The Second Sunday in Advent
The Collect.
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LESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Collect for the First Sunday in Advent can be found on Page 90:
The First Sunday in Advent
The Collect.
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LMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.
¶ This Collect is to be repeated every day, after the other Collects in Advent, until Christmas Day.
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ND there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. 27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. 29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; 30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. 31 So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. 32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. 33 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. (Luke 21:25-33)
Today’s Collect holds forth the whole hope provided in the Advent Promise of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. That hope is called “the blessed hope.” Clearly implicit in the holding of that blessed hoped is hearing, reading, marking, and internalization of God’s Holy Word. Do we go into the wilderness of the world to see a ‘reed shaken in the wind,’ or do we go forth seeking to hear the preaching of the Holy Word of God? Once heard and believed, what result? If we have truly believed, we will not be able to satisfy our appetites for hearing, reading, and studying that Word. Not only will we flee, even into the wilderness to hear that Word and to whet our hunger for it, but our voices shall become like unto that faithful voice of John ‘Crying in the Wilderness.’
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EAR this word that the Lord hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Can two walk together, except they be agreed? Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all? Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy? (Amos 3:1-8)
Christ came, in the fullness of time to redeem His people from their sins. Who are His people? Is it some political state, or racial component thereof? No, it is not. Spiritual Israel has been the same from the beginning – those who have believed the Promise of the Coming Seed made plain in Abraham. Israel (the people of God) cannot be squeezed into national boundaries, but is comprised of all who believe. There are certainly members of political Israel who are no more saved in Christ than the unreached indigenous Indian tribes of the Amazon River Basin. It is faith in the promise that defines Israel: “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” (Gal 3:6-9) “For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect.” (Romans 4:13-14)
Christ came in the body of a man and was wholly God and wholly man, at the same time, to endure every suffering and pain that is common to mankind. God even called His Son out of Egypt just has He has called all of His people out of the “Land of Bondage.” The secrets of the Lord have been revealed to His prophets and, through their records made thereof, to us if we will read and study. God sends no judgment upon a people without first sending forth a warning just as a lion roaring from the dark shadows. God had promised the Advent of His Son from the misty dawns of Eden. Though He is forever coming into the hearts of His people from Abraham to us, He has promised two physical and visible Comings – at Christmas and at the last Trump! We, woo, are invited to come to Him in both kinds. We come to Him by faith in this life, and we come to Him through the power of the resurrection at His Second Coming. You will recall that Noah and his family were invited to come into the place of safety ere the doors of the Ark were closed – not by Noah, but by the Lord God. God has extended more than 2,000 invitations to us to come. His last invitation is found in the last possible instant – the last chapter of the last Book of the Bible: “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” (Rev 22:17) Advent is a Coming of Christ to us, but also a coming of us to Christ.
Have we heeded the Voice of the Lord and feared according to the warning? If the lion roars outside the village, will we turn over and return to our sleep? The Lion of Judah has roared and we would best heed the roaring of the Lord. I hear a roaring across the landscape of America – a Voice that once cried in the Wilderness is now roaring its warning to an apostate people. If we would not go into bondage as did the people of Jerusalem of old, we must repent both individually and as a nation from our sins, and turn our faces and hearts back to the Lord.
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CAN of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true. Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. (
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There is no more historically confirmed event in history than that of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Moreover the coming of Christ was prophesied thousands of years prior to His Coming in marked and precise detail. As fingers of the coming Light began to dawn on the distant horizon during the dark years of the intervening period between the last word of Malachi to the first of John the Baptist, the world was smothered in sin and absent-mindedness toward God that led to their misery. But on that first Christmas morning so very long ago, the Light of the World burst forth in resplendent brilliance across the hills of Bethlehem and finally across the whole world. Before coming into the radiance of His Light, all of us have sat in darkness. The Lord Jesus Christ has brought light and love into hearts once steeped in bitterness, hate, and brooding malice. Though recorded history offers the most abundant of empirical proofs of the Advent of Christ, there remains a much more certain proof in the heart of the believer – that of believing faith. Do you doubt the treasure? Search the heart and see the splendor of riches made available in Christ.
The opening verse of our Gospel text demonstrates the inseverability of the Trinity. It is best described in the words of Dr. Nathan Wood in his great work on the Trinity of God – “The Trinity in the Universe” – in which he compares the Trinity with the three dimensions comprising all of the physical Creation. Every material object MUST possess width, height, and depth. Absent only one of those dimensions, there is not space for matter to occupy. But the three dimensions of God are infinite in nature. You cannot have God without the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. We cannot deny One without denying all Three. “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” In this verse, Jesus provides an acceptable basis for judgment in the church. If we judge with the righteous judgment of Christ, we are on firm ground. Please note that ALL Christ did or said was in total unity with the Father. Are we, friends, in unity with Christ. If we are, we are, of necessity, in unity with the Father. And if the Church is in unity with the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, it will be in unity with each member of His Body. Divisions occur when either the minister or people act out of ignorance, malice, or pride against each other.
According to the law, truth must be established in the mouth of two or more witnesses. Though Christ is sufficient witness in Himself to us of His Lordship, He never speaks in alienation of the other two members of the Godhead. “If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.” Jesus is telling us that if He speaks or acts outside the Unity of the Triune God, He would not be who He claims to be. But, in reality, Christ cannot speak apart from the Father and the Holy Ghost for they are One in Will and Purpose. However, to satisfy the requirements of the law, Jesus makes reference to another witness – God the Father. This confirms, not only spiritually, but legally, the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father has born witness of His Son from Eden to John the Baptist, and did so more than once by Voice during the life of Christ. “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”
While it is true that John was a burning and bright light of truth, he was, nonetheless, a lower harbor light to the great Light House of God whose beams sweep the ocean seas during calm seas and storm. “Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.” These words of Christ are quite telling. Though we may be led to the brook of Living Waters by believers, we cannot drink the waters of the brook without the provision of God to keep the waters flowing. It is not the guide that saves us, but the water itself. “Brightly beams, our Father’s mercies, from His Light House ever more. But to us, He gives the keeping, of the lights along the shore.” That old song gives us some small understanding that it is the Light of God that saves the lost seaman. We are only the harbor lights that lead to the true Light. John was a lower light. He was not the True Light, but he bore witness of the True Light which was Christ. “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.” (John 1:5-10)
Are we being the witnesses of that True Light that we are called to be? Do we cry out the Gospel with our hearts, our minds, and our actions even in wilderness places? It is true today that all who proclaim the Gospel are as a Voice Crying in the Wilderness. The world is a wilderness of sin. Jesus Christ has come bearing the gifts of salvation and liberty. We must cry out even in the world does not heed the voice. The Word is a two-edged sword that cuts both ways – either to convict of sin and lead to repentance, or to condemn finally to Hell. No sinner will be able to claim that ‘no one ever told me,’ for nature itself proclaims the Lord. But a second witness is needful- the voice of the faithful.
Are we ready for the Advent of the Lord? Have we served honorably as “watchers on the wall?” Have we believed God and not man? “But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.” Are you one of those wandering stars (comets) who have no fixed place in heaven? (Jude 1:13) Are you seeking marvelous signs and wonders from vain and pompous men who claim to be evangelists, or do you accept the life-works and testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ? (Matthew 12:39-40) Were the works of Christ sufficient for your faith, or do you seek others of mere men? It is God whom we must trust – not man! (Psalm 118:8-9 & Acts 5:29) Are you one who hides behind the cover of a so-called “separation of church and state” or do you obey always the Higher Law of God?
As we approach the glorious Advent of our Lord, let not these words of Jesus describe you: “And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. You may KNOW the Word of god very well. Many esteemed seminary professors have learned that Word well in order that they might dispute that Word. Even the devils believe and tremble. But does the Word of God, which is the heart and focus of your study, actually live and abide in your heart. Life is full of action and consciousness. Is that life of the Word abiding in your heart? Has it created a new man in you? Do all who know you see and recognize in your uniform that you are a soldier of Christ? Have they seen His Banner flying high above your heart?
So, in conclusion, Advent is a coming of Christ to us. But Advent is also a coming of the Wise Men and Women to Christ. We have seen His Star in the East and have followed that Light to Christ, have we not?
