December 1
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation. Lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey,” Zechariah 9:9.
On the church calendar, this Sunday is the first Sunday in the Advent season. The church calendar does not coincide with our civic calendar. The church year has a festival portion that centers around events in the life of the Lord Jesus. The Advent season includes the four Sundays prior to Christmas. “Advent” means “coming.” The Lord Jesus came as the Babe born in Bethlehem. He comes to us in His holy Word, the Bible. He comes to us in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism and the Sacrament of the Altar. He is coming again on the Day of Judgment at the end of this world.
During the Advent season, we prepare ourselves spiritually for a proper celebration of the birthday of Jesus. There is a lot of preparation for the Christmas celebration. However, much of the preparation is not for a celebration of the birthday of Jesus. The world has cashed in on Christmas and has made it a time for buying and selling and for eating and drinking!
For us, as Christians, the Advent season should be a time to meditate and ponder upon the promises of God to send a Savior into the world. Indeed, it is a time for rejoicing. The Word of God quoted above is a word of prophecy written by inspiration by the prophet Zechariah over six hundred years before Jesus was born. It was written to the “daughter of Zion” and the “daughter of Jerusalem.” These expressions refer to the congregation of believers at the time of the prophet, who were waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promise to send the Savior who was promised from the time that Adam and Eve had fallen into sin. The prophet wrote and spoke as if that day was near at hand. The words written by Zechariah are quoted in the New Testament when it records the humble entry of Jesus upon a donkey into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday.
God’s many promises to send a Savior were the reason to rejoice greatly and to shout for joy! “Behold, your King is coming; He is just and having salvation.” The salvation promised to Old Testament believers is the same salvation that is promised to us – deliverance from sin, death, and the devil. Centuries after the prophet Zechariah wrote the words above, the promise was fulfilled when Jesus came to this earth. He lived the perfect life in our place. He took our sins upon Himself and carried them to Calvary’s cross, where He suffered and died to redeem us. He rose from the dead on the third day. Sin, death, and hell have been conquered! What a reason we have to rejoice and shout for joy! The love of God assures us that, by faith in Jesus as God’s Son and our Savior, we belong to His family, and when we leave this world, we will be received by Jesus into the halls of heaven!
During this Advent season, prepare to celebrate the birthday of Jesus as you worship in God’s house and join in singing the Christian Christmas carols!
We pray: Dear heavenly Father, I rejoice that You have fulfilled Your promise to send a Savior in the Person of Jesus Christ. As I prepare for Christmas, increase my faith in Your promise of forgiveness for all my sins and the promise of life everlasting in heaven. In this Advent season, make me a witness to others of Your limitless love, revealed to all in Holy Scripture. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.