Behold He Comes - Part 1

Part 1: There’s a Light on the Horizon

Quick Answer: The four candles of Advent represent Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. Each candle is lit on successive Sundays leading up to Christmas, preparing hearts to celebrate Christ’s coming.

🌟 The Four Advent Candles and Their Meanings

CandleColorThemeSymbolism

1st Candle

Purple

Hope (Prophecy Candle)Reminds us of the prophets’ promise of the Messiah and our hope in Christ.

2nd Candle

Purple

Peace (Bethlehem Candle)Reflects the peace of God and preparation for Christ’s coming, recalling Mary and Joseph’s journey.

3rd Candle

Rose (Pink)

Joy (Shepherd’s Candle)Marks Gaudete Sunday (“Rejoice”), celebrating the joy of Christ’s nearness.

4th Candle

Purple

Love (Angel’s Candle) Symbolizes God’s love revealed in Jesus, the gift of salvation born in Bethlehem.

Some traditions also include a fifth white candle in the center, called the Christ Candle, lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to represent Jesus as the Light of the World.

✨ Theological Significance

: Anchors believers in God’s promises, echoing Isaiah’s prophecies. Hope

: Invites reconciliation and trust in the Prince of Peace. Peace

: Encourages rejoicing even in anticipation, rooted in God’s faithfulness. Joy

: Culminates in the Incarnation, God’s ultimate act of love for humanity. Love

Together, the candles form a spiritual journey: from longing and preparation to rejoicing and embracing God’s love in Christ.

📖 Practical Application for Teaching

Since you often prepare lessons and sermons, here’s a way to frame it:

Connect to Old Testament prophecies (Isaiah 9:2, Micah 5:2).Week 1 (Hope):

Highlight Christ as the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6, Luke 2:14).Week 2 (Peace):

Use Philippians 4:4 (“Rejoice in the Lord always”).Week 3 (Joy):

Emphasize John 3:16 and 1 John 4:9–10.Week 4 (Love):

This progression can be taught as a spiritual countdown to Christmas, each week deepening the congregation’s anticipation and reflection.

Would you like me to create a visual teaching chart of the Advent wreath with the candle colors and meanings? That could be a great aid for your ministry presentations.

Sources: FOCUS, Bible Inspire, Dynamic Catholic

Isaiah 9:1–7 NKJV

1 Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, As when at first He lightly esteemed The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, And afterward more heavily oppressed her, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, In Galilee of the Gentiles. 2 The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined. 3 You have multiplied the nation And increased its joy; They rejoice before You According to the joy of harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil. 4 For You have broken the yoke of his burden And the staff of his shoulder, The rod of his oppressor, As in the day of Midian. 5 For every warrior’s sandal from the noisy battle, And garments rolled in blood, Will be used for burning and fuel of fire. 6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Micah 5:2 NKJV

2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”

Light for those in Darkness

A single candle flame can be seen by the unaided human eye from up to 1.6 miles (2.6 km) away under ideal dark-sky conditions. Claims of visibility at 30 miles are myths—scientific tests show much shorter limits.

🔥 Candle Visibility: What Science Says

Condition Visibility Distance

Details

Ideal dark sky ~1.6 miles (2.6 km) Comparable to a 6th magnitude star, the faintest visible to the naked eye

Urban/suburban light pollution < 1 mile Competing light sources reduce visibility dramatically

With binoculars (7×50) ~10 miles Only possible with optical aid and clear line of sight

Sources: MIT Technology Review, Physics World

1. Acknowledge the Darkness

I have here with me a flashlight. [Turn on a flashlight and shine it around.]

Right now it doesn’t seem too exciting. It’s actually kind of hard to even see the light it puts out. However, if we found ourselves in complete darkness, we might feel very differently about this little gadget.

[Have all the lights turned off so the room is completely dark. Give everyone a minute for the darkness to sink in.]

Wow! It’s dark in here. If we all had to find our way to the front or to an exit, it would be tough!

[Turn on the flashlight.]

Now, surrounded by darkness, see how much light this flashlight gives? It suddenly looks much brighter when it shines in the darkness. It could actually make the difference in being able to find our way or not.

[Turn the lights back on.]

It’s kind of amazing that God chose a star to guide the wise men to Bethlehem. Throughout the Bible, we see how God uses His own creation to reveal Himself to us. The psalmist put it beautifully in Psalm 19:1–4 which says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”

And Psalm 8 says, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” (Psalm 8:3–4).

Psalm 8:3–4 NKJV

3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, 4 What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?

God’s glory is seen in the stars. But the thing about stars is they can’t be seen in the light. It’s the same as that flashlight—on a much more celestial scale. They are there, but we can’t see them. In fact, they are seen best on the darkest of nights, when there is no moonlight, away from the lights of the city. The darker the setting, the brighter the starlight.

This time of year, holiday glitz can artificially light our lives. Or we may seek out our own flashing distractions to try to distract us from the gnawing darkness within. But facing the darkness and calling it what it is allows us to see true light. It’s when we acknowledge the darkness that we can see the star that leads us on the journey.

As we journey together toward Christmas this Advent season, let’s be honest about the darkness we find ourselves in—both darkness in the world around us and darkness within our own hearts. We live in a world full of darkness and fear, but it is into that great darkness that an even greater star appears to light the way.

The Bible tells us that it was also a pretty dark time for the people of Israel when Jesus showed up. The Old Testament prophets had prophesied of a Messiah, but it had been a long wait—hundreds of years of waiting. “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).

Isaiah talked about the coming light and the present darkness, and that darkness continued to grow through the centuries. “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2).

Both of these verses were spoken long before Jesus was born. The people of Israel lived in that space between promise and fulfillment. Looking back, it’s easy for us to see how the first Passover, when God spared the firstborns of the Israelites in Egypt and set them free from slavery, foreshadowed the coming of Jesus, the Passover lamb. But the people of Israel didn’t have the benefit of hindsight. They were desperate for a deliverer. Honestly, many of them thought God had forgotten them, especially as they lived under Roman oppression in the time of Herod.

Today we share that common experience of darkness and desperation. Nothing can rescue us except God. And the beauty of the journey of hope is that we see, in what seems to be the darkest hour, God shows up. We can find and continue to draw hope, knowing that Jesus entered our darkness that first Christmas. His Spirit will fan even the smallest spark of hope within us and draw us onward toward vibrant daily hope rooted in the work of Christ to overwhelm the darkness of sin and death.

It’s not an instant process, but it’s a real process that gives us what we need through the journey.

2. Embrace the Wait

Who likes waiting? Does anyone like waiting?

We live in a culture that does everything possible to reduce the amount of time we spend waiting! I don’t think most of us would do very well living in the days of the Israelites. The people of Israel in the Bible knew all about the long wait. Since Genesis, in the very first book of the Bible, when sin entered the world, we see that God offered the promise of hope. In Genesis 3:14–15, God cursed the serpent that tempted Eve and said that through her offspring will come one who will crush the serpent. This was Jesus, the source of hope from the very beginning. God had a plan of hope from the start. But constrained by the time of our world, the waiting seemed like forever.

Genesis 3:14–15 NKJV

14 So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

Imagine a farmer standing on the dry dust of a parched field and looking up to the sky. Years of drought have taken everything from him, and he has lost hope. But then, in the distance, he hears the rumble of thunder—the promise of rain. That is the image John the Baptist gave of himself when people asked if he was the Messiah. No, he was not, but he was announcing the arrival of the long-awaited one. He was the herald of hope. “I’m thunder in the desert: ‘Make the road straight for God!’” he cried (John 1:23, msg).

John 1:23 NKJV

23 He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

John 1:23

The Message

23 “I’m thunder in the desert: ‘Make the road straight for God!’ I’m doing what the prophet Isaiah preached.”

3. Commit to Confidence in What God is Doing

I don’t know about you, but my natural images of waiting and journeying are different. One involves sitting around; one involves moving. But the concept of waiting throughout the Bible is one of active waiting. We wait with expectant hearts, but we are constantly moving forward on our journey.

Priest, professor, writer, and theologian, Henri J. M. Nouwen described the waiting we see in Scripture as very active. In Waiting for God, he wrote, “Active waiting means to be present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it.”

Isaiah 7:14 CSB

14 Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.

Matthew 1:22–23 NKJV

22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

🌌 Why the Limit Exists

: Dust, humidity, and air turbulence scatter light. Atmospheric interference

: Beyond ~5 km, the horizon blocks ground-level light. Earth’s curvature

We can’t see the light on the horizon clearly, but we can recognize the glow of “God with Us!”

John 1:5 NKJV

5 And the light shined in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

What an excellent description of Advent! Waiting means being active, present in the moment while still anticipating where we are going. That’s not easy! It takes strength and courage, but those we can draw from the very source of our hope. As the psalmist encouraged: “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord” (Psalm 31:24).

Psalm 31:24 NKJV

24 Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, All you who hope in the Lord.

So what does that look like in real life? Peter gave us a glimpse when he said, “Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming” (1 Peter 1:13).

1 Peter 1:13 NKJV

13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

Hope is about waiting, but that waiting involves a commitment to being present in our journey of obedience. Alert, sober—these are words of expectation and active anticipation. The good news in all this is that wherever you are on your journey, it’s okay—keep following God’s light. Sure, we have four weeks of Advent that lead to Christmas, but that is human-created calendar timing, not God’s timing.

Advent is about a deadline to have to get prepared by. It’s not about finding all the answers or checking all the boxes. It is about preparing. You just have to show up and be willing to follow God’s lead. Wherever you are, you are not too late. God’s timing is perfect. And He wants to fill your heart with hope for the ultimate healing and life in His Son.

That is a reason for hope that will fuel your journey through Advent and far beyond.

🕯️ Symbolic Insight for Teaching

In ministry or Advent lessons, this fact can be a powerful metaphor:

“Even the smallest light can pierce the darkness up to 1.6 miles away.”

Use it to illustrate — John 1:5“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Or connect it to — Matthew 5:14–16“You are the light of the world…”

Would you like a visual or slide that uses this candle visibility metaphor for a sermon or teaching aid? I can create one with scripture and imagery.