“Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” (Psalm 27:14).One of the words that best captures the season of Advent is waiting. Now granted, waiting is not something we do very well. No child enjoys waiting until Christmas to open his presents. No adult enjoys waiting in long lines at the store to purchase that last minute gift. No driver enjoys waiting in bumper-to-bumper traffic as the winter snow slows everything down. But when it comes to faith, waiting is an integral part of who we are as children of the heavenly Father.
God’s people of old waited in patience and hope for the coming of the Messiah. Adam and Eve waited. Noah waited. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob waited. Moses waited. King David waited. In fact, every Old Testament saint died waiting for the Messiah. Thus, they died in faith and are even now with Christ in heaven. The One for whom they waited—Jesus, the Christ—was finally welcomed into this world by Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, Simeon and Anna, and the wise men.
We, too, wait. But not for Christ’s first coming. That day has already come and gone. Instead we wait for His second coming. Although we know neither the day nor the hour of His return, we have His sure and certain promise that He is coming again (Matthew 25). Thus, we wait. We are watchful and ready. We wait in patience and hope for the Day when our Lord Jesus will come again in glory to take us bodily to our eternal home. Which is why the Apostle Paul writes:
“Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).And as we wait, we rejoice that Jesus comes to us even here and now. Every time we gather together in His name, He is here in our midst (Matthew 18:20). Every time we hear His Word, He is here in our midst (Romans 10:17). Every time we receive His true body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, He is here in our midst (John 6:56). In short, He is here in Word and Sacrament to forgive our sins, to strengthen our faith, and to enliven our hope in His second coming!
2000 years ago Jesus became our Emmanuel (“God with us”). Today He is still with us in Word and Sacrament. And someday, on the Last Day, we will bodily be with Him in heaven. Advent wraps up all of these mysteries and beckons us to wait, to anticipate, to prepare. Why? Because...
“Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him” (Hebrews 9:28).Let that be your joy this Advent, this Christmas, and always!
The brethren of The Messiah are but "aliens and pilgrims while on the earth" because their "citizenship is in Heaven" and so it is that they have taken heed unto the exhortation too:
ReplyDelete“Love Not The World”
”For the WHOLE(not just a portion) world is under the control of the evil one”.......(I John 5:19)
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world will pass away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of The Only True GOD will abide for ever.”(IJohn2:15-17)
“If you were of the world, the world would love it’s own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Master. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also.” (John15:19-20)
“Where do wars and fighting among you come from? Do they not come of your lusts that war in your members? You lust, and have not: you kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: you fight and war yet you have not, because you ask not. You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts. You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is to be at enmity with The Only True GOD? Therefore whoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of The Only True GOD.” (James 4:1-4)
“The world cannot hate you; but the world hates Me, because I testify that the works of this world are evil.” (John 7:7)” and “The Messiah gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of The Only True God, Our Father.”(Gal 1:4)
The Messiah testified: “If the world hates you know that it hated Me before it hated you.”(John 5:18) Truly, Truly, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone: but if it die it brings forth much fruit. He that loves his life in this world shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world shall have it unto life eternal.” (John 12:24-25)
John testified: “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hates you.” (I John 3:13) “ James testified, “Whoever would be a friend of this world is the enemy of GOD”(James4:4)
"Come Out of her, MY people"!
Global warming, polluted air, land and waters, toxic wastes, sexual perversion, evil inventions of destruction, greed, hate, carnal warfare, dis-ease(no-peace),,etc,, are all destructive processes that have their root in “the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life” all of which fuel the fires of mankind’s “imag”ination ;-(
"Come out from among them and be separate"!
Peace, in spite of the dis-ease(no-peace) that is of this world and it's systems of religion, for "the WHOLE(not just a portion) world is under the control of the evil one" indeed and Truth......
Truth IS, a lie never was and is not.......
Abide in Truth....... francis