HOPE.
On the first Sunday of Advent and, subsequently, this first week of Advent, we light the first candle of the Advent wreath which represents “HOPE”.
One way to define hope is “one’s desire for good and blessed things to come” or “one’s desire for a better, brighter future”.
We hope for good things – for us, for our children, for others. We hope for better things – for a better job, for great test scores, for healing of an illness or injury.
In the season of Advent, as we prepare for the coming of a Saviour, we have hope for a better, brighter, future. We have hope in the coming, and today, the ‘second coming’ of Christ.
He has already been here once!
That’s what this season of Advent, and the coming Christmas season, is all about – the first coming of Jesus the Christ. However, we also know, His promise to us was, and is, He’s coming back.
So, like an eager child eyeing the gifts around the Christmas tree, hoping he, or she, is getting the gift they hoped for, we hold hope in Christ’s second coming.
As John wrote, “And I [John] heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.'” –Revelation 21:3-4 NKJV.
HOPE. As we begin this Advent season, let us hold on to the hope of bigger, better, brighter things to come – and to the coming of the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the One we know as Jesus the Christ.
Have a blessed week.