“He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’” Revelation 22:20
This Advent season let’s look at some hymns or portion of hymns that remind us of what we have to look back on and what we have to look forward to!
Advent is a strange season, strange because it invites us to look forward in anticipation to something that has already happened as we look forward to Christmas day. The word “advent” literally means “coming.” The first reading of the word Advent is a time of waiting, waiting for the birth of a child who was born two thousand years ago.
Is this a flaw in the whole concept of the Advent season? Not at all. In Advent, we don’t simply look back and pretend that we are waiting, imagining what it would have been like to wait for the Messiah prior to the Incarnation. We are also meant to truly and sincerely look forward to Christ’s second coming.
I recently read this account in a Christmas devotional book. Some time ago, the author, was participating in a Bible study at a drop-in center for homeless men. The author, David Mathis tells this story, “We had sung a few praise choruses, and after the last one a man timidly raised his hand and said, ‘I need to get one thing straight; is Jesus coming back or something?’ I’ve never had a greater privilege than imparting this ‘news’ to him, stammering in surprise, ‘Yes…as a matter of fact he is!’ That may be the closest I’ll ever come to feeling like the angel who appeared to the shepherd of Bethlehem, bringing good tidings of great joy. For this man whose life had been a story of abandonment, addiction, sin, and shame, the news that Jesus was coming again to make a new heavens and a new earth was tidings of the very best kind.”
Jesus Himself makes this very point. In the last chapter of the Book of Revelation 3 times we see the words of Jesus, “I am coming soon!” with the last words of Christ emphasizing this fact “Surely I am coming soon!” as a promise and a warning. This is a warning for those who don’t believe but for the believer we have this promise as our hope that he will return in power and glory for all to see and know.
The songs of Christmas helps us to remember the first Coming so that we will know He kept His word the first time, so now we can look forward to His second Coming when he will reign forever and ever, so when we sing, “O come, O come, Emmanuel,” we are not simply engaging in a role-playing exercise.
It may help us to imagine what it felt like to be Zechariah or one of the other priests whose fathers and their father’s fathers had been praying for the Messiah for as long as they could remember. But their waiting is more like ours than it is different, with one great exception: Christ has already come once. This gives us the very best grounds for believing that the prophecies of his second coming will be fulfilled.
This Advent, I hope that you will pray and long for the return of Christ. Revelation 22:20- “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’ And John says for us all- “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”
When you sing these haunting words, let them be your own:
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
In His Grip,
Pastor Mike
