Advent 6 The Great Return

[HKHaugan]

Advent 6 The Great Return 

The most important thing about preparation is knowing what you are preparing for. Advent is a period of preparation for...? That's right, Jesus' return. Of course, we are all getting ourselves ready for Christmas celebration at worship, family get-togethers, memories, the fireplace, the tree, carols and all the festivities that surround the expectation of the Savior's return. The last words of Scripture are, “Come Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people (Rev.22:20-21).”

 Until that return, we are covered with His grace for that expectation. He will return. Right after the disciples had seen Him taken into Heaven two men dressed in white appeared to them and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you look up into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into Heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into Heaven (Acts 1:11).”

 There are seven foretastes of that final return.

 First, the immediate return when He rose from the dead and appeared to the disciples, to the two Mary’s, to Thomas, the men on the road to Emmaus, more than 500 at one time and finally to Paul.

 Second, when He came in the Holy Spirit to initiate the beginning of His church, the Body of Christ.

 Third, when we personally accepted Him and were born again by the Holy Spirit and made one with Him.

 Fourth is His Word, Holy Scripture, in which He is preparing us for our final return to Him. In the Word we experience Him every time we open it. The Word always brings with it an air of expectancy that He is working His promises for salvation and healing.

 Fifth, that is when we become His agents so that others may also look forward to His return. We see Him returning when He changes the lives of those who accept Him.

 Sixth, in worship when He “dwells in the praises of His people,” touches us in the preaching of His Word and the singing about Him, but especially as we come forward to receive Him in the Lord's Supper.

 Seventh, in the spiritual gifts we are given to minister in the Body and the fruit of the Spirit He gives to witness in the world.

 The significance of all this is that every next moment is a moment of preparation for His final return. What we have called the 'Second Coming' is an attitude shaper. It means that every next moment our personal ministry and mission is being shaped, informed and structured attitudinally, in our heart, to think, feel and act with the future in mind. It's not about the past but about every next moment. No matter whether or not He comes back in the next second or whether He waits a thousand years is irrelevant. It has nothing to do with time. It's always about 'nextness,' what He is going to do in the next moment, the next day and the next event of life. He is always in the next present moment, the One who says 'I Am.' He is coming back and that means the Lord we have been privileged to know and serve is returning. So, as Paul says, “Now we see but a poor reflection in a mirror, then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known (1Cor.13:12).”