A Mystery: Righteousness Springs Forth

For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations. Isaiah 61:11

During the season of Advent, the landscape in southern Minnesota, where Martin Luther College is located, looks dead. It’s frozen hard, and the plants are barren and brown. But in April or May, a miracle occurs that can be described but not fully explained. Farmers take dry, hard corn seeds and put them in the warming soil. Within days a green haze covers the black field. In a few weeks the plants are robust, and by midsummer they reach eight to ten feet, with each ear containing up to 800 new seeds. From previously barren soil, a bountiful harvest springs forth.

The prophet Isaiah used the mystery of a seed to illustrate the miracle of God’s grace to the people of Judah. He explained that their hearts were dead in sin and unbelief. They had turned their backs on God, their worship was mindless ritual, and there was no justice in the land. Yet, from out of these sinful people, God would send a righteous Savior who would take away the sins of the whole world. This prophecy of righteousness for all nations was fulfilled about 700 years later through the sinless life, innocent death, and glorious resurrection of Jesus.

Isaiah’s prophecy also speaks to us today as God cultivates righteousness in our hearts and lives. Like the people Isaiah served, we too are dead in sin and unbelief (Ephesians 2:1) with hearts of stone (Ezekiel 36:26). But God plants the gospel of Jesus in our hearts through baptism and his Word. In a miraculous moment that we can describe but not fully understand, God gives us Jesus’ righteousness and plants his love in our hearts. In turn, we share God’s love with others in our daily lives. God’s name is praised whenever and wherever these miracles happen.

Christmas is the celebration of God sending his sinless Son so that righteousness and praise can spring forth in all who put their trust in him. May our Advent meditations in God’s Word reap an abundant harvest of righteousness in our hearts and lives.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your perfect Son to be our righteous Savior. Plant your Word deep in our hearts so that it bears an abundant harvest of love and righteousness that brings praise and honor to your name. Amen.

Dr. John Meyer serves Martin Luther College
as director of Graduate Studies and Continuing Education.