Saturday, December 3, 2022
Collette McFarland
What Advent Means To Me
Scripture: Matthew 24:27 (NRSV) For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Devotion: The Jewish people waited for the Messiah for over a thousand years. When he finally came, Christ came to his people, and those devoted to God recalled the old testament prophets’ predictions, accepted him, and spread the message of his arrival and, consequently, his departure. They studied the Torah thoroughly and gave Jesus the gold mark; this was He, their Lord and God (John 20:28).
There is a story of some rabbis visiting the destroyed Second Temple. All but one Rabbi cried at the scene while one laughed, disgracing himself in front of his companions. They questioned him, “Why are you laughing!?” He responded, “Why are you crying!? Can’t you see. if God fulfilled this prophecy, he’ll fulfill the prophecies of our redemption!” (Micah 3:12, Zechariah 8:4-5).
To me, the advent season celebrating the first coming of Christ being so accurately predicted puts high reliability on the failure curve of Advent and anticipation of the promises of His second return. So something I enthusiastically look forward to with every thunderstorm (Math 24:27) is seeing a cloud of witnesses following a man on a white horse wearing a gown identifying him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. (Rev 19:16). That is the glorious “advent-itious” expectation of my being reunited with my Savior and loved ones.
Prayer: Lord, We look forward to your second Advent. Amen.
AΩ
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