Time disappears when God speaks. When God promised Abraham that in him all nations on earth would be blessed, it was as though the promise were already fulfilled. When God promises He fulfills His promises. He is unlike our politicians, who, when they are making a promise are already trying to determine how they could avoid fulfilling it. We used to talk about a man whose "word is his bond." When a person gave his word, he fulfilled his promise. If a person did not fulfill a promise made, then his reputation was considered suspect. God's reputation rides on the power of His Word to us.

When God offers a promise to be fulfilled by a future act, the Hebrew text of the Old Testament has the verbs in the perfect tense. The perfect tense at its most basic level is a past tense. How can God speak of future events using words that evoke the past? It would be as if I did not speak English as my native language and my saying about my arrival tomorrow: "I came," instead of "I will come." Every native English speaker would be confused by such speech. In Hebrew, this form of speech has something to do with the unique structure of this lovely Semitic language, but also gives us a very good clue to the power of God's Word to do what it says. For God, when He promises, it is as good as done. His Word is His bond.

It is no wonder then that Abraham rejoiced to see the day of the Christ. For by hearing of it from his heavenly Father, he saw it and it caused him to well up in joy. But that joy was a liberation that echoed down through the centuries to all believers in the One who would come and had come to them through God's Word. The people of Israel experienced little messianic comings every time God spoke to them on the lips of the prophets, every time God delivered to them holy absolution through the sacrificial system, every time they watched the scapegoat chased into the wilderness with their sins upon his head never to return, and every time a new king was anointed. The Word confirmed the coming of the Christ and at the same time delivered His coming. The overabundance of this delivery and confirmation echoed through the centuries as all the children of the divine Word rejoiced to see Christ's day by faith. Mary and Simeon were entangled in this eternal "now" of the saving gospel (2Co 6:2). This is the righteousness of God at work through the power of the Word.

We share in this joy too, because the Word pushes forward into the present, entangling us with Mary, Simeon, Abraham, and all the prophets and apostles. We are united in the one most joyful event: the coming of the Messiah for His people. We do not "just" hear the Word when it is preached, but we see the Messiah in that hearing, just as Abraham did and rejoiced. Every time our pastors proclaim the holy Word, He is coming and we are seeing Him in them. Every time we hear the holy absolution, we rejoice in the forgiveness that comes from the One who comes to His people with His robes dripping red with blood (Gn 49:11). Every time we approach His altar, we see that body which is for us and we drink that blood given to us. We see that the One who came is the One who comes. It's no wonder we rejoice, given what we see together with Abraham.

Irenaeus of Lyon