The Symbols of Advent and the Reality of Advent
Text: Romans 5:1-11
OPEN WITH PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING
Well, we’re getting closer to the day when we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and I hope you all have been thinking about that. Not just in a shallow way… you know… not just, “Oh I’m so happy Jesus was born in a stable and laid in a manger.” I mean, that’s good! We should think of that and remember that, but as we mature, our reasoning… our thought process… it should go deeper. Children don’t always have the capacity to understand… and so they go… “Oh… Ok… so we’re celebrating Jesus’ birthday. Awesome!” But as mature adults… we go, “Yes, that is true… but Jesus wasn’t just another famous person. Jesus is God come in human flesh. Jesus changed everything! Jesus was born as a baby… but He didn’t stay a baby. He lived a sinless life, and then died for our sins, in our place, in order to make us right with God.” He changed the course of human history. He changed our eternal destination. He is the reason… not only for the season… but for EVERYTHING. In Him we live and move, and have our being. All things were created by Him and for Him, and without Him there wasn’t anything made that has been made. He is the reason we gather here ever Sunday.
And that’s why we celebrate His First Advent, and look forward to His Second.
That’s why we have these symbols set out here during the Advent season… and that’s what I want to talk to you all about today. This wreath and these candles are kind of like teaching aids. They give us a picture to help us better understand what this season is all about. So let’s look at them.
FIRST – THE ADVENT WREATH
The very first Advent Wreath appeared in Germany in 1839. A Lutheran pastor named Johann Wichern came up with the idea. Johann was the head master at a missions school in Hamburg Germany, and worked with orphans, and he came up with the idea of the Advent Wreath as a way of counting down to Christmas Day. So originally, the first Advent Wreath had 24 candles on it, and one was lit every day until Christmas morning. Eventually; this was incorporated into the Church.
Now if you look at it – you’ll notice it’s made out of evergreens and that symbolizes everlasting life, which is what Christ gives to us. In John 5:24 Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears Me Word, and believes in Him who sent Me, has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” You’ll also notice that it is circular in shape, and that is a picture of the eternity of God – God has not beginning or end – He is eternal. And His love for us is without end as well.
The wreath holds the 4 outer candles… and again that shows us that without God, all those things the candles represent (Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love), would not possible. You can only truly have those things if you’re in Christ. The hope offered by the world and worldly things is folly. The peace that the world offers is temporary at best…
It’s not lasting. You can’t have true joy without Christ… and the purest, most amazing love that we can ever know, comes from God and Jesus.
Now as you look at the candles, they are each representing something. I just mentioned their meaning to you… Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. And each week a candle is lit to help us understand what the first Advent is all about.
(I lit two last Sunday because I wasn’t here the first Sunday of Advent… but today we’ll just light the one).
THE FIRST CANDLE – IS THE CANDLE OF HOPE
In Matthew 12:18-21 we read, “Behold My servant whom I have chosen, My beloved with whom My soul is well pleased. I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets; a bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not quench, until He brings justice to victory; and in His Name the Gentiles will hope.”
The birth of Jesus brings hope into a world that is hopeless. When Adam sinned, and sin entered into creation. God made a promise. In Genesis 3:15, He said that He would send a Savior who would crush the head of the serpent, and for thousands of years, God’s people hoped in that promise. They hoped in the coming of the Savior, the Messiah, the Redeemer… the One who would buy them out of their slavery to sin. And that promise was fulfilled on Christmas day. When Jesus was born!
Today, there are still people who have no hope… Sin has made a wreck of their lives. Sin destroys a persons health, their relationships, their families… and it separates them from God. In-fact; the Bible tells us that “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” And our only hope is Jesus. And that’s what this first candle represents… the hope we have in Christ.
THE SECOND CANDLE – IS THE CANDLE OF PEACE
Isaiah 9:6 says, “For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His Name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
And in Luke 2, when the angels came to announce the birth of Jesus to the shepherds, they said, (Luke 2:11-14), “For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you; you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace among those with whom He is pleased.”
Now occasionally; you’ll hear people say, “There’s no peace on earth! I mean… look at the war in Ukraine… we might get sucked into it… it would be World War III.” I read an article just the other day that stated, “Since the United States was founded in 1776 – we have only had 15 years in our nations history that we weren’t at war with someone.” So out of the 246 years we have been a nation, only 15 years of peace.
So what does the Bible mean – “Peace on earth, good will toward men.” Well… you’ve got to know the Scriptures to understand what that means.
The Bible tells us that before a person comes to Christ, they are at enmity with God… to put that in plain, Oklahoma English… before a person comes to Christ, they are enemies of God… that’s Romans 5:10, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.” So when those angels announced peace – they were in effect announcing an offering of peace from God, to His enemies… and that peace comes through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus. And what’s amazing about this… is that God offers this to us, while we are still at enmity against Him. He comes, and offers peace, and that peace is achieved by Jesus paying for our sins against His Father.
Jesus makes peace between fallen sinners and a holy God, by dying for the sinners, and paying for our sins in order to satisfy God’s justice.
And now, since we are reconciled TO God, we have peace WITH God, and peace FROM God. That’s what this second candle represents…
AND THAT LEADS US TO THE THIRD CANDLE – THE CANDLE OF JOY
Joy to the world – the Lord has come! Let earth receive her KING! Having the hope of salvation and eternal life should bring you joy! Being reconciled to God, and having peace with God should bring you joy! Christians should be the most joyous people on the planet!
And I’m not saying that a person should ignore the damage, and pain, and suffering in this world that sin causes… what I’m saying is – KEEP IT IN THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE!
Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
Christ is our joy… and the circumstance we face, even though they might be bad, or hard, or even overwhelming at times, cannot change the fact that if you are in Christ, you have been born again to a living hope, and that you have been reconciled to God, forgiven of your sins, and given eternal life in Christ.
THE FOURTH CANDLE – IS THE CANDLE OF LOVE
John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” And 1 John 3:1 says, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.”
This is why I have hope, and peace, and joy… because I know God loves me. He’s proven it by sending Jesus. And He continues to prove it day in, and day out.
Now understand this… and I feel I’ve got to say this… The opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love is indifference… it’s apathy. So God loves you and one of the ways we know that is that He corrects us, and disciplines us. Whom the Lord loves He chastens. So God loves you, and because He loves you, He won’t just ignore your sin.
So the idea that I can be saved by the grace of God, and be in Christ, and yet remain in a habitual, ongoing, lifestyle of sin isn’t found in the Bible… If you’re in Christ, you’re a new creation… and God shows us His continual, ongoing love, by transforming us and bringing us toward Christ-likeness.
LASTLY – THE CHRIST CANDLE
The center candle is called the Christ candle… it’s in the center, because when we get right down to it… it’s all about Jesus! He’s got to be at the center of everything.
Real quickly look with me at Romans 5:1-11, and you’ll see how it all comes together.
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have PEACE with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (You can’t have peace with God without being in Christ)… Through Him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we REJOICE (that’s the joy right there) in HOPE of the glory of God. Not only that, but we REJOICE in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces HOPE, and HOPE does not put us to shame, because God’s LOVE has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (So we see peace, joy, hope, and love all right there… and it’s because of Jesus… but let me go on).
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die – but God shows His LOVE for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. For if while were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. More than that, we also REJOICE in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
Without Jesus there’s no forgiveness of sin. Without Jesus, there’s no reconciliation with God. Without Jesus there’s no salvation.
Do you know Him today?
CLOSING
