What is the longest time you had to wait for something? We wait a matter of minutes for food at a restaurant and it feels like a long time. We wait 5 years to start kindergarten classes at school. We wait 20 to 30 years to find a spouse. As a people, we do not wait well, no matter how great the reward may be.
The Advent of Christ is also a story of waiting. The time between the Old and New Testaments total 400 years. This time span moves from Nehemiah to the birth of Jesus Christ. These years are known as the intertestamental period, but they are often called the “silent” years. A time when people were waiting to hear something from God.
The New Testament gospels give us more than a whisper. They announce the long-awaited birth of the Messiah, the Desire of nations, the Son of David, the Prince of Peace. Jesus arrives as our Emmanuel. Jesus arrives as our Redeemer, Savior, and King. The most precious gift we could receive.
His birth shows the faithful promise of God to provide salvation. His birth allows God and sinners to be reconciled. His birth brings light and life to a world that has only known darkness and death. Jesus was born that mankind may have life, a second birth, a home beyond this world.
We celebrate the Advent of Christ on earth. We celebrate the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and the deliverance that it brings.
Now we wait again. We wait on the second Advent of Christ and His promised return. May God hasten the day when we can finally see Jesus, the one pierced for our transgressions, the one crushed for our iniquities, the one who died so that we may have eternal life.
