Fourth Week Of Advent

On this most favoured and blessed fourth Lord’s Day Sunday in Advent, the final Sunday in this time of celebrating the First Coming of our Lord, have you come as I have? I have come with mounting excitement, touched by a depth of urgency. There is excitement, because today brings us to our countdown week. Yes! Today marks our countdown to Advent Day, or Christmas Day. Ready or not, it is upon us, the day we have been looking forward to since the First Lord’s Day Sunday in Advent. There is a touch of deep urgency as my mind and the minds of some of you, check our lives to know whether or not we are ready and prepared to receive Jesus, Messiah.

May I take you back to some of what was offered to us on that First Sunday in Advent which have brought this depth of urgency? We were invited to ponder on three reasons, highlighted on our Lord’s First Coming – Immanuel. However, I shall only lift out some of what we were offered, as they are enough to bring some urgency.

We highlighted the special reason of First, which heralded us to this closing time of another year. We were invited to accept that First Sunday in Advent, which would lead us to a last, in Jesus, that we may know victory at the end, in our hearts and minds.

We highlighted the spiritual reason of Faith, which allows us to believe that God became flesh and lived among us; to accept the treasures received from Him, coming in Jesus Christ, His Son; to know freedom to live, in our mortal bodies, here below, all that Immanuel has given to us.

We highlighted the significant reason of Fact, that Jesus was begotten, not made, that He was born of virgin birth, that He was once a human baby, weak and helpless, needing due care and attention, like any other human baby and that He knew hatred, malice and evil, even as a little child, before He could begin to do any earthly work for His Heavenly Father.

With excitement and urgency, we come on this Final Sunday in Advent, with ever grateful and thankful hearts. We come with Comfort, Courage, Correction and Consolation, divinely showered around us and within us, by God’s Circle of Warmth. We worship a God of promise and a God who always keeps His promises.

We pause to remember again, why we can boldly celebrate Advent, the Coming of Messiah. I offer you two sound, unarguable reasons why we can celebrate the First Coming of Messiah, and how this changes lives, even today. The first reason is that this was a promise of God to His people. It is a promise, prophesied by prophets of old. Let’s be refreshed as we listen to two such prophecies about Messiah.

The days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteous Savior. Jeremiah 23: 5 – 6.

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him - the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the LORD – and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. Isaiah 11: 1 – 5.

Indeed, we celebrate the Promise of God, for our God is a God to His Word. Just on His given Word, in whatever form and through whichever means, faith allows us to trust our God, for He is good enough and trustworthy enough for us to celebrate His Word.

The other reason we can sincerely and successfully celebrate the first Coming of Messiah, is that faith allows us to know and believe that Messiah, Saviour, has already come. He has not just come secretly, hidden from human eyes, but He has come with signs, signs which have also been prophesied. Therefore the LORD himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Isaiah 7: 14

We celebrate, because we know that prophecy has been fulfilled and that God still delights in giving us signs to recognize Messiah. In this season of Advent, one sign that has been widely preached on, sung about and discussed in various Christian settings is this. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Luke 2: 12.

For those next two days, we shall diligently search this text for Triumphs, Treasures and what we choose to Take-Away from it.