For centuries, the Christian church has celebrated Christmas with a sequence of the four Sundays approaching Christmas day, calling it the four Sundays of “Advent.” The word obviously simply means “coming," referring to the coming of Jesus the Messiah, being born of a virgin, sent by His Father to be our Savior.

Perhaps somewhat unfortunately, some “Protestant” churches have taken the “protest” too far. Certainly it was good to stand up against the heathen practices that had been brought into the church, and speak against traditions which were contrary to the plain reading of the church’s hand-book, the Bible. Venerating and praying to certain saints, exalting the virgin to a plain equal with God, purchasing indulgences to guarantee acceptance into heaven, and in other ways working to achieve eternal life on our own merits – it was good that we protested.

But some churches took it too far, and allowed the pendulum of reaction to the paganized church to swing too far. For example, for a long period of time, organs were not allowed in some churches because the Roman church used them.

Perhaps the same reactionary force has caused us to shy away from the practice of observing the Four Advent Sundays of Christmas.

At this time it is not our intention to fully institute the formal practice of observing Advent - we’re not going to light candles as many do. However, it’s not a bad idea to take a little more time preparing for Christmas than has been our former custom.

When churches do follow this pattern, on each successive Sundays they may feature certain characters who played a role in the story, i.e., John the Baptist, the Shepherds, the Magi, and Mary. Others will organize the Sundays by topics such as Expectation, Annunciation, Proclamation, and Realization.

We have chosen four, simple, single-syllable words, and we'll talk about them as they relate to the world changing story of the Advent of Jesus the Messiah. The key words are HOPE, LOVE, JOY, and PEACE.

HOPE, as it relates to Christmas, has to do with a long standing expectation among the Jewish people. During thousands of years before Christ, there was a longing and a hope for deliverance, hope for a Messiah. This hope was fueled by Old Testament prophets and poets who kept alive this hope by referring in one way or another to what was to come.

Jesus Himself verified this when, after his resurrection, he met with His disciples. Two stories in Luke's final chapter bears this out. In the first, two disciples are on a sad, disappointing walk back to their village outside of Jerusalem when they are encountered by a stranger who wants to know what was bothering them (Luke 24:13-32). Let's take comfort in this - the Lord still is interested in coming along side as we walk on our own pathways of disappointment.

The stranger, whom they soon came to know, was none other than the resurrected Jesus, wanted them to know that their hope was not in vain.

Listen to what Luke explained, "Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." (Luke 24:27)

Jesus understood the Scriptures - He understood that they provided prophecies which produced hope in the hearts of all who carefully listened and simply believed.

Then following that, we have what could be called a "fire-side chat" between Jesus and His disciples. (Luke 24:36-47) Jesus told them, "'This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.' Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures." (44,45)

Evidently, during the next few minutes, or hours, Jesus reiterated what was written about a promised Messiah in the three major sections of the Old Testament: the Law, Prophets and Writings. So let's hear what was prophesied by Moses, by the Prophets and in the Psalms

Moses

We believe that it was Moses who wrote the first five books of the Bible, and in the early chapters of Genesis we read something that no doubt referred to Jesus the Messiah: "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." (Genesis 3:15)

Near the end of the same book, as Israel was speaking blessings over each of his sons, the prophecy was given, "The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his." (Genesis 49:10) The writer of Hebrews (7:14) verified this had to do with Jesus when he wrote, "For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests."

In a direct reference to the hoped for Messiah, Moses, in his final address to the people of Israel, said, "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him." (Deuteronomy 18:15) A few verses later, God Himself makes this promise, "I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him." (Deuteronomy 18:18)

Thus at least 1,500 years before Christ, Moses had put this thought into the conscious minds of the faithful - they had good reason to hope in a coming Messiah.

Prophets

Understandably, when we think of prophecies related to the hope for the coming of Messiah, we usually think of the prophets. In fact several of them were instrumental in keeping alive this hope.

Most prominent among them is Isaiah who provides the promise that Messiah will be born of a virgin. (7:14) This promise is picked up and reiterated by Matthew who quotes from Isaiah, "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." (Matthew 1:23)

A very prominent Scripture raising the hope for a Messiah is Isaiah 61. In fact it is largely from this text that the title "Messiah" becomes associated with Jesus, for the word "messiah" is the Hebrew equivalent of our word for "anoint." Jesus verified that this prophecy related to Himself when He was invited to read from the scroll of Isaiah during His visit to the Nazareth Synagogue: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18,19) After reading this, Jesus sat down in what some scholars believed to be the chair reserved for Messiah and then said, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

At the end of Jesus' life Matthew again refers to Isaiah (53:9) when he notices that the body of Jesus was laid to rest in a wealthy man's tomb, that of Joseph of Arimathea (Matthew 27:57-60) Matthew notes that Jesus was buried with the rich as foretold by Isaiah. " And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death. . . ."

Another prophet who lived and ministered around the same time as Isaiah was Micah who provided the prediction that the village of Bethlehem, David's town, would produce the Messiah. "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." (Micah 5:2)

About 200 years after the ministries of Isaiah and Micah, Zechariah (9:9) was used of God to keep this hope alive. In this case, the prophecy was related to what we now call the "Triumphal Entry" when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey while a crowd of pilgrims shouted out His praise.

"Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey." (Quoted in Matthew 21:4,5)

It was also Zechariah who, again according to Matthew (26:15; 27:9,10), made reference to the 30 pieces of silver exchanged for the betrayal of Jesus. (Zechariah 11:12,13)

Zechariah (13:7) also predicted the forsaking of Christ by His disciples - "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered." Matthew pointed this out when he wrote, "Jesus told them, 'This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'" (Matthew 26:31) Later in the same chapter it is Jesus who says, "'This has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.' Then all the disciples deserted him and fled." (Matthew 26:56)

The Psalms

Interestingly, when Jesus met with and talked to His disciples, He mentioned that the Psalms also contained predictions concerning Messiah - the Poets of Israel join with the Prophets to keep alive this hope. Let's look at a few of the verses in Psalms that speak of the Messiah. Notice that all of them relate in some way to the Passion of Christ - His death, resurrection and ascension.

Psalm 41:9 speaks about being betrayed by a friend ("Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.") Jesus quoted this verse applying it to Himself when in - John 13:18 he said, "I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture: `He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.'"

Most people are quite familiar with the several references to the crucifixion of Jesus found in Psalm 22. The opening words of the Psalm are words which Jesus cried out from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46)

This Psalm also refers to the piercing of hands and feet and the fact that during the crucifixion, not a bone was broken. (Psalm 22:16; 34:20 and John 19:36; 20:20,25)

In verse 18 of this Psalm there is a prediction about Jesus' garments being parted and the casting of lots. Matthew 27:35 tells us, "When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots."

In the previous verse in Matthew 27 we are told about the gall and wine offered to Jesus while He suffered on the cross - this had been referred to in Psalm 69:21: "They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst."

When the Apostle Peter preached the first Christian sermon on the Day of Pentecost he used a passage from Psalm 16:8-11 to indicate that Jesus' resurrection was foretold long before. In this sermon, Peter quoted David in Acts 2:25-27 - "`I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay."

Psalm 68:18 points to the ascension of Jesus - "When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train; you received gifts from men" - a verse that is quoted by Paul in Ephesians 4:8 ("When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.")

And finally Psalm 110:1 speaks of the Lord sitting on the Father's right hand. The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."

In Matthew 22:43-45 Jesus applied this to Himself when He questioned His Pharisaic critics. "How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him `Lord'? For he says, 'The Lord said to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.' If then David calls him 'Lord,' how can he be his son?"

Granted, we have mentioned here only a few of the Old Testament references which placed hope in the hearts of the Jewish people. Mostly, we've limited ourselves to those passages which have been referred to by the New Testament writers. From them we have learned of the great hope that had been rising in the hearts of the faithful during hundreds of years leading up to the coming of Christ. And although many seemed to have been blinded so they could not realize that now their hope was being fulfilled, there were many that did believe, and that group became the compost from which would spring the church that in turn would change western, if not the entire world's history.

But what does all this have to do with us?

At the end of Hebrews chapter 11 which extols some of the great men and women of faith, the writer ends up saying, "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect." (vs.39,40) These faithful Old Testament believers, many of whom suffered and died for their adherence to the truth, had great hope, but did not live long enough to see the fulfillment of the promises that gave them the hope.

We, however, have seen it.

Jesus was the long promised Anointed One, the Messiah, the Savior, and we have known Him and received the benefit of His great work on the Cross of Calvary and His Resurrection. On the other hand, we are not unlike the Old Testament believers, in that the final chapter has not been written; evil is still present with us, and we join with all creation, as Paul said, groaning for the redemption of the body. But we are better off than them because we know that their hope was not disappointed, and so we can believe ours will not be either.

Part of the truth related to the first advent is that there is a second. Jesus said that He will come again, and we are now in the waiting period during which time the only thing that keeps us going is the same hope - the Messiah will come - - - again.

The first time He came to show us the way - the second time He will come to take us away.

The first time He came to teach us that we can defeat sin - the second time He will come to dispel sin forever.

The first time He came in humility - the second time He will come in power.

The first time He came in total obedience to His Father - the second time He will come to bring everyone into obedience to Himself as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The first time He came to be born in a cave and to have His crucified body buried in a cave in the earth - the second time He will come in the clouds of the air.

The first time He came, He was revered by a few simple shepherds - the second time He comes, every eye shall see Him and every knee will bow down before Him.