The Advent of Glory by R.C. Sproul: 5 Days Exploring the First ChristmasSample

Day 2: Promise

Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” (Luke 1:45).

To prepare us to consider those words spoken by Elizabeth to Mary when the two women met during the course of their pregnancies, I want to take you first to some words Paul wrote to the Roman believers.

The first verses of Paul’s letter to the Romans are rarely if ever, considered to be part of the Christmas message. But when we look at them, we will quickly and clearly see why they are significant for Christmas.

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son...” (Romans 1:1-3).

Often, when the New Testament writers refer to some aspect of the work of Jesus, they say that it happened according to the Scriptures. At the very outset of the proclamation of the gospel, we see that the advent of Christ was also according to the Scriptures. When Paul talks about the coming of Christ, he’s talking not about something that exploded onto the scene of history suddenly and unexpectedly but about something that God had promised centuries and centuries before.

The reason why we call this season Advent is because Advent means “a coming to” in Latin. We are celebrating the coming of Christ into the world at Bethlehem—a long-expected, long-awaited coming “promised beforehand ... in the Scriptures.”

That’s important for us who live now, after the first advent of Jesus, because we, too, are waiting. We’re looking ahead to the future, to the return of Jesus, which is often called his second advent.

A feeling that people frequently experience is doubt. “Well, we’ve been waiting for 2,000 years, and Christ has not yet returned. Maybe it’s a myth. Maybe he’s not coming.” This is exactly the attitude of doubt and discouragement that many people in the 1st century felt concerning the first advent. They knew the Scriptures. They knew that centuries before, the prophets had predicted that the Messiah would come.

This is the context in which to read the words that Elizabeth said of Mary: “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” (Luke 1:45).

Blessed is she, and blessed will you and I be, also. Let us wait with devotion to the gospel God gave us and with confidence in the trustworthiness of God’s promises.

Where do you need confidence in God today?

A Prayer for Today

By Chris Larson

Our Father and our God, holy is your name, and may your name be seen as holy in all the earth. The promise given to Abraham that in his offspring, the nations would be blessed, you have kept. You are a promise-keeping God, and so we know that the good news of Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of promises acknowledged by your people through the ages. With thankful hearts, we look back at Jesus Christ coming into the world. With trusting hearts, we wait with patient eagerness for the redemption of all things. How long, O Lord, until you come again? We love you, and we long to look on our Savior, who has loved us so faithfully, and to be in the presence of Father, Son, and Spirit, proclaiming your holy name in the new heavens and the new earth.

Amen.