Hello All. Welcome to Advent, the season of waiting on the Lord’s coming. Anticipation is wonderful – particularly when the gift we’re waiting on is so fantastic! We’re going to take a little journey together each day exploring the Scriptures, singing hymns, and praying in great anticipation of Christmas because salvation has come in Jesus! Joy the World! We’ll look at the prophecies of Isaiah as they relate to Jesus, then look at the birth narrative in the gospels.
To Read: Isaiah 1:18
“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.”
Isaiah’s prophecies span many decades, and are chronicled across 66 chapters. He starts his book like many of the other prophets – to warn the Israelites about their sin and its consequences. It’s been true since Adam and Eve – every person has sin in their heart, and we all fall short of God’s requirements (Ps. 53; Rom. 3) – but wait! God has already planned to do something about this – he will bring a Savior from among God’s people (Ps. 53:6). That’s why Isaiah can say this with confidence: your sins are like scarlet, they are bad, but they will be made white – clean, like snow. In Hebrew poetry, the second line of a couplet will restate the same thing as the first, but in a new, poetic way. That’s what happening here: it’s a celebration of the truth that God has planned salvation for you, to forgive you of all your sins!
You all know what fresh-fallen snow is like – it’s perfectly white and it sparkles under the light of the moon. God’s plan is not just to improve you, to make you nicer, or better at sharing, he has fully redeemed you – which means, because of what Jesus has done – coming down to earth to go to the cross – that he now sees you as completely innocent, righteous in his sight! He delights in you – you sparkle under the light of the moon in the eyes of God.
In Advent, we’re thinking about the celebration of Christmas – it is coming, because Jesus has already come, but also we anticipate his second coming – Christ will come again and bring with him the new heavens and new earth (Rev. 21:1). He’s putting an end to all sin, death, and difficulty. But it starts with his first coming – when Jesus, God Himself, would become a baby – what we call the Incarnation. He came with purpose – he would become the scarlet one, he would take on our sins, so that we could become clean – white as snow.
Song to Sing: O Come O Come Emmanuel
Maybe the best lyrics of any song, ever.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for coming at Christmas – thank you for coming to forgive us all of our sins. Thanks for living just like us, and experiencing all that you did, even to anguish and death on the cross, so that my sins could be made as white as snow. Help us to focus on you this Christmas. Help us to see that through all the celebrations and gifts that we are ultimately worshiping you, as our Savior and Lord. In your name, Amen.
Echoes of Eden: Christmas movies! There are tons of classics around, and even new gems like Elf. Watch as they explore important themes like unconditional love, forgiveness, and faith without even knowing it. We’re all made in God’s images, so our stories must ring true to be embraced. Often God’s truth is pouring out of stories we love, so enjoy that! and laugh a good bit along the way.