Second Sunday Of Advent...What Did They Know?

 


The manger now has hay/straw in it.  Another Sunday of Advent has past leading up to the Christmas Eve service.  Another Advent candle has been lit and some more Scriptures have been read about the coming Messiah.  All our songs speak of Him and we are re-introduced to the characters of Christmas through them (angels, shepherds, Mary, Joseph, etc.).  The anticipation is growing and this Sunday walks us through many passages of what they, the Israelites, knew of this coming Messiah from the Old Testament.

As one who lives after the first coming of Christ, His life, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension, we listen to these prophecies and easily associate them with Jesus.  We marvel that they rejected Him.  But we too rejected Jesus at one time.  It wasn't until our eyes were opened by Him to see Him as the Messiah who had come that we embrace Him with our repentance, submission and obedience.  We were just as blind as they and needed Jesus' intervention to interpret the Scriptures so we could see Him throughout like He did with the two on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24.

Christians, pray earnestly and fervently for eyes to be opened this Christmas as people walk through the doors of your church, be it a Christmas service, children's program, nativity scene presentation, or caroling opportunity.  Look for opportunities to share the gospel using the arrival of the coming Messiah as a backdrop to the conversation.  Maybe it is in the grocery store line or within a Christmas card sent to a family member or friend.  Maybe it is at a gift exchange at work or after an accepted invitation to a church Christmas program or service over a coffee or dinner.  Tell them His story and tell them your story and how the two are now tied together.  

Every year we have these 2 opportunities (Christmas and Easter) that bring Jesus to the forefront of the picture if we will highlight Him.  He is coming again but until then He is still seeking to save the lost and we are His mouthpieces of the message and living examples of transformed lives.

Adam





A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

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