A TIME ANTICIPATION AND HOPE FOR
THE ARRIVAL OF THE CHRIST
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only son”
(John 1:14, NIV)
ADVENT. The emphasis of the season is
preparation to celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, and the anticipation of
the return of Christ the King in his Second Advent.
The
History of Advent
Justin Holcomb writes
that the word "Advent" was derived from the Latin word adventus, meaning "coming," which is a translation of
the Greek word parousia. Scholars
believe that during the 4th and 5th centuries in Spain and Gaul, Advent was a
season of preparation for the baptism of new Christians at the January feast of
Epiphany, the celebration of God’s incarnation represented by the visit of the
Magi to the baby Jesus (Matthew 2:1),
his baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist (John 1:29), and his first miracle at Cana (John 2:1). During this season of preparation, Christians would
spend 40 days in penance, prayer, and
fasting to prepare for this celebration; originally, there was little
connection between Advent and Christmas.
Holcomb wrote that by the
6th century, Roman Christians had tied Advent to the coming of Christ. But the "coming" they had in mind was not Christ’s first coming in the manger
in
Bethlehem, but his Second Coming in the clouds as the
judge of the world. It was not until the Middle Ages that the Advent season was
explicitly linked to Christ’s first coming at Christmas.
Advent
Today
At present, the Advent
season lasts for four Sundays
leading up to Christmas. At that time, the new Christian year begins with the twelve-day celebration of Christmastide,
which lasts from Christmas Eve until Epiphany on January 6. (Advent begins on the Sunday that falls
between November 27th and December 3rd each year.)
Consequently, Advent is much more than just marking a 2,000
year old occasion in history. It's rejoicing a verity about God, the revelation
of God in Christ whereby all of creation might be reconciled to God. Scripture
reading for Advent will reflect this emphasis on the Second Advent, including
themes of accountability for faithfulness at His coming, judgment on sin, and
the hope of eternal life.
Scripture Reading
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother
Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to
be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man
and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he
had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream,
saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife;
for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for
He will save His people from their sins." Now all this took place to
fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "BEHOLD, THE
VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME
IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US." And Joseph
awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took
Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called
His name Jesus.
Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a
city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was
Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming
in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."
Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch
from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The
spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The
spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And He will delight in the fear
of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by
what His ears hear;
"But as for you, Bethlehem
Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go
forth for Me to be ruler in Israel His goings forth are from long ago, From the
days of eternity."
Isaiah 44:6
"I am the Alpha and the
Omega [the first and the last, the beginning and the end],' says the Lord God, who is and
who was and who is to come, the Almighty". The blue
letter is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Aleph, and the purple is the
last letter of the Greek alphabet, Omega.
Not
only does this symbolize the One who has come and will come again, it also
emphasizes the continuity of God's work in history throughout both the Old and
New Testaments.
"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign:
Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name
Immanuel.
Now in those days a decree went out
from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This
was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone
was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city.
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days
of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, "Where
is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and
have come to worship Him."
Again Isaiah says, "THERE SHALL COME THE ROOT OF
JESSE, AND HE WHO ARISES TO RULE OVER THE GENTILES, IN HIM SHALL THE GENTILES
HOPE." Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in
believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Then the LORD spoke again to Ahaz,
saying, "Ask a sign for yourself from the LORD your God; make it deep as
Sheol or high as heaven." But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, nor will I
test the LORD!"
'Behold, days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will
fulfill the good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and
the house of Judah. 'In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous
Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness
on the earth. 'In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in
safety; and this is the name by which she will be called: the LORD is our
righteousness.'
Now in those days John the Baptist
came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, "Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand." For this is the one referred to by Isaiah
the prophet when he said, "THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS,
'MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT!'"
And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of
the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."
Do this, knowing the time, that it is
already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to
us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near
Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in
sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.
"Comfort, O comfort My
people," says your God. "Speak kindly to Jerusalem; And call out to
her, that her warfare has ended, That her iniquity has been removed, That she
has received of the LORD'S hand Double for all her sins." A voice is
calling, "Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the
desert a highway for our God.
End of scripture list
Advent symbolizes the present situation of the church in these "last days" (Acts
2:17, Hebrews 1:2), as God’s people wait for the return of Christ in
glory to consummate his eternal kingdom. The church is in a similar situation
to Israel at the end of the Old Testament: in exile, waiting and hoping in
prayerful expectation for the coming of the Messiah. Israel looked back to
God’s past gracious actions on their behalf in leading them out of Egypt in the
Exodus, and on this basis they called for God once again to act for them.
In the same way, the church, during Advent, looks back upon Christ’s
coming in celebration while at the same time looking forward in eager
anticipation to the coming of Christ’s kingdom when he returns for his people.
In this light, the Advent hymn “O
Come, O Come, Emmanuel” perfectly represents the church’s cry during the Advent
season:
O come, O
come, Emmanuel,
And
ransom captive Israel,
That
mourns in lonely exile here
Until the
Son of God appears.
Rejoice!
Rejoice!
Emmanuel
shall come to thee, O Israel.
While Israel would have sung the
song in expectation of Christ’s first coming, the church now sings the song in
commemoration of that first coming and in expectation of the second coming in
the future.
…..to be continue
Playwright Janet Irene Thomas
