Advent – our only hope

Advent means “arrival” and it’s that time of the year again when Christians from all around the world remember and celebrate the arrival of Jesus Christ on earth. It’s also a vivid reminder that we’re coming to the end of another year. A reminder that being constrained to time and the familiarity of its cycle, that our need beyond mortality is an ever present one.

Having started the year overwhelmed by the many milestones ahead for our family and reminding myself of the unchanging faithfulness of God, I found my trust in Him tested with a surprise providence. Another baby!

‘How would we cope with family life, church life, working, home-schooling, and running a small business, all whilst I went through the various stages of pregnancy?’ I asked God, exhausted, and scared for this change that felt more than I could handle.

So as the months went by, and the seasons changed, in some of the mundaneness and excitement, as I rejoiced with thankfulness over many moments and felt grave sadness over others, I was reminded of the answer to the question ‘what is our hope in life and death?’

The resounding response is Christ alone. God’s ultimate display of His faithfulness and our only hope.

”But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons”

Galatians 4: 4-5

Our hope in life and death came in the form of God’s own Son – His Deity and being born of woman – His humanity. Christ’s coming is a miracle that fulfills the promise of God’s covenants: “And I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33). In the incarnation, the arrival of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:22-23), we are met with the necessary basis for our union with Christ; since Christ has united Himself to us, we can be united to Him by the Holy Spirit.

Why did we need to be united to God?

Because in Adam all mankind became subject to God’s wrath (Ephesians 2:3), estranged from Him, all sinning and falling short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We are incapable of being righteous, of making amends for our offenses against God (Psalm 14:3) (Romans 3:10), of deserving heaven. Christ says it is impossible with man but with God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). When the time was right, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, arrived to be the “one mediator between God and men” (1 Timothy 2:5).

Christmas is often a pause from the mundane and sometimes sorrowful aspects of the human experience.

During this Christmas season, beyond the blessing of family time and food, the anticipation of gift giving and opportunities to serve the community, we have the great privilege of remembering the only hope we truly have.

The ultimate peace we experience as believers is having the assurance that Jesus lived and died on the cross to bear our sins to appease God’s wrath on our behalf.

His work being finished, God resurrected Him and He always lives to make intercession for us (Romans 8:34). The Holy Spirit graciously breathing spiritual life into our dead hearts, giving us the capability to respond in faith (Ephesians 1:13-14) to this gospel of salvation. So, we remember and live in waiting. The already, but not yet. We witness and partake in God building His church and using us to glorify His name until that day when He returns and establishes His kingdom with us.

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Revelation 21:3-4