Thanks to the retail world Thanksgiving has become the start
up to the Christmas season. Santa
rides the last float of Macy’s parade, signaling his appearances at department
stores everywhere. And in every
locale at least one FM station is now “your Christmas music home” for the next
month. ‘Tis the season!
Traditional Christianity refers to the weeks ahead leading
up to Christmas as “Advent”. Many
churches feature advent candle lighting and lessons that are intended to
prepare worshipers for the coming of Christ. Anything that promotes Jesus and leads us to know and
worship Him is a good thing.
The word “advent” is a transliterated word – turning a word
from one language into another – from the Latin “adventus”, which means
“coming”. Interestingly, the Latin
is a translation of the Greek word “parousia”. Greek culture preceded the Roman, and the New Testament was
originally penned in Greek.
And biblically, “parousia”, is typically used when speaking not of
Christ’s incarnation at Christmas, but His second coming.
Of course, what was coming, perhaps I should say “Who” was
coming was the awaited Messiah.
The Jewish people longed for the One who would arrive and inherit the
throne of David, returning Israel to its ancient glory. Christians believe that promise to
Israel was realized when the angel instructed Joseph to name Mary’s son
“Emmanuel”, a Hebrew name meaning “God with us”. So, Christmas is a celebration of the arrival of the Messiah
or, in the Greek, the “cristos” – again a word transliterated into English as
“Christ”.
I’m a fan of Christmas. I say, “Merry Christmas” without shame as my greeting of
choice in December. And certainly,
the coming of the Christ is worthy of our remembrance, our preparation and our
celebration. In the life of Jesus
and in the Christian faith, His birth in Bethlehem ranks up there with His
passion and resurrection. So let’s
get ready to adore Him.
Celebrating Christmas is a time of looking back at this
wonderful event that brought a multitude of angels within earshot of shepherds
as they praised “God in the highest”.
It’s a remembrance of a most awesome event in the past. But…let’s not lose sight of what’s
ahead.
Many years ago my wife had a conversation with a neighbor
and somehow the subject of Christ’s second coming – the “parousia” – came
up. She was pretty surprised that
her friend, an avid churchgoer in a church that religiously celebrates advent,
had no idea that there was such a thing as Christ’s future return. Somehow what should be most important
less of advent to the believer – what Jesus promised would happen and Paul
referred to as the “blessed hope” of the saints - had been overlooked in her
experience.
The truth is that Christ came. The ongoing truth is that He will make a repeat visit. But in His second coming He won’t be a baby in a manger, a miracle-working teacher or even a dying Savior. His first advent was as the Lamb of God, making the way through His death and resurrection for us to know God.
His second advent, which is the advent we should really be
preparing for, will be as the King of Kings. “Thy kingdom come” we pray. That’s all about advent, chapter 2. Let’s be ready. This is a great time to be prepared.
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1 comment:
Well put, as always. It's indeed Christmas that makes Easter possible. I had a similar experience to your wife's a while back. I was speaking with a coworker. She was attending a Christian church (nominally, at least)at the time. She told me that she knew Jesus had to die, but she didn't know why. This led to a (rather frustrating) half hour of trying to explain exactly why. You know how that can go...anyway, I pray that one day God will give her the same gift of faith that He has given us.
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