Matthew 1:18-23
After I sent my sermon title to be printed in the bulletin, it occurred to me that some of you might assume “The Advent Look” is some sort of fashion trend. You might have imagined a look resembling Dad’s old bathrobe or something involving red and green lights in your hair. It’s not that at all.
The Advent Look is a way of seeing. In particular, it is looking at human events from the perspective of Christmas.
Before I go on, let me explain an important term. At its simplest the term “advent” means “coming” or “appearing” and it refers to the coming of Christ. It also refers to that season of the Christian year that includes the four Sundays before Christmas. It is a season when Christians focus on the meaning of the Incarnation. The Advent wreath, with its four candles, is designed to help us mark the season.
For centuries the church has had a twofold emphasis during Advent. Believers were at once called to look back at Christ’s First Advent and to look forward to Christ’s Second Advent. This is what I have in mind when I speak of the Advent Look.
The Advent Look calls for us to look back.
If we’re going to look back properly, we have to look back beyond that stable in Bethlehem, beyond a megalomaniacal emperor’s decree, beyond a confused virgin’s visit from an angel. We have to look all the way back to a perfect garden where there was harmony and joy we can’t imagine. The residents of that garden had the privilege of exploring a world that was pristine, unspoiled. It was a perfect world where the man and the woman could even walk with their Creator.
Then, in a moment of blatant rebellion, it was all over. In one sense, the act of rebellion was a simple act but it contained all the key elements that might mark the most notorious sin: Disregard for God’s character, distrust of his word, self-centeredness, and an uncaring attitude toward the well-being of others. The consequences were immediate and devastating. Fear replaced peace in the human heart, discord replaced harmony, despair replaced hope, and shame replaced innocence. But most significantly the relationship with the Creator was gone, broken. Something died inside the man and the woman and, in time, that death would claim their bodies.
Just as the future for the man and the woman and their children seemed as bleak as possible, God offered a word of hope. He made a promise, actually a promise in words that were a threat to Satan (in the guise of a serpent):
I will make you and the woman hostile toward each other. I will make your descendants and her descendant hostile toward each other. He will crush your head, and you will bruise his heel.
Centuries later, some Christian writers would dub this verse “the protevangelium,” the first gospel or good news the fallen race had received.
As the centuries past the promise became more and more complex. Details were added so the picture would become clearer to those who longed for the promise to be fulfilled.
This Offspring of Eve, this One born into the human race, it was promised that he
--would be born into a particular nation, and
--into a particular tribe of that nation; and
--as a member of a particular family within that tribe; and
--as descendent of the royal branch of that family; and
--be born in the hometown of that family’s most famous member, and
-- would perform wondrous acts and speak wondrous words that would inspire such awe and such ire that some would see him as the embodiment of God’s Promise while others would see him as a threat; and
--since those who hated him had the greater power, they would attempt to destroy him; but
--God would overrule their actions and vindicate his Anointed One, his Christ.
For hundreds of years the people of Israel had waited and waited for the promised Redeemer, the Messiah, who would be born into the family of David, the royal family. They were waiting for the One who would undo the curse of the Fall. At last, the promise was fulfilled in Bethlehem.
God had been working, sometimes behind the scenes, sometimes before an amazed world, to prepare for the birth of his Son. Then, as Paul would write to the Galatians, “When the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, that he might redeem those under the law.”
1. God had kept his promise despite the barriers his own people placed in his way.
Jeremiah ministered to a nation with a lifestyle far different than God had intended for his people. The nation was in rebellion against the God who had brought them out of slavery in Egypt. The nation was committed to idolatry and to the sensual activities associated with the worship of idols.
Although the people claimed they were God’s people, their claim was a mockery of their heritage. In response, God brought disaster upon the nation in the form of an invasion by the upstart nation of Babylon.
Out of a seventy-year experiment in humiliation and slavery, came a remnant of people determined to be faithful to God. They would be the people who would cradle the Messiah when he was born.
2. God kept his promises despite the barriers religion seemingly placed in his way.
Although there was a remnant of faithful Jews who longed for a vital relationship with God, official Judaism had lost much of its vision. For many it had become a religion of rules and ritual. It had lost sight of the Old Testament vision of becoming a blessing to other nations. Among those who waited for the Messiah, there was a predominant expectation of a Leader who would free the nation from Rome and restore its political glory.
The gospel of Jesus brought a message of grace which transcended the law, hope which looked beyond the circumstances of life, peace which reached beyond the borders of one small nation.
Outside of Israel there were the many religions of those who made up the Roman world. Some of these gods were worshipped in temples which far outshined the temple in Jerusalem, a building which was magnificent in itself. Often they were the established religion of a locale.
As entrenched as these religions were in society, many yearned for a deeper spirituality. They found the worship of gods whose personal lives were filled with the same weaknesses as theirs to be unsatisfying. The message of the gospel came to satisfy that longing for something more.
3. God had kept his promise despite the barriers history had seemingly placed in his way.
While God’s own people were striving for but never quite succeeding in bringing about the restoration of the nation’s former glory, another nation was being born on seven hills in far-away Italy. Rome would become a powerful force in all subsequent history. The title “Caesar” would eventually become a synonym for absolute ruler, whether it was taken by the German Kaisers, the Russian Tsars, or underworld crime lords. In time, the Caesars would claim to be divine.
How could God use a Baby born to a peasant woman from a backwater country to challenge the might of this empire? That Baby changed the way we think of other races, taught us that love is more powerful than the sword, and demonstrated that God may use ordinary men and women to change the world.
God even used the Roman passion for good roads, a uniform legal system, and secure borders to create an environment where the gospel could be quickly spread
So, the eyes of faith allow us to see how God used the Roman army, the Roman engineers, and the Roman Senate to keep his promise that the first Christmas.
When we exercise our Advent Look and look pack at the first Christmas, we know God keeps his promises.
The Advent Look calls for us to look ahead.
During the Advent season Christians remind themselves that if there was a First Advent there will be a Second Advent, a Second Coming.
Some people begin to get a little nervous when we talk about the Second Coming. I understand that. So let me make a couple matters clear.
There are those who know more about what the Bible teaches regarding the future than I know. At the same time, there are those who know more about the future than they can possibly know. The most confident of these make headlines from time to time. But many are content to believe they know what’s going on behind the headlines or to occasionally share a story you aren’t going to read about in the regular press and not even in the denominational papers.
When it comes to talking about the Second Advent, a little humility is in order.
Having said that let me make a couple more observations about the Second Advent.
Remember, you are exploring a legitimate facet of the Christian tradition.
The return of Christ is not fodder for kooks. The great creeds of the Christian Church all concur that God will bring history to its end through the Return of Christ. The Apostles' Creed: "He [Christ] ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God, from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead."
These creedal statements are rooted in Scripture. Jesus predicted his return. Read the Gospels and you’ll be surprised how often He mentions his return—even in the Sermon on the Mount. Every New Testament writer mentions the Second Coming. In fact, some have said his Return is mentioned ever four pages of the New Testament.
Despite differences of opinion regarding the sequence of events surrounding the Second Coming, Christian writers have generally affirmed the promise of Christ's coming. There is a certain logic to the hope of his return for we all can see that his work is not done: wrongs need to be righted, justice has not prevailed.
2. As you talk about the Second Advent, do your best to derive your conclusions about the future from Scripture rather than imposing you conclusions on the Scripture.
This principle applies to all Bible study but I think the temptation is greater here.
3. Remember we can take hope in the Second Advent even though honest Christians differ in their understanding of what the Bible teaches about the future.
A few years ago, a series of novels about end of the time appeared. They were very popular and I hope they inspired people to look into the Bible for themselves. The problem was, many outside the church looked at the novels and concluded this was the Christian understanding of the future. The novels reflect one way Christians interpret what the Bible has to say about the future.
Good Christians disagree about what the Bible has to say regarding the future. They disagree about what will happen immediately before and immediately after Christ’s Return. They disagree about the role of Israel in the future. They disagree about details but agree that Christ’s Return will change everything.
4. Above all, if you are exercising the Advent Look, you will look ahead with hope.
The Second Advent will change everything.
The Bible uses a variety of terms to describe what will happen at the Second Advent. We will be changed, transformed, renewed, made alive, glorified, to use just a few.
Christians don’t always agree about the details of these changes but are agreed that the one bringing about the changes will be the same Jesus who was born in Bethlehem that First Advent.
If we exercise the Advent Look, as we anticipate the Second Advent, we will recall the lesson of the First Advent: God keeps his promises.
Conclusion: In a sense, the Advent Look not only invites us to look back and look ahead, it invites us to look around.
It invites us to look around for God at work in unexpected places, surprising places. It invites us to join God in that work. It invites us to be as willing as Mary, Joseph, and the shepherd to do be part of his keeping his promises, especially his promise to bring good news of great joy to the world.
With that in mind, let me share one final story.
During his 1960 presidential campaign, John F. Kennedy occasionally told about a Colonel Davenport who served in the Connecticut Assembly. One day in 1789, the sky over Hartford darkened, and some of the representatives, glancing out the windows, feared the end was at hand. Many wanted to adjourn. Davenport rose and said, “That Day is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be brought.”
As you exercise your Advent Look, keep busy.
