INTRODUCTION TO THE CELEBRATION

As I have mentioned previously; I celebrate Christmas and Advent because of The Incarnation of Christ.

If you missed that explanation you can read it here: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/conception-of-christ/.

I think that the conception of Christ (not the birth) happened on the calendar sometime right around December 25th.

Pondering the conditions in Mary’s life as she was suddenly pregnant with the Christ Child after the Conception happened, leads to my consideration of the glorious celebration of Advent.

What was going on with this young virgin girl as she found and accepted her destiny in life and suddenly stepped into the great purpose that God had created for her to live out?

WAITING

For Mary; as well as the whole world; there was a lot of waiting involved.

She was patiently waiting on this Christ Child to be born.

Waiting always brings anticipation.

More than likely, she was anticipating all of the new things that God was about to do when this child was born.

THE MESSIAH COMES TO LIVE WITHIN OUR HEARTS

The amazing part of this equation for Mary was that she was probably anticipating the birth of her first child at the same time that she was anticipating her own salvation. She had faith that God was going to use her Son to change the world. She KNEW that she was walking around with the Son of God living inside her tummy.

What an amazing thing to know!

Want to know something even more amazing?

If you want; you too can know (just like Mary) that God is living inside of you!

All you have to do is to invite Him inside. He is always looking for another place to stay. It is His greatest desire to reside inside of your heart.  Like Mary; you too can say “Yes” to God.

These totally amazing facts are true.  The main wonder of it all comes with believing that there IS a Messiah.

MARY KNEW HER DESTINY FROM GOD

How did Mary know?

She heard Gabriel proclaim this message.  She was told of her own destiny and her part to play in the unfolding of God’s most important story of all.

You, my friend have a place in God’s story also.

He has a destiny for your life; and He knew you even before you were born.

WHAT DO YOU THINK WENT ON INSIDE MARY’S HEART?

Can’t you just imagine Mary thinking about the next nine months and beyond; yet pondering all of eternity at the same time?

It was a very profound and amazing concept for a teen-aged girl who had just begun to mature into an adult.

One day she was contemplating becoming engaged to Joseph.

The next day she was contemplating giving birth to the Son of God.

REMEMBERING SUCH GLORIOUS THINGS

So what could be more wonderful than lighting the Advent candles on the Sabbaths leading up to our best guess of the date of the amazing Conception of Christ and remembering such miraculous and glorious things of God?

The type of Advent celebration here is one where we will ponder the weeks leading up to Conception and/or Incarnation.  In the future we will present you with a totally different type of Advent Calendar; one that ponders the whole nine months of Mary’s pregnancy, beginning with conception and lighting a candle for each month of the pregnancy leading up to The Feast of Tabernacles.  The final candle will be lit on the date of Christ’s Birth, which is more typical of the way the world uses advent candles; but only for the wrong dates and times.

Here is what we have meditated upon at our house this year as we approach the first Sabbath of the Advent Season and ponder the Conception:

A TIME OF HOPE

When I think of all the many things Mary must have been pondering inside her heart during the time leading up to the Conception of Christ; I first think of the hope that had always lived within her heart.

Mary was hoping and waiting right along with all of Israel for a Messiah to come.

Little did she know that the Christ Child would be born to her!

Mary’s concept of “hope” suddenly became very close and personal.

The hope of the world was coming to her in the shape the child growing inside her belly. Now that is really personal.

How personal is your hope in Christ?

Are there things going on in your life that you just don’t even begin to understand? Take a lesson from a young girl named Mary. Hold on and trust God to see you through.

A LONG TIME OF WAITING

Just as Mary was waiting patiently for the Messiah to come for the first time; we too now wait for Him to return to earth for a second time.

We are hoping and we are waiting for a better day.

He has promised and it will happen.

For now; we must wait.

Like Mary; we too are waiting on something we know will be more new and more wonderful than anything we have ever experienced before.

We are patiently waiting on a new life with Christ in a restored and refreshed world where everything will be “made new” by an act of God sending His Son back to earth.

Like Mary we too are waiting on a miracle that will change our lives completely; and so we light the first candle of Advent and we ponder how glorious this time will be.

WAITING AND MEDITATING LEADS US TO JOY

It is our joy to meditate in this way; for we know that for every good and Christian thing there is also a counterfeit to confuse us from the enemy of God.  By celebrating in truth and spirit; we counteract the work of the enemy of God.

Satan would love to desecrate all of the things and ways that we use in our worship to measure out sacred times and spaces. He doesn’t want us to have those reminders of things that are sacred and cherished that draw us closer toward The Great God.

We must never forget the waiting of Mary.

We must never forget the waiting of Israel for Messiah to come.

We must never forget that Jesus is patiently waiting for the whole wide world to receive Him and welcome Him into their hearts.  He is knocking on the door; are you listening?

We must never forget the waiting for our Groom to return for His Church.

God’s enemy will twist the truth into any shape or fashion that he can find to turn us against anything at all that will draw us closer to Christ. He knows that in our waiting and hoping and loving we all draw closer to God.

Satan loves for people to be reminded that the pagans have their traditions too.  God loves for us to remember that they are counterfeit; and that only the true worship of God matters.

We come with our true worship.

We must never forget to worship God in our waiting.

DO NOT LET SATAN STEAL YOUR JOY

We have learned something in all of this time of waiting.

We have learned if we stop and/or skip this particular part of the story of God; Satan will steal away our joy of knowing the Advent of the Messiah which we have called “the first-coming;”

If we are not very careful we will miss the messages that tell the stories of His willingness to come and dwell among mankind in order to die for our sins, and the promise of His “second-coming” in which He will come to reign as King of Kings.

Many people stumble and get stuck on one step of history. The devil loves when that happens. He tries to keep them from getting to step two; and if someone chooses to let this happen; sadly it is their own fault and their own loss.

WHAT THING PLEASES GO,D THE MOST?

When pagans turn, repent and change God is pleased.

Now the advent wreath that was once used for all the wrong reasons is used to honor the One True God and the fact that He sent His Only Begotten Son to save us.

The people doing the worship have changed hearts.

They have gone from paganism to worshiping God.

Their hearts have put away the old things of the world and put on the new things of Christ. Their focus on worship is totally different now!

TRUE WORSHIP HAS COME BECAUSE OF CHRIST

Today; inside each Christian home and hearth that possesses this advent wreath the worship of The One True God takes place.

Now, where the lighting of the candles exists; the people remember God’s gift from above – Emmanuel – Christ with us.

These are people turning.

These are people repenting.

These are people worshiping One True God.

More and more people are coming to the hope of the truth of God.

More and more the WHOLE truth of the Gospel is being shared and made known.

Like the candles of the advent wreath; the Word of God sheds the truth and the light into our lives.

With this set aside time on our holy day of worship the true light is shinning through; and the advent wreath is lit for the reasons of honoring the blessing; the fact of the coming of Christ into our world.

With this greatest of all gifts from God; we meditate on the truth; while waiting for The Light of the World to return.

With the coming of The Light of The World from God above; we win the victory over our enemies.

With these meditations of waiting on the time of Christ; we change our focus and we direct everything that is within us toward our God.

With the first lighting of the first candle we are reminded of the True Light of Christ that has appeared in our lives and our hearts.

REMEMBERING THE LIGHT OF THE MENORAH IN THE TABERNACLE

God Himself started this example of using the light to show His people how to live with the instructions for the crafting of the Menorah for the Wilderness Tabernacle. Since that day His people have always honored Him with the lighting of the candles.

Every devout Jewish family across the land today will have two white candles adorning the table for Sabbath worship. The candles are used to welcome in the Sabbath. This is the same way the first candle of advent seems to say “welcome” to the coming of the Christ Child to live among us.

This is the way that Sarah and Abraham welcomed God into their home too.

In the Jewish homes the woman of the house will light a candle and say a Sabbath prayer for God’s blessing on her family.

Candle lighting has always held a special place in the history of true believers; and today with the first candle of Advent; another woman of the House of God is prominent in our thoughts. We honor the memory of the Annunciation and the message that the angel Gabriel brought to Mary.

We remember the beautiful way that God prepared her heart and mind for the destiny of her life. God instructed her first and told her what would happen. She had the faith to believe and be submitting to the will of God for her life.

MARY LIT SABBATH CANDLES

How many times had Mary lit the candles of Sabbath waiting and hoping for the Messiah to come?

How honored she must have been; to have God call on her in such a personal way and to experience the time of Him giving her the position that any woman would envy; the awesome experience of being the Mother of the Son of God.

What a beautiful moment in time.

What an awesome thing to ponder and remember.

We light the first candle and we ponder how God used the life of Mary in a very special way; to bring His glory to the earth in the form of His Only Begotten Son; Jesus.

This same task lies before all of us!

HONORING THE SECOND COMING

It was about the time of the middle ages that Christians saw the relationship between the second coming of Christ as a King and the first coming of Christ as a child.

They began to use the advent wreath as a symbol of hope while waiting on Christ to return again. Their advent wreaths honored Christ as the true light of the world.  Both Catholics and Lutherans and even some other denominations have made this a central practice in their homes all across the land. Many others have joined in with the telling of the beautiful story using candles and a wreath to do so.

THE BEAUTY OF TRUE WORSHIP

The longer you look at life in The Kingdom of God, the more beauty you will find in the different acts of worship that people use to honor God.

There is beauty in the words of The Story of God and there is beauty in the act of the bringing of light into the room. This is how Christ works. He is the light of the world.

How does God feel about beauty?

Have you ever looked at a sunrise?

The advent wreath is simply another one of those lovely art forms that God allows us to use to convey His message.

IT IS ABOUT THE CREATOR; NOT THE CREATION

Anyone who looks close enough can see that God has put His fingerprints all over His creation.

You can find this holy beauty in each and every thing that He created; if you have eyes to see.

Of course we never worship the beauty; we worship The One who created the beauty.

The symbolism in this act of keeping the truth of Advent is so telling of the Christian story.  The green of the wreath is symbolic of ever-lasting life. The circle of the wreath has no beginning or end; symbolizing the infinity of God, the immortality of the soul and the everlasting life that Christ has given to us.

Some wreaths have pine cones and nuts. These symbolize resurrection to new life because of the seeds found inside of them. They go through a state of pregnancy; just as Mary did with the seed of God growing inside of her. New life is birthed from such seeds. God is all about making things new.

When we are born again; it is like a resurrection. God plants the seed of His Holy Spirit inside of us; and new life begins to grow inside our heart and soul and spirit.

The first week of advent is all about the hope of the seed that will grow into new life and eventually bring us to resurrection.

I think of the song called “The Rose.” There is a line in that song that says “just remember in the winter far beneath the virgin snow lies the seed that with the sun’s love in the spring becomes the rose.”

We all have a little seed of God inside of us. Sometimes it is unseen until we meet the Son of God who brings the warmth and hope into the dark of winter and makes new life begin to grow inside our spirit and soul until we get to the place of being “born again” into the Kingdom of God.

It all started with one dark night when one young girl said “yes” to God. That night it all became very personal, for her and for everyone else, because that night God brought The light into the darkness and completely changed the world.

This is our greatest hope in the first light of Advent.