Advent is all about waiting. Waiting for a ‘coming’, for an arrival.

For most of us the focus is on the immediate, near future; the 24-day countdown to the ‘arrival’ of Christmas Day.

For Christians the focus tends to be more on the past with the arrival of the Logos coming into the world, taking on skin and fat and becoming the newborn baby we know as Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem.

Whilst both of these foci of Advent are valid and good, there’s another focus which is equally valid, and arguably far more exciting.
This is the Advent of Jesus coming again to bring this age to a close and to establish, forever, the life to come in the age to come. It’s integral to our understanding of who Jesus is and what He has done for us that He returns. It’s the natural end to a supernatural reality of resurrection. It reminds us that Jesus isn’t just a Divine entity from another realm, but that He also remains today the wounded flesh-and-blood man who resurrected from the dead.
If His first Advent was significant because God became like one of us, then His second Advent is significant because now we become like Him; the “perishable putting on the imperishable”.

This Advent, may you awaken to the truth that God became like you so that you might become like Him.
May you find yourself waiting for His coming with joyful anticipation and expectation.
May you know that He who began a good work in you will bring it to perfect shalom.