Categories
Second Advent

Day 2: The Second Advent

So 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

At Christ’s first coming, his arrival was marked by humility as he was wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. His first coming was primarily to deal with sin. At Christ’s second coming, his arrival will be marked with magnificent power and might as he returns –not to die for sin, but to judge and be with the those whom he died for. Throughout the Old Testament, the Prophets often pointed Israel toward the hope of their Messiah’s first advent. As we will see now, likewise, throughout the New Testament, the Apostles often pointed the Church to the hope of Christ’s second advent.

The Promise of the Second Coming

In Acts 1:9, Luke details the ascension of Jesus into heaven, saying, “And when he had said these things, as they were looking on he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” Those men who were “looking on” when Jesus was “lifted up” were the apostles (Acts 1:2). Luke records that after his resurrection, the Lord “presented himself alive” to these apostles during a period of forty-days (Acts 1:3). Now, here in Acts 1, the apostles stand with Jesus for the last time of their earthly lives, listening to the Lord’s teaching—and rather suddenly—he ascends into heaven. Perhaps a bit dumbfounded, the apostles stand gazing up into the heavens when two men standing nearby, dressed in white, promise the second advent of Jesus, saying, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). Here you see that following Christ’s ascension, the apostles were the first people to receive encouragement at the promise of Christ’s second advent. They knew first-hand the hope and encouragement of thinking upon Jesus’ return to earth for a second time and they, along with the Apostle Paul, would go onto to share such hope with the New Testament Church.

The Second Advent

The Christian Advent is, “The season of the ecclesiastical year when the church engages in self-examination in expectation of his second coming in glory to judge the living and the dead.”[1] Reflecting on the first coming of Christ ought to cause us to think about the second coming of Christ; and as this definition suggests, the second coming of Christ is a summons for self-examination. This is precisely what Peter taught his beloved audience in his second letter. The Apostle Peter, writes pertaining to Christ’s second coming, “Since all these things are being dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace” (2 Peter 3:11-14).

It’s clear here that when Peter taught about the second coming, he called for self-examination. Since Christ is returning, Peter calls God’s people to live lives of holiness, godliness, spotlessness, and peace. But why does Peter think it is important to call for such self-examination in light of Christ’s return? To answer this question, let’s turn to another apostle who stood nearby Peter, and also heard the angels predict Jesus’ second coming back in Acts 1: The Apostle John.

Jesus’ Promises to the Righteous and to the Wicked

In Revelation 21, the Apostle John records Jesus’ words, which are addressed to two audiences: the conquerors and the cowardly. To the latter group, Jesus says, “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8). For those who do not know Jesus as their Savior, his second coming is not good news but is the promise of eternal damnation in the lake of fire; however, for those who do trust Jesus’ death as the payment for their sins against God and rely on his resurrection as the foundation for their justification, the second coming of Jesus is the greatest news one could ever hear. To those conquerors who have been reconciled with God through faith and repentance, Jesus says, “I will be his God and he will be my son” (Revelation 21:7). 

So, why does Peter think it is important to call for such self-examination in light of Christ’s second advent? As John has shown us, those who are not prepared for the second coming will spend eternity in hell and those who are prepared will spend eternity in heaven with Jesus; the stakes could not be higher anywhere else in all of life when it comes to where you will spend your eternal life, and so, a thorough self-examination for the presence of salvation and a life that bears the fruit of repentance is most appropriate for all people. 

God with Us

Across the evangelical spectrum, there are various theological positions and opinions pertaining to the details of Christ’s second coming. Nonetheless, there is some significant agreement and solidarity among believers regarding many of these eschatological events. One detail that is unanimously agreed upon is found in Revelation 21:3. John writes, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.’” No matter one’s millennial view or eschatological hermeneutic, Christians agree that Christ’s second coming will result in God making his dwelling place with man forever. And in this promise we hear the echoes of the first advent, as Matthew writes, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name ‘Immanuel’ (which means, God with us)” (Matthew 1:23). Both the first advent and the second advent carry a promise that God will be with his people. At the first advent of Christ, the Savior in a manger made his dwelling place among man and so the writer refers to him as God with us. Although Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to indwell the redeemed, at his ascension, he physically left the earth he created; however, at the second advent of Christ, according to the angels in Acts 1, the Savior “will come in the same way” he left – on the clouds in glory. And at the second coming, Jesus will return to physically dwell with his people forever and God will again be with us.This advent season we will reflect on the lives and circumstances surrounding the first advent of Jesus and uncover how they point us to find hope in the second advent of the Savior. As we journey through the story of Christ’s birth from Luke’s perspective, please engage with me “in self-examination in expectation of his second coming in glory to judge the living (that’s you) and the dead.”[2]  If your life does not display the fruit of repentance (Matthew 3:8), confess to the Lord your need for his salvation, ask him for the gifts of faith and repentance (Ephesians 2:8-9; 2 Timothy 2:25), and seek his healing in your life.

[1] Walter A Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology Second Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001), 27.

[2] Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 27.

Categories
First Advent

Day 1: The First Advent

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

Matthew 1:21

The word advent comes from the Latin word adventus, which means “coming.” Christians typically celebrate the First Advent of Jesus Christ annually from about November 30th to December 25th.

One theologian defines Christian Advent as, “The season of the ecclesiastical year when the church prepares to celebrate the birth or coming (adventus) of Jesus Christ . . . and engages in self-examination in expectation of his second coming in glory to judge the living and the dead.”[1] This is such a formidable definition because it captures the inextricable relationship between Christ’s first and second coming. The Twelve Days of Advent exists to help people reflect and project; we hope your reflections on the meaning and events of Christ’s first advent will provoke joyful, hopeful worship at the many projections of His second advent.

The theme of “the advent of Christ” runs throughout the Bible: In the Old Testament, the writers, from Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15) to David (Psalm 2:6-9) to Isaiah (Isaiah 53), point Israel to the hope of the Messiah’s first advent. And in the New Testament, the writers, from Paul to Peter to John, point the Church to the hope of Christ’s second advent. Today, we will examine how some Old Testament writers pointed the children of Israel to the first advent of the Messiah. Next time together, we will examine how some New Testament writers pointed the Church to the second advent of Christ.

The First Advent

Let’s go back to the definition of advent and this time we will only focus on the first part of that definition. The Christian Advent is: “the season of the ecclesiastical year when the church prepares to celebrate the birth or coming (adventus) of Jesus Christ.”[2] Although we often tend to associate the first advent strictly with the birth of Jesus, in a broader theological sense, the phrase “first advent” refers “to the coming of Jesus Christ to earth to provide salvation through his birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension.”[3] Therefore, the call for Christians to prepare themselves for the celebration of the first advent of Christ encompasses more than just reflecting on the appearance of a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger (Luke 2:7). It is a call to prayerfully reflect not just on the Baby’s birth, but on the purpose for the Baby’s birth, which is to glorify God by saving his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).

The Protoevangelium

The first promise of Jesus in the Bible is in Genesis 3:15. Here, Adam and Eve, who may still have the taste of forbidden fruit upon their palates, listen to God pronounce his judgment upon the deceptive serpent. The Lord God says to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). The pronoun “he” in this verse shows us that God had one person in mind who will ultimately defeat the serpent and the evil kingdom he represents. The unfolding of Scripture reveals that “one person” to be Jesus. For this reason, “Some Bible scholars have called Genesis 3:15 the protoevangelium [meaning] “the first gospel”, because it is the earliest prophecy promising a future deliverer.”[4] This observation of Jesus as deliverer begs two questions: 1) who needs deliverance, and 2) what do they need deliverance from? Thankfully, the context of Genesis 3 answers both questions: 1) mankind needs deliverance, and 2) mankind needs deliverance from sin’s penalty. Genesis 3:15 begins to unveil the purpose for the first advent of Christ by communicating that Jesus came to defeat evil in the deliverance of his people from the penalty of their sins. 

The Suffering Servant

Now, we have seen that the purpose of Jesus’ first advent was primarily to deal with sin. To determine how Jesus dealt with sin, we turn to the Prophet Isaiah. The book of Isaiah contains multiple prophecies regarding the first advent of the Messiah, including both his physical appearing and his virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14; 53:2). However, it is in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, a passage that is often referred to as “The Suffering Servant,” that we begin to see how Jesus dealt with sin. In Isaiah 53:5-6, the prophet describes Jesus, saying, “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one— to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” In this text we see that men sheepishly wander away from their Maker in the depravity of their sin. In response, God ordains that his Son bear the penalty for their sin: death. Christ’s offering to the sinner of perfect righteousness and substitutionary death is how he dealt with sin.

Like Isaiah, several other prophets throughout the Old Testament foretold details about the first advent of the Messiah. For example, Micah prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). Hosea and Jeremiah prophesied about the opposition against Jesus at his birth (Hosea 11:1; cf. and Jeremiah 31:15; cf. Matthew 2:18). From the first book of the Old Testament, Genesis, to the last book, Malachi, the voices of its authors point their audience to the hope of the first advent of their Messiah – Jesus (Genesis 3:15; Malachi 3:1-4; 4:1-6).

Today, we have looked at the first mentions of Jesus in Genesis and how we see, even in the Garden of Eden, that His first advent was primarily to deal with sin. We also examined the Prophet Isaiah who teaches how Jesus dealt with sin during his first advent. Hopefully, these scriptures have been a display that we cannot separate the manger from the cross; Jesus was born to die, so that those who are dead in sin may live for eternity.

Now that we have a good understanding that the purpose of the first advent was primarily to deal with sin, next time we will examine the purpose of Jesus’ second advent!

[1] Walter A. Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology Second Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001), 27.

[2] Walter A. Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 27.

[3] J. Daniel Hays, J. Scott Duvall, and C. Marvin Pate, An A-to-Z Guide to Biblical Prophecy and the End Times, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007), 16.

[4] John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue, eds., Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Biblical Truth (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2017), 251.

Categories
First Advent

Why The Twelve Days of Advent?

In December 2017, my wife and I were new parents to a one-year-old boy and a one-month-old girl. We committed to the Lord and each other to raise these two children for the glory of God, no matter the cost or circumstance. When the holiday season came around that year, I found myself perplexed regarding the fulfillment of my oath to my God and my wife. Red and green were everywhere: lights on houses, bulbs on trees, inflatables in front yards. Once, we took our children on a neighborhood walk in their strollers, and we found ourselves in the shadow of a 30-foot Santa Claus – no exaggeration. Of course, this is normative for the neighborhood, but what about inside the Christian home? What about inside the church? Should we utilize pagan practices to usher in the celebration of the Savior’s incarnation? Especially for a Savior who died to rescue his people from their pagan practices! In short order, I examined the scripture, the history of Christmas, and decided that “as for me and my house,” we would point ourselves and our children to the birth of Christ in December.

Then, I silently surveyed the practices of many people around me during the holidays while genuflecting on my own traditions. I became deeply convinced that the people of God around me who were married, single, with kids, without kids, young, old, college student, retired, etc., including myself, struggled to focus on the meaning and implications of the incarnation for two primary reasons: 1) the culture we live in largely pressures us into the rat race of consumeristic gift giving and receiving to the point that it usurps our affections away from Christ, and 2) we have ample practice celebrating the holidays according to the culture and don’t really know a different way to celebrate the season.

At this point, I knew I needed to do something for God’s glory to point the Bride of Christ back to celebrating the historical ecclesiastical calendar in the observance of the first advent. In June 2020, I began studying, reading, listening, writing, and talking to anybody who would listen about the first advent of Christ. During this time, I observed the connection between how the Prophets pointed Israel to the first coming of the Messiah with how the Apostles pointed the Church to the second coming of the Messiah. This observation led me on a journey that uncovered the connections between the first and second advent of Jesus. I committed to sharing these connections with as many Christ-followers as possible. And, in September 2021, I finished recording the final episode of what has come to be called: The Twelve Days of Advent. 

Starting December 2nd thru December 24th, a new episode, 5-10 minutes each, will be released every other day. You can access each episode wherever podcasts are available. My vision is to glorify God by providing his people with a tool to help them start a new tradition in their lives, homes, families, and churches; a tradition that reflects on the meaning and events surrounding the first advent of Christ and projects the hope found in the second advent of the Savior.

Special thanks to my wife for patiently listening and affording me time to work on this endeavor. 

God is faithful,

John Fry