Advent Devotional 2022

CONSIDER THIS

Christmas is here, and we rejoice together in celebration! Jesus is Immanuel, God with us. Christ is the Root and Offspring of David, and the Bright Morning Star. You came to us as King, and you will come to us again as Returning King, to reign forever. Glory to God in the highest!

From the root of David you came to us, from a people, from a place, and from a story. That story leads us to today, where the Lamb of God, the King of all kings who rules supreme, forever, is celebrated and blessed as the world’s one true leader (Rev. 17:14). From that root, you came to us as our Great High Priest. There is now one mediator between God and humankind, who lives forever to stand in the gap for us (1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 7:25).

Then, as the Bright Morning Star, you brought the Light of the New Creation to us, revealing that salvation is here for the heart ready to be made new. Christmas is a sign and a wonder that points to the fact that all things are being made new by a God who enters the old to birth the new from within. The Light enters the darkness, in order to dispel the darkness; that is the message of Christmas.

In both these images, Christ as the root of David and as the Bright Morning Star, Christmastide is revealed to mean that God incarnates to intervene—to intervene in our mess, our injustice, our idolatry, our confusion and our hatred and our self-serving, to address the problem from the inside out—in the person of Christ.

The Deliverer the Father sends came to deliver us from the same evil that threatens every human being from the heart, spreading a slow poison into all our lives—sin. Just when the world thought it could continue to blame someone else, something else or its ills, to continue to wage war and to destroy lives that get in our way, Jesus arrives and exposes it all as a problem of the heart—a problem shared by every man, woman, and child on the planet.

Born in the manger, from the root of David, the problem is addressed. Jesus, the King of the new creation, revealed our hearts to us, like the Morning Star revealing the new day. Jesus was born, and both lived and died, for this work of revelation and healing of the human spirit.

Then, he rose again, ascending to the Father, to become the King of kings and the Lord of lords for all eternity. There is a human being at the right hand of God, fully God and fully human, who walked among us full of grace and truth (John 1:14). He showed us the way to live (Matt. 5–7), revealed the Father (John 17:25–26), and faced death and persecution for loving us enough to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life among us (John 14:6). And then he rose again from the grave, our Immanuel, God with us, the Root and Offspring of David, the Bright Morning Star—living and reigning forever.

That root of David, the promised Messiah, the one who shines like the Bright Morning Star, cuts through the night and welcomes you and me toward the dawn. He has come to us. Joy to the world! Merry Christmas! God, our Immanuel, is truly with you—is truly with us.

THE PRAYER

Root of David, Bright Morning Star, you light the world with your presence and you light our hearts with your love. Thank you for your Advent among us, your coming to us, to live before us, in us, and through us in the world. Your Spirit is at work, and we ask that you would reveal to us how we can best join you in that work in the days we are given. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

THE QUESTIONS

• This Christmas Day, how can you delight in the work the Lord has done in you as you go through the activities of the day? Pause now to reflect on how the Morning Star has brought light into your life this year, and trust, with expectation, that he will do the same in the next.

Roots: Advent and the Family Story of Jesus by Dan Wilt

THE SOWER’S CREED

Today,
I sow for a great awakening.

Today,
I stake everything on the promise of the Word of God.
I depend entirely on the power of the Holy Spirit.
I have the same mind in me that was in Christ Jesus.
Because Jesus is good news and Jesus is in me, I am good news.

Today,
I will sow the extravagance of the gospel
everywhere I go and into everyone I meet.

Today,
I will love others as Jesus has loved me.

Today,
I will remember that the tiniest seeds become the tallest trees;
that the seeds of today become the shade of tomorrow;
that the faith of right now becomes the future of
the everlasting kingdom.

Today,
I sow for a great awakening

For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. 1 Timothy 2:5-6

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:14-16

CONSIDER THIS

In Advent and on this Christmas Eve, we celebrate the birth of Jesus as the King of all kings. But we must also pause to realize that in accord with the deep roots of his family story, Christ was born to us in another role as well—one that reaches back all the way to David, Jesse’s son. Born in the City of David, Bethlehem, we received not only the King of the World—we also received the Great High Priest of humanity (Heb. 4:14).

On that night so long ago, Jesus was born to be our Great High Priest, to mediate between us and the Father. As part of a long line of royal priest-kings, like his ancestor, David, Jesus reminded humanity of its highest identity as the beloved of God. As we descend into the nativity narrative of the Christmas story, we descend into the moment God is born into the world “like us” In other words, he knows who we are, how we are, and why we are, because he is truly one of us. Because he became one of us, living his life from infancy to adulthood, we know that he can “empathize with our weakness” as he becomes the doorway to the Father (John 14:6). Biblically, the most important role of a priest was not to lord that role over others, but rather to show others how to become a place where heaven and earth meet. Our Great High Priest came to show us the way to the fullness of our human vocation as people in whom heaven and earth meet.

Jesus is the Son of Man and the Son of God, and we understand his nature to be fully God and fully human. As followers of Jesus, we, too, can understand ourselves to be of earth and of heaven, expressions of the Father’s heart carrying the Spirit of the Great High Priest within us. A priest mediates for others. A priest serves before God in worship. A priest teaches and reminds human beings where their dignity truly lies and in whom their identity is truly found.

Christ came to us in the Incarnation, as our Great Mediator, to show us how to be a bridge for others, pointing them to him, the way to the Father, and to build bridges for people who struggle to walk toward God over the great chasms they face. The infant Jesus bridged the gap; so, too, we can bridge a gap for those to whom the Father sends to us.

Christ came to us in the Incarnation, to show us how to serve before God in worship. You and I were not just meant to lead people in worship, as if the end goal of worship was the community. The priests ministered to the Lord himself, acclaiming him in public and in private because of their intimate communion with him.

Worship is where we learn to hear God’s voice, to perceive his movements, and to love his ways. Worship that has lost this central focus on ministering to the Lord, has lost its power. As a royal priest, we spend our lives, including our days, hours, and minutes, in the presence of the Lord—thanking him, blessing him, and praising him for who he is. Ministering to the Father is a ministry Jesus came to show us.

Christ came to us in the Incarnation, to show us the way to teach others of their dignity and the dignity of other human beings, and to affirm each person’s unique identity as the beloved of God. Jesus took three decades to grow into the fullness of his ministry, he used the power of modeling, of story, of parables, and of compassionate instruction to help people find their way in a dignity-degrading, identity-confusing world. As Spirit-filled and guided royal priests ourselves, we have the mandate to teach and instruct, by all means possible, those who have lost their why and their way.

Jesus, the Lord of Advent, comes to us as the Great High Priest. And we, like him, are called to the ministry of healing in the world as he leads us and teaches us his way.

THE PRAYER

Jesus, our Great High Priest, this Advent we worship you for coming to us as our living reminder of what it means to be human—and to rehumanize others. We take up the calling to be one of the royal priests of the royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9), and to take our place as one who bridges the gaps for those far from God in my home, family, church, and city. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

THE QUESTIONS

• This past year, how have you been a bridge for others who were losing their dignity or forgetting their belovedness to Jesus?
• How can you be a more fully engaged royal priest of God in this year ahead?

Roots: Advent and the Family Story of Jesus by Dan Wilt

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:8-12

CONSIDER THIS

Our Advent journey brings us to the shepherds, part of the same faith-family story as Jesus, remembered for their wonder that starry night—but also, for their sheer terror. How do you want to be remembered? Would you prefer the words “joyful” and “courageous” to come up in conversations when you are mentioned, or would you prefer the words “terrified” and “afraid” to be the character traits discussed?

Unfortunately, the shepherds didn’t get to choose! These Advent heroes were terrified, and all of history since knows it. But they were terrified for a good reason—God was on the move. We do them honor when we recognize that though they were clearly shocked when the angels greeted them in the night sky, they were terrified because of the awesomeness of the cosmic drama unfolding before them. We would most probably have been just as terrified, as afraid as they were, if we had been there. The shepherds took their place within the most profound moment of human history that night, and quickly became “incarnation evangelists” telling others about what they had seen (vv. 17–18).

If you’re like me, there are times in our journey of faith when we are plain, raw, straight-up scared. Can I get a witness? Life throws us a curveball, and before we can say, “Greater is he that is in me!” we’ve taken a hit across the bow and our battleship is sinking.

In A Charlie Brown Christmas, which my family watches every year at this time, Linus reads the Christmas story from Luke 2 in the King James Version. Who can forget his recitation, security blanket in hand, on that spotlit stage? Coming to verse 9, Linus says, “The glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid.” Sore afraid. I like that phrase. Yes, “sore” means “very” in this case, but there is a playful double-meaning here. Have you ever been so afraid you were sore, inside and outside? I have. Your heart aches, your stomach churns, and you aren’t sure that God will come through—that his words to you are believable. Linus, bearing his security blanket, because everyone needs a little support every now and again, confidently reads the Christmas story in that little spotlight on that animated stage. And if he can show some faith, so can we.

It’s in those times, those times of challenge, that we can remember the shepherds—and take heart. Their fear was based in awe, in an overwhelming sense that God was active in bringing good news to his people. Sure, the situation may have felt intuitively “good” in some way, so they could assume God was at work. But terror is terror, and when we are overwhelmed and scared by a circumstance, we can learn to reinterpret it as a time for awe in what the Lord is doing and will do.

Philippians 4:6–7 says that we are to be anxious about nothing, and the spirit of command in those words cannot be missed. But neither can the tone of compassion. The writer knows that we need peace in our shock-and-awe moments, and suggests that peace lies on the other side of prayer and drawing close to the Father.

The next time you are absolutely terrified, know that the Lord is with you and is about something in the background that will not derail the plans he has for you, plans to prosper you, and to give you a hope and a future (Jer. 29:11). Lean into him in prayer, in worship, in thanks, in community with others—and stay in that place until your fear is absorbed into the presence of God.

THE PRAYER

Lord of the Terrified, thank you for being our Lord. We’ve known what it means to be afraid and to have you meet us in that place. Protect our hearts from getting lost in my worst expectations, and create in us, by your Spirit within, hearts that expect your highest and best as you walk with us through the challenges ahead. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

THE QUESTIONS

• Can you think of a moment this past year when youwere terrified or afraid, and felt beside yourself in worry? How did the Lord meet you in that time, and what is your testimony on the other side?

Roots: Advent and the Family Story of Jesus by Dan Wilt

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Luke 1:26-28

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream . . . Matthew 1:18-20a

CONSIDER THIS

As Advent begins to flow into Christmas, the Christian New Year takes us to the heights of celebration as we remember the birth of Jesus. We call this the Incarnation, the God we worship becoming flesh and blood, like one of us in every respect (Heb. 2:17). Advent and Christmas are part of what we call the Cycle of Light, made up of Advent (anticipation), Christmas (celebration), and Epiphany (proclamation).

In the Cycle of Light, we see Christ’s radiance shining in the eyes of Mary and Joseph. Each of these two amazing souls shares a story in the Gospels, and each has their own history they brought to the moment. God does not hit “delete” on our past when it
comes to a moment he desires to use us in a special way. Who we have become, over the years, formed by our responses to our challenges, limitations, influences, and family lives, all comes to bear on that moment.

The Lord sees faithfulness in our stories, forged in private moments when we could have turned away, turned back, or turned off when he wanted to work in and through us in the little things. Luke 16:10 says it clearly: “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” Our faithfulness in the little things will always mean more to God than we may be aware of in the moment. He sees what no one else does. He knows what truly motivated us, moved us, evidenced by how we handled the unseen and seemingly insignificant times of obedience.

And that brings us to Mary. Luke 1:26–28 simply notes that Mary is “highly favored.” It’s possible we could read right over that statement and miss its import. Mary has favor with God. If you have favor with God, you don’t need it with anyone else. Mary was living a life, unseen to us and unrecorded by history, that pleased God. Mary, as far as we can tell, had been living a faithful life up to the point the angel graces her room—a life faithful to the Father, his purposes, and his values.

Joseph seems to have been the same. In Matthew 1:18–20a, we get a brief glimpse into his character, seeing that he is faithful to the law, and in this case, we can read that as a metaphor suggesting that Joseph cares what God thinks about things. When he hears of Mary’s pregnancy, he wants to do his beloved betrothed no harm, choosing to keep her story out of the public eye and to end their relationship quietly. We have no indication that Joseph was anything other than eager and willing to support Mary and to raise Jesus as his own when the angel appears to him in a dream. Faithfulness in our past gives momentum to faithfulness in our present. Faithful in little, faithful in much. That is the way the Advent story unfolds, and ours as well. Today you and I have the opportunity to trade our fear for Christ’s courage, our apprehension for Christ’s revelation.

And if we will be faithful in little, we will be invited to partner with Christ and other faithful people in the awakening of the world— whether that world be in the home of the neighbor next door, or in the halls of kings and queens.

THE PRAYER

Jesus, Son of God, son of Mary and Joseph, you were raised by faithful people whose lives were as simple and complex as my own. When you called them, you had already found them to be faithful friends of God, and we want to be seen as the same. This Advent teach us to be faithful in little; let our hearts move from disdain for the details to which we must attend, to delight in partnering with you in the smallest, most hidden ways. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

THE QUESTIONS

• In what little ways, public or hidden, do you believe you are partnering with God right now?
• What areas of faithfulness are you struggling with, and could you give those areas up to Jesus in surrender now? He wants to use you, and you are in training in the little things.

Roots: Advent and the Family Story of Jesus by Dan Wilt