Musings and Contemplations

Looking Forward to Mercy

Isaiah 40:3 ESV
In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Jude 17-25 NRSV
But you, beloved, must remember the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;for they said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, indulging their own ungodly lusts.” It is these worldly people, devoid of the Spirit, who are causing divisions. But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on some who are wavering; save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies.
Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Titus 3:3-5 ESV
For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit . . .

Advent is a forward-looking season. It is a faith-affirming and faith-building season. Advent is overlooked by most people around us, who prefer the hustle and bustle of “cultural” Christmas to the reflective remembrance of the coming of Christ.
Advent is a time of intentional focus on the meaning of the manger, highlighting the “why” of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. He came to bring salvation to “scoffers indulging their own ungodly lusts;” for “worldly people devoid of the Spirit.” He came as the living, breathing expression of God’s mercy and compassion for sinful humanity. So, during Advent, we join with ancient people in longing for the deliverance from sin’s bondage that only Messiah Jesus brings. We find great joy in the reality of Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection that has given us that deliverance and a new relationship with God the Father. And our faith is strengthened as we live our lives daily with anticipation of the return of Messiah Jesus to reign forever as King of kings and Lord of lords.

Westminster Shorter Catechism Question #20
Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
God having, out of His mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.

Westminster Shorter Catechism Question #21
Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?
The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, forever.

O God, who did look on humanity when they had fallen down into death and resolve to redeem them by the advent of your only begotten Son, grant, we ask you, that they who confess his glorious incarnation may also be admitted to the fellowship of him their Redeemer; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.[1]

Once in Royal David’s City

[1] A prayer of Ambrose, Ancient Christian Devotional Year A, p. 16.