What Is the Full Purpose of Advent?

Today we’ll light the third Advent candle and brace ourselves for the coming week. In a perfect world, the shopping is done, the presents are wrapped, and everyone is in agreement on guest lists and festive menus. In the real world, we trust for grace. We prepare to welcome Jesus into our mess, grateful for whatever fragments of comfort and joy he brings.

In some small moment this week, I hope you’ll join me in remembering that Jesus actually entered history. He broke a four-hundred-year-long silence that began when Malachi and Ezra put down their prophetic pens. Therefore, when we celebrate Advent in the busy weeks leading up to Christmas, we are putting ourselves in company with the faithful, the waiting-ones who believed God when he promised that one day he would send Someone who would take care of sin once and for all.

Malcolm Guite has said, “The whole purpose of Advent is to be for a moment fully and consciously Before Christ. In that place of darkness and waiting, we look for his coming and do not presume too much that we already know or have it.”

“The whole purpose of Advent is to be for a moment fully and consciously Before Christ. In that place of darkness and waiting, we look for his coming and do not presume too much that we already know or have it.” Malcolm Guite

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In reality, we are waiting. Although we live in the already of justification by faith, we’re still living in the not-yet of our stumbling sanctification. Our longing hearts have yet to experience the joy of full release from our fears and our sins. We sing, “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” because we still await his gracious kingdom.

In this vein, Guite asks believers to consider, “If I hadn’t heard of Christ, and didn’t know the name of Jesus, I would still long for a savior. I would still need someone to come. Who would I need?”

Who Would I Need?

Maybe it’s because I recently led a Sunday school class through the seven I Am statements of Jesus that my mind immediately went to the seven images the Apostle John collected, seven metaphors from the mouth of Jesus that seem to answer the question, “Who would I need?”

As an eyewitness to Jesus’s life and ministry, the Apostle John would have heard all seven declarative statements. Each one is a literary device in which Jesus broadens our understanding of his role and identity by using something concrete to open up his listeners’ imaginations. These seven vivid and metaphorical incidents of self-disclosure are John’s gift to his readers. 

So, in answer to what I would long for if I didn’t know Jesus, here’s what I would need…

1. The Bread of Life
   Jesus promised much more than a free meal and a full stomach. To feast with faith on the bread of life by believing in Jesus is to receive life that lasts forever. Our bodies may die, but Jesus is the food that sustains our souls forever.
2. The Light of the World
   Jesus is the light that shattered the darkness, giving hope, healing, comfort, cleansing, and clarity for each day. Then, one day we will live in his presence where there will be no darkness at all.
3. The Door to a Relationship with God
   Jesus is the only access to the protection and provision God promises. If I had not walked through that door, I would still be dealing with the guilt left by all my self-salvation strategies.
4. The Good Shepherd
   Jesus died so his sheep could live. I need to follow the kind of leader who has my best interest at heart, who knows me with all my sheep-ish foolishness, and loves me anyway.
5. The Resurrection and the Life
   Without a savior, death is the ultimate fear. It’s the end of everything, but in Christ who conquered death, I have true life right now and a future with him after death.
6. The Way, the Truth, and the Life
   There is comfort and hope in following the Jesus way, believing the Jesus truth, and living the Jesus life. Every other path falls short of what it promises. Jesus offers fallible and broken humans direct access to a holy and all-powerful God.
7. The True Vine
   Without Jesus, I would have to generate strength and courage from my own meager resources. Dwelling with him, I find access to supernatural love. As a branch, I am cared for by the Vinedresser

Seeing Jesus as he described himself is an invitation to a particularly intimate beholding. Jesus’s self-disclosure reveals that as the savior of the world, he truly is what empty and grasping hearts are looking for, whether they know it or not.

During Advent, we join “the people who walk in darkness” for just a season. We look for the marvelous Light, and on Christmas Day, we celebrate his arrival.

As you ponder your great need and imagine what your life would be without Jesus, what is your heart’s response?

We see the full purpose of Advent fulfilled when our prone-to-wander hearts find their way to rejoicing that Jesus alone is “the joy of every longing heart.”

Holding You in the Light,

The seven I AM statements of Jesus reveal that he is exactly what we need in a Savior. Only he can be “the joy of every longing heart.”

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Is Scripture Informing Your Celebration of Advent?

For your Advent celebration, I’ve created on the YouVersion app a four-part series featuring Isaiah’s prophecy of a coming Messiah. Together, we remember that Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor with Supernatural Wisdom. He is our Mighty God, unlimited in His Ability to do what He wills. He is the compassionate Everlasting Father, the Giver of good gifts, and Jesus is the Fountain of deep well-being, our Prince of Peace. You can access the Advent plan HERE or visit my profile page for free access to all my reading plans!

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CLICK HERE to read my most recent newsletter where you’ll be given the opportunity to subscribe. I’m committed to the truth that women can become confident followers of God and students of his Word, and I want to help you along that path.

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Photo by Megan Watson on Unsplash