Not everyone will be prepared for the coming of our King.
Advent is about preparing for the coming of God. Abraham prepared by leaving all he knew, following God's instructions to settle in a particular land, setting up an altar, and later, circumcising all his followers as a part of God's covenant. Jacob prepared by instructing his family to ritually purify themselves and then he buried their idols. Moses prepared the people of Israel for God's coming by relaying God's instructions to ritually purify themselves, focus their attention on God, and obey the boundaries God set both before they miraculously left Egypt and later when God descended on the mountain to speak with them (Exodus 19).
Joshua did so similarly, before crossing the Jordan on dry land. He also circumcised an entire generation that had not been circumcised before they began to take the Promised Land. The prophet Samuel called the people of Israel to consecrate themselves, then God delivered them. Solomon had the people of Israel consecrate themselves for the opening of the temple, and God descended in such a thick cloud that the priests could no longer minister.
My point is that that before God's advent, or his coming, He asks us to prepare.
Those who were prepared saw Jesus Christ's coming. The shepherds who lived lives of solitude and quiet, outside the city hustle, saw the angelic hosts and heard their great rejoicing. When they followed the angel's directions, the significance of the Savior as a sacrificial lamb, wrapped in the same cloths they used to protect their young lambs, was not lost on them. They worshipped the Christ-child, then ran to tell all they knew. Sadly, it appears the readiness stops with them. The Bible does not record anyone else stopping their daily life to return and worship with the Shepherds.
In Luke 2:25-35, we hear of an elderly man who had long awaited the birth of the Messiah:
Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”
Hope and trust in God's revelation prepared Simon his long life to be remain receptive as the Holy Spirit prompted him to be present at the temple to see Jesus Christ. Simon prophecies not only the salvation God promised for both Jew and Gentile, but also the rejection of Christ that would reveal hearts and his death that would pierce Mary's heart:
Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
Anna, a prophetess, was also prepared for the coming of Christ. She, too, we are told, prepared for a lifetime. After her husband died, Luke tells us she never left the temple, worshipping, fasting, and praying every night and day. She set herself as a watchman, knowing that all the new mothers and most of firstborn sons would be brought to the temple to be consecrated and redeemed. She knew, logically and likely prophetically, she had the best chance of encountering the Messiah—if he came in her lifetime—in the temple.
When Jesus arrives, Anna sees what others could not because she is prepared. The moment Jesus arrives, she begins praising God and, like the Shepherds, telling about the child to “all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38).
Then far to the east, the magi who had quite possibly been watching for prophetic signs since Daniel's time, prepared to travel. It likely took them two years to follow the star to Bethlehem, where they found Christ as a toddler, worshipped, and gave the highly significant and prophetic gifts they had brought. (Makes me wonder if Daniel had laid those preparations as well.)
Heartbreakingly, though Herod consults with the Jewish leaders on the prophecies who accurately point the magi in the right direction, the leaders who were entrusted with the prophecies were not prepared. There is no record of them ceasing from their ordinary business to investigate the prophecies in which they were schooled. Their preoccupation with what they had reduced from holy to ordinary ensured they missed an encounter with The Holy One of Israel.
Worse yet, their indifference makes them partially responsible to the heinous crimes of killing all children two and under that Herod commanded after the magi did not return.
Indifference is the result of our great foe: pride. Indifference seeks a perch of comfort from which to coddle our pride.
Let us not be like the Jewish leaders of the day. Let us use this time of Advent to reorient ourselves to celebrate the coming of the King. Diligence, faithfulness, humble celebration of others, fasting, solitude, closets of prayer—these are the weapons that root out pride and prepare our hearts to receive more of God's presence.
Grace prepares us for the coming of our King.
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