Waiting for Christmas
“But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days.” (Daniel 12:13)
The Book of Daniel contains some of our most memorable stories (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego), some of our loftiest descriptions of Christ (the Son of Man), and some of the most distance prophetic oracles in Scripture (the coming of Christ). When we hear the word “prophecy,” we tend to think of “foretelling” as in casting a vision for tomorrow, not “forth-telling” as in establishing a vision for today. Prophecy describes future events with current implications. Thus, we hear the final words given to Daniel – “Go your way until the end. And you shall rest.” Or in a good Southern paraphrase, “Keep on keeping on – even if you don’t see the promise fulfilled. You won’t’ miss out in heaven.”
But what does this have to do with Christmas? Everything! We live between the two Advents, the two comings of Christ. All of the Old Testament looked forward to the coming of Christ. “Abraham saw His day and was glad.” (John 8:56) Simeon and Anna both waited day and night to see the Lord’s salvation (Luke 2:22-38). The expectation of Christ’s first coming led to John’s preaching, to Simeon’s waiting, to Annas’ praying. Their assurance of God’s faithfulness led to activity, not inactivity.
But now that Christ has come, what about us? If He has come once, we have an even more firm assurance that He will come again. We have seen Him keeping His promise coming the birth of Christ, the life of Christ, the death and resurrection of Christ. We have heard the certain word that “this Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). Two thousand years have passed, and we find ourselves on the precipice of eternity. As Joel Beeke says, “We should not let the passing of time dull the spiritual senses.”
Time dulls our senses like the slow settling of rust upon a once sharped blade. As we approach this Christmas, let us knock the rust off. We have before us a reminder that God has been faithful, is faithful, and will be faithful. Let us sharpen our spiritual edge by both looking forward to what Christ will do and by the active enjoyment of that future today – by the praising, praying, and waiting upon His return.
