We Celebrate Advent and Christmas Because...
Advent Message, Part 3
This article is part three of a three-part series based on a message given on the first Sunday of Advent at Kuna Church of the Nazarene. Watch the full sermon here, beginning at 22:25.
Read part one here
Read part two here
Making the Connection
As we begin to connect this story to the season of Advent and to the celebration of Christmas, we begin to realize that it’s all about God providing what is needed for the situation at hand.
Where is the lamb?
God will provide.
Abraham, in faith, states simply that God will provide. We don’t know what Isaac is thinking, although as the day goes on, we might assume that the reality of the situation begins to become more clear.
Humanity had been enslaved to sin since the events in the garden when Adam and Eve turned from the Creator to follow the serpent. Humanity – all nations, tribes, languages, and people – needed a rescuer, a savior, a way to be set free.
God will provide.
And all through the Old Testament and into the new, we see this hope woven all throughout –
Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth…
Isaiah 42:1,4a (ESV)
God will provide.
And earlier in Isaiah’s prophecy…
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6 (ESV)
God will provide.
When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
Genesis 22:9 (ESV)
Abraham is an old man, even older than the old man he was when Isaac was born. Isaac surely had the strength to resist had he desired to do so. I mean, he didn’t start the day planning to become a burnt offering to the Lord.
So, what we have here are two people, each willing to give up something of value to them – Isaac, willing to surrender his life for his father. And Abraham, willing to surrender his son for the sake of his heavenly Father. Abraham also seems willing to lose the great promise that had been given to him – to be the father of many nations, the one through whom the world would be blessed.
It’s all on the line…all on the altar.
Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
Genesis 22:10-11 (ESV)
Abraham’s response has not changed – “Here I am.”
“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide [which can also be translated, The Lord sees].
Genesis 22:12-14 (ESV)
The Lord will provide.
The Lord sees.
The Lord sees…and the Lord provides.
We celebrate Christmas because…
As I sat there with Tamara, Ishmael, Desi, and all the children on that Christmas day, I said to them,
“The reason that Christmas is such an important time for us is that we believe God sees all of us. We believe that God knew what humanity needed. And when Jesus was born, we believe that God was providing for us what we needed – a Messiah, a Savior, a perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins.”
Not long after this very special Christmas, we moved from this island due to a variety of reasons that were making it very difficult for us to stay there. Before leaving, we went to Ishmael and Desi’s house and shared a meal with them. They prepared a meal far bigger than they could afford, and as we ate, they began to recount all our moments together.
The first day they met Tamara,
The time I told the story of Stephen,
The basketball games,
The time we prayed for their daughter,
The time we spent together at Christmas.
“We will never forget your family’s kindness to us, and we will never forget what you shared with us about Christmas and Jesus. We will always be thinking about it and remembering it.”
We celebrate Advent and Christmas because…
we believe that God sees us—individually and collectively.
we believe that God provided what humanity needed.
we believe it to be the arrival of the long-awaited and long-hoped-for Messiah.
we believe that in Jesus, there is hope and a future that is not otherwise possible
we know the life that Jesus led and how he taught us to live in our world.
we know, ultimately, where it lead—to the cross…a perfect sacrifice for sin…and to the third day, when Jesus was raised again to life.
it provides a new Way, a new Truth, and a new Life in Christ.
And again, it is good to emphasize that door of God’s kingdom, where Christ is king, is open for all who will come in faith, and put their hope and trust in the child in the manger, the child who later would be raised up to the right hand of God where he now sits…
…seeing us
…hearing us
…loving us
…interceding for us
…and will someday come back to be with us
…you, me, and all who will come, and bow, and surrender.
God sees.
God hears.
God loves.
God provides.
Emmanuel, God with us.
Our hope…today, tomorrow, and always.
I have very much enjoyed your posts, and have prayed for you often. However, Richard is getting much worse (ight and dementia) and requires a lot of time. I no longer have time to read them. Please take me off your list. richard@wycoff.net