Advent in Exile - Christmas Longing With IsaiahSample

“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Is 43:19).

Advent is a time of waiting, a time of waiting for God to do something new.

When the people of Judah were in exile in Babylon, they were waiting for things to change in such a way that they could return home. A return from exile, basically unheard of in the ancient world, meant that their hope was in vain,or at least it should have been. For them to return home with their traditions and practices of worship intact would take a miracle. It wasn’t something that they could accomplish through hard work and determination. No, God would have to do a new thing...and so they waited.

As we know, God makes good on His promises and they were eventually allowed to return home. But a return to the promised land wasn’t the only thing they were waiting for; they were also waiting for the day when the promised Messiah would come....and so they waited.

Centuries later, God did something truly and remarkably new, by humbling Himself and becoming one of us.

Traditionally, Advent is specifically about waiting for the second coming of Christ, as we move toward the celebration of His first coming. Like the ancient Israelites, we, too, are waiting on God to do something new. We, too, are in a world that’s broken, a world in which we are aliens, until Christ comes again to restore His creation.

As Paul says: “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself” (Phil 3:20-21).

And so, we wait… but not as those who wait without hope because we know our Savior is coming and He will do a new thing once again.

"In Light of this Advent Season, what is your heart longing for?”

- Wes Viau