FAITHFUL WAITING

"Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near."  (James 5:7–8 NIV)

In a world of instant results and endless urgency, James draws us into the quiet strength of a farmer waiting for the rains. No crop matures overnight. No growth unfolds without trust in what’s unseen.

This is the rhythm of faith -- not passive resignation, but faithful anticipation. Patience and perseverance are not weak, but deeply courageous. We wait with hope. We endure with resolve. Because we know the harvest is promised by a God who never forgets His Word. 

-- SOUND BITES Ministry™

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ADVENT HOPE

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and I wait for His word. My soul waits in hope for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning; yes, more than the watchmen for the morning.”  (Psalm 130:5-6)

Sometimes hope feels wishful, like crossing our fingers and dreaming of a better outcome. We might hope for better employment, healed relationships, or a brighter future. But that kind of hope is based on things that may or may not happen. When things don’t go as we hoped, it can be crushing -- our hope disappearing like vapor.

As a season of reflection and contemplation, Advent invites us to imagine a different kind of hope, rooted in the unchanging nature of God and His promise to restore every part of His creation. Advent hope does not minimize pain or difficulty, nor does it assume things will soon get better. Instead, it faces the darkness with courage and chooses to trust that God’s promises will come to pass, guaranteed by His long-proven, faithful character.

In the Hebrew Bible, the words most often used for hope -- qavah and yakhal -- are also translated as “wait.” To hope in God means to wait with patient expectation, trusting that He will fulfill His promises. This kind of waiting leans forward, anticipating the day when Jesus will return to make all things new. Such hope empowers people to persevere, to act justly, and to serve others as a sign of the restoration that will arrive through Jesus.

-- From “The BibleProject Guide to Advent”

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O COME, O COME EMMANUEL

"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel."  (Isaiah 7:14 NIV)

The hymn "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" is a beautiful and haunting plea for the coming of the Messiah. The word "Emmanuel" means "God with us," and this hymn captures the deep longing of God's people for His presence. As we sing this hymn during Advent, we join in the ancient cry for deliverance and hope.

"O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear." This longing cry of Israel is not just historical but also personal. We all experience times of loneliness, exile, and captivity in our lives. Advent is a time to acknowledge these feelings and to turn our hearts towards the hope of Christ's coming.

"O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free Thine own from Satan's tyranny; from depths of hell Thy people save, and give them victory o'er the grave." This verse speaks of the victory that Christ brings over sin and death. The "Rod of Jesse" refers to the lineage of David, from which Jesus comes. We are reminded of the power of Christ to save us from the deepest darkness and to give us eternal life.

"O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer our spirits by Thine advent here; disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death's dark shadows put to flight." Advent is a season of waiting for the light of Christ to break into the darkness of our world… of our lives. As we sing this verse, we invite Jesus to dispel the darkness within us and to bring His light and joy.

"O come, Thou Key of David, come, and open wide our heavenly home; make safe the way that leads on high, and close the path to misery." The ultimate hope of Advent is the promise of eternal life with God. Jesus, the Key of David, opens the way to heaven for us. As we reflect on this verse, we are filled with the hope of our eternal home and the assurance of God's love in Christ.

As we journey through Advent, let the words of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" resonate in our hearts. Whether we sing this Advent carol in worship, or hear it while shopping in the mall, may these words remind us of our deep longing for God's presence and the hope we have in Christ. Let us prepare our hearts to receive Him with joy and anticipation. 

-- SOUND BITES Ministry, compiled from a variety of sources based on selected verses from “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”

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A TIME OF PREPARATION

The four Sundays of Advent are a time of preparation for the birth of Jesus Christ. The season of Advent is observed in the Christian faith as a period of waiting and anticipation for the coming of Christ. The four Sundays of Advent symbolize hope, love, joy, and peace, which are the four main themes of the Advent season. The Advent wreath is a centuries-old Christian tradition that holds four candles representing the four Sundays of Advent. The wreath’s circular shape and evergreen color represent God’s infinite and everlasting love for us.

The first Sunday of Advent represents hope, which is the hope of the coming of Christ. The second Sunday represents love, which is the love -- the amazing grace -- of God for humanity. The third Sunday represents joy -- not a superficial happiness but a deep-seated joy, which is the joy of the birth of Christ. The fourth Sunday represents peace -- a personal peace from knowing Christ, which is the peace that Christ offers to the world -- to all who will receive Him.

During the Advent season, Christians prepare for the coming of Christ by reflecting on the meaning of His birth and by engaging in acts of charity, kindness, and witness. The Advent season is a time of spiritual renewal and growth, as Christians seek to deepen their relationship with God in Christ and with one another. 

-- Source Unknown

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THE FULFILLMENT OF PROMISES

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”  (Isaiah 7:14 NKJV)

Waiting at a bus stop on one end of a major curve in the road is a great analogy for what hope and faith are all about. You know the bus is coming, your bus schedule says it will, and yet you cannot see its arrival until it makes that final bend toward you.

As we anticipate the joyful celebration of Christ’s birth in just a few days, let’s stand on His promises. We may not yet see them before our eyes, but His word is Truth, and the fulfillment of those promises are just around the bend.

“‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us.’”  (Matthew 1:23 NKJV)

-- Adapted from Katherine Walden

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ADVENT WAITING

“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:12 NIV)

Sometimes it seems as though we spend our lives waiting. Daydreaming about an upcoming vacation, worrying over a medical test, preparing for the birth of a child or grandchild -- our days are filled with anticipation and anxiety over what the future holds. As Christians, we, too, spend our lives waiting. But we are waiting for something much bigger than a trip, bigger even than retirement or a wedding: We are waiting for the return of Jesus in glory. Advent heightens this sense of waiting, because it marks not only our remembrance of Jesus’ arrival into our world more than 2,000 years ago – the Word made flesh -- but also our anticipation of His final coming. 

-- Author Unknown

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THE SHADOW OF THINGS TO COME

 "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote -- Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."  (John 1:45 NIV)

Here’s an Advent illustration for kids -- and those of us who used to be kids and remember what it was like. Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocery store, and you start to get scared and panic and don’t know which way to go, and you run to the end of an aisle, and just before you start to cry, you see a shadow on the floor at the end of the aisle that looks just like your mom. It makes you really happy and you feel hope. But which is better? The happiness of seeing the shadow, or having your mom step around the corner and it’s really her?

That’s the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High Priest. That’s what Christmas is. Christmas is the replacement of shadows with the real thing. 

-- John Piper

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THANKFUL FOR ADVENT

I believe deeply that God does His best work in our lives during times of great heartbreak and loss, and I believe that much of that rich work is done by the hands of people who love us, who dive into the wreckage with us and show us who God is, over and over and over. There are years when the Christmas spirit is hard to come by, and it’s in those seasons when I’m so thankful for Advent. Consider it a less flashy but still very beautiful way of being present to this season. Give up for a while your false and failing attempts at merriment, and thank God for thin places, and for Advent, for a season that understands longing and loneliness and long nights. Let yourself fall open to Advent, to anticipation, to the belief that what is empty will be filled, what is broken will be repaired, and what is lost can always be found, no matter how many times it’s been lost. 

-- Shauna Niequist in “Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way”

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LIVING IN A SENSE OF ANTICIPATION

“So stay awake and be prepared, because you do not know the day or hour of My return.”  (Matthew 25:13 NLT)

Every generation of Christians has expected Christ to return in their lifetime. And they have had one thing in common: They have all be wrong…

Supposing Jesus had said, “I’ll give you three millennia to evangelize the world, and them, on January 1, A.D. 3001, I will return at precisely 9:00 GMT.” What would the promise of His return have meant to generations of believers who lived in the preceding centuries? In the midst of their suffering, exiles, and martyrdom, what comfort would they have derived from His promise, knowing that He would not come soon? And what would have been the effect on the church if they had known that they still had a little time to do what they wanted to do before getting around to doing what He had told them to do? Where would have been the sense of urgency, the challenge of holiness, and the keen sense of tiptoe anticipation?

Jesus’ point was that all His disciples should be living in a sense of anticipation, actively on the job, working hard to bring about the consummation of His purposes and living consistent lives so they would not be ashamed at His coming.

-- Stuart Briscoe


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GOING BACK TO LOOK FORWARD

“For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”  (Isaiah 9:6-7 NKJV)

The Advent season is that time when we seek to, in a manner of speaking, mute our memory of what has already happened, that we might brighten our joy that it happened. We leave the already of His advent to taste the bitter of the not yet. We, in short, go back, that we might look forward to His coming. 

-- R. C. Sproul

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ANTICIPATION AND EXPECTATION

Christmas is a time pregnant with anticipation and expectation.  There is so much to look forward to, but it’s easy to get so excited about celebrating Christmas that we easily overlook preparing ourselves for the Christ.  We can get so caught up in the hype and hoopla that we don’t take the necessary time to prepare ourselves to be watching for how God will come into our midst in the here and now.

Are you anticipating the kingdom this Christmas?

Are you expecting God to come into your midst today?

What are you doing to prepare yourself for the Christ and not just for Christmas?

-- Adapted from Bryan Marvel


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ADVENT ANTICIPATION

Jeremiah 33:14-16, 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13, Luke 21:25-36

The Scriptures for the first Sunday in the season of Advent all talk about something that's "coming soon." Of course, what is spoken of is God's kingdom and coming salvation. It is coming -- sometime -- and it is closer than it ever has been. So keep your eyes open and keep your heart open, and it will be here before you know it. That is the promise, wrapped in anticipation. When we give ourselves the freedom to think about the time in the future when God's reign will be all-encompassing, when there will be "peace on earth" that is more than a pause in violence, the promise is so great that it is eternal in its size and depth.

Anticipation is a marvelous word in our language. It holds many different definitions; but two of them are "to realize beforehand" and "to foretaste, foresee." When we anticipate the future, we can almost taste it, see it, and realize what God is doing on our behalf while we are living in the present…

At the core of your life, what do you hope for and anticipate?... When you and I are able to begin to name our deepest hope, our greatest anticipation, I guarantee we will be led to holy ground and to a time of waiting for the Lord.

-- Randy Cross in Born to Save: An Advent Study Based on the Revised Common Lectionary


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