I am blessed to be part of a devotional with a handful of men from my church as we explore together the title Repeat the Sounding Joy. For the last three years, Advent has started to become a time of reflection on the birth of Jesus, and my walk with the Lord, and it is a sweet time of preparation for the celebration of Christmas. Long ago, those who knew the scriptures looked diligently for the coming Messiah, but many of them missed it altogether, even to the point of wanting to destroy Jesus when the hint that He was the Messiah came.

I look at this time of the year fondly, gratefully, thoughtfully. We find that, since the beginning in Genesis, a time of preparation for the coming Messiah was pronounced repeatedly. I especially have thought of Simeon, who received revelation from the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before seeing the Messiah, and that beautiful moment when he takes Jesus in his arms and makes that declaration that his eyes have seen God’s salvation. Simeon came by the Spirit into the temple. This is how he was able to take Jesus into his arms. He came to where Jesus would be.

Recently, I’ve been returning to and meditating on John 5: 39-40 which says,

”You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” (NKJV)

There is something immensely powerful to me about this. It is easy to focus on the scriptures only rather than coming to His person who is the source of life. The scriptures are very important, but unless we come to Him, we won’t have life. This is what Jesus said.

This Christmas, many will read the scriptures about the birth of Jesus, which are a wonderful testament to the promise of the prophesied Messiah. Let us endeavor also to come to Jesus. Let Him show us what it means to come to Him that we may have life, the life He was born to give for all mankind, that we may know Him and live.