Friday after Ad te levavi, The First Sunday in Advent
Posted on December 8, 2023 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 17:20-25 (NKJV)
17:20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
22 Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go after them or follow them. 24 For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. 25 But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.”
Devotion
Christians long to see the coming of the Son of Man. Advent puts this in the forefront of our minds, focusing us not only on the coming of Christ as the Babe of Bethlehem, but also as the mighty King who will judge both the living and the dead on the Last Day. In faith, we do not fear, but rejoice in hope to see that day, knowing that our sins are forgiven and that we have become heirs of that kingdom by God’s grace through Jesus’ redemption.
We might not live to see the Last Day come in our own age. We might have to be satisfied to die in hope, as the saints before us have. But we have this confidence, that at the resurrection we will see our Lord and Savior with our own eyes, coming in the clouds of heaven. In the meantime, let us not grow weary or be drawn away by false Christs or by false teachers who try to draw us away into misbelief.
While we wait for that Day to come, we should always remember that the kingdom of God is already here—it is among us; it resides within us because the Holy Spirit has made us members of that kingdom and temples of the Triune God. Our God is not far away. He is always with us, living in us and among His Church. He is with us in His Word, in His Sacraments, and in our hearts by faith.
Collect: 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.
