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The word “Advent” comes from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming.”  

During this season, we engage in the season of Advent in order to plant great expectation in our hearts for the birth of a baby in a manger who we believe changed all of history. 

But the Christmas Story did not actually begin on a summer night in Bethlehem, tucked in a stable as a little baby cried out for the first time. 

The story began 700 years earlier. That’s when the first sign of hope began brewing in the hearts of people who wanted to believe there could be a better story than the one they were living out. 

Yes, 700 years earlier is when the first baby announcement for Jesus arrived. You and I are likely thinking the same thing– isn’t 700 years a bit premature for a baby announcement? Couldn’t God have waited a little bit before breaking forth with this news? Didn’t it set people up for shattered expectations? 

I think at this time, such a dark time in history, the news of something coming in the future filled the people with hope. It gave them something to look forward to. 

Several months back, I set out to read and study the book of Isaiah and I have to be really honest with you: the beginning was pretty rough. I was trudging through. I was even feeling a little bit depressed as I read because there is seemingly no hope as you begin to read the words of Isaiah.  

A little background: Isaiah is a book of prophecy. It is meant to foretell the future. We know Isaiah was a prophet who was writing these words “in the year that King Uzziah died.” This would set us up at around 740 B.C., 700 years before Jesus shows up. 

As you begin to read this book, hope seems grim. God is sick over the people who’ve given up devotion to him and traded it for impressive religious rituals that are empty and careless. God does not like the pride of these people. He is disgusted by the idols they worship. 

If you’ve read the Old Testament then you know that this wasn’t a one-time thing. The people were constantly abandoning God for the chance to act as God. 

I am totally fed up when I read the Old Testament and I know, for certain, God had a lot more patience than I ever would if I were in his shoes. 

As you’re moving through the book of Isaiah, you’re holding your breath and thinking to yourself, “This is bad… this is really bad.” 

And then chapter 9 happens. And I will admit I lost my breath for a second because I finally understood the weight of a chapter called “Unto us a child is born.” 

 

In order to grasp the beauty of Jesus coming, we have to know the message of his arrival was delivered at a time of great depravity and darkness. All of a sudden, in a dark and depraved world, joy bursts forth. 

“The joy of a great celebration, sharing gifts and warm greetings.” 

Isaiah cries out that a baby will be born. And he goes the extra mile and says the baby will be born for us. This is our announcement. This is God thinking of us in the midst of us being such terrible, prideful people. 

“He’ll take over running the world. His names will be Amazing Counselor, Strong God, Eternal Father, Prince of Wholeness. His ruling will grow, and there will no limits to the wholeness he brings.” 

Deep exhale. 

He’s coming. 

He’s come. 

He’s here. 

He’s all around this season. 

And his promise is that he does not come with empty hands, he shows up with wholeness that each one of us can cling onto.

 

Just look at those names: Amazing Counselor. Strong God. Eternal Father. Prince of Wholeness. 

Usually, you name a baby in the hopes of who that baby will become when they grow up. You give them a strong name as a way to pave a path for their future. 

But in this case, Isaiah is boldly saying: This baby already has these names. He is already these things. Without having done anything, he lives up to his name. 

And I cannot help but look at these four names and notice immediately: These are the attributes of God. This is who he is.  

This is more than God sending a son into the world… it is an announcement– 700 years in advance– that God is putting on skin and coming down to earth for us. 

He is not passively standing up in the sky to watch his son live out human life. He is becoming human for us.  

This is an announcement that God is stepping into the ring. 

He is coming to fully participate in what it means to be human. And this announcement… well, it changes everything.

READING 

Isaiah 9 

STEAL THIS PRAYER

Dear God, today I am so thankful that you are not a passive God. You are not a God who stands on the sidelines of my story but you are in every detail, giving me hope when I seem to have lost my own. Thank you for not putting a limit on the wholeness you extend to us. Empower me to step fully into that wholeness, today and every day in the future.