Matthew 1:23  *  December 6, 2006  *  Midweek Advent 1  *  Pastor Leyrer

 

Matthew 1:23   “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” – which means, “God with us.”

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

Whether it is simple addition we all learned in grade school or some complex linear array of symbols recognized only by those who have trained long and hard to understand them, just before the final answer to any mathematical exercise are two little parallel lines.  We call it the “equal sign.” 

 

“Equal” really is just another word for “is.” It means that the two things on either side may look a little different, but when all is said and done they really mean the same thing.  An equation means “this” is the same as “that.”

 

The overall theme for our midweek devotions today and the next two Wednesday evenings is “Advent Equations.”  This theme was chosen because Advent really “equals” several different things.  A week from now we’ll talk about how Advent equals preparation.  Two weeks from now we’ll talk about how Advent equals expectation.  Today, on this the first of our midweek devotions, we wish to consider how

 

ADVENT = ANTICIPATION

 

So what is it that we anticipate during Advent?  Maybe that seems like a more than  obvious question.  As many of us have learned from young on, during Advent we anticipate the coming of Jesus. 

 

That, of course is true.  But actually we anticipate His coming in three different ways.  For many of us this thought, too, is nothing new.  Nevertheless, for the rest of our time together and as an aid to our personal devotional life, we’d like to talk about the three ways Jesus comes to us.

 

First, we anticipate the coming of Jesus as the Babe of Bethlehem.  That’s the simple but profound message of our text. 

 

But how do we do this?  After all (and try as we might), it’s not as if we can somehow shift into the land of make-believe and pretend that we are Old Testament believers who are watching and waiting for the Savior to come for the first time.  For God’s Old Testament people, their entire life was an Advent Season.

 

But we’re New Testament people.   We live in the 21st Century.  The birthday of Jesus happened at a fixed point in history roughly 2000 years ago, and Christians have formally observed Christmas for centuries and centuries.  I would guess most of us here can’t remember a time when we didn’t observe Christmas.

 

So to anticipate the birth of Christ like it is something we know is coming but not sure when is rather hard to do.  It’s kind of like knowing exactly what we’re going to get for Christmas and then having to act surprised when we open the present.  We have an advantage that God’s Old Testament people did not.  What they looked forward to, we look back on.

 

So let us anticipate not only the event itself, but perhaps more importantly, what is behind the great event.  That will never fail to surprise us.  In fact, we grow to appreciate it more each year.  And what’s behind it is love.

 

We can illustrate it this way.  A Christian author by the name of J.B. Phillips wrote a marvelous little story entitled “The Visited Planet.”   It’s about a senior angel who is instructing a very young angel on the splendors of the universe.  Together they toured the solar system, making note of its majesty and vastness and complexity.  Eventually they make their way into one particular galaxy of 500 billion stars…

 

            As the two of them drew near to the star which we call our sun and to its circling planets, the senior angel pointed out to a small and rather insignificant sphere turning very slowly on its axis.  It looked as dull as a dirty tennis ball to the little angel, whose mind was filled with the size and glory of what he had seen.

 

            “I want you to watch that one particularly,” said the senior angel, pointing with his finger.

 

            “Well, it looks very small and rather dirty to me,” said the little angel.  “What’s special about that one?”

 

The senior angel then goes on to tell him that in spite of its size and uncleanness, and in spite of the junior angel’s negative first impression of it, this was the famous and renowned “Visited Planet”…

 

            “Do you mean that our great and glorious Prince… went down in Person to this fifth-rate little ball?  Why should He do a thing like that?”…

 

            The little angel’s face wrinkled in disgust.  “Do you mean to tell me,” he said, “that He stooped so low as to become one of those creeping, crawling creatures of that floating ball?”

 

            “I do, and I don’t think He would like you to call them ‘creeping, crawling creatures’ in that tone of voice.  For, strange as it may seem to us, He loves them.  He went down to visit them to lift them up to become like Him.”

 

            The little angel looked blank.  Such a thought was almost beyond his comprehension.

 

It’s beyond ours as well.  And yet it’s true.  The wonderful, almost incomprehensible message of Christmas is that Jesus did indeed come to us.  We are the Visited Planet.  And that beautiful piece of news – that the Baby of Bethlehem is indeed “Immanuel” – “God with us” – is what we anticipate reliving and celebrating again approximately three weeks from now. 

 

That’s the first Advent.  The Second Advent will be far different.  But it is something we also equally look forward to.  Have you ever heard someone longingly talk about doing something they’ve always wanted to do, but knowing they don’t have the means to do it, assign it to some future date “when my ship comes in”?  What do they mean by that? 

 

I think that ship symbolizes all their hopes and dreams.  It means being rescued from the aspects of life they don’t especially care for and being given the means to carry out their deepest hopes and dreams.

 

However, what is spoken of only in terms of hopes and dreams will become reality when Jesus comes again.  At that time our ship will come in.  And don’t think too small; think ocean liner.  Christ will come again with all His holy angels and for those who have acknowledged Him as their Savior from sin He will bring a boatload of blessings, the first of which is life with Him in heaven forever, complete with a new and improved glorified body.

 

On that day Satan may protest.  He may wish to remind Jesus that we are sinners, that we haven’t always done the right things, that we have no right to enter the perfection of heaven because we are imperfect sinners.  And Jesus may agree with him.  But then He will remind Satan that our sin is covered by His perfect righteousness. 

 

He then may display for Satan the nail holes in His hands as a reminder that He paid the full penalty for our sins on the cross.  For us, the case was gloriously closed the moment Jesus cried out “It is finished.”  We are the redeemed, the restored, the forgiven.  And that will become abundantly and eternally clear at Christ’s Second Advent.

 

How do we use the Second Advent of Christ in everyday life?  Perhaps the best counsel is to avoid extremes. 

 

On the one hand, if we dismiss the Second Coming as something we believe but relegate to an event that will happen in the distant future, it fails to be a living hope in our lives.  On the other hand, if we think about it too much we might merit the criticism laid upon some of the early Christians who used the imminent return of Christ as an excuse for laziness in carrying out the various responsibilities God gave them.  Of them it was said “they are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.”

 

The middle path is best.  We know Christ could come at any time.  We must neither dismiss it nor obsess over it.  What we must do is gratefully live our lives in the shadow of His return.  This means always being ready, always being prepared, and (on the flip side) always recognizing the tendency to cling to the false securities of this world that, in the end, will have no lasting effect on our eternity.  In other words, we must live in anticipation of the Second Advent of Christ. 

 

And the way we do that is by recognizing the third way Christ comes to us.  The first Advent is in the past.  The Second Advent is in the future.  The third Advent is in the present.  Christ comes to us now through Word and Sacrament.

 

Have you ever wondered what it must have been like to be one of Jesus twelve disciples?  Ever wondered how it must have been to actually hear Him speak or see Him teach or listen to the promises He made?

 

We may be removed by 20 centuries of time, but we haven’t missed out on any of those things.  Because Jesus still comes to us and speaks to us in His Word. 

 

The Scripture lessons we heard tonight?  They are not just historical accounts.  God is talking to us. 

 

The time you spend in daily devotions reading passages or chapters of Scripture?  That’s not a one sided exercise.  God is talking to us. 

 

Every time we take Lord’s Supper we are not fulfilling some religious obligation.  God is talking to us, telling us how much He loves us, reminding and reassuring us in a tangible way that our sins are forgiven.

 

And all the while God the Holy Spirit is at work strengthening our faith and drawing us into an even closer relationship with Jesus Christ than we already have.  This is the third, continuing, Advent we anticipate every time we open our Bible or come to church or take Lord’s Supper.

 

Advent equals anticipation.  That is the first our Advent equations.  As we continue our journey through this blessed season, may God give us grateful hearts that rejoice in His first advent, look forward to His second advent, and find peace in His continuous advent to us through Word and Sacrament.  Amen.