Advent and the coming messiah

We’re in the season of Advent! Christmas is around the corner with radio stations already playing Christmas carols and retail outlets stocking Christmassy products. For Trina and me, Christmas is truly “the most wonderful time of the year,” when—back in Singapore—we are usually busy with church activities and hosting our regular “evangelistic” Christmas party for unsaved family members and friends at our home. (We’re still working on figuring out our Christmas routine in Colorado Springs!)
 
It bears reminding that the first Advent—which, as observed today, commences on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and represents a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the Nativity of Christ—was a dreadful time of deep spiritual as well as social, economic, and political darkness for the people of Israel and the world at large. Prophesying 700 years before the birth of Jesus, Isaiah wrote that the peoples of Zebulun and Naphtali were living in deep darkness (Isa. 9:1-2). Bible scholars note that the Galilee region at the time was stricken by debilitating poverty and intense political turmoil and violence.
 
Our Present Darkness
 
But God would honor Galilee with the coming of the Messiah! Born in Bethlehem, Jesus and his family would eventually settle in Nazareth in Naphtali, after their return from Egypt (Matt. 2:22). The Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace would come to establish and uphold justice and righteousness forevermore (Isa. 9:6-7).
 
Oh how we desperately need to be reminded of that awesome truth at a time such as this! No question, we’ve been enduring a prolonged season of intense darkness—of pandemic, economic hardship, racial strife, political tension, and the list goes on. Moreover, according to the latest U.S. visa data, international student numbers in America have declined by 21 percent as compared with pre-COVID times. Lockdowns have significantly impacted our ability to connect with students.
 
Piercing the Darkness
 
Granted, digital technology has enabled us to continue engaging with our students, and we praise God for that! But it just isn’t the same as in-person gatherings, is it? Thank God that He doesn’t do social distancing: His Son came to earth “in the flesh”, and that the resurrected Jesus invited Thomas to touch His pierced hands and side (John 20:27)! And just as the Lord’s first coming pierced the darkness of Galilee, so too shall His “coming” pierce our present darkness with the light of His glory—as you and I act as Christ’s hands, feet, and mouth in making His gospel known and felt among international students!
 
For me, every Christmas brings to mind not only the Incarnate Christ come on earth, but also His power to restore the stricken and wounded to wellness and wholeness. In 1995, I was a wet-behind-the-ears graduate student at Arizona State who was way more interested in ICF ministry than my studies. As Christmas that year approached, I was in Asia doing field research for my PhD dissertation in international politics. I was engaged to a young lady at the time (this was pre-Trina in case you’re wondering). The engagement wasn’t working out, and we made the painful decision to split.
 
A Darkness Lifted
 
Without even being aware of it, I fell headlong into a depression that lasted half a year. Though I had an undergraduate degree in psychology and knew all the academic terms, I couldn’t fathom what was happening to me. It didn’t affect my research—I was good at compartmentalizing—but it pretty much upended everything else. I went about like a zombie, deeply grieving the separation from my “ex.” Every day I dug feverishly into God’s Word—the Book of Job became especially relevant—and I spent long hours in prayer and worship, desperately trying to find answers. Nothing worked.
 
A couple of weeks before Christmas, the funk of the past six months simply lifted! That morning, I’d been meditating on the Song of Zechariah in Luke 1:67-79. I must’ve read the passage a few times, but it seemed like words on a page that I perused listlessly. Suddenly, verses 74 and 75 leapt out at me: Jesus our Messiah has come “to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days” (NIV). They were like an arrow shot from Heaven that hit dead center—they hit my heart, mind, soul, and spirit.
 
Immanuel Has Come!
 
Did the words in those verses address my specific questions? To be honest, not one bit. But it didn’t matter! Somehow, God’s Word penetrated the fog around me and burned it up in a split second, and I was inexplicably set free from my depression. I was like the folks of Zebulun and Naphtali, trapped in a darkness I couldn’t quite explain much less escape from on my own, when, as Isaiah put it, a great light dawned. How crazy is that?
 
Friends, Immanuel is coming, Immanuel has come! Let’s rise up for our light—the glory of the risen Christ—has come! Let’s pierce the thick darkness with prophetic prayer, praise, and action until the nations and their kings are drawn to the light of God’s glory (Isa. 60:1-3)! May Immanuel fill your lives this Christmas and bring wellness and wholeness!