Advent: The King is Coming
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Introduction
Introduction
Today is the 1st Sunday of advent.
When you hear the word advent, what is the first thing that comes to your mind?
(hear their responses)
I didn’t hear anyone say Holy Week… Palm Sunday… or Easter…
Did you notice that our Gospel text this morning isn’t a birth narrative or the beginning of Jesus’ life on earth.
I find it strange and astonishing that our text for this first Sunday in Advent is none other than Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem which kicks off the beginning of Holy Week!
It is a Palm Sunday text that is read during the Easter season?
Did this happen to be here as a mistake? My first initial reaction to this text was: “I don’t want to preach this text for advent.”
But the more I read this text, studied this text, the more it became clear why it would be the first Gospel reading for Advent.
Listen again to the text:
And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.
And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road.
As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen,
saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
You see the word “Advent” is derived from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming,” which is a translation of the Greek word parousia.
So it makes perfect sense to observe Palm Sunday in Advent.
Because both occasions highlight this simple theme: “The King is Coming”.
He is coming to be born in Bethlehem.
He is coming in the clouds to judge the nations.
He is coming, riding on a lowly donkey, to Jerusalem.
And when Jesus comes, he brings with him salvation.
Transition: Advent is the time of the coming King and our time of anticipation and preparation for Our coming King.
Time of Preparation
Time of Preparation
During this time of year we prepare for Christmas… The world prepares for Christmas
The lights and decorations go up
the trees and nativity scenes are displayed
Christmas music starts ringing through the radios
Christmas shows are played throughout the TV,
travel plans are made,
prices are reduced,
lists are made,
the shopping commences
and you get the point.
We prepare for Christmas… I would say we become consumed in this preparation...
But I ask, in all this preparation… do we miss the point of Advent?
PAUSE
The Jews prepared like crazy for the coming Messiah!
They waited in anticipation for the coming King!
Yet the ones actually prepared and ready to meet the coming King in the manger were non-Jews.
The magi, brought gifts to the king, they followed the star, they knew the king had come.
The Jews missed it.
They were focused on figuring out what the prophecies meant that they missed what means for them in the here and now of their time.
I would say that happens to us with Advent. We see it as history, as Jesus has already come to us in the flesh and was born of a virgin. The nativity scene is over and done with.
That is why our preparation during this time has shifted from Advent… to Christmas.
You see, Advent was a season of preparation for the baptism of new Christians at the January feast of Epiphany,
the celebration of God’s incarnation represented by the visit of the Magi to the baby Jesus (Matthew 2:1),
his baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist (John 1:29),
and his first miracle at Cana (John 2:1).
During this season of preparation, Christians would spend 40 days in penance, prayer, and fasting to prepare for this celebration; originally, there was little connection between Advent and Christmas.
It wasn’t until the Middle Ages that the Advent season was explicitly linked to Christ’s coming to us as a babe at Christmas.
So what’s my point?
My point is that our preparation shouldn’t be focused on Christmas as solely a baby lying in a manger…
or that Advent is history…
But that we are living in a time of Advent now.
The Advent of the King is not just long ago, far away, and it’s certainly not over and done. \
The Lord’s Advent in Jerusalem that Palm Sunday day in 30 AD was a preview, a paradigm, a template of His Advent here, now, and, most spectacularly—at the End of the Age when He returns.
Transition: So we prepare and wait in anticipation for the coming King Jesus… not as a baby… but as the ultimate King who rides in on a white horse to establish His reign forever!
The King is Coming
The King is Coming
The King has come, and is coming again.
Again, advent means “coming”
Advent (the story of Christmas as we may put it) is heading somewhere… it is not stagnant.
The child born of a virgin is born and headed into the city (where our text fits in ) for a purpose...
To bore our sins, to answer the cries “Hosanna, Hosanna” which means “save us now!”
The baby was born to die.
The baby was born to save.
The baby was born to come again and establish is eternal reign
We sing : “JOY to the World the Lord has come.”
Each one of us has had an individual joy.
We know what Jesus did for us or for a loved one and we sing Joy and REJOICE AND PRAISE GOD.
But Jesus knows a FULNESS OF JOY that we only know in part.
If it sounds strange to say that Jesus had this DEEP JOY in Him even as He entered Jerusalem, knowing that the journey would end in terrible suffering and shame and crucifixion,
then listen to the writer to the Hebrews, who, speaking of Jesus says, “Who for the JOY set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame…” (Heb. 12:2)
It is with GREAT JOY that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, because:
He knew that He would be hated and rejected by men so that you may be loved and accepted by the Father.
He knew that He would be stripped of His clothes so that you may be clothed in His righteousness.
He knew that He would be wounded but that by His wounds, you will be healed.
He knew that He would enter into death so that you may enter into life.
He knew that He would rise from the dead so that you may be raised to eternal life
and He knew that He will return someday and establish His eternal rule where sin and death no longer exist!
Where we “rejoice and praise God with a loud voice, ‘blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.’
We live in advent not only because the King is coming again, but because Jesus comes to you now!
Through His Holy Word,
through Holy Communion,
through love by other people,
through baptism and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit inside you.
He comes to you now as you are on this journey of faith towards eternity.
Where He comes again and you will see Him face to face.
When Jesus comes again, there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and with it, a new Jerusalem.
That will be the truly Holy City, the dwelling place of God with his people, completely without sin and with no more death and sorrow.
We’re on the road to that blest place, you and I.
The path that we’re walking on is the way of faith and discipleship,
the way of holiness and love,
the way of repentance and forgiveness.
This is an Advent journey.
It is a journey of hope,
of preparation for our coming king,
of looking forward to the future, even as we pay close attention to how we are living in the here and now.
We’re on the way to the new Jerusalem, fellow pilgrims, and that puts great joy into our journey.
The tone of Advent is anticipation – not because we’re waiting for Christmas – we know when that will be.
We wait in anticipation for the salvation of the Lord to be made complete on that Final day, the last day, whenever it may be. When Jesus returns and all things are made new!
So today is a special day… Not because it is the first Sunday of the Christmas season,
or the fact that it is the first Sunday in Advent.
It is a special day because it is a new day in the Lord!
Whatever our detours and dead-ends have been in the past,
now by God’s grace we are starting out afresh.
Maybe you’ve turned from Jesus or haven’t had a relationship with Him before… maybe this is all new to you.
Well brothers and sisters today is a new day in the Lord!
Today you are “Starting Out on a Journey to Jerusalem,” your advent journey… and the Holy Spirit is leading the way.
The way to the Coming King!
The multitude of angels shouted at His birth: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those whom he is well pleased!”
The multitude of disciples shouted on Jesus’ way to the cross: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
As we live in this advent season, may we sing loudly “O come, O come Emmanuel!”
Advent is about preparation – preparation to receive the coming King.
His time to return as the all-powerful Messiah is in the near future.
But He has come already as Saviour.
As God draws near to you, let his peace come over you.
Let his grace and the forgiveness give you hope.
Let his mercy bring you joy.
Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!
Amen.