The Promises of Christmas – Week 1
1st Sunday of Advent
“The Promise of Hope!”
John 1:1-14 (NAS95)
Hope is a “trustful anticipation, particularly with reference to the fulfillment of the promises of God” (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised, 751).
“Hope is, therefore, not irrational, but rather is based upon God, who has proven himself faithful. Biblical hope is hope in what God will do in the future. At the heart of Christian hope is the resurrection of Jesus” (Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, 997).
“If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.”
Christian hope is not a misplaced belief in our human ability to work for a utopian life here and now—as we are all learning, no amount of political ideology or medical science is going to save us, nor will greater education or a larger economy is not going to save us, our jobs or recreation, our families or friends, or anything else can save us. Progress is not the hope we thought it was!
God’s severe mercies have occurred throughout history, time and time again, to teach humanity that there is only One in whom we can hope. Currently, this contemporary outpouring of mercy has left many depressed and aimless as God teaches us the One object of biblical hope.
I am here to proclaim that it is for this very reason that we celebrate Christmas, year after year! Hope in Christ is the currency of heaven that entered creation in such a novel way that we are still searching for ways to express this miracle of Christmas. It was at the first Christmas that the object of Christian hope came into focus in a way that was unlike anything that had ever a happened in history—it is the miracle of the incarnation—Emmanuel—God is with us! We celebrate His first coming and we anticipate a time in which He will come again!
The scripture passage for the first Sunday of Advent is from John 1:1-14:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
This is the mystery of the incarnation—the hope of Christmas—the hope of Christianity—the hope of humanity! Christmas celebrates the coming of a living hope—the hope of Jesus Christ!
Allow me to share with you a guiding image for the incarnation:
As a magnifying glass concentrates the rays of the sun into a light burning knot of heat that can set fire to a dry leaf or a piece of paper, so the mystery of Christ in the Gospel concentrates the rays of God’s light and fire to a point that sets fire to the spirit of man. And this is why Christ was born and lived in the world and died and returned from death and ascended to His Father in heaven … Through the glass of His incarnation He concentrates the rays of His Divine Truth and Love upon us so that we feel the burn, and all [spiritual] experience is communicated to [people] through the Man Christ. (Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, 150).
The union of God and man is the focusing of God’s way, truth, and life to humanity. As Jesus explained in John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
Listen to an ancient witness express the importance of this truth, writing in the voice of Christ:
Follow Me. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Without the Way, there is no going. Without the Truth, there is no knowing. Without the Life, there is no living. I am the Way which you must follow, the Truth which you must believe, the Life for which you must hope. I am the inviolable Way, the infallible Truth, the unending Life. I am the Way that is straight, the supreme Truth, the Life that is true, the blessed, the uncreated Life. If you abide in My Way you shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free, and you shall attain life everlasting (Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, 219).
Furthermore, Peter teaches us in 2 Peter 1:2-4 of this miracle of our union with Christ, made only possible because of God making Himself known to us in such a concentrated form as the Christ:
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature…
To fulfill His promise, God takes the miraculous step towards us and that is the miracle of Christmas—this is our hope—God is with us! He came in the flesh and for a special relationship with His people. So that, we may partake in the divine nature.
“remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
But God, being rich in mercy, proclaimed in a new way these ancient words: “I will be your God and you will be my people” (Mike Beaumont and Martin Manser, The Handbook of Bible Promises, 23–24). Jesus Christ came to unite us to God in fulfillment to His ancient covenants.
“I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.”
“Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”
“You shall be My people, And I will be your God.”
This has always been the message of God to His people and it is the concentrated focus of why God came in human form so that we know Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life, the only way to the Father (John 14:6).
“For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’”
In fact, the Bible ends, with this subject as the focus of the Revelation 21:3-7,
And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.
This is the promise of God being with us! And unlike promises and contracts that mean nothing to people in today’s world, God’s promise of special relationship (covenant) has been legally ratified through a blood sacrifice—the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary.
This promise was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, but then (the promises cannot be limited to Christmas alone!), Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. The third day He arose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, when He shall come to judge the living and the dead. Apart from this creed—our faith—we have no hope for the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.
This is our faith and our only hope—Christ is the most clearly visible, most concentrated focus of Light that pierces our hearts with God’s love! Let us bring Him into focus for all to see this Advent season because Jesus, the Christ of Christmas, is the reason for the season.