"Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins." Psalm 130:7-8
The advent of Christ is God's plan for salvation.
In fact, the whole Advent story - the promises made and fulfilled through the
birth of Christ - is the story of God bringing salvation to His people.
When He spoke to Mary and Joseph through His
angel, He made it clear that their son was the culmination of this promise.
"She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him
the name Jesus,
because he
will save his people from their sins. ”Matthew 1:21
In this simple message the angel provides the
hope of the world. In Hebrew, Jesus' name is Yeshua, which means Yahweh
saves or Yahweh brings salvation. Jesus is God's
salvation! He is our savior, redeemer!
Zechariah was aware of this good news when he sang God's praise
over the birth of his son, John the Baptist. John was called by God to prepare
the way before Jesus, "to give his people the knowledge of
salvation through the forgiveness of their sins".
"And you,
my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for
you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
to give his
people the knowledge of salvation
through
the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the
tender mercy of our God,
by
which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
to shine on
those living in darkness
and
in the shadow of death,
to guide our
feet into the path of peace.”
Luke 1:76-79
John would call people to repent of their sins and
believe that Jesus was the One sent to redeem mankind from sin. He would point
them to the One who brings God's salvation.
When the baby Jesus was brought to the temple to be consecrated to the Lord, Simeon took the child in his arms and praised God, declaring:
Advent is a season for preparing
us and pointing us to see the advent of Yahweh, the one who brings salvation!
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