“’Surely I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”—Revelation 22:20
The early church eagerly anticipated the coming of the Lord. They longed for His return. They waited with expectation.
Christmas is like that.
That’s what the season of Advent is all about—waiting with expectation and anticipation. We prepare lavishly for the season to come; we long for the joy of family and friends, of gifts and warm fires.
The care we put into preparing for Christmas is a picture of our lives preparing for the coming of the Lord. We yearn to be delivered from the evils of the world and to bask in the glory of God’s grace and love.
Christmas is about warming ourselves by the light of the Star that announced the birth of Jesus. We stop and remember that He came to earth to deliver us from the oppression of the world.
Just as the Israelite slaves in Egypt cried out under the harsh tyranny of Pharaoh, so we cry, we who have experienced the oppression of a world under the curse of sin. Our hope of deliverance is our God, who has heard our cries and brought us freedom through the birth of a baby in Bethlehem.
We look forward to Christmas.
And we anticipate with heartfelt longing His Second Coming, for that is truly our day of deliverance.
DECEMBER 22, 2023
