Advent-Holy One and Resurrected Redeemer

I think Advent is a beautiful word.

It may be because it has lovely letters in it.

It may be because it sounds a bit like Avett.

But it really is because Advent signifies a time of somber, sweet expectation.

Of joy longed for, but not yet seen. Of the coming King. Of hope.

For Christians, Advent is the reality in which we always live--the now and not yet--as those redeemed from the penalty and power of sin, but not yet its presence, as my pastor says. We have been ransomed from the grave, yet we still live in a fallen world. Christ has come, but He is coming again. And we wait expectantly for that day, even as we rejoice in His finished work.

St. Charles Borromeo, a sixteenth century bishop in Milan, wrote of Advent:"This is the season that the Church has always celebrated with special solemnity. We too should always observe it with faith and love, offering praise and thanksgiving to the Father for the mercy and love he has shown us in this mystery. In his infinite love for us, though we were sinners, he sent his only Son to free us from the tyranny of Satan, to summon us to heaven, to welcome us into its innermost recesses, to show us truth itself, to train us in right conduct, to plant within us the seeds of virtue, to enrich us with the treasures of his grace, and to make us children of God and heirs of eternal life." I am prone to forget that the beauty of Advent, of Christmas, is this same story. The familiar, miraculous truth that God, in His inexplicable, infinite love sent Jesus to redeem the lost and make them sons and heirs of righteousness and glory.

Often, for me, the false 'joy' that my culture and own mind offers is one of peppermint coffee and red sweaters. I get lost in Big Crosby's nostalgic crooning and my deep affection for evergreens, in notions of home and rest and celebration. And these are all wonderful things. But there's a real joy that endures beyond the returns and exchanges line on December 26, beyond a conflict with a family member, beyond the hassle of crowded travel. And that joy is in who God is and what He has done. In that precious refrain, my soul finds rest and can truly delight.

In an effort to remember this, I'm trying to consciously walk through the Advent readings provided by my local expression here in Nashville, City Church of East Nashville. Today, December 5, we are reading Psalm 22, The One Forsaken by God.

Psalm 22:

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?

O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,

and by night, but I find no rest.

Yet you are holy,

enthroned on the praises of Israel.

In you our fathers trusted;

they trusted, and you delivered them.

To you they cried and were rescued;

in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

But I am a worm and not a man,

scorned by mankind and despised by the people.

All who see me mock me;

they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;

“He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him;

let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”

Yet you are he who took me from the womb;

you made me trust you at my mother's breasts.

On you was I cast from my birth,

and from my mother's womb you have been my God.

Be not far from me,

for trouble is near,

and there is none to help.

Many bulls encompass me;

strong bulls of Bashan surround me;

they open wide their mouths at me,

like a ravening and roaring lion.

I am poured out like water,

and all my bones are out of joint;

my heart is like wax;

it is melted within my breast;

my strength is dried up like a potsherd,

and my tongue sticks to my jaws;

you lay me in the dust of death.

For dogs encompass me;

a company of evildoers encircles me;

they have pierced my hands and feet—

I can count all my bones—

they stare and gloat over me;

they divide my garments among them,

and for my clothing they cast lots.

But you, O Lord, do not be far off!

O you my help, come quickly to my aid!

Deliver my soul from the sword,

Save me from the mouth of the lion!

my precious life from the power of the dog!

You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!

I will tell of your name to my brothers;

in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

You who fear the Lord, praise him!

All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,

and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!

For he has not despised or abhorred

the affliction of the afflicted,

and he has not hidden his face from him,

but has heard, when he cried to him.

From you comes my praise in the great congregation;

my vows I will perform before those who fear him.

The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;

those who seek him shall praise the Lord!

May your hearts live forever!

All the ends of the earth shall remember

and turn to the Lord,

and all the families of the nations

shall worship before you.

For kingship belongs to the Lord,

and he rules over the nations.

All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;

before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,

even the one who could not keep himself alive.

Posterity shall serve him;

it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;

they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,

that he has done it."

In unmatched poetry, the psalmist describes a harrowing scene of one who knows of God's faithful covenant to His Fathers but is abandoned by God. He is one afflicted, abhorred, despised. He is one who we now know to be Jesus.

The psalm begins with those haunting words that echo from age to age, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" As the wise Tim Keller teaches, when Jesus is on the cross and utters this phrase, it is the only time in Scripture that He addresses God with a title other than "Father." Jesus was with God in perfect Trinitarian unity and relationship from before time began, Father and Son. But on the cross, he was broken for our sakes and, in taking our sin upon Himself, experienced for the first time in all of eternity, separation from God, crying out not as a beloved Son, but as a condemned sinner, "My God." As Craig Brown teaches, Jesus momentarily abandoned His place as Son, so that we could inherit His righteousness and Sonship. He called out "my God" so we could cry out "our Father."

I also love the last line of the Psalm, that what God had done shall be told to "a coming generation" that His righteousness shall be proclaimed to a "people yet unborn that He has done it." To me, to you, those unborn in antiquity when King David penned this psalm, it is recounted. He has done it.

"It is Finished."

Advent is about the Coming of this One in perfect humility, obedience and love. He was broken so we could be restored. He was forsaken so we could be reconciled. He brought about peace by the blood of the cross. He brought life from death. God became Flesh and dwelt among us. Though we were far off, we have been brought near. We were enemies of God, now his children.

Amen and Amen.