Husband, father, and Anglican priest living in the North Georgia Mountains. Sermons, reflections, and articles promoting the "Ancient Faith for Modern Times". Subscribe below to get the latest posts in your inbox.
It is the announcement that the eternal Word through whom all things were made entered the world he made as one of us, taking flesh that could be touched and held, flesh that could hunger and grow weary, and eventually flesh that could be nailed to a Cross.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. The Child promised by Isaiah has come. The grace of God has appeared. The Savior has been born. This Child is our Savior. This infant is our sovereign Lord. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.
There is also grace here. Ahaz refuses the sign, and God gives the sign anyway. The fulfillment does not depend upon the worthiness of the king. The promise does not survive because David’s descendants maintain perfect faith. The promise survives because God is faithful.
Thomas’s story does not end in the locked room with “I will never believe.” Christ comes to him, and the story ends with worship: “My Lord and my God.” That is where the Gospel is taking Thomas, and it is where the Gospel is taking us.
That makes Thomas particularly fitting in Advent not because doubt is the essence of Christian waiting but because faith lives by the Word of God while awaiting sight. Thomas saw and believed; the Church receives his testimony and hears Christ’s blessing upon those who have not seen and yet believe.
That matters because biblical hope is never sentimental. Isaiah does not say, “Cheer up, things may get better.” He says, “Behold, your God will come.” Christian hope rests not in our ability to improve the wilderness, but in the promise that God himself comes to save.