translation, but clearly seen in Hebrew. As we read it, “the trees of the field will rejoice before the Lord,” however in the Hebrew text, the phrase “before the Lord” — לפני יהוה lifnei YHVH — is connected to the statement, “For He is coming.” In other words, the One who is coming is before the face of the Lord to judge the earth. A similar theme is expressed in the book of Malachi which says, “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me (lifnei). And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming” (Malachi 3:1).
Clearly, the prophecy in Malachi speaks of the Messiah, the Messenger of the covenant — He is the coming One! In the psalm the phrase, “He is coming,” is repeated — כי בא כי בא ki va, ki va — a textual hint some Jewish commentators interpret to mean that there are “two arrivals” of the Coming One. Of course, they stop short of saying anything that would support the belief that Yeshua is the Messiah and will come again. On the other hand, there is a belief in a suffering Messiah (Mashiach ben Yosef) and a conquering Messiah (Mashiach ben David).
The point is to highlight the fact that, throughout His Word, God has provided evidence that the One “whom you seek” will appear suddenly –twice! His first appearance occurred after Israel had endured 400 years of “silence” — there had not been a direct word from God since the time of the prophet Malachi. But suddenly, the infant Messiah appeared in the temple to be seen by Simeon, a man who had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had “seen the Lord’s Christ” (Luke 2:26).
We know the story and we believe that the Messiah is coming again. If we believe that, we should also embrace the notion that His next appearance will be sudden — as Yeshua said: “Be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Luke 12:40). In other words, it is critical that we continually pursue holiness knowing that He will appear when we least expect it. At the same time, we are encouraged to live our life with the expectation that He will come; we should always be “looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God” (2 Peter 3:12). It is written, “To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation” (Hebrews 9:28).
Knowing this should provoke us to spiritual sobriety but also to have hope — to have a firmly established confidence that He is coming! Just as certainly as He came the first time, “He is coming again to judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with His truth.” Even so, Maranatha!
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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