Thursday, December 08, 2011

Advent- Look Forward


        Advent is about looking forward. We anticipate what God will do. But this is partly just a reenactment of what God has already done. Christmas is about remembering Jesus’s birthday. But it is not simply looking at Jesus as a baby. It is good to remember the day of birth. We often do this on our children’s birthdays. But then we move on and we admire how they have grown up and become all that we had hoped they would be.  We then look forward, anticipating all the good things that God will do in their lives in the future and how they will honor Him.
          We should also do this at Advent and Christmas.  In Advent, we look forward to celebrating the birth of Jesus, remembering the Angels’ declaration, the Appearance to Mary, the Virgin birth and the Wise men who worshiped a baby. And we also remember that Jesus grew up, became a man, lived a perfect sinless life, died on the cross, rose again, ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of God.
And having done all that, we can then look forward to what God in Christ is going to do. The knowledge of the Lord will cover the world as the waters cover the sea. The Kingdoms of this World have become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. The Lord will rule until all enemies are subdued. The last enemies subdued will be sin and death. After that, He will raise our bodies in perfection, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, to live and reign with Him world without end, Amen.
          That is a lot to look forward to. And this we do as we eat and drink in the name of Jesus.

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