What Advent is All About

"Even the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many"

Mark 10:45

Short blog, but I was reading John Piper's The Dawning of Indestructible Joy, daily readings for the advent. And I don't know how he does it or how the Holy Spirit can compact such thought provoking truth in like half a paragraph. I would highly recommend this book, I mean I am only on Dec 4 and well I'm writing on Dec 18. Talk about a late start. But I wanted to share a simple truth that we all know, yet I feel like it hit differently.

One of the members in DC always comes back to the reality that Jesus coming down and dying for us was not something we deserved nor is something we could have chosen for ourselves, and more so God did not "have to" do. It was a gift.

And as I began to meditate on that truth, it's so true- the creator of this world if anything deserves to be served, not to serve. And I think what hit me was that he came to serve on nothing but the love for us ( John 3:16). It wasn't that he needed us to be reconciled with himself because he depended on our works, actually every work we even do in Christ was prepared beforehand ( Eph 2:10). And this aspect of glory, he did not need us in order to know or understand his glory. He knew glory and experienced glory in the triune God before there was earth. And when we glorify God, it's not like we are adding anything to his glory, it is purely a response of recognizing it as glory. And that's something I never grasped before. So if it's not for our works or for our praise, then why would God ever send his son to die for us. I can hardly imagine that as a parent, but to imagine my child taking upon every burden, every sin that was never committed by him, and to carry every evil thought, every evil deed, every person who would then reject him even after sacrificing himself. Like that's insane. I would be crying out injustice, but yet to willingly do that. I can't completely comprehend as to why. Yet God in His great grace, mercy and love, he chose to do it, not out of spite or looking at the world, " what a mess, okay Jesus go, they are incapable from saving themselves". God actually mentions his plan since the fall and has used everything in history, specifically regarding Israel, as a picture of their need and the coming of Christ.