Tag: Advent Devotionals

I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. Hebrews 8:4-10 (KJV)

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Old Testament worship pointed towards the heaven. The rituals referred to higher realities. With Christ, there is a fulfilment of the OT that transcends impersonal transactions through the Law. He fixes our desires. Israel repeated fail the old covenant because it is not in our natural desires to worship God. The new covenant is personal. It is initiated with an internal transformation. Worship is not performative. It becomes the character of a new identity. The advent is a wonderful reminder of this blessed state, this affordance to actual desire God and godliness in our lives.

He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Matthew 16:15-17 (KJV)

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Personal confessions are a proper response to the recognition of Christ’s identity. And it cannot be achieved through any other means, but only through the indispensable work of God. It reflects not just hearing or reading about Christ, but the actual ability to perceive Christ in His complete glory. The perception transcends intellectual ascend. It is not just about knowing facts about Christ but about experiencing the absolute transformation of the self. Personal confessions testify the transformative power of knowing Christ. The advent is a humble reminder of this divine access we are blessed with: to know Christ, personally, in all His glory.  

And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. Romans 5:11 (KJV)

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We cannot rejoice in Christ, if we do not know Him. We cannot know Him until He becomes the central desire of our hearts. He cannot become the central desire of our hearts if it was not in the Will of the Father. But we know it was in the Will of the Father, because Christ fulfilled it. Piper writes, “practically, to rejoice in God, you rejoice in what you see and know of God in the portrait of Jesus Christ. And this comes to its fullest experience when the love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5).”[1] There is a subtle difference drawn here, rejoicing in God’s gifts and rejoicing in God himself. From the use of kauchaomai καυχάομαι (joy), the latter seems to be the referred meaning. It refers to the sort of pride that is attached to kinship, like family pride. (G2744)[2] The grand access that the advent grants us is this sort of joyful kinship we share with Christ. Our joy is not only in the reconciliation, but the regeneration that follows that grants us familial ties with the divine. This is the central focus of our joy.

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[1] Piper, J. (2014). The Dawning of Indestructible Joy

[2] https://biblehub.com/greek/2744.htm