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The month of December has a way of flying by in a blur. Take a moment and think back across December. What did you hear? What did you experience? What did you see? I pray that you were able to hear the anticipation of the Israelites as they looked forward to the Messiah, that you experienced the joy of that promised King, and that you saw the awe on the faces of the unsuspecting shepherds. We spent nearly all of the month in the season of Advent waiting on the arrival of the Christ Child.
What now? Now that the season is over, the wait is finished. Was it everything that you hoped it would be? Were there parts that fell flat or exceeded expectations? The truth of the matter is that no Christmas we celebrate this side of Christ's return in glory will be perfect. But this is not something that will go on forever. That is why, even though Advent is over, we still wait. In the imperfect waiting, we wait for more than Christmas. For those who believe in Jesus, we wait each day — regardless of the season — for that day when, in the words of Isaiah:
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well‑aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And He will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of His people He will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, that He might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation" (Isaiah 25:6–9).
For you and me, the waiting continues, not just in Advent, but day in and day out as we pray for Christ's return in glory. We are not just waiting, but we are looking forward to it because on that day, there will be no more waiting, no more tears, no more hurt, and no more sin. It will be perfect in a way that nothing else we wait for can be. The Advent season has closed, and we now get to wait eagerly for Christ's second Advent, when all waiting will be over.
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