Skip to main content

What Advent Truly Means!

 
For many Advent celebrations are something they have grown up with, but for others it is something new. Today I would like to give a special overview of  of the real meaning behind Advent. I hope it blesses your soul.

Advent has been traditionally celebrated as a time of recognizing the first Advent of Christ heralded by Angels, seen by Shepherds and worshiped by Kings. The first Advent is the beginning of the fulfillment of the prophecies of old told by the Old Testament prophets of a coming Messiah who would have a kingdom that would never end:

For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this," Isaiah 9:6-7 (NKJV)

This kingdom would begin to exist after the Babe Christ, born of a virgin, Is. 7:14, in the city of Bethlehem, Micah 5:2, would grow up into manhood and begin His work of bringing the nations of the world into the knowledge of the truth concerning all things eternal. At age 30 He began His public ministry which was blessed and confirmed by the Father at His baptism, Luke 3:21-22, a choice He made to model what we too should do as a first sign of our public engagement to follow Christ.

As Jesus grew He was accepted and beloved by multitudes of people as He expounded the truths from the Old Testament in the light that God had originally intended them to be understood. Many of the leaders of the day did not appreciate how He often showed that what they taught was hypocrisy and the burdens they imposed upon the people were too much to bear; so much so that even they could not bear them themselves, Mt. 23:4; Luke 11:46. As time passed it would be this angry crowd who seize Jesus from the Garden of Gethsemane and with soldiers, swords, and torches lead Him to the High Priest to be questioned and then eventually to Pilate where He would be sentenced to be crucified.

Jesus did nothing wrong. He was the innocent Lamb led before the shearers in silence to awaiting His death and the fulfillment of the purpose for which He came on that first Bethlehem Advent, Is. 53:7. The author of Hebrews succinctly points out why Christ came:

Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, 'Behold, I have come-- In the volume (Scroll) of the book (Old testament) it is written of Me-- To do Your will, O God.' " Hebrews 10:5-7 (NKJV) -parens, mine

Christ came to fulfill what was written to come and to do the will of the Father. This will led Him to the cruel Cross of Calvary where He gave up His life on His own, John 19:30. The Bible tells us He did not have to do this; He could have summoned from the realms of glory 12 legions of angels to deliver His soul from death, but He did not, Mt. 26:53. Glaringly the will of the Father was completed. He, the Father, again provided a Lamb, Jesus, to be the once for all (Heb. 7:27, 9:12, 10:10) sacrifice that would take away the sin of the world.

Three days after Jesus gave up His Spirit He victoriously arose from the tomb proving that acceptance of His body as our sacrifice for sin and faith in Him will also be the factors necessary for all to inherit eternal life in Heaven. Praise God and Glory to Him for the wonderful work He determinedly accomplished.


The Advent celebration uses the symbols of three purple and one pink candle with a fifth white one often seen in the center of a surrounding wreath. The candles represent what Christ imparts to all who truly believe, Hope in this life and the future Second Advent to come, Peace in our hearts and a longing for it in the world -- something that was initiated by Christ during His first Advent but will never come to full fruition until the second Advent when He returns to put away all evil and set up the Kingdom which will never end, Is 11:4-10; Rev 20:1-6. Joy is the inner satisfaction that all believers possess in knowing that Christ has forgiven them of their sin, 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 9:26; Rom 4:8, 5:20-21, and that He has gone to heaven to prepare a place for us, John 14:1-3, one day to return and receive us to Himself, 1 Thess. 4:13-18, 1 Cor. 15:51-57. Love is simply what took Christ to the Cross and an integral result of what is induced in the hearts of all believers toward all people of all races in all places around the globe. John tells us, "We love Him because He first loved us," 1 John 4:19. The fifth candle, a white one, often seen in the center of the wreath represents Christ as the pure Lord and Savior who was the only One ever able to remedy the sin of mankind, Heb. 4:15. Jesus, the sinless Savior, has brought us to the place where we can know for certain that through faith in Him we will have eternal life. The Advent celebration pictures not only what He imparts but who He is, the true eternal and righteous King, Lord of Lords, and Savior of the nations.

This Christmas do your best to share this message of love. Our world is corrupting away and the desires of the flesh with it's openness to immorality and sin of all sorts is breaking down our society. In this world there is no true Hope, Peace, Joy, or Love for all that the world offers is a temporary counterfeit but what Christ the Lord offers is eternal.

God Bless

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

25 Reasons to Believe - In Jesus FREE EBOOK

FREE EBOOK click to download - When book comes up click down arrow on Upper Right to save a copy . A while back the Barna Group released a report titled, "Six Reasons Young Christians Leave Church." 1  Under reason two, " Teens’ and twenty-somethings’ experience of Christianity is shallow" they write:  "A second reason that young people depart church as young adults is that something is lacking in their experience of church. One-third said “church is boring” (31%). One-quarter of these young adults said that “faith is not relevant to my career or interests” (24%) or that “the Bible is not taught clearly or often enough” (23%). Sadly, one-fifth of these young adults who attended a church as a teenager said that “God seems missing from my experience of church” (20%)."  If one takes a look at the modern church-scape I can see why. The gap between those pastors and teachers that are fired up about Jesus and those that do not preach all of th

Fornication - The Acceptable Sin?

In the Bible there are several sexual sins that are categorized under the term,"Sexual Immorality." Not the least of these is, "Fornication." However fornication has become an outdated, and in many places, the acceptable sin in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. As a matter of fact, many do not even know what the term "fornication" means. Since the advent of the modern Bible translation, many have never heard of it. This article focuses on what the Scripture says about this out-of-control acceptable sin. Fornication is mentioned thirty-six times in the Bible (MT), thirty-two times in the New Testament. In almost all modern translations the word has been substituted with, "sexual immorality" and has come to mean any number of sexual sins. However, sin (missing the mark) is still sin and sin still separates a person from God. So why has this sin become so acceptable even in modern churches???? UPDATE : Here is a testimony of life

The Bride of Christ Has Made Herself Ready!!

The Bible teaches of an upcoming Wedding Day that the Church should be on cloud nine over!! Rev. 19:7-9 states: Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come , and His wife has made herself ready." And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!' " And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God." The passage above speaks of two distinct events, the Marriage of the Lamb and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Both of these events are reminiscent of the ancient Jewish wedding ceremony where the Bride would become betrothed to her Groom and he would go away to build her a home. In the meantime she would wait anxiously for his return with shouts from his wedding party of "The Bridegroom Comes!" When the shouts were he

Understanding Grace…without it no one can be saved!

Years ago as a pastor, I faced an issue concerning the topic of “Grace.” I had noticed some congregants who were taking Grace to the extreme and beginning to teach that since our sins were bought and paid for at the cross—all of them, past, present, and future—there was no need to strive against sin. Thanks to our Lord, this was noticed and the He quickly allowed it to be curbed. This heresy occasionally rears its head in Christian circles and indeed must be stopped before it becomes out-of-control. The good thing is that a proper understanding of Grace can arrest the heresy in its steps. Because this false perception thrives in loose living, many well-meaning Christians go completely to the opposite extreme and throw the Biblical teaching of “Grace” out altogether. That too is heresy. How should we approach it? Grace, as a doctrine, should always be presented in its entirety. By that I mean, a starting definition, followed by why it is important, and concluding with keeping it scri

Cardboard Signs and Saying Yes to God

Perhaps you have seen the story of "Daniel's Gloves". It has been floating around the internet since 2001 according to snopes.com. They also tell us the original author is Richard Ryan the assistant Pastor of a Church in Indiana.  I refer to this story—which you will find posted below mine—because of the effect that helping one in need can actually have on a believer’s life. One of the things I have done in the past is monitor just how many people there are who simply pass on by those who are holding a sign stating “Will work for food” or “Need Help for me and my children.” If you ask the hurting they will tell you there are literally hundreds and hundreds who just will not help. Truly it is a sad testimony that “one or a few bad apple(s) can spoil a whole bushel.” It is definitely something I also have observed. For some reason we either fear them, fear confrontation or fear being deceived. Whatever the reason, I often wonder how God feels about it. Just a fe