The Symbols Of Advent And The Reality Of Advent

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!