Devotional 12-1-11

Advent: the period of time leading up to Christmas from the Sunday nearest November 30th until Christmas Eve (Latin - adventus"coming"). Advent was first celebrated in the late fourth century. Originally, Advent was observed by strict fasting, prayer and meditation; but now it must compete with Christmas parties, shopping, lights and tinsel.

Of course, we have special services, prayers and music. Modern Christians look forward with great anticipation to the celebration of the anniversary of Christ's birth. But one wonders, what must the first Advent have been like? How long had God's people yearned for a hero to drive out the Romans or for the "anointed one" as foretold by the prophets of old? What was the world like in the period just before Jesus' birth? What were the circumstances into which he was born?

Oh, yes! The ancient prophecies were promising and were expounded in some of the most eloquent passages of the Old Testament. In particular consider these words from Isaiah:

"Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people,"
saith your God.
"Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her
that her warfare is accomplished
and her iniquity is pardoned."
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
"prepare ye the way of the Lord!
Make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
every valley shall be exalted,
every mountain and hill laid low,
the crooked straight and the rough places plane.
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed
and all flesh shall see it together
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."

Drop down dewy heavens from above,
and let the clouds rain down the Just One
Let the earth open and the Savior blossom forth.
or this:

Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son
and shall call his name Immanuel (God-with-Us).

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light;
they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined....
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:
and the government shall be upon his shoulder:
and his name shall be upon his shoulder:
and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the might God,
The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse
(progenitor of the Davidic dynasty),
and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.

Or Isaiah's version of the Peaceable Kingdom

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
and the calf and the young lion and the fatling togehter;
and a little child shall lead them ...
And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.
They shall not hurt nor destroy
in all my holy mountain:
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord,
and the waters cover the sea.

But that time had not arrived, nor had the great leader materialized. The Jews were oppressed, despondent and were without any visible signs of optimism. In order to "fit in" or do business, they had adopted many of the customs of the Greeks and Romans. The Jews had even forsaken their mother tongue, Hebrew, and now spoke Aramaic.

True, deep within themselves, the Jews still harbored a glimmer of hope that God would send his representative to rule over them -- but it was a forlorn hope. They could see no signs of daybreak in their dark world.

So, that first Advent period -- that time of expectation of "the coming" had lasted hundreds of years! No wonder the Jews were despondent.
But their savior did, indeed, arrive! However, he came among them in a very unexpected form. So different was he that the Jews did not recognize Him for who he was.

They expected that their hero might even come down from heaven.
They received a baby born in a stable.
They expected a warrior in glistening armor.
Here was a carpenter's son wearing common robes.
They expected marching orders for a bloody revolution.
This man preached love for their fellow man.

Is it any wonder He was not immediately accepted as their savior!?

Well, we Christians of the twenty-first century can look back on history. We know of Jesus' birth, death, and rising again! We know of the spread of Christianity and the wonderful changes in the world that have come about because of the birth of this single baby so many years ago. It is only fitting that we celebrate his birth and that we devote a few weeks each year to the Advent, "the coming" of the Prince of Peace -- our Savior, the Son of God!

Luke 2:6-7:
And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born; and she gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger because there was no room in the village inn.

Charlie Lewis