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Jesus made His first appearance as a fully human Man in a stable in Bethlehem. But His Advent—or appearing—had been anticipated for a long time before that.
In fact, one of the darkest chapters in human history takes place shortly after human history began. Mankind sinned and was separated from God because of that sin. The initial separation foretold an eternal separation (Genesis 3:22), but God shines His light of hope in this darkest hour, foretelling the Advent of our rescue (3:15).
Seven hundred years before Christ’s birth in Bethlehem, the setting is still dark and getting darker. Sin is running rampant, God’s people are groping in darkness, and enemies are pressing in from every side.
Out of the darkness, God speaks (Isaiah 8:5-10), giving us a glimpse of the Messiah’s glory. Notice the hope-filled words Immanuel (v. 8) and God with us (v. 10). This darkness is the inevitable result of not gazing on God’s glory (vv. 21-22), and yet there appears another glorious promise in a single word: Nevertheless (9:1-7).
We get a glimpse of Immanuel’s glory in the titles that will describe our Messiah. Let’s look first at Wonderful Counselor.
Wonder can have two definitions:
Something so extraordinary that it is hard for our finite human minds to comprehend—Exodus 15:11; Isaiah 25:1 NLT.
God’s awesome deeds: His works that leave us in absolute awe of His greatness—Jeremiah 32:17 AMPC.
Counselor is someone who gives counsel; not just any counsel, but perfect counsel because He is omniscient (knows it all) and omnipotent (can do it all)—Isaiah 14:26-27; Psalm 139:1-6; Psalm 32:8.
Job got a glimpse of this Awesome Counselor too in Job 42:1-6.
Our First Testament friends only got a glimpse of the Messiah’s glory, but we have the glory revealed to us—Hebrews 1:1-3a; Matthew 1:22-23; John 1:5, 14, 18.
We have His wonderful counsel revealed to us too—Luke 5:20-26; John 7:37-46.
And we look forward to seeing His glory undimmed at His Second Advent—John 1:47-51; Mark 14:61-62.
As we live now between the Advents, we have the joyful privilege and responsibility to proclaim this glory to those still living in darkness—Matthew 28:18; Acts 4:30.
See how the saints proclaimed Christ’s glory, relying on His wonderful counsel in Acts 4:13, 20, 31; 5:12; 6:8, 10; 8:6-8. This is how we are to live too (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17).
As you live between the Advents, I pray that the glory of our Wonderful Counselor will become more real to you and that it will shine out of every word you speak and everything you do!
Check out the other posts in this series Jesus Is…here.
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Most of our Royal Psalms have taken us from King David to King Jesus. Psalm 72 is a bit different because King David is speaking some of his last words as a blessing and a reminder to King Solomon. Jesus, Peter, and those in a church prayer meeting all affirmed that David’s words were inspired by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 22:43; Acts 1:16, 4:25), so these words in Psalm 72 are just as inspired.
The introduction to this psalm in the NIV says “Of Solomon.” But because the Hebrew word for “of” can also be “for” and since v. 20 says these are the final words of David, I think we can say that this psalm is of David and for Solomon.
David has received God’s promise of an heir always on the throne of his kingdom. Here is the first transfer of power, and David is foreseeing the blessing that Solomon will be to the Israelite nation because of the endowment of God’s righteousness. Those blessings for his subjects include:
fair judgments (v. 2; 1 Kings 10:1-3)
prosperity (v. 3; 1 Kings 10:7, 27)
safety from enemies (v. 4; 1 Kings 10:26)
longevity (v. 5; 1 Kings 10:8)
favor (vv. 6-7; 1 Kings 10:9)
Historically, we know of the fulfillment of these things. We can especially see it in the visit of Queen Sheba in 1 Kings 10.
In this next paragraph, as we have seen with other royal psalms, there is a modulation back-and-forth between King Solomon and King of kings Jesus (vv. 8-11). Verse 8 is the ends of the earth rule of Jesus; vv. 9-10 are the local rule under Solomon; v. 11 then speaks of all kings…all nations bowing to Jesus as the King of kings.
This modulation reminds us that no earthly king can ever stand-in for the Eternal King. After the static of switching back-and-forth, from our perspective at this point in history a flashback event becomes crystal clear.
David gives instructions and a warning to Solomon (1 Kings 2:1-4)
Solomon wields his power in Israel (2 Chronicles 1:1)
Solomon falters under his power by becoming intoxicated by it (1 Kings 3:3; 11:1-4)
Solomon’s kingdom is diminished (1 Kings 11:10-13)
This is not the case for our King of kings! His kingdom has no end because His rule has no end (Isaiah 9:6-7; Luke 1:32-33).
The devil tried to limit Jesus by offering Him a shortcut, but Jesus stood firm. So the remainder of this Royal Psalm can only be fulfilled by Jesus:
vv. 12-14 foreshadow the prophecy of Jesus Isaiah 61:1-2 and its fulfillment in Luke 4:21
vv. 15-17 foretell all nations being blessed forever under the lordship of King Jesus
Don’t get caught up in looking at what’s before your eyes right now. Don’t get discouraged by the voice that’s in your ears right now. Don’t get mesmerized by the glittery things of earth. Keep your focus on the Eternal King. David’s conclusion to this Royal Psalm is that we worship our King above all else (Psalm 72:18-19).
And David’s final words should echo from our lips as well: Amen and Amen!
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One of the reasons I appreciate the Bible—in fact, one of the main reasons that continually convinces me of the truthfulness of the Bible—is the way it portrays life as it really is. It doesn’t avoid the difficult subjects, nor does it sugarcoat the bitterness of life. The Bible tells it as it is.
The songs that have us singing praises to God “when the sun’s shining down on me and the world’s all as it should be” are great, but when we can also find hope when we’re “found in the desert place” is the real test.
Dark times come to all of us.
David is anointed king of Israel and given a promise by God for a lasting legacy (2 Samuel 7:8-9, 16, 27-29; Psalm 110:1). And yet David cried out one of the most painful phrases ever uttered in Psalm 22:1-2, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”
Despite the promises that God gave David, when any of us are in a dark place, there is a natural human tendency to focus on the darkness around us and second-guess what is happening to us. You know the questions:
How did I get here?
How will I get out of here?
When will I get out of here?
Have I offended God and perhaps missed out on His promise?
Has He forgotten me?
The Bible does tell us, “If You, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?” and we also know it’s true that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Psalm 130:3; Romans 3:23).
That’s for us, not for Jesus. He is the sinless One. He obediently became human to rescue us, knowing full well that He was the fulfillment of the promise God made to David (Matthew 1:1; 22:41-44). Yet He ended up uttering the same painful words David did (Matthew 27:41-46).
Remember I said that King David was a visible picture to help us see the coming King of kings. David was inspired by the Holy Spirit with this knowledge (Acts 2:29-30, 25-28).
The old hymn says, “When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace” and “When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay.” Look at David’s preaching to himself:
I am feeling forsaken (Psalm 22:1-2) … YET You are on Your throne (vv. 3-5)
I am scorned by others (vv. 6-8) … YET You are closer than my scorners (vv. 9-11)
I am completely cut off (vv. 12-18) … BUT You are my rescue (vv. 19-24)
What did Jesus know:
He would sit on the throne of Heaven—Matthew 26:62-64
His Father was completing everything—John 19:30; Psalm 22:25-31
He would conquer every enemy—Revelation 1:8, 18
Jeremiah cries out about his dark time, and then like David he says, “YET this I call to mind and have hope.” Jeremiah then talks about the never-ending love and mercy of God, and concludes by preaching to himself, “I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him’” (Lamentations 3:19-24).
“The Lord is my portion” means the Lord is my King who declares promises and fulfills promises.
The help in suffering is not found in focusing on the present darkness—and all the questions—but to focus on God’s promises. Like David’s “yet” and “but” we need to preach to ourselves about God’s past deliverance and then be assured of our future hope.
Just assuredly as our King of kings said, “I will be resurrected from the dead to sit on the throne of Heaven,” He also said, “I will come to take you where I am”!
Take your eyes off the present, temporary darkness and put them on the eternal King!
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I don’t know if this ever happens to you, but I’ve lost count of the number of times that this happens to me. I open up my Bible and begin reading right where I left off the day before, and as I’m reading, my attention is riveted by words that seem to pop off the page!
I look at them again and see that this passage contains highlights or underlining or notations from when I read here before. Yet I’m left scratching my head saying, “How did I miss this when I read this passage earlier?!”
I know this is because I’m a different person now than I was the last time I was reading this passage. I’ve learned some things and hopefully I have grown in the process. Quite simply, the Holy Spirit knew I wasn’t ready earlier for the new concept that jumped off the page at me.
The other day I was reading in the Book of Romans and I noticed something that Paul wrote—
And, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles; I will sing the praises of Your name.” Again, it says, “Rejoice, you Gentiles, with His people.” And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; let all the peoples extol Him.” And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, One who will arise to rule over the nations; in Him the Gentiles will hope.” (Romans 15:9-12)
Look at that wording: “As it is written … again it says … and again … and again….” Paul is telling us that God tells us the same thing in different ways, at different times, and through different voices. It’s the same message, but it resonates a little differently in each place. As God’s Word speaks to us again and again and again, we see the richness and fullness of the message.
In v. 9, Paul quotes David in 2 Samuel 22:50 and Psalm 18:49.
In v. 10, the quotation is fromMoses in Deuteronomy 32:43.
In v. 11, an anonymous psalmist in Psalm 117:1 is quoted.
And in v. 12, Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 11:10.
The Jews considered the Holy Scripture to be divided into three sections: The Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. Look again what Paul did:
He quotes Moses from the Law
He quotes Isaiah from the Prophets
He quotes David and the anonymous psalmist from the Writings
Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). And after His resurrection, as He walked and talked with a couple of disciples, He reminded them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44).
One of the reasons that the consistent message of the Scripture is repeated again and again and again is so that everyone will have a chance to hear it and believe it.
There is such a beauty in this! I encourage you to take the time to look up the cross-references that many Study Bibles have put together. As you read the “it is written” statements in the Bible, I hope you will be encouraged as you see it throughout all the Bible again and again and again!
Check out the book reviews I’ve shared on these study Bibles:
Christian parents often experience both a weight and a wait as they pray for their children. Biblical waiting is always active, calling us to continue to pray for our kids—not matter how old they are!
The Institute for Creation Research reported: “Perhaps one of the top evidences for creation are the subcellular and incredibly efficient molecular protein machines that clearly function by known engineering principles. They are hardly simple. Determining just a part of their function requires the best science has in twenty-first-century technology: ‘While belonging to the nanoscale, protein machines are so complex that tracing even a small fraction of their cycle requires weeks of calculations on supercomputers.’”
Dr. Thaddeus Williams said, “What do you think is the most repeated phrase in the entire Bible? It’s, ‘Thus says the Lord…’ which clocks in at over 400 occurrences. The God of the Bible is not the stone-cold silent god of the ancient Greeks. Nor is He the stone-cold silent god of the ancient Stoics or Epicureans, too busy enjoying the amenities of divine bliss to bother with humanity. No. The God who exists is a God who speaks.” What does this mean for us? Dr. Williams talks about what happens to people who make time to regularly hear what God has to say to them through His Word.
“Work is the outcome of effort; fruit, of life. A bad man may do good work, but a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” —Hudson Taylor
I love studying my Bible, and I also enjoy passing along things that encourage others to begin studying their own Bibles. This is a really cool infographic from Wesley Huff, giving a great overview of the Bible.
J. Warner Wallace leads us all along “the fuse” that led up to the arrival of Jesus as the Messiah, the One to whom the Old Testament prophets predicted.
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I take some time at the end of each calendar year for a quick recap of everything we have learned during this year at Calvary Assembly of God. I do this because I want to make sure we are all on the same page with each other before we move into a new year. And I also think it’s very important that we are continually reminded and reassured of what God has done for us. In our series on gratitude we talked about the dangers of forgetting to remember and re-tell the blessings of God. We see in the letters from the apostles both a re-telling of their own words, and reusing and amplifying the words of Jesus and other apostles.
You can click on the sermon series title to find a list of all of the sermons in that series. Clicking on those individual sermons will give you a short written recap of that message, and it will also give you the link to watch the video of the full sermon.
Kingdom Praying. Jesus made it clear time and time again that He came to reveal the Kingdom of God to us. He described what the Kingdom was like and told us that He came to be the means by which we could enter God’s Kingdom. He also told us how God’s children could access the power and privileges of our Heavenly Father through the means of prayer. He assured us with words like, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:32). Jesus said quite simply that we had access to our Father through prayer. And then to make sure we didn’t miss out on this awesome privilege, He instructed us, “This, then, is how you should pray” (Matthew 6:8).
Jots and Tittles. As we get closer to the death and resurrection of Jesus, there are an increasing number of prophecies that are fulfilled in these events. Jesus appears to have been very attentive to making sure that each and every one of these prophecies were fulfilled to the smallest detail. Near the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus noted that not one iota—or “one jot or tittle” in the Old English vocabulary—of any of God’s promises would be left unfulfilled (Matthew 5:18). It’s amazing that Jesus so carefully attended to all of these, but it’s also important to ask ourselves what these fulfilled prophecies mean to us today.
Takin’ Him to the Streets. Just before Jesus ascended to Heaven, He told His followers that they would have the joyful responsibility of taking the good news of forgiveness and eternal life to all the highways and byways of every nation. Later on, Paul would get more specific about all of the groups to which he was taking the message of Jesus (see Luke 24:46-47; 1 Corinthians 9:20-22). That commission is still in effect for Christians today: We are to share the gospel with everyone—from easy street to skid row, from Wall Street to Main Street, and every street in between. The streets on which you live and work are different from the streets where I travel. In fact, all of us live on different streets, but everyone we meet on every street needs to hear about Jesus. In this new series of messages, we are going to learn how the Holy Spirit can help us be ready to take Jesus to those on each street where God sends us.
Ascending. Every year, Jews from around the world made four pilgrimages up to Jerusalem for various feasts and sacrifices. These journeys reminded them of God’s goodness as they went to the Temple to worship, and they helped refocus on God’s ways as they returned to their regular routines. Jerusalem is over 2500 feet above sea level, so the pilgrimage there was a physical workout as well as a spiritual workout. These workouts were beneficial for God’s people, preparing them to minister in their cities in the following months. The Book of Psalms contains 15 songs that these pilgrims would sing to and with each other as they traveled up to Jerusalem. These Psalms of Ascent are still instructive for Christians today.
Living in your Gift Zone. God created each and every human being uniquely. We all come in different shapes and sizes, but we all share one thing in common: He created each of us with a unique personality and a unique gift package. By unique, I truly mean that we are all one-of-a-kind creations that have never existed in all of history! Here’s another thing we all have in common: We usually live in a comfort zone that is far smaller than our gift zone. Living this way keeps us from soaring through life in the way that God intended. He wants each of us to know our gifts, and to use our gifts in a way that benefits our world and brings Him glory. It starts with believing that we are indeed gifted by our Creator. Then we must have the courage to step out of our comfort zone into the much larger gift zone God has given us.
Is that in the Bible? A meme that makes me chuckle every time I see it is a “quote” attributed to Abraham Lincoln in which he says, “The problem with quotes found on the internet is that they are often not true.” (Not to spoil the joke for you, but unless Lincoln knew how to time travel to the future, I don’t think he knew about the modern internet!). I love this meme because it captures something that so many people fall into: a quick acceptance of a statement without verifying its source or thinking through the implications of the statement’s truthfulness. In this series I think you may be surprised to discover just how many phrases we call biblical aren’t, and how many phrases there are that we never realized are actually in the Bible.
Be Thankful. It’s so easy to spot the negative things. It’s so easy to gripe about the bad stuff with others. It’s so easy to complain about what’s wrong with the world. But the Bible repeatedly calls the saints of God to rise above this downward pull of negativity. In fact, for those who have a relationship with their Heavenly Father, who call Jesus their Savior, and who call the Holy Spirit their Counselor, there is really only one way to live: Grateful!
Christ’s Advents. The word Advent means the appearing—something that bursts onto the scene. At this time of year we are actually thinking about TWO Advents. We look backward in gratitude to celebrate the first Advent of Jesus when He was born in a manger in Bethlehem. And then we look forward in joyful expectation to the second Advent of Jesus when He will return to earth again as King of kings. As Christians live in this time between the two Advents, our celebration and expectation should bring four noticeable attributes from our lives: hope, peace, joy, and love.
This next year promises to be another amazing time of learning and growing. If you live in northern Kent County and don’t have a home church, I would love for you to visit us!
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We have the candles of hope and peace burning brightly. Romans 15:13 tells us that our hope in God’s fulfilled promises and our hope in His fulfilling of His future promises is what brings us not only peace but joy as well.
William Gurnall noted, “Joy is the highest testimony which can be given to our peace.” That means that hope bubbles up in peace and joy, but joy then sustains and fuels future hope, which allows us to experience peace all over again!
The English dictionary has the right definition for joy: the emotion of great delight caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying. Unfortunately, all of the examples the dictionary gives for joy are fleeting external things.
The Bible makes it quite clear that pleasure is not the same thing as joy, but still people try to find what they call joy in things that bring them pleasure. C.S. Lewis wrote, “Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is.”
Just ask the wisest and richest man who ever lived: King Solomon. He wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes which is all about his pursuit of pleasure, yet every attempts ends with him crying, “Vanity! Meaningless!” But notice something: every time he says this, the phrase “under the sun” is adjacent to it. In other words, nothing on earth can provide true joy.
Paul experienced the same thing in the New Testament (see Romans 7:18-20).
Just like we said about these candles that darkness is not the opposite of light, but it is the absence of light, so too, this wretched state of joylessness is the absence of things that are eternally satisfying.
That means we need something other-worldly—something higher than the sun—to truly bring light and satisfaction. The prophet Isaiah foretold the light that Jesus would bring from Heaven, and this light would be our eternal joy and salvation (Isaiah 9:1-3, 6-7; Matthew 1:21).
Notice how the angelic announcement of Christ’s birth ties together the thoughts of joy with Savior (Luke 2:8-11).
Isaiah foretold this First Advent which Jesus fulfilled (Isaiah 61:1-3; Luke 4:18-19), and which Paul come to discover as well (Romans 7:24-25).
Another biblical definition for the word joy is delighting in God’s grace in our trials because we understand that these trials enlarge our capacity for even greater joy. This is the joy we can know as we live between the two Advents of Jesus. We see this in the example of Jesus fixing His eyes on the eternal joy even as He walked toward Calvary, and how His Father then exalted Him for that (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 2:9-11).
In a similar, Jesus prepares us for the joy following our time of grief (John 16:17-24). The writer of Hebrews agreed with this (Hebrews 12:11), as did the writer of the 126th Psalm (notice the word joy being used four times in just six verses here!).
The Second Advent of Jesus will be eternally satisfying joy beyond anything we can imagine! I love how Isaiah 35 foretells what we can read on the last pages of the Book of Revelation.
This thought from Charles Spurgeon is spot-on: “We who trust in Jesus are the happiest of people, not constitutionally, for some of us are much tried and are brought to the utter depths of poverty, but inwardly, truly, our heart’s joy is not to be excelled.”
May we all live in that hope-filled, peace-fueled joy every single day until Christ returns or calls us Home!
If you missed it, check out the lights of hope and peace in our previous messages in this series by clicking here.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
We lit the candle of Hope last week and today we light the candle of Peace.As we saw, hope is what allows us to experience peace and joy: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).
But notice the phrase “as you trust in Him” in that verse. Peace doesn’t come just because we want it to, but it only comes as we trust in the One called the Prince of Peace.
Light drives out darkness and exposes sin, and often people don’t like it (John 1:9-11). In fact, Jesus Himself said that He was first coming with a sword to do battle against all of the things that rob us of lasting peace (Matthew 10:34).
Oswald Chambers described it this way, “The coming of Jesus Christ is not a peaceful thing; it is overwhelmingly and frantically disturbing, because the first thing He does is to destroy every peace that is not based on a personal relationship to Himself.”
Peace is only possible when the war is over. Modern-day diplomats use a phrase “sue for peace,” but this can only be done when one side admits defeat. God is at war with sin and He only gives peace to those who throw up their hands in total surrender to Him (Isaiah 57:14-21).
Jesus said He was the Light of the world and the only way to peace with the Father. The apostle Paul elaborates on that idea—
Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel andforeigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in His flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the Cross, by which He put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of His household. (Ephesians 2:12-19)
That’s what Jesus provided for us at His First Advent. Now, as we live between the Advents of Jesus, we can expect to have trouble in the world, but never peacelessness (John 14:27, 16:33).
The Messiah’s peace will:
Guard your heart and mind—Philippians 4:7
Arm your for battle against the enemy—Ephesians 6:15
Equip you to do His will—Hebrews 13:20-21
As our hearts are guarded, we are prepared to stand firm in spiritual battle, and we are equipped to do God’s will, we can live in peace concerning Christ’s Second Advent.
Jesus will appear again to fulfill one of the first promises made about the peace He would bring. God told satan that Jesus would crush his head, and then Paul tells us, “The God of peace will soon crush satan under your feet” (Genesis 3:15, Romans 16:20)!
So we have no fear of Death or Hell because the Prince of Peace has forever defeated those things for those who “trust in Him” (Revelation 20:10, 14; 21:1-5).
However, since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to use them properly: if prophecy, in proportion to one’s faith; if service, in the act of serving; or the one who teaches, in the act of teaching; or the one who exhorts, in the work of exhortation; the one who gives, with generosity; the one who is in leadership, with diligence; the one who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12:6-8)
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
The word Advent means the appearing—something that bursts onto the scene. At this time of year we are actually thinking about TWO Advents. We look backward in gratitude to celebrate the first Advent of Jesus when He was born in a manger in Bethlehem. And then we look forward in joyful expectation to the second Advent of Jesus when He will return to earth again as King of kings. As we will in this time between the Advents, there are four qualities that we should exemplify—the first is hope.
When the candle is lit, darkness disappears.
Darkness is not the opposite of light, it is the absence of light. In the same way, despair or hopelessness is the absence of hope.
Adam and Eve lived in perfection, but when they tried to do things their way—instead of obeying God’s way—their sin caused them despair. They tried to cover their nakedness, but with a hopeless covering of dying leaves. God came with a promise of full restoration, and illustrated it by covering them with the skin of a sacrificial animal (Genesis 3:7, 15, 21).
Job knew the hopelessness of self-covering and finality of earthly life, and even David—the man after God’s own heart knew this too (Job 6:11-13, 17:13-16; 1 Chronicles 29:15).
But Job and David both knew the hope they could have in their Redeemer (Job 19:25; Psalm 16).
Hope in both the Old and the New Testaments means a patient waiting, anticipating with pleasure, having a confident expectation. It’s a light shining in the darkness that cannot be extinguished—it’s hope that despair cannot darken (Isaiah 9:1-2, 6-7).
At His first Advent, Jesus appeared in our “clothing” so that He could become our sin and then clothe us in His righteousness (Hebrews 2:17; John 1:14; Romans 4:6-8; Hebrews 6:16-20). For this we look back in gratitude.
But we don’t live today merely in gratitude for Christ’s first Advent, but we also live in confident hope of Christ’s second Advent (Acts 1:11; John 14:1-3; 2 Corinthians 5:1-8; Revelation 22:7, 12, 20).
He came into this world of sin,
Made flesh and blood His dearest kin;
He died, that He might take us in,
And keep us till He comes again. —Scott Hubbard
How do we live out this confident hope—
May the God of HOPE fill you with all JOY and PEACE as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)
Follow along with all four of the Advent attributes by clicking here.
Jesus made His first appearance as a fully human Man in a stable in Bethlehem. But His Advent—or appearing—had been anticipated for a long time before that. 
Counselor is someone who gives counsel; not just any counsel, but perfect counsel because He is omniscient (knows it all) and omnipotent (can do it all)—Isaiah 14:26-27; Psalm 139:1-6; Psalm 32:8. 
Craig T. Owens 