Advent 2021:Gospel Hope:Prophesied, Fulfilled, and Coming

Advent  2021: Gospel Hope:Prophesied, Fulfilled, and Coming

Compiled by Marissa Namirr and Joy Dudley

This Advent we are drawn back to the ancient promises given to the Fathers of a Serpent Crushing Son. Listen to these marvelous promises and covenants and how they are directly fulfilled in God who took on flesh to redeem us, His people. They were an immense blessing to Joy and me and we hope they and this discussion will be a Gospel blessing to you this Advent.

You can listen to the Gospel Gal YouTube episode by the same title here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ROHEs8fVLs&ab_channel=GospelGal

Luke 1:68-79
68 Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,
because He has visited
and provided redemption for His people.
69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of His servant David,
70 just as He spoke by the mouth
of His holy prophets in ancient times;
71 salvation from our enemies
and from the clutches of those who hate us.
72 He has dealt mercifully with our fathers
and remembered His holy covenant—
73 the oath that He swore to our father Abraham.
He has given us the privilege,
74 since we have been rescued
from our enemies’ clutches,
to serve Him without fear
75 in holiness and righteousness
in His presence all our days.
76 And child, you will be called
a prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord
to prepare His ways,
77 to give His people knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins.
78 Because of our God’s merciful compassion,
the Dawn from on high will visit us
79 to shine on those who live in darkness
and the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Genesis 3:15
15 I will put hostility between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed.
He will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.

Genesis 17:1-7
1When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live in My presence and be blameless. 2 I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.” 3 Then Abram fell facedown and God spoke with him: 4 “As for Me, My covenant is with you: you will become the father of many nations. 5 Your name will no longer be Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations. 6 I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you. 7 I will keep My covenant between Me and you, and your future offspring throughout their generations, as an everlasting covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you.

2 Samuel 7:8-17
8 “Now this is what you are to say to My servant David: ‘This is what the Lord of Hosts says: I took you from the pasture and from following the sheep to be ruler over My people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. I will make a name for you like that of the greatest in the land. 10 I will establish a place for My people Israel and plant them, so that they may live there and not be disturbed again. Evildoers will not afflict them as they have done 11 ever since the day I ordered judges to be over My people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. “‘The Lord declares to you: The Lord Himself will make a house for you. 12 When your time comes and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He will build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to Me. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with a human rod and with blows from others. 15 But My faithful love will never leave him as I removed it from Saul; I removed him from your way. 16 Your house and kingdom will endure before Me forever, and your throne will be established forever.’” 17 Nathan spoke all these words and this entire vision to David.

Jeremiah 31:31-34
31 “Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant they broke even though I had married them”—the Lord’s declaration. 33 “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put My teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. 34 No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least to the greatest of them”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their wrongdoing and never again remember their sin.”

Isaiah 9:2-7
2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
a light has dawned
on those living in the land of darkness.
3 You have enlarged the nation
and increased its joy.
The people have rejoiced before You
as they rejoice at harvest time
and as they rejoice when dividing spoils.
4 For You have shattered their oppressive yoke
and the rod on their shoulders,
the staff of their oppressor,
just as You did on the day of Midian.
5 For the trampling boot of battle
and the bloodied garments of war
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For a child will be born for us,
a son will be given to us,
and the government will be on His shoulders.
He will be named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
7 The dominion will be vast,
and its prosperity will never end.
He will reign on the throne of David
and over his kingdom,
to establish and sustain it
with justice and righteousness from now on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.

Luke 2:8-14
8 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David. 12 This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in cloth and lying in a feeding trough.” 13 Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: 14 Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors

So we understand and believe that Jesus Christ is a real, historical man. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and the virgin to fulfill prophesy as the Serpent Crusher from Genesis 3, the seed of Abraham and the root of David, and He is for us the long-awatied Messiah, Mediator and Advocate. We believe and can have no doubt that He is all our salvation and all our peace with God. He has reconciled us to God by His perfect, one and only sacrifice. He has actively and passively fulfilled all righteousness on our behalf and ever lives to make intercession for us.

Heidelberg Catechism 35

Q. What does it mean that he
“was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary”?

A. That the eternal Son of God,
who is and remains
true and eternal God,
took to himself,
through the working of the Holy Spirit,
from the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary,
a truly human nature
so that he might become David’s true descendant,
like his brothers in every way
except for sin.

John 1:1-4; 14-17

1 In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 All things were created through Him,
and apart from Him not one thing was created
that has been created.
4 Life was in Him,
and that life was the light of men.
... 14 The Word became flesh
and took up residence among us.
We observed His glory,
the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father,
full of grace and truth.
15 (John testified concerning Him and exclaimed,
“This was the One of whom I said,
‘The One coming after me has surpassed me,
because He existed before me.’”)
16 Indeed, we have all received grace after grace
from His fullness,
17 for the law was given through Moses,
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

In regard to the benefits of Christ's incarnation to us, Zacharius Ursinus wrote, "There are two benefits resulting from the holy conception and nativity of Christ. First, the confirmation of our faith that he is the mediator; and, secondly, the consolation that we are justified before God through him. The reason of this arises from the fact, that he could not be the mediator between God and man, who is not himself very man, and perfectly righteous, and who is not united with the Word. It behooved the mediator to be, by nature, true God and man, that he might preserve the salvation purchased for us. "For such an High-Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens." (Heb. 7:26.) What, therefore, is the meaning of this article, I believe in Jesus Christ, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary? First, I believe that this natural Son of God was made true man in a miraculous manner, and that he is one Christ having two natures, the divine and human, joined together by a personal union, and that he was sanctified by the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. Secondly, I believe that he is such, true God and true man, and yet but one Christ, and that he was sanctified from his mother's womb, that he might redeem and sanctify me, (which he could not do unless sanctification and union were effected in him) and that I have the right of the adoption of the sons of God, for the sake of this, his Son, conceived and born in the manner just described.

What a great salvation is to be seen in the incarnation of Jesus Christ our Savior and King, but the same Messiah is not quite finished His redemption story. The Word and the Creed inform us that this Gentle and Lowly Redeemer is coming again to "judge the living and the dead." And it is His imminent return that we look for at Advent each year.

Heidelberg 52 explains how it is that the Christian can rejoice in the hope of His coming. 

 "In all distress and persecution,
with uplifted head,
I confidently await the very judge
who has already offered himself to the judgment of God
in my place and removed the whole curse from me.
Christ will cast all his enemies and mine
into everlasting condemnation,
but will take me and all his chosen ones
to himself into the joy and glory of heaven."

Come thou long-expected Jesus! May your Advent, Christmas and New Year be full of Gospel blessing.

Resources  used for the episode and article:

1. The Song of Zechariah: Sermon from John Fonville: Paramount Church 

2. The Heidelberg Catechism 

2. Zacharius Ursinus Commentary on The Heidelberg Catechism