Day 2: The Light Of The World Has Come ~ Advent Readings 2021 by Eve S

 Day 2 of Advent -  November 29th, 2021
2nd Night of Chanukah

Week 1: Hope (or promise) ~ Light 1 purple candle

Advent Hymn:  Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus

Written as a prayer by Charles Wesley in 1744 he adapted this into a hymn as he meditated upon Haggai 2:7 and considered the needs of his present day. The words Wesley penned the words with the intent for people to remember both Advent and Christmas and prepare for Christ’s Second Coming. Here is verse 2:

 

Verse 2:
Born Your people to deliver, born a child and yet a King, born to reign in us forever, now Your gracious kingdom bring. By Your own eternal Spirit, rule in all our hearts alone; by Your all-sufficient merit, raise us to Your glorious throne.

“For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. ⁷ And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts.” ~ Haggai 2: 6-7

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The Glory of Israel Returns

“And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.” Exodus 25:8

God desires to live with us. After delivering the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, God gave Moses specific architectural instructions to build the Tabernacle. His presence in that Tabernacle was manifested to all of Israel as they wandered the desert for 40 years.

In the Promise Land about 440 years later, the Temple was built in Jerusalem by Solomon where God’s glory filled that house. Generations later, when idolatry filled the hearts of the Israelites, the shekinah glory of God glory departed from the temple as describe by the prophet Ezekiel in chapters 8-9:3.

 

 

Yet God was pleased to offer His visible manifestation in a wondrous way about 1,400 years after the Tabernacle was constructed. His parents presented Jesus 40 days after his birth in the Temple – the Glory of Israel had returned.

The weights of this life - anxiety, fear, depression, the entanglements of sin – seek to burden and bury us. We need God to deliver us not just from one event but for all eternity. So, what does He do? He sends His power, glory, majesty and holiness in an infant boy set apart for His Eternal purpose.

“For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. ⁷ And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts.” ~ Haggai 2: 6-7

God’s mercy-filled heart sent the long-expected Jesus at just the right time.
May I be ever grateful for His sinless life and sacrifice. Lift me by Your Spirit to Your glorious Throne.