Advent: December 10, 2024

1 Peter 1:10-12 (ESV) Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

Advent is a time to celebrate the Lord’s fulfillment of his word about Jesus’ coming to set all things right. Advent is also a time to anticipate his coming again to complete the full establishment of his kingdom.

Read 1 Peter 1:10-12 slowly. There is so much more here than what I’ll highlight below. These three verses are loaded with hope.

The prophets who announced the good news searched carefully to know who and what time the Messiah would come, and their careful search indicates they were anticipating God keeping his word. They had access to God, and yet they were anticipating more.

Likewise, we get to live in faithful anticipation of Jesus’ fulfilling his promise that his kingdom is present, and he would return to bring us more, the fullness of his kingdom. Jesus has come, and the full rule of his kingdom is still in the future for us.

Those who prophesied had some and wanted more so they searched and served us in sharing God’s word. We have so much more than they had because Jesus came to fulfill the word he gave those prophets, and yet there is more to come. We wait. We anticipate.

The kingdom is already and not yet. Both. Here and not fully here yet.

In Advent, we celebrate the already and not yet of God’s kingdom. We celebrate by anticipating Jesus’ return and full establishment of his rule on earth.

Concerning the salvation of God’s kingdom, the divinely inspired authors of the Old Testament inquired of God carefully, and then they preached about Jesus the Messiah and his glory.

In doing this, they had some understanding that they were not just serving themselves or the people of their time, they understood they were serving their brothers and sisters in the Lord who would get to see what they longed to see, and which even angels would love to have access to.

This is one of the reasons we read carefully to make sense of the Old Testament. It reveals to us Jesus the Messiah and the tension of living by faith with the already and not yet nature of God’s kingdom.

For example, take time to read Daniel’s interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream:

Daniel 2:31-45 (ESV) You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. 32 The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

36 “This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation. 37 You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, 38 and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all—you are the head of gold. 39 Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. 40 And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these. 41 And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. 44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, 45 just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”

God showed Nebuchadnezzar his transient nature as a human king, and the transient nature of other human kings that would come after him. God also revealed the eternal nature…the power…the global scope…and the powerful nature of the God/King who would sit on the throne of an eternal kingdom, and that it would be God who would do all this.

Want to guess who this “stone” is that strikes the image, breaks it in pieces, and becomes a great mountain that fills the whole earth? You got it! Jesus the Stone and Mountain of God!

Jesus has come defeated his foes, and he is coming again to put the final touches on the mission he has given us of discipling the nations into his reign. This requires us to live by faith in the already not yet nature of his reign. He has given us evidence of his faithfulness to keep his word. We read about that in 1 Peter. We need to be reminded of this his faithfulness because living in the already not yet reality of Jesus’ kingdom is challenging. So, it’s important to remember this at Advent so we don’t grow weary.

This Advent be reminded to not lose heart. He has come. He reigns. He is coming again. So, live by faith and celebrate Jesus!