Did you think about the anticipation of the Messiah and all the expectations that the Jews had for Him?  Thinking of it in this way, by putting ourselves into the story, makes it seem a little more real.  It also helps us to understand why so many Jews of Jesus’ day didn’t want to see him as the Messiah.  He certainly didn’t fit the bill as far as their expectations went, far from it.

There was one who spent his whole life in anticipation of the Messiah.  Simeon, as it is recorded in Luke2, had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would see the Messiah before Simeon died.  This was his response when he saw the baby Jesus:

28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

29  “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
      according to your word;
30  for my eyes have seen your salvation
31  that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32  a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
      and for glory to your people Israel.”       (Luke 2:28-32 ESV)

He understood.  He understood the mission of the Messiah, something that so many of Jesus’ own countrymen missed.  Do you see what he said in verse 32?  A LIGHT for revelation to the GENTILES?  Now read John 1:1-19.  Do these two passages accord with each other?  I think so.  Amazing.

Here are some passages traditionally associated with Advent.  When you read these, can you see the Messiah?

Genesis 3
Isaiah 9:1-7
Isaiah 53
Isaiah 66

Can you wait for Him?

It is hard to believe that the season of Advent is upon us already.  Merriam-Webster defines advent as “the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas and observed by some Christians as a season of prayer and fasting; the coming of Christ at the Incarnation”.   But what is Advent really?

In the most basic sense Advent is a season of waiting: waiting for the birth of our Lord and Savior.  It is not known when the first, regular holidays now known as Christmas were practiced, but evidence goes back as far as the late 300s (late 4th century).  As late as the end of the 6th century there was a regular, scheduled time (or period of time) that marked the preparation for the Nativity of Our Lord (the precursor to Christmas).  It seems as though the original intention was more of a penitential season similar to Lent.

The New Catholic Encyclopedia states that the faithful are asked to do the following during Advent:

• prepare themselves worthily to celebrate the anniversary of the Lord’s coming into the world as the incarnate God of love,
• in order to make their souls fitting abodes for the Redeemer coming in Holy Communion and through grace,
• thereby to make themselves ready for His final coming as judge at death and at the end of the world.

So in preparation for for this year’s Advent season, I wanted to start of with a few thoughts.

The end of the Old Testament record dates to around 430 BC with the prophet Malachi speaking a promise of God as follows:

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.  5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.  (Malachi 3:1-5)

and

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” (Malachi 5:5,6)

These are quite some promises.  God is going to send His Messenger (Jesus) and just prior to that He will send a prophet like Elijah (John the Baptist).  Can you imagine the hope that is caught up in this promise?  For the 200 years prior to Malachi the nation of Israel had seen destruction beyond their imagination.  The Temple of the Lord was completely destroyed by the Babylonians in 586/7 BC and the Jews were carried off into captivity, meaning they were physically removed from their land, the land that had been promised to them through their ancestor Abraham, and relocated to various Babylonian provinces.  Can you imagine how difficult that would have been?

I think a modern day analogy for us is the September 11, 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers.  But instead of it ending where it did, imagine the terrorists forcing us to move – say, to the Middle East.  Put yourself there.  What would it be like?  For one thing your idea of safety in this world would be totally destroyed.  Average Americans have no real concept of living in war times – at least not any generation born after 1945.  We don’t know what it is like to live on rations.  Take any notion of that and then move yourself to the Middle East, a place where you are treated like dirt just because you are an American.  Seem surreal?  I can imagine that the Jews of the 5th century BC felt this way.  Their temple was the place where GOD lived.  The most significant cultural thing of its day.  Destroyed.  Their world gone.

But – God does not forget them.  God raises up men like Ezra and Nehemiah who are allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city walls and rebuild the temple.  God is gracious and raises up prophets so that His people can once again know Him.  And the last promise, the last word God is to speak, is the promise to send THE ONE.

Can you wait for it?