Advent: Hope.Love.Joy.Peace.

John 1:14 (RSV) “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.”

 

The crucial significance of the cradle at Bethlehem lies in its place in the sequence of steps down that led the Son of God to the cross of Calvary, and we do not understand it until we see it in this context …”

– J.I. Packer, Knowing God

 

Galatians 4:4-5  “When the fullness of time was come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5 God sent Him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law. So that He could adopt us as His very own children.”

 

Psalm 126:1-4  

1 “When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion, we were like those in a dream. 

2 Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. 

3 Then it was said among the nations, ‘the Lord has done great things for them’. 

4 The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.”

 

Luke 4:18 (KJV) “…to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised…”

 

God himself has come!

The Infinite, the Almighty,

has come from heaven and

the object of His birth

is the salvation of sinners!

 

John 1:23 (ESV) “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

 

John 3:27 – 28 (ESV) “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him.”

 

Matthew 16:18 (ESV) “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

 

Matthew 11:11 (ESV) “…among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.”

 

Isaiah 9:6 (KJV) “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”