Looking and Longing in the Advent Season
The opening pages of Scripture depict the home we were made for: a garden paradise full of life and beauty. Though naked and vulnerable, we remained unashamed – delighting in the bounty of our home. Greatest of all, we had joyous communion with our Creator. With him, we had everything we ever needed and more.
But life in the garden was not to last. Genesis 3 records our sinful defiance. Reaching to rule, Adam and Eve became slaves, subjected to death and misery, and banished from the garden home. And as they walked away in exile, we went with them. Exile is the “natural” state of fallen mankind. Now we live in a world of darkness, of “thorns and thistles” (Gen. 3:18), pain, frustration, and death. Slaves to sin, we are unable to break the shackles we fastened on our own wrists. Worst of all, we remain cut off from the God we were made for – sent away from the One who gives everlasting joy. This is life in the dominion of darkness. Like Narnia under the rule of the White Witch, it is “always winter but never Christmas.”
But God does not let our story end there. At the very advent of our exile, He gives a glimmer of hope. He promises that one day a Savior will come who will crush the Serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15), redeem all that was broken, and bring us home to Him. With this promise always hovering just beyond our grasp, God’s people are a longing people, eagerly looking to the Savior who is to come.
After centuries of frustrated longings, on Christmas night, the Light of the World came and shone in our darkness. In the garden, we were cast away from God, but in a Bethlehem manger, we find God came down to us. The arrival of Jesus brings a new dawn. The unmet longings of our hearts are replaced with “good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10).
Christmas is not about another hero who brings temporary relief. God Himself has come! It is not about another king who conquers earthly enemies. The King of kings has come to defeat the Enemy. It is not a brief respite from the chaos of life. It is about the Prince of Peace who has come to reign in perfect justice. The eternal Son of God – who has been with the Father from the beginning, who upholds the universe by the word of His power, the Sun of Righteousness – put on flesh and came for you.
As Christians, we live between Christ’s first and second comings. We continue to be a people who long and look for the arrival of our Savior. But as we wait in hope for His second advent, we live now in the joy of His first. Whatever worldly griefs we encounter, whatever difficulties we face, we have – now and forever – an unshakable confidence because our Savior has come, and He is coming again. And as we await the consummation of all things, we cling to His promises: “I will be with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20); “I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3). That is our glory and joy.
In this Advent season of anticipation and celebration, as we contemplate the Incarnation of the Son of God, let us recognize our deep need for a Savior – looking back at the Incarnation in joy, and looking forward in hope of His second coming, when He will take us home to be with Him forever.
