We are now through Days 1-25 of our Advent Bible Reading Plan and Christmas is here!! Merry Christmas! As promised, here is my last advent reflection from our family’s time in the reading plan. This reflection is on Days 22-25 of the plan. If you missed Days 1-4, check them out here or Days 5-9, check them out here or Days 10-12 here or Days 13-21, check them out here. This is not meant to be a devotional, a summary, a deep dive into the passage, or really anything to add to your Bible readings throughout advent, but simply some reflections from my family and I along the way.
My main goal is to encourage my own heart to really stop, dwell, and reflect on what we are learning together. I pray it will cause you to do the same: to slow down and reflect as you read, and allow the Spirit to work on your heart.
Let’s dive into this section! We have finally made it to the New Testament and hear about how God is going to fulfill His promise from all the way back in Genesis…starting with the birth of His only Son…
Promised One Fulfilled in Jesus
All throughout our journey from creation to the fall, to God calling a people for Himself and making a covenant with them to bless them and make them to be a blessing, to the promise to rescue them from their sin and destruction, we have seen God to be a faithful, covenant-keeping God. We saw it as the people demanded a king to rule them, as the prophets declared God’s words and warnings to them, and as the people worshipped other gods- God was still steadfast and faithful. And here we get the ultimate picture of God keeping His promises as He sends His Son into the world as a baby declaring that good news has come, the Savior has arrived!
As we began to read the passages the last couple of days, two things really stood out to us:
- Journeying through the entire big picture story of scripture caused a longing for the Redeemer to come to save the people from the mess they have made. The anticipation and longing grew with each page. So when Jesus arrives on the scene, it truly is GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY FOR ALL THE PEOPLE!
- Jesus isn’t just good news to celebrate and sing about on Christmas Day, but He demands our full attention and lives- He demands change and action!
A Longing for the Redeemer
We loved how much our hearts were drawn to a longing for the Messiah to show up in the story as we read. As we read and saw the story unfold, the need for a Savior was so clear and we could feel the anticipation right alongside the Israelites as they too longed for the Promised Messiah to come.
This yearning and longing not only brought us to praise God for Jesus’ first coming, but made us long all the more for His second coming when He will make all things new. In a year such as this with the world hurting in so many ways, our hearts were specifically drawn to rejoice in Christ: in both first His coming as a baby, but also as we look ahead to the hope of an eternity of worshipping Him with unhindered hearts.
Our memory verse for the advent season could not have been more fitting as a weary world longs for GOOD NEWS of great joy:
“And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11
In a year where we can catch a glimpse into the meaning of “the weary world rejoices,” we can all the more see what GOOD NEWS Jesus is to a weary world. He is the good news of hope for all people for all time- through His coming to earth as a baby, living a perfect life, dying an awful death on a cross in our place, and rising again to overcome all sin, death, and destruction. He is bright hope for today and for tomorrow as we anticipate His second coming when He will make all things new. HE is the GOOD NEWS of great joy for all people- He is the long awaited Savior and He is worthy of all of our praise! What a great hope we have, especially in a year filled with so much pain and heartache for so many. He is with us, the hope and joy of a weary world!
The words to “O Holy Night” have been ringing in my ears and have voiced so well how this anticipated Messiah brings good news to a weary world, causing it to rejoice amidst pain and suffering.
“O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appear’d and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born“
Oh how it draws us to long for His second coming where He will wipe away every tear from every eye!
This Good News Demands Our Lives!
The other thing that really stood out to me in this last section was the focus on our response to the Messiah. While Christmas is celebrating Christ’s coming to us as a baby and all He has done for us, it isn’t just a time to celebrate and move on, it demands our lives to be changed! It isn’t just good news to celebrate, but the proper response to this good news is great JOY! Great joy that fills our hearts and bubbles over to the world around us.
I loved finishing out the plan with Hebrews 11 and taking a look back at so many of the men and women of faith that we had previously read about. We read about their great faith, knowing that they were men and women just like us who struggled with sin and had to fight for their faith in God throughout every day of their lives. But they are commended for their faith as they looked toward the promises of God.
In response to hearing about the transformed lives of these men and women of faith, we are challenged to have a similar response in fixing our eyes on Jesus:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:1-3
He is our greatest gift, the greatest news, and our greatest joy that elicits a response to give all of our lives to Him, fixing our eyes on Him in all circumstances. Jesus is where true joy comes from, HE is the GOOD NEWS of GREAT JOY for ALL THE PEOPLE! In Him, there is fullness of joy forevermore (Psalm 16:11) that can only come from gazing at His beauty, knowing Him deeply, and having a life that is transformed by His glory.
There’s so much more that I could say about each of these points and about all that God has been doing to work through the past 25 days of our Advent Bible Reading Plan. I pray that God has worked richly in you, your family, your small group or church, or whoever you read along with throughout this season. I pray that you got a big view of the story of scripture, are enamored by the sovereignty of God, and are filled with joy in the Promised Messiah.
How has God been revealing who He is and His grand plan to redeem His creation through Christ to you? How did God work in your heart during this advent season? I’d love to hear from you!
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