Dec 3, 2017 - The wonder of Advent is the coming of the Promised Rescuer! It is intended to be a season of building anti
Sunday, December 3, 2017
Unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord Luke 2:11
The wonder of Advent is the coming of the Promised Rescuer! It is intended to be a season of building anticipation. From the outset of Genesis, we have been led to anticipate that a Rescuer is coming. Gen 3:15 is called the Protoevangelium or First Gospel; that a woman’s seed would come and destroy and overthrow the Adversary. That coming Rescuer is prophesied and prefigured again and again throughout the Hebrew Bible. I recently looked at a website that listed 355 Old Testament prophecies fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus’ coming into the world was for a purpose. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He would rescue lost people by enduring the judgment which sin had earned. Jesus was born in Bethlehem’s manger to ultimately die on Calvary’s cross. God makes this clear at Jesus’ baptism as God speaks from Heaven, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” In the statement, God quotes two passages from the Hebrew Bible, Psalm 2:7 referring to the coming anointed king and Isaiah 42:1 referring to the Suffering Servant who would deliver Israel by suffering on their behalf. At the outset of His earthly public ministry, God anoints Jesus to teach the way (Torah) that leads to life and to call people to repent and receive the Gospel - the Good News that the Rescuer has arrived. The purpose of God in the coming of the Rescuer is more than the salvation of lost individuals. God intends to rescue and restore the entire creation. The book of Revelation speaks of this restoration as God’s rescue that leads to a new Heaven and new Earth. Human beings who are rescued by God are to enter into the mission of God to rescue and restore others and to participate in God’s restoration of the Earth itself. Christmas recalls and rehearses each year the Good News that “Unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11 Dear Lord, This Advent, we are thankful for the coming of the Promised Rescuer, Jesus. May we, the grateful rescued, on a mission from God, share the Good News of Your plan for rescue and restoration with others in our families and in our world. Amen. Rev. Lucky Arnold
