Expecting Jesus

Intro

As we sit in this room tonight I can feel the excitement and the expectation. The expectation of what the rest of the evening holds. The expectation of the party that you are going to attend in just a few moments. The excitement of tomorrow morning when you wake up and see your child unwrap their presents and beam with joy.

Excitement and expectation are themes for the Christmas season aren’t they? If you are like my family as soon as we turn the calendar from October to November we begin decorating the house with lights, holly, stockings and a tree. In our kitchen we place a wooden tree that has a “Countdown to Christmas” to build the excitement and expectation for our children. Yes we cannot wait for Christmas to get here and with every turn of the number we get more and more excited. Kids, it is here! Your excitement has built and built and we have finally made it to Christmas.

I am reminded of the Jewish people who would have read the words of Isaiah when he said 6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this

I am certain that when these words were read, the Israelites were filled with excitement and expectation. A saviour was coming. The government would no longer have reign but rather one of there own would be in power. This king to come would hold titles of Wonderful, counsellor, Prince of Peace, things these people had hoped for most if not all of their lives. He was coming! And they had to be filled with excitement.

As we celebrate the Holidays you and I know that in Luke chapter 2 which we will be reading tomorrow that He did indeed come. He did live, and he is saving. BUT you and I also have the hope of excitement and expectation that the Israelites did. We can have excitement in our salvation.

Salvation

2 Corinthians 5:21

21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

We know the story and does that make you excited? I tell you church family I get excited knowing that Jesus came. And he didn’t just come so that we might have a moral leader, good footsteps to walk in but no he came for something much greater. What does Paul say? He came so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus came so that you and I, based on nothing we have done but solely on because of what he accomplished on the cross and in the tomb, may be right with God, the creator and sovereign ruler over all. That my friends should get us excited. And let me encourage you not only should we be excite that we have salvation but we should also be expectant that our Saviour is coming again to establish a new heaven and a new Earth.

The Second Coming

Hebrews 9:28

28 so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Christ is coming again and what does the author of Hebrews tell us will be accomplished and what are the requirements? The accomplishment: Christ will come again to bring salvation, ultimate salvation, oneness with God, a new heaven and a new Earth, no more sin, no more agony. And the requirement: as the ESV puts it, eagerly waiting on him. Church are you eagerly waiting on the Lord’s return? Do we have the anticipation that so many have tonight of the Christmas season, do you know that you can have that expecation at a far greater level of Jesus Christ return? Isaiah wrote about Jesus roughly 750 years before Jesus 750 years! God’s promises and word remands true just as it does today. Let’s be excited and expectant of Jesus’ second coming!

Closing

I hope that as you celebrate the birth of Jesus tonight, tomorrow, this week that you not only celebrate his initial arrival with excitement and expectation but that you also do so with his second.