Waiting…for His Coming

Waiting is often a challenge. It involves delay, deferment...patience. We wait for things that are not, usually wishing that they already were. Sometimes waiting is voluntary, but more often it is a bothersome reality forced upon us.

Nonetheless, there is something special about the waiting we experience during the Christmas season. We revel in “the countdown to Christmas”, watching the anticipation in the eyes of children as they wait not-all-that-patiently for the big day and looking forward to family celebrations and other highlights of the season.

In many ways, the waiting is both the best and worst part of this “most wonderful time of the year”. It’s hard, but it’s also good. When I was young, I didn’t really want to find out what the presents under the tree were; that would ruin the surprise, and the buildup felt as important as the gift itself. So much of the fun of Christmastime is found in the season leading up to Christmas that the day itself can feel almost anticlimactic for many.

Advent is the season of waiting…the season of longing, repentance, and preparation. As the ancients longed for the Promised One to come and prepared their hearts to receive Him, so we prepare our own hearts in anticipation of celebrating Christ’s first coming (or advent) long ago. We also look forward to His second advent and prepare our hearts again to receive Him when He comes in glory. Yet in all our waiting, the glory of Christ’s actual coming is never anticlimactic; God the Son is greater than we can imagine and more glorious than we can comprehend. And when He returns, there will be no end to the celebration!

The coming of Christ has always been what the human heart longs for. We were made for intimacy with our Creator, but our sin separates us from Him. Ever since sin entered the system in Genesis 3, our very souls have yearned for redemption and reconciliation with or Maker. We crave the hope, peace, joy, and love that sin has stolen.

In the words of the hymnwiter, “Long lay the world in sin and error pining,” awaiting the arrival of the Promised One, our Champion, the Serpent Crusher. This long-expected Jesus would “come to set His people free,” as He would “from our sin and fears release us” by His atoning death and resurrection, taking God’s wrath toward our sin on Himself and gifting us with His own righteousness. When He returns to establish the fulness of His Kingdom, His second advent will “make His blessings flow far as the curse is found.” What a glorious day that will be, when our waiting is over, and our faith will be sight!

To help us embrace the anticipation of the One our hearts long for, we have provided our annual Advent devotional booklet, comprising daily devotions from Real Lifers. It parallels the sermon themes leading to Christmas. Printed copies are available at church, and it will also be posted daily on Facebook. In addition to using it for your own edification, we encourage you to share it with others!

As we celebrate this Advent season, preparing our hearts for Christmas, may our collective celebration help us each to contemplate the significance of waiting for the hope, peace, joy, and love that God promised in His Son. May this season of waiting and wonder linger in our hearts long beyond December, so that His grace overflowing from us reflects the reality of Christ to a world in desperate need.