Advent began just outside the gate of the Garden of Eden. From the moment Adam and Eve stepped out of perfection and walked into the darkness of the world, they needed to be redeemed.
The people of Israel lived with God's promise that he would send a Saviour. The period of waiting must have seemed endless. Add to those feelings the years of exile, and the intermittent, prolonged oppression and persecution. Prophets, like Isaiah, continued to assure the people in the midst of that waiting, that one day the Messiah would come. Certainly there was enough evidence that God always keeps a promise.
The season of Advent was designed to remember the waiting and to provide time for reflection on his coming in the past, his coming to us each day, and his promise to come again.
Waiting ...
What does that mean?
To wait is to watch in expectation.
Since God requires it, there is purpose in waiting.
Do we really expect God to come?
Are we waiting well?
Advent is a gift of time to daily receive the One who is always coming to us.
