ADVENT - DAY 13 - A MUCKY WORLD

ANTICIPATING GOD IN THE CHRISTMAS SEASON (A Daily Advent Devotional)

Over the next few days till Christmas I would like you to take a journey with me in anticipation.  Let's daily look at the events leading up to the birth of Christ with a sense of anticipation of His arrival into this world and into our lives.  (Inspired by the Book "The Miraculous Journey" by Marty A. Bullis).

Mark 1:12-13 (ESV) 12  The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13  And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.

There is no flight into Egypt in Mark’s gospel, no rescue for the holy child from evil beings.  We are shown a mature Christ, readied for battle, who as an adult is initiating a time of confrontation.  It is a time for standing His ground, not a time for flight.  Equipped from birth, now set apart through baptism, Jesus is driven to make war with evil.

Mark tells us that the Spirit, which has just descended upon Jesus, takes Him out into the wilderness to meet God’s foe.  The Spirit acts forcefully, driving Him out, expelling Him, like a soldier equipped for battle being thrown into the middle of the fight.  All of Jesus’ life has led to this confrontation.  Herod may have seemed a threat to the child, but now the child-grown-to-full-strength must meet His real threat.

Christ has been at the center of the battle all along, even while He was making a nighttime escape to Egypt.  Only now is time fulfilled and readied for His active working.  Now is the time when His arrival assures God’s victory.  The incarnation story provides us with a taste of this scene that is to come.  The Christ-child divides the world into sidelines: those fearing Him and those worshipping Him.  We know something will come of this.  Mark lets us view the Advent of a battle unlike any other.  He shows us God walking out alone to endure all of our temptations.  No human can fight this battle, for we have all fallen to the enemy.  He fights this battle alone with His angels.  He has come, made His Advent, to reclaim us.  He has arrived for His fallen comrades - to ensure our total victory.  Wow!