Rachel’s Reflections

Today is the fourth and last Sunday of Advent.  Christmas is almost upon us.  For four weeks we have waited for this day.  We started out with Hope.  We started out remembering our sins and our need for a Savior and the prophecies to the People of God telling them that God would send them a Savior, for they too needed one.  And we remembered how they waited for long centuries until finally the Word became flesh and Jesus was born.

And then the second week we continued with Peace.  We reviewed how Jesus is the one who brought us peace and reconciliation with God, and how He will come again to bring peace on earth as the angels sang.  We have already waited long centuries for that and may have to wait long centuries yet, but we can be assured that just as the prophecies were fulfilled the first time when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, even though some thought it would never happen, that the rest of the prophecies will yet be fulfilled.  Jesus is our Hope, and He is our Peace.

And then the third week we celebrated with Joy!  Christmas is almost here.  The time of waiting is almost at an end.  God’s word fulfilled!  What glory!  Jesus, here, among us.  The Desire of all Nations has come and He deigns to walk the land as one of us, as the poorest of us.  And Jesus came for one reason–as the angel told Joseph:  to save His people from their sins.

And so we come to the fourth week.  The theme of this week is Love.  This week we examine a love that goes two ways.  The first way is from God to us.  As it says in the verses below it was the love of God that prompted Him to think of this solution for our sin and rebellion and outright hatred of Him: to come among us and to suffer the punishment for that sin Himself.  It was love.  It was love that caused Jesus to be born in that manger. It was love that let Him walk among us and heal us and listen to us and care about us and suffer our hurts and griefs (Isaiah 53).  It was love that put Jesus on the cross.  It was love that caused Him to rise from the dead.  It was love.

And as we reflect on His great love, it is only natural that the joy we felt in week three should turn to love.  That is the second direction of love mentioned above: from us to God.  We love Him because He first loved us.  How great is that love!  And how paltry sometimes our love in return.  But this week as we reflect on Jesus’ birth, our Hope and Peace, and as we rejoice that our sins have been forgiven, and we have been reconciled to God, we do love Him.  And as is only natural, our love turns to worship.  We fall on our faces in front of One whose love is of such magnitude.  There is none greater.

Come and worship.  O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.

LOVE

The fourth and last purple candle is lit.

I John 4:9-10

In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

I John 3:16a

By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.

Ephesians 2:4

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).

Colossians 1:13

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.

I John 3:1a

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!

I Peter 1:8-9

Whom having not seen you love.  Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith–the salvation of your souls.

I John 4:19

We love Him because He first loved us.

Psalm 99:8-9

You answered them, O LORD our God;
You were to them God-Who-Forgives,
Though You took vengeance on their deeds.
Exalt the LORD our God,
And worship at His holy hill;
For the LORD our God is holy.

(You can hear the following hymn here.)

O Come, All Ye Faithful