Saturday after Ad te levavi, The First Sunday in Advent
Posted on December 3, 2022 by under
Scripture: Romans 1:16-20 (NKJV)
1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.
Devotion
There is only one way to have true life, to be just in the eyes of God: by faith in the Gospel of Christ. Eve quickly cast away self-justification and expected God’s promised ‘Serpent Crusher,’ looking to bearing “a Man” who was “the Lord,” and naming her second son “Vanity” to show her disappointment (Gen. 4:1–2). It is what Abel trusted in (Heb. 11:4), thus making his offering pleasing to the Lord. Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and all those who lived in the earthly family and physical kingdom that God established, had their names recorded as righteous only through the expectation of the Righteous One. This Son would sacrifice Himself to be the righteousness of all—and is indeed the righteousness of all who trust in Him—as St. Paul says, “the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe” (1 Tim. 4:10).
At the same time, “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all…who suppress the truth” and against all their “ungodliness and unrighteousness.” “Is revealed” is present tense, showing that God’s wrath didn’t end or pause, only someday in the future to be again revealed, but that there is the ongoing revelation of His ongoing wrath against those who refuse to heed what even the creatures around them, their consciences within them, and their fellow men reveal. In the unrelenting tide of death, we see our need for a Savior from this wrath, and in the Gospel we see the power that overcomes death.
Prayer: Stir up, we beseech Thee, Thy power, O Lord, and come, that by Thy protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins, and saved by Thy mighty deliverance; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
