Advent|Dec.21st ~Celebrating our Rescuer's Coming!

Sarah & I would like to share with you one of our "first" traditions (if we can call it a tradition yet). We decided to get an Advent calendar for our Christmas season! 1. Because I don't remember the last time I ever went through an Advent calendar 2. Because it's cool and we live in Seattle 3. Because it's biblical (thought I should add this one). We are celebrating Advent, because the word means "coming," and reminds Sarah & I of the best "coming" there ever was! The arrival of our Rescuer, Jesus Christ!

Day 21! December 21st! Four more days till Christmas!

After a late night wedding Sarah and I went to bed reading a little of Luke. Of course, I couldn't blog right then and there, but waited till Saturday :-)

Our reading from Thursday continued on with the story of Anna, but turned to the redemption of Israel.

"...She (Anna) did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem." Luke 2:36-38

Anna comes up to the temple and what does she see? Baby Jesus, the promised Messiah, the Redeemer, the King! What a day that must have been for her! Did she know ahead of time? Did she see this day coming? Did she know that today was the day? Salvation for Jerusalem and for all of Israel was finally here! But what kind of salvation was everyone hoping for?

If she had lived much longer she would have seen that the salvation she was speaking of did not happen through politics and war and bloodshed. This was not a physical kingdom that Jesus had now come to start. Jesus had an entirely different mission than this, for this time. He didn't come to win votes but to win hearts. He didn't come to build a house in Jerusalem, but a house in people's hearts. He did not come the first time to right everything wrong in the world, but to right everything wrong in the heart. 

Jesus' redemption of Jerusalem would begin with the people of Jerusalem before He would ever start on the land itself. He was here to change hearts and create a people of His own. This is still how Jesus is working to this day. His message is aimed and directed toward my heart and your heart. He is not seeking for those who do all the right things, or look changed on the outside. Jesus turns His love and affection toward the broken and contrite heart; the heart that confesses and believes. Sarah and I know this with all of our hearts, and we want the whole world to know this too, starting with Seattle.

"... a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."
                                                                                                       Psalm 51:17

"... if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved."
                                                                                                       Romans 10:9-10

Would you be one of those today who gets to experience the redemption that Jesus brought? Will you turn to Him, confess your sins and receive His grace and forgiveness. Jesus can be your Salvation, your Redeemer, today :-)