Texts: Psalm 96, Zephaniah 3:8-13, Romans 10:5-13

"Therefore, wait for me, says the LORD, for the day when I arise as a witness..."

Zephaniah speaks of God's judgment coming upon the nations, but it seems strange that it is God rising up as a witness. A witness, a testimony, is typically something someone defending him or herself needs. Is this, then, a confession?

How Zephaniah gets from the first line of this passage to the last: “Then they will pasture and lie down, and no one shall make them afraid.” For Zephaniah, it seems both the exile and the return are promises held in equal measure.

Still, what does it mean for God to be in the witness stand? The witness stand is not the position from which one accuses another; it is the position from which one is accused. I cannot help but wonder if this speaks to God’s presence with the people of Israel and Judah during their exiles. It is not just the people of God who are in exile, it is Godself that is exiled.

Oh come, oh come, Emanuel,

And rescue captive Israel,

Who mourns in lonely exile here,

Until the son of God appear.

Rejoice, rejoice, Emanuel,

Has come to thee,

Oh Israel.

Whose words are these? Are they the words of a people exiled from God, or the words of a God exiled from God’s people?

As we anticipate the Nativity of Christ, we anticipate God and humanity’s intersection. We anticipate the end of separation and the beginning of a relationship that brings new life out of death, a gathering out of diaspora, and hope out of fear.

The power of witness is not a physical power, as the prophets surmised. The power of witness is a power that comes from within, as indicated in Christ. Though our voices might be small and may crack while we speak, the witness of our God inspires our witness. God in the witness stand comes in many forms, but most tangibly, it comes in the form of a helpless baby, dependent upon human hands for its survival. It is this Child who teaches us what it is to witness, what it is to have faith, and what it is to have life.