O Come Let Us Adore Him: Advent Week 2

Community Brookside

This week we focus on the passion of God to prepare his people for the coming of Jesus.
God spent hundreds of years preparing his people for the coming redemption through Jesus by giving us the Law, the Prophets, the scriptures, and then John the Baptist.
This week we spend time talking about how God's passion for saving his people came into fulfillment when John the Baptist prepared his people for the coming savior by calling the Jewish people, and in turn still calls us today, into repentance. John's passionate message of heart cleansing was compared to a "refiner's fire" and a "launderer's soap."
John's appearance would have been pretty shocking, but his message penetrated the peoples' hearts. He fulfilled prophecies that foretold of a messenger who would prepare then way for the Messiah. John recognized Jesus as the Messiah and pointed out that while John baptized with water, Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit.
The Christmas birth narrative would not be the same with the promise of John the Baptist being born to his parents Zechariah and Elizabeth. The intertwining of Christ's birth story with John's birth story is another beautiful way that God's passion for our salvation is made known to us.
Join us as we continue to focus in the Advent Season on the beautiful mystery of the coming before and coming again of Jesus.