The first two posts in this 2024 Advent series have reflected on the significance of God becoming flesh. The good news of “God with us” begins with Jesus, a newborn sleeping in a manger. He grows up and lives a human life, daily choosing to walk the path of obedience that ultimately led him to the cross. Through the incarnation, God revealed himself to humanity, working out our reconciliation in the flesh. In Advent, we celebrate that God does not save us from afar but rather up close – he comes to dwell among humanity, standing next to us in our struggle and redeeming us by becoming one of us.
However, Advent is not only a time to reflect on Jesus’ first coming. Advent is a season of expectation and preparation as we anticipate the Second Coming of Christ. Jesus will not re-enter human history as a baby, but will instead return as the eternal Son of God, the risen Saviour of the world, and the King of all creation. In Acts 1, after Jesus is hidden by the clouds during his ascension to the right hand of the Father, angels appear and tell his disciples that he will return in the same way that he left. It is this return that his followers have been awaiting ever since. Advent invites us to hold both of these realities in mind – his first coming and his future return.
For some of us, thinking about the future return of Christ might seem a bit mysterious, drawing on parts of the Bible that we may not fully understand or have not often read. For others, it provokes some level of eschatological (last days) anxiety, particularly if our understanding of Scripture has been shaped by Hollywood’s doomsday portrayals. Others simply don’t give too much thought to the second coming at all. Regardless of how often you think about the return of Christ (or not!), all followers of Christ are called to live in expectation and hope of this event… expectation and hope that should profoundly shape our lives here and now.
In one of the classes I taught this year at Bishopdale College, we considered salvation as it is experienced in history and beyond. We repeatedly reflected on the way that eschatology is not just about the end of the age, a future-oriented doctrine.
Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven” (Matthew 6:10), and while that prayer will be fully and finally answered upon his return, followers of Jesus are to work towards the realisation of God’s will in the present age.
In Titus, Paul calls the glorious appearance of Christ “our blessed hope”. He suggests that this hope – that Jesus will return as he promised – calls us to say no to everything that is not of God and his kingdom, and instead to align our lives with the ways of the kingdom (Titus 2:12-14). The good news is that despite the many ways that our world seems to be moving further away from the values of the kingdom of God, Jesus encouraged his disciples that even when things became difficult, they were not to shrink back and hide away, but instead to look forward to his coming. In Luke 21, after predicting wars, famines, earthquakes and persecution (imagine THOSE as our four advent themes), followed by the coming of the Son of Man, Jesus says, “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28). Don’t shrink back, but stand up, and look to our redemption.
Even when things are hard, there is a sustaining hope that draws us forward and calls us on. It is the promise that God will make all things good, despite the vagaries of human history. At the return of Christ, heaven and earth will be joined (Rev 21:1-2), and those who are his will be transformed to be like him (Phil 3:20-21). We will enter into the fullness of our inheritance as children of God and co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16-25). Because he returns, there will be no more death, mourning, crying or pain – the old order will pass away (Rev 21:4). This is what is pictured when the angels proclaim that “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever” (Rev 11:15).
But what of our waiting?
What are we to do in this time of longing and expectation and hoping?
How do we live out this hope while confronted daily by the chaos of the world?
In fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, we are called to “run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Heb 12:1-2).
His resurrection is the ground of our hope of resurrection, and so we participate in the new creation even while we await its future fulfilment. Advent invites us to active waiting, not passive waiting, calling us to live out the hope of the kingdom right where we are.
Check out other articles in the
Advent
series below.
More articles in the
Advent
series are to come.
We have invited these writers to share their experiences, ideas and opinions in the hope that these will provoke thought, challenge you to go deeper and inspire you to put your faith into action. These articles should not be taken as the official view of the Nelson Diocese on any particular matter.
The first two posts in this 2024 Advent series have reflected on the significance of God becoming flesh. The good news of “God with us” begins with Jesus, a newborn sleeping in a manger. He grows up and lives a human life, daily choosing to walk the path of obedience that ultimately led him to the cross. Through the incarnation, God revealed himself to humanity, working out our reconciliation in the flesh. In Advent, we celebrate that God does not save us from afar but rather up close – he comes to dwell among humanity, standing next to us in our struggle and redeeming us by becoming one of us.
However, Advent is not only a time to reflect on Jesus’ first coming. Advent is a season of expectation and preparation as we anticipate the Second Coming of Christ. Jesus will not re-enter human history as a baby, but will instead return as the eternal Son of God, the risen Saviour of the world, and the King of all creation. In Acts 1, after Jesus is hidden by the clouds during his ascension to the right hand of the Father, angels appear and tell his disciples that he will return in the same way that he left. It is this return that his followers have been awaiting ever since. Advent invites us to hold both of these realities in mind – his first coming and his future return.
For some of us, thinking about the future return of Christ might seem a bit mysterious, drawing on parts of the Bible that we may not fully understand or have not often read. For others, it provokes some level of eschatological (last days) anxiety, particularly if our understanding of Scripture has been shaped by Hollywood’s doomsday portrayals. Others simply don’t give too much thought to the second coming at all. Regardless of how often you think about the return of Christ (or not!), all followers of Christ are called to live in expectation and hope of this event… expectation and hope that should profoundly shape our lives here and now.
In one of the classes I taught this year at Bishopdale College, we considered salvation as it is experienced in history and beyond. We repeatedly reflected on the way that eschatology is not just about the end of the age, a future-oriented doctrine.
Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven” (Matthew 6:10), and while that prayer will be fully and finally answered upon his return, followers of Jesus are to work towards the realisation of God’s will in the present age.
In Titus, Paul calls the glorious appearance of Christ “our blessed hope”. He suggests that this hope – that Jesus will return as he promised – calls us to say no to everything that is not of God and his kingdom, and instead to align our lives with the ways of the kingdom (Titus 2:12-14). The good news is that despite the many ways that our world seems to be moving further away from the values of the kingdom of God, Jesus encouraged his disciples that even when things became difficult, they were not to shrink back and hide away, but instead to look forward to his coming. In Luke 21, after predicting wars, famines, earthquakes and persecution (imagine THOSE as our four advent themes), followed by the coming of the Son of Man, Jesus says, “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28). Don’t shrink back, but stand up, and look to our redemption.
Even when things are hard, there is a sustaining hope that draws us forward and calls us on. It is the promise that God will make all things good, despite the vagaries of human history. At the return of Christ, heaven and earth will be joined (Rev 21:1-2), and those who are his will be transformed to be like him (Phil 3:20-21). We will enter into the fullness of our inheritance as children of God and co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16-25). Because he returns, there will be no more death, mourning, crying or pain – the old order will pass away (Rev 21:4). This is what is pictured when the angels proclaim that “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever” (Rev 11:15).
But what of our waiting?
What are we to do in this time of longing and expectation and hoping?
How do we live out this hope while confronted daily by the chaos of the world?
In fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, we are called to “run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Heb 12:1-2).
His resurrection is the ground of our hope of resurrection, and so we participate in the new creation even while we await its future fulfilment. Advent invites us to active waiting, not passive waiting, calling us to live out the hope of the kingdom right where we are.
Check out other articles in the
Advent
series below.
More articles in the
Advent
series are to come.
