“Lord of Might”

Advent Hour: December 18, 2011

Revelation 4:1-11/ Psalm 18:1-15 / Matthew 24:29-31

Fr. Leo Yanguas

Today’s Antiphon focuses on the Lord of Might.  God showed Himself to Moses in the burning bush and drew him to Mount Sinai and gave the Law to set the captives free. God is drawing us to Himself and showing us how great He is.  He gave us the Law to give us the right image of God.

The Law is not to bind us or to be a burden to us.  The Law shows to us the right image of who we are as the royal priests of God.  The context of the Antiphon is freedom; in that freedom, we can experience that we are drawn to God.  We see the right image of who God is.  We submit ourselves to the Lordship of Christ, as the Law gives us freedom to be ourselves as the royal priesthood.

We are to seek God first.  If we seek other gods, we multiply our own troubles.  Those who bartered for another god, their troubles will be multiplied upon them.  Psalm 115 says that if we trust in gold or silver, and in the ways of man, we will be like them.  It says, “They have eyes but cannot see.  They have mouth but cannot speak.  They have hands but they cannot feel.”

If we barter for another god and seek other gods first as our priority, it gives us a wrong image of ourselves and of God.  It makes us less human.   You have eyes, you have ears, but you cannot use them.

Advent Hour teaches us to respond to God and have the right image.  God showed Himself to Moses in the burning bush for Moses to see the image of Christ – the deity and the humanity joined together.  They are inseparable.   God draws us so we can have deity and humanity in our lives, in Christ, joined together.  He draws us to Mount Sinai which is the “Come, up here” event so that we can have the right focus and image in life.

Revelation 4 says, “Come, up here.”  The heavens were opened.  “I heard a loud voice and I will show you the things that must take place.”  When we respond to God, we can have that peace and that assurance in our relationship with God.  The heavens were opened; we have the entrance to the very presence of God. It is a privilege given to us as royal priests.

“I heard a loud voice,” which means hearts that are sensitive to hearing the voice of God. In Mount Sinai, God says, “I will show you the things to take place.”  What is to take place?  Revelation shows us that everything focuses on the throne of God.  Everything operates, is centered and happens around the throne of God.  This must take place.  It gives us an assurance that the Lord of Might is in control of all things in our lives.

We are encouraged by the Psalmist, “I love the Lord my God.”  This is because he has come up to Mount Sinai and he is so established in God that he says, “He is my fortress, He is my deliverer, my salvation.  In my distress, I called upon the Lord and God answered me.”

God answered the prayer. The earth shook and the foundations of the earth were shaken.  Without a relationship with God, we immediately see and interpret things as punishment and the end of the world.  We ask, “Is God angry with me?”  The Psalmist, as he sought God first in his life, was so established with the knowledge of God.  For us in our prayer, we ask, “Is this an answered prayer for me?  Is this God answering my prayer, with all these things happening, with all these things that I cannot understand?”   It is important that we realize God as our fortress and our salvation.

Revelation shares of the creatures, which are the gospel writers.  It says that they are full of eyes.  As I interpret this, it says that we are to see all things in the light of the gospel, in the light of what God did, in every angle.  He has eyes everywhere.  We are to see things in the light of the gospel.  The gospel writers, in the throne of God, worshipped God.  See all things as worship to God.  See all things, in whatever we do in our daily work, as worship to God.

In the gospel, when the Son of Man is revealed, the moon did not shine and the stars were falling.  Why is this calamity and disorder?  It encourages us to seek God and begin to realize the true image of God.  In Revelation, the twenty-four elders in white and with crowns shares with us that we have to see ourselves in the light of God’s greatness.  The only reason we are great, the only reason we have the crown and the white garments is because of the greatness of God.  The elders responded and acknowledged this as they tossed their crown before the throne.

All these things happen for what purpose?  It is that the Son of Man maybe revealed.  Can you imagine the situations that we face?  Where the moon may not be shining, the stars may be falling, and everything is being shaken like the sun not giving its light?  This is so that the Son of Man, that the image of God, and Christ Himself will be revealed in our lives.

Christ is the Lord of Might.  When we face situations in life, the only purpose is that God’s image may be revealed in the sons of Man, in the Son of Man.  This is an opportunity for Christ to show Himself in our lives.  He is the Lord of Might.  We respond to him in faith, in hope, in joy, and in love.  He reveals Himself in us through these situations.

Advent is a Season of hope, of eager expectancy because God fulfills His promise regardless of situations we face.