O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear.
A week from today will be Christmas Eve. We have made it through almost three weeks of Advent thus far and we can see the finish line approaching. It is still a bit of a distance out; but one week is better than three.
We are preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. In the great mystery of the Incarnation, Christ laid aside His glory and majesty and took on flesh and blood, becoming human, just as human as you and me. While that mystery is glorious to consider, we also have to consider the implications of His taking on flesh. He did that for the sole purpose of dying for our sins, more specifically, to be brutally murdered for our sins.
In Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection, Jesus set us free from sin and death and gave us the hope of resurrection after our own days on earth. That is more than any of us could ever have hoped. Yesterday, we spoke about the long wait that the Israelites had for the coming of the Messiah. I would think that many of them lost hope in the promise made to them generations earlier.
We celebrate that “hope begun” in a week. I say “begun” because Jesus’ birth would be meaningless if it were not for His passion, death, and resurrection. As you prepare for the celebration of Christmas, begin to think about the two-fold coming that we celebrate: the coming of Jesus as a newborn child and the time that He will return in His glory to bring all people to Himself.
FAITH ACTION: Try to have a deeper appreciation of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus and what its implication is for your eternal soul.