Tear Down the Heavens

Overview of Tear Down the Heavens

O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence—as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence!

Isaiah 64:1-2 (NRSVUE)

In hard times we hope for God to appear and make himself known. Jesus did not appear in a world where everything was right. He appeared to a world in pain—and we often are acutely aware of this in the run-up to Christmas. Pastors have the difficult task of treading the line between the joy and peace we proclaim and our need of comfort. Tear Down the Heavens uses powerful Old Testament texts to explore our desperate need for a savior. Each guide in this series includes:

• AIM exegetical commentary on the text,

• insightful sermon illustrations,

• inspiring quotes,

• discussion questions, and

• liturgical resources on themes in the passage.

Created for Advent 2020. Texts are for RCL Year B and are suitable for non-lectionary preachers at any time.

TPW puts you in the driver's seat. We want you to approach God's Word, prayerfully listen to the Holy Spirit, and create a message for your congregation. We don’t offer ready-made sermons. Instead, we provide resources and inspiration to help you craft your own sermons and services.

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Series Introduction

Scott B. Bullock

The Message of Advent

Advent is a season of longing, of waiting, and of expectation that the transcendent God, the sometimes seemingly far-off God would draw near, come close, and enter into our world. As the late Eugene Peterson adeptly expressed the fulfillment of this longing in his paraphrase of John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood.” Advent is the season in the church where we yearn afresh for God’s intimate presence among us.

Advent is the dawn of the new liturgical year, the sunrise of the church’s soul, a new season of promise and renewed hope that God will indeed surprise us with another visit. Moreover, He will grant us a prolonged stay in our territory, a domain occupied by pains, perils, and precarious pitfalls, and God will prevail. Advent harkens to the ancient hope of Israel, to the incarnation of God in the flesh in Jesus, and to the church’s hope of his return. It is a season in which we might make the words of Isaiah 64:1 our own: “Oh, that you would rip open the heavens and descend!” We have taken this clarion cry of the prophet Isaiah as our Advent series’ theme, “Tear Down the Heavens,” expressing the human heart’s desire for God’s presence.

The Messiness of Advent

We at The Pastor’s Workshop know what it is like not only to live in this season, but also to shepherd others in such a season of longing, having ourselves stood and ministered in your shoes for many years. We are acutely aware that seasons of hope and longing, ironically, bring with them their share of suffering and sadness. They can equally be seasons of discouragement and despair as they are of expectancy and encouragement.

Advent is a time for both proclamation of hope in the coming of God, but also the hard reality check that life is messy, hard, unjust, and often unbearable. It is in this tension of emotion and paradox of reality that we as preachers insert ourselves as the broken and humble servants of God that we are, both those who proclaim the hope, faith, joy, peace, and coming of Christ while needing the succor of its message and comfort of its hero ourselves.

What is AIM Commentary?

AIM stands for Ancient context, the text through the lens of Jesus (Ἰησοῦς), and our Modern application.

Understanding the Ancient or original context of the passage is necessary to inform and guide our interpretation. We also believe along with the Reformers that the interpretation of the Ancient context of the Hebrew scripture for the church necessarily flows through its Lord, Jesus Christ. Furthermore, we affirm that the role of the preacher to bring the congregation from the Ancient context through Christ and to the Modern context, making the message real in our hearts and lives.