ADVENT A TIME OF WAITING FOR THE MESSIAH

In recent years the celebration of Christmas came under severe attack from many sections. Any direct mention of the term "Christmas" or its religious aspects were being increasingly censored, avoided, or discouraged by a number of advertisers, retailers, government (prominently schools), and other public and secular organizations. "Christmas" is replaced with more generic terminology such as "holiday(s)", or "winter” “holiday tree" (replacing "Christmas tree"), "winter break" (replacing "Christmas break"), and "holiday season" (replacing "Christmas season"). In 2005, the city of Boston at their annual tree decoration ceremony changed the name of the Christmas tree to holiday tree.

Surrounded by these crisis situations and controversies, the true meaning and the message of Christmas is getting lost. For many kids Christmas means gifts, candy, decorations and Santa Claus. For many adults the December month means frantic activity, stress, and the painful realization that their lives are not as happy and fulfilled as the ads suggest. In our busyness to celebrate Christmas, are we forgetting to pause and reflect on the origin and the message of Christmas? The earliest church traditions called Advent, and several prophecies concerning the birth of Christ will give us the right perspective on Christmas.

I. Advent a time of waiting and preparing:

A night security guard on duty eagerly and yet times grudgingly watches his every waking hour of the night for the first rays of dawn to appear. A first time pregnant mother patiently and longingly waits for nine months for the arrival of her first baby. A mother hen sits and covers her eggs with her wings for 20 to 21 days for the baby chicks to arrive. As surely as dawn comes after night, a baby is born in due time and the hen’s eggs are hatched.

On a thanksgiving day we had a frustrating time, my wife thought she had done all the turkey preparations according to the book. Our guest arrived and the thermometer hadn’t popped up yet. We waited and checked, waited and checked and the thing wouldn’t pop. Finally almost three hours later when we were ready to eat regardless of whether the thermometer had popped up or not, Wilma opened the oven and lo and behold the thermometer had finally popped. Can you imagine the appetite we had developed by then? The simple reality with these thermometers is that unless the temperature in the turkey’s inner breast reaches 180 degrees it will not budge because it is not yet the right time.

During Christmas season there is anticipation in the air: Businesses are gearing up to kick of their best holiday season sales, there are gifts to buy! and decorate the Christimas tree and so on. Life gets rather busy during this time but Is there an anticipation in us for the imminent return of our Savior? This is part of what the Church’s tradition of Advent is all about.

Before we look forward for the second arrival of our Messiah we need to understand his first arrival. Where did it all begin? How did this all come about? What was it like to wait for the Messiah’s first arrival?

Background to Advent:

The early Church started the beautiful tradition of Advent, even now many main line churches follow this tradition. It is important to understand the church traditions so that we know our Christian heritage and our Judeo Christian roots. Advent was instituted by our Church fathers in the fifth century. It was a five-week preparation before Christmas. The name Advent comes from the Latin word Adventus, which signifies a coming.

The original themes of Advent were focused on the Second Coming of Jesus. Gradually advent also came to mean commemorating the first coming of Christ into the world as a helpless baby. In one sense Advent is a time to prepare ourselves to celebrate the birth of the messiah which took place over two thousand years ago and also a time to look with anticipation for his second coming. According to the liturgical church calendar advent begins on November 30th and will continue for the next five Sundays leading up to December 25th Christmas.

Mankind’s hopeful expectation of the Messiah (Savior, Redeemer).

The first reference to a Savior, Redeemer was made way back in the Garden of Eden. After confronting Adam & Eve for their sin, God pronounced his judgement beginning with the serpent. This is what God said to the serpent, “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring (seed) (In Hebrew "Zera") and hers; He will crush your head and you will strike his heel. The word Zera, Seed is singular not plural, indicating that the entire line of descendants from our first parents is being treated as one unit.

This word seed is flexible enough to mean either Christ as one person who represents the entire human race or mankind in general. This was the first recorded announcement of the Gospel. It became more clear as time went on. God reminds us of the messiah again in the covenant that he made with Abraham. The LORD appeared to Abram and said, to your offspring/Descendents/seed (Zera) Same word Zera was used and again it was singular. As the time progressed the announcement of the arrival of the Messiah became more specific.

God promises to David saying, "When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant (seed, Zera, Singular) after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.” (2 Samuel 7:12 NAS)

In the following scriptures the word seed, Zera was singular.

“He gives great deliverance to His king, And shows lovingkindness to His anointed, To David and his descendants (seed, Zera,) forever.” (Psalm 18:50)

"I will establish your seed (Zera) forever, And build up your throne to all generations."(Psalm 89:4)

"So I will establish his descendants forever.."(Psalm 89:29.)

"His descendants shall endure forever, And his throne as the sun before Me. Finally that seed was realized in Jesus Christ. Romans 16:20 And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”(Psalm 89:36)

What was pronounced as a judgement also contained a promise of the future Messiah who was the seed of the woman, the descendent of Abraham, the seed of David, the Lord Jesus Christ our messiah.

Prophecies Concerning the Messiah’s Arrival:

One of the most familiar prophecies, which many of us may have memorized during our Sunday school times, is found in Isaiah 9: 6-7 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father; Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever."

The Prophet Isaiah prophesied this prophecy during (740-686 B.C.) During that time the nation of Israel rebelled against God through their idolatry. They were worshiping idols other than worshiping the real God Jehovah. God said to Isaiah “Go and tell this people: keep on listening but do not perceive; keep on looking, but do not understand. Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim.” (Isaiah 6:9-11).

Isaiah not only prophesied the upcoming judgement, the imminent exile but also a hope of restoration. Isaiah said when the remnant returns to Jerusalem, “then a shoot will spring forth from the stem of Jesse, and the branch from his roots will bear fruit, and the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him.”(Isaiah 11:1-2). Isaiah sees a time when God will not only restore his people after judgement, but he will rise up a king from the line of Judah who will rule in righteousness.

The nation of Israel, inspite of repeated warnings kept hardening their hearts and eventually was led into exile. Though God executed judgement because he was a righteous God he also promised them hope and restoration. When we ignore the warnings from God and continue to live in deliberate sin we will be given into bondage to sin.

Now wait a minute, what did that prophecy say? What were the Names of God there? Let’s pause a minute and just reflect on the first one: Wonderful Counselor. Is that true? Yes it is true God is the wonderful Counselor! Does that mean I can open up to Him about my chaotic life and harried heart? Yes, God is rich in mercy to all who call on Him. He is indeed the Wonderful Counselor. You can talk it all over with Him. He won’t time you and cut you off after 50 minutes like most other counselors. Make sure this advent season is not just filled with frantic activity; take time to consult the Wonderful Counselor.