December 25 – Day 26
Acts 1:4-11
On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Merry Christmas! The Advent season in preparation for celebrating the birth of Jesus is complete, but the plan of God is not done. Our passage this morning helps us remember that Christmas was the revealing of the Messiah, but that was only the start of God’s plan made visible. I remember one Christmas when I came downstairs looking out the window to see the ground covered with snow. Then as I entered the room where our Christmas tree and all the presents were located, there stood a new bike! To say I was excited is a massive understatement. Yet all I could do was sit on it and think of riding it because the ground was covered with snow. It would be a couple months before I was able to glide down the driveway and take off down the street. There was anticipation, yet not fulfillment. The same could be said for the proclamation of the angels to the shepherds, the wise men who came from afar, to Simeon and Anna, and to Mary and Joseph. Mary and Joseph knew their child was born to save His people from their sins, yet that wasn’t happening today. Today there was simply great joy at the birth of the child.
Our passage tells the end of Jesus’ physical presence with the disciples. He has been crucified, buried in a borrowed tomb, and has risen from the dead. All that has been prophesied about the Messiah has been fulfilled by Jesus. The anticipation is over, but is it? The disciples were asking about the coming of the Kingdom, more anticipation, but Jesus tells them it isn’t for them to know. Instead, He has a role for them to fill and He will send the Holy Spirit for them to accomplish this task. The disciples are told to wait on the Holy Spirit and then before their view eyes, Jesus ascends into the heavens. It seems to always be anticipation when it comes to God’s plan. This is the reason we are told to walk by faith, not by sight. And so now we, like the disciples, live in anticipation of the Second Advent, coming, of the Messiah. The angels promised He would return. And as with all that Jesus promised, it too, will come to pass as we wait with anticipation, fulfilling the role and task He left all His disciples.
So this Christmas, celebrate both Advents, the First of His birth and the Second of His return for all His children! Again, Merry Christmas – and Maranatha!
