Advent: Preparing for Christmas, expecting Jesus Christ.

 

During the four Sundays before Christmas we remember that Jesus came to our world as a babe, that he is coming into our lives, churches and communities every day, and that he will return to our world on the Day of the Lord.

We call it the Season of Advent, the first Season of the Christian Calendar, followed by the 12 days of Christmas from 25 December till 6 January.

Unbelievers and non-believers celebrate myths about Santa, uncontrolled abuse of food and beverage and mark their self-centred and pleasure-seeking worldly X-Mas celebrations with the corporate colours of Santa – green and red. There seems to be no place for Jesus or his Church, his Gospel and his Word in their demands for self-indulgence.

 

But, in Christian celebrations, each Advent Sunday has a distinct theme within the context that “Advent” essentially means “the coming of Jesus” and “expecting Jesus Christ”.

We remember during Advent that Jesus Christ promised to physically come to us again, to create a new heaven and earth in which we will live for all eternity! This expectation inspires us to believe that the coming of the Lord brings hope, peace, joy and love to our lives, our churches and our world!

A. It is a time for hope. During the Advent Season we in faith are looking forward to the day when the kingdom of Jesus will bring all distress to an end. And Jesus who promised to return to us says: “Yes, I am coming soon." (Rev 22:20).

 

B. It is a time to seek peace with God and each other. During the Advent Season we remember that Jesus wants to come into our lives, here and now, through his Spirit’s work in us, and through us come to a lost world in dire need of him.

 

C. It is a time to be filled with joy, because God became a man and was born as a baby on that first Christmas, to become our Redeemer and Lord!

 

D. Ultimately it is a time for love. God so much loved us that he sent his Son, that we may not perish but have eternal life. This love we share with our fellow believers and with the whole world.

 

Never forget that the central Message of the Season of Advent is that God gave his Son.

During the four Advent Sundays before Christmas day, we will remember that Christ took on our weak, human nature and became one of us. As the Apostle, Paul, puts it in 2 Cor 5: 21: God made him who had no sin, to be sin for us so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God.

 

This is what Christ did when he was born for us on that first Christmas day. In taking on “weak human flesh”, he associated himself with our dilemma which is the result of our mistakes, disobedience and sin. He came to live the life that God requires, and we cannot accomplish, and he lived it perfectly, holy and without sin, in our place! The Son of God became our brother and will never leave nor forsake us.

 

During the Season of Advent, we want to celebrate that when God gave the gift of salvation, he did not send new laws and rules through which to figure out how we can be saved. No, he sent his Son to save us.

 

Let’s put our trust in God the Son. Let’s rejoice because he did everything we could not do, to redeem us. That salvation in Jesus is irreplaceable. Let’s pray that he will come back soon to dry all our tears and grant us his complete peace and joy.

Let’s wait with the same urgent hope and love of the believers in the New Testament Church for the victorious and conquering return of Christ, our Lord and King.