Throughout the Bible, the story of God coming to rescue His children from exile is told time and time again. When Jesus came, God’s people lived in the land of Israel, but they were not free. They expected to get rescued from the grip of Rome when the Messiah came. When John the Baptist came preaching, they expected that once again, they would be liberated to live physically free.
Drawing from Isaiah 40, Miriam Thomas taught how Jesus came in the spirit of the liberation story and arrived as the Messiah that would end the exile. But it was not the exile from physical Israel He came to fix. Jesus came to deliver us from our exile from God’s presence.
In this advent season, we remember that Jesus came and did the salvific work bringing us out of captivity to the enemy. But He is still coming in our lives. He came, but He is still coming. We need to heed the prophet’s call to expect Jesus to come in our lives by making room for Him and obeying His leading.
In her message, Miriam listed three ways she discerned God was leading us to make room for Him in this season. This week, take time and consider how God would have you prepare for His arrival in your life.
- Is there a sin that has exiled you from God’s presence? Now is the season to deal with it.
- See if God wants to reignite hope and joy for His coming. Meditate on your testimony and tell it to someone else.
- Maybe God wants to use you are a John the Baptist to tell someone else that Jesus has come to set them free.