Last Saturday, we learned that Advent is a season of watching and waiting for an answer from heaven. In our fallen state, we are cursed to wander in this unforgiving wilderness until we die. During Advent, we cry out with Isaiah, “O that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down!” (Isa. 64:1) And with W.H. Auden we confess, “Nothing can save us that is possible: we who must die demand a miracle.”
We are exiles in hostile territory. But miracles are signposts to our homeland, and none shine brighter than the miracle of God’s incarnation. The Creator who cares for us has seen our desperate condition and broken the rules of nature to intervene. He could have sent legions of angels to fight back the darkness, or simply started over with a new creation. But love compelled Him to trade His life for ours. The Son of God becoming man was the only way to make us sons of God.1
No cold, unconcerned sovereign being would do such a thing. We are dust! More than that, we were at enmity with Him. And yet He calls us precious, dearly loved children. While we wait for Jesus’ second advent, we have this promise from His own lips: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:1-3)
Take heart! Jesus is coming soon.
Your brother,
Ryan
1 Athanasius (~AD 335): “For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.”