Advent: The Coming of the Lord

People in the early church expected Jesus to come back during their lifetime. They believed that the pain of this world was coming to an end at any minute. Day after day they waited, they worshipped together and went to bed every night expecting it to be the last time. A couple decades passed and Jesus had not returned, so they started writing down the teachings and stories about him that other generations could carry on the truth of the gospel. Those decades turned into centuries and the church started creating liturgies, prayers, and seasons to help teach the masses of people who were becoming Christians. Those centuries turned into two millennia and now we have an Advent season that reminds us that the Christ child came to us in a manger in Bethlehem, but that is not the primary story Advent is meant to recall.

Advent is a season for us to remember that Jesus is coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead. That the suffering and tragedy of this life will end in peace and joy and fulfillment. It is to remind us of the expectation of the early church, the kind of expectation that causes the whole of Creation to groan and yearn for the Son of God to be revealed (Rom 8:19), the kind of expectation that is not dulled by 2000 years of waiting because we hold onto it as our greatest and last hope for salvation.