Experiencing Advent.

“The whole world is silent – the whole of creation is waiting in silent expectation. Expectation of the celebration of the onset of the most momentous period in history. That babe was tiny and helpless, completely dependent on His mother, both physically and emotionally. He needed her love and care to grow. Yet in Him was wrapped up the potential power of the whole universe – all creation, suns a hundred times the size of our sun exploding – down to the power released from splitting one atom, the smallest particle in all creation demonstrates this power. That was all wrapped up in embryo form in Him and would be released when the Spirit came on Him at His baptism. Savour the expectation of the weekend. Drink in the full import of it.”

Having finished Hebrews, my mind has swung to experiencing and understanding afresh, the full import of the events which we will celebrate on Saturday.

I started by reading Psalm 24. Just as my quiet time message, it starts by focusing on the fact that Yahweh is the Creator of the whole “world” and by that I take the whole universe. Then, after defining who will be able to benefit through a relationship with this Great Lord, it comes to a whole section on the coming of “the King”. “Lift up you heads, oh you gates, be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the king of glory, may come in” the Lord strong and mighty in battle”. This refrain is repeated for emphasis: “Who is this king of glory? The Lord Almighty – he is the king of glory”. (Jehovah, the Covenant God of Israel).

But now hold on now. Is this Jehovah not already with the people He has called? So why must they expect His coming? (v 7). So I turn to Isaiah 9:6 and I read of an expected child, in fact specifically a son, that is going to be born for the benefit of Israel, (but also of the whole world). He has a number of titles, but of special interest here is v 7b, linking the idea that the psalm has raised. “He will reign on David’s throne, over His kingdom”. So let me put this together. The expected king, described as Jehovah, the king of glory in psalm 24, is none other than the babe to be born in Bethlehem.

Wow! Just stop and think. That babe we are going to worship and sing about, is none other than God Himself, come to earth on a special mission. And then a special thought comes to mind. It is in His very lowliness and humility that His full power is released. So His power, His ability to work through me, lies in me being truly humble, in me becoming nothing.

You know all this don’t you? Yet in a miraculous way as I meditated on these two passages, it took on a strange, new and deeper significance. It was as if My pulse was beating faster in expectation. Saturday, is a day which is going to be like any other in the calendar, but God refers over and over to “That Day”, a special day. So in my mind I am swept up with the thought of Saturday being a “special day”. A day of remembrance. A day of great thanksgiving and a day of rejoicing.

Please join with me in prayer as I prepare to lead and preach a special outreach service on Saturday morning at 8 am. And read and meditate this week, on what we are going to celebrate on Saturday, asking God to give you a fresh sense of His reality. A sense of the immediate implication of all this to you personally.