Advent

Advent - derived from the latin term adventus which is a translation from the Greek word parousia meaning "coming"

Advent is a season of Christian celebration, worship, and specific devotion unto the coming of the Lord. It's church tradition goes as far back as the 5th century.

It begins four Sundays previous to Christmas and is celebrated each day until the Nativity of Christ (birth of Christ) is emphatically celebrated on Christmas Day.

The Advent season celebrates three advents...

1) The nativity of Christ

2) The coming of Christ into the hearts of man

3) The Second Coming of Christ

Many only celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas but Advent is just as much about the Second Coming of our Lord as it is the first.

Day 1 of Advent is also the first day of the Christian liturgical new year.

A great way to celebrate the Advent season would be to meditate on one chapter per day of a gospel. I suggest either Matthew or Luke as these two books contain all three advents, and normally there is plenty of days per the length chapters.

Having a yearly focus on the Advent can help keep us positioned to receive the crown of righteousness which Christ will give to all those that were in love with His coming. (2 Tim 4:8)

If we take a look back in history, by the turn of the 19th century most established churches were preaching that the Second Coming of Christ was more myth than reality, and more human than divine. Preachers taught that a metaphorical Second Coming symbolized the rise of a new God-fearing, socially responsible generation of people on the earth.

This type of preaching is actually just a form of Roman eschatology the church adopted as Christianity became less Jewish and more Roman with its progression throughout the Mediterranean towards Rome in it's early centuries.

During these early days of Christianity many with their Roman eschatological background viewed the Pax Romana (the Roman Imperial reign of unprecedented peace and prosperity) to be the Second Coming of Christ and establishment of His kingdom on the Earth through the people of His church.

This type of Roman eschatology is still seen today in many forms such as the Seven Mountains Dominionism, or other forms of "Victorious Eschatology" that replaces the divine establishment of the Kingdom of God by Christ to a human establishment by the people of the church.

Thankfully God brought the church back in line with an advent revival in the early 19th century which put a new focus, fervor, and preaching on a literal Second Coming of Christ.

Though this movement, like any revival movement, had its flaws, it did achieve the purpose of bringing the church back to falling in love once again with the Second Coming of Christ.

Let us stay focused on Christ's Advent this Advent season.

‭‭‭‭I John‬ ‭2:28‭-‬29‬

And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.

Much love!

- Jeremy Gilbert