We are now ending the first week of Advent. The word “advent” means an arrival of
somebody noteworthy. This is a season dedicated to expectancy and is practiced by the
innumerable church services, decorations and trips to see friends and family to define the month
leading up to Christmas. All this preparing makes us appear expectant, but as we continue in the
busyness that culminates in Christmas day, it is important for us as believers to focus our
expectation toward the right thing.
At the risk of echoing others, I fear that Western culture has lost the value of such
expectancy in an age of instant gratification. While this is certainly a problem for society as a
whole, the weight of such a loss can be felt heavily in the life of a Christian. As believers, we are
called to live in the middle of the “already” and the “not yet,” basing our faith off of what has
happened in order to be prepared for what will happen.
Even more damaging than this lack of expectancy is the risk of misplacing expectancy,
especially for the Christian. In the season of Advent, we are often taught to be expectant of
family time, beautiful music or gifts, all of which are good things. But to focus solely on these is
to miss the entire point of a season of expectancy: a miracle so grand you have to be expecting it
to believe it. The miracle of Christmas is not found in the shepherds, the stable or the Magi, but
in the fact that, as John 1:14 tells us, “the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.”
The incarnation is the reward at the end of a season of waiting. The month before
Christmas seems long to most people, but the Israelites had waited in 400 years of silence before
their expectancy was met with any kind of reality. That kind of waiting is hard, and can seem
foolish and desperate, but it is what we as Christians are called to.
Our expectancy is not in vain. It is through the incarnation that God works to redeem all
of creation. Without the incarnation, full redemption is impossible. A non-incarnate God could
not die for his creation. Furthermore, as Dr. Stephen Wellum points out, the resurrection has no
meaning or purpose unless the Jesus crucified was indeed the incarnate Word who reversed the
sequence of the first Adam. Instead of birth, painful life and death, Jesus conquered death with a
physical resurrection, and, in doing so, became perfectly qualified to meet humanity’s every
need, even for complete forgiveness.
Through this season of Advent, remember that we as believers have a more powerful
hope that outlasts the month before Christmas. Our expectancy that builds during this season can
only grow when the incarnation is what it expects. The incarnation enables the resurrection,
which in turn means salvation, eternal life and the indwelling of the Spirit for believers. It is in
this reality that we are called to live as the empowered, and yet still expectant, people of God.
