Greetings in the name of the One whose ‘name is above every other name’, Jesus Christ – THE Crucified and Risen Saviour! What a quiet late fall morning, a day to explore and enjoy…a day that starts off like a blank page in a journal. I wonder what will be written on it by day’s end? I will be praying for you today, asking Father to allow you to sense his pleasure and enjoyment over you…His child.
As I compose this message, I do so knowing that when I am finished, I will ‘click’ on the ‘send’ button and within seconds it will be received on your computer in the mail program. As I think about that, the theme of Advent is demanding my attention. We spend four Sundays talking about Advent, some of us have Advent calendars and devotionals and other traditional things we will do, and so we go from an almost instant message delivering to a four Sunday waiting time. However, I am reminded that Advent is about waiting for 400 or so years for God to ‘speak’. You know, of course that there is a 400 year gap between the Old and New testaments in the Bible. During that 400 years God did not ‘speak’ to the Jewish people…but they were waiting. Imagine if you had to wait 400 years to receive an email that was sent four seconds ago.
Consider if you will the significance of God’s 400 year of silence…what would your life be like if God made one final statement and then silenced himself. You turn to your Bible and read but God is in the reading. You get on your knees or stand with your arms outstretched in prayer and there is no awareness of God’s responsive presence. You stand or sit – sing songs of praise and speak words of thanksgiving and God…nothing! The beautiful thing is that God’s people kept on hoping…hope upon hope for 400 years and then when the time is right He begins to release the creative process that will involve another nine months of waiting. Once again, at His pleasure and according to His timing – He ‘gifts’ the world, and in particular His chosen people…with not simply an inspiring speech, a collection of ‘words’ but “The Word made flesh.”
So I think that I will write out, photocopy, or whatever – one of my favourite verses of Scripture and put it in my Advent 2014 journal to remind myself that God has been constantly ‘speaking’ to mankind for the last 2000 or so years, and He will continue to do so until we hear the final words...”Yes, I am coming soon!” Revelation 22:20 NLT
Be blessed!