“A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes – and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas).

Jesus didn’t come all the way to earth merely to tell us to be nicer to each other.

He didn’t travel the cosmos only to tell us to be more tolerant and accepting.

He came to set us free.

If Jesus was only a good teacher and a moral human being, then His death was pointless and we are all still dead in our sins, without hope, and to be pitied above all others.

But Jesus was (and is) God in the flesh who took on our humanity, bore our sins, and gave us His perfection that we who were dead might live.

Advent is the anticipation of all that. Advent is the eager awaiting of the fulfillment of all of God’s promises in Jesus.

We wait, but we wait with hope and certainty. Even so, come Lord Jesus.