Advent of Victory
In the time of advent we can get lost in the seasonal ideas and our minds can be stuck in the manger and birth narrative and forget what the ultimate implications are. Jesus, creator of the universe, the King of Kings, came to us and lived with us in our brokenness with the intent of, and eventual success in defeating sin and death on our behalf. That is the victory of the first Advent, but the victory of the second Advent is yet to come. That reminds of some of our series in Daniel last Summer.
In remembering some of this I got to thinking, we all like to be on a winning team or be fans of a winning team. And even if our team of choice is a notoriously good team that always chokes or is ever the underdog, we still can have fun with this identity and rooting for them and their success. I got a taste of that when living in New Orleans, where the never good enough underdogs, the Saints, finally won a Super Bowl and the city went nuts. It shouldn’t be a surprise, since they are well known celebrators down there, that it turned into a weeks long pre-Mardi Gras celebrations that spilled over into Mardi Gras and didn’t lose steam.
Likewise, we have the victorious King, humble, meek, and murdered on our behalf, only to break the chains of sin and death. We have both the unexpected underdog of a poor middle eastern rabbi, and the glorious victor of the risen Messiah in Jesus Christ. And in His second Advent (coming) every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that HE is Lord.
Daniel 7:13-14 is a part of Daniel’s visions of the beasts of the kingdoms of earth and what would happen in the coming generations. Some of what was in Daniel's visions has happened and some is yet to happen. For our purposes today and during Advent it can be interesting and encouraging to see the connections there regarding Jesus. For instance this passage in Daniel 7:13-14 seems to point to the coming Messiah, and even parallels Christ’s own descriptions of Himself and His spiritual kingdom that cannot be destroyed.
13 “I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
14 And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.
Jesus said of himself in Matthew 24:30:
“Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
And in Matthew 26:64 ‘Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”’
So let’s worship our victorious King this Advent season, remembering how He came in humility to set us free from our sins, and looking forward in faith for when He comes back to establish His Kingdom and make all things new.