Sunday Thoughts: Advent Looks Backward and Forward

We’re entering the season of Advent, which begins today and runs through the first four Sundays of December and into Christmas Eve. I know that not all churches and not all Christians celebrate Advent, but at my church, we’ve built our Christmas sermon series around it over the past couple of years.

The Logos blog describes Advent as “a time of expectancy and preparation for Jesus’s arrival” — both the first and second coming — as well as “a reminder to find rest in a season notoriously wrought with materialism, busyness, and exhaustion” and “a time to remember that the world is not as it should be, that there is pain and grief and darkness that has yet to be finally remedied.”

The Sundays of Advent turn that expectation around. The first two Sundays center on the second coming of Christ, and the last two focus on His birth.

“In Advent, we think our way back to the ancient people of God, to the call of Abraham and his family as the start of God’s rescue operation for a world in ruins and a human race in chaos,” wrote N.T. Wright. “We follow the story of Israel’s hope, a hope that refused to die no matter what terrible things happened; a hope that the first Christians believed had become human in the baby Jesus.”

“We celebrate Jesus’s first coming, and use that sense of fulfillment to fuel our hope for his second coming and to strengthen us to work for signs of that kingdom in our own day,” he added.

Throughout the Old Testament, the Israelites awaited the Messiah — they were looking for someone to save them from their political enemies. Of course, Jesus came to save them and us from something more deadly: our sins.

The prophets foreshadowed Jesus’ birth:

The prophet Isaiah declared, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14, ESV).

Isaiah also prophecied:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Isaiah 9:6-7 (ESV)

The prophet Micah predicted, "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days" (Micah 5:2, ESV).

Of course, Jesus’ first coming was infinitely more humble than what the Hebrews expected from the Messiah. Born in a stable to a young couple traveling for the census, Jesus didn’t arrive in the way one would expect a Savior to show up. Shepherds — the lowliest of the lowly — were the first to hear the news:

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Luke 2:10-14 (ESV)

Today, we await Jesus’ second coming, which will exceed all of our expectations:

Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Matthew 24:30-31 (ESV)

That’s what Advent is all about: remembering the first coming as we await the second coming. The Latin Advent hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” fits both the Jewish people’s desire for the Messiah to rescue them and our awaiting the second coming today.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel;
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer,
Our Spirits by Thine Advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.