"Advent" comes from the Latin term "adventus" which means "coming."
We engage in the Advent season to plant great expectation in our hearts for the birth of a baby in a stable who we believe changed all of history.
But the Christmas Story did not begin on a starry in Bethlehem, tucked away in a cave as a baby cried out for the first time.
The story actually began 700 years earlier.
Yes, 700 years earlier is when the first baby announcement for Jesus arrived. You and I are likely thinking the same thing-- isn't 700 years a bit premature for a baby announcement? Couldn't God have waited a little bit before breaking this news? Didn't it set people up for shattered expectations?
At this time, such a dark time in history, the news of something better coming in the future filled the people with hope. It gave them something to look forward to. And hope can be a mighty powerful thing, especially when you apply it to the future.
A little background on the birth announcement in Isaiah: Isaiah is a prophecy book. It is meant to foretell the future. We know Isaiah was a prophet writing these words "in the year that King Uzziah died." This would set us up at around 740 B.C., 700 years before Jesus showed up.
As you begin to read Isaiah, hope seems grim. God is sick over the people. They've carelessly swapped devotion to Him for impressive religious rituals that are empty. God does not like the pride of these people. He is disgusted by the idols they worship.
If you've read the Old Testament, you know this wasn't a one-time thing. The people were constantly abandoning God for the chance to act as God.
I get fed up with the people when I read the Old Testament, so I can only imagine how exasperating it would be for the father who created all these people.
As you're moving through the book of Isaiah, you're holding your breath and thinking, "This is badā¦ this is really bad."
And then chapter 9 happens. An announcement: Unto us a child is born.
To grasp the beauty and necessity of Jesus' coming, we must know the depravity and darkness he was born into. All of a sudden, in a dark and depraved world, joy bursts forth.
Isaiah cries out that a baby will be born. And he goes the extra mile and says the baby will be born for us. This is our birth announcement. God is thinking of us.
"He'll take over running the world," Isaiah proclaims. "His names will be Amazing Counselor, Strong God, Eternal Father, Prince of Wholeness. His ruling will grow, and there will no limits to the wholeness he brings."
Deep exhale.
He's coming.
He's come.
He's here.
He's all around this season.
And he promises that he does not come with empty hands; he shows up with wholeness that we can claim as our own.
Just look at those names: Amazing Counselor. Strong God. Eternal Father. Prince of Wholeness.
Typically, you name a baby in the hopes of who that baby will become when they grow up. You give them a firm name to pave a path for their future.
But in this case, Isaiah boldly says this baby already has these names. He already is these things. Without having done anything, he lives up to his name.
This is more than God sending a son into the world. This is God is putting on skin and coming down to earth for us.
This is an announcement that God is stepping into the ring.
He is coming to fully participate in what it means to be human. And this announcementā¦ well, it changes everything.
