St Johns Southgate

Your king is coming

Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! Matthew 21:9

This Advent we once again celebrate Christ as the coming one. That is who he is. In the Old Testament, people waited for the coming one; in the New Testament they asked: “Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?” Those who did not recognise him are still waiting for him to come. Those who recognise that he has come see and celebrate his coming over and over again.

Each Christmas we remember that Jesus is the coming one. He came from heaven to earth. He came to take on our flesh and blood, to become one of us. Each Christmas we again see him, not just as the one who once came, but as the coming one. His coming is as fresh and new as though it is the first time. He is the coming one who came.

This Advent season points us to the coming one. But not just to his coming at Christmas. An equally important focus is on his coming again at the end of time. “He will come again to judge the living and the dead”, we confess so easily each Sunday. Yet to take these words seriously should mean to be filled with expectation and joy. This Advent season again calls us to receive the Christ at the end of time.

Your King is coming to you now. The one who came at Bethlehem, the one who rode into Jerusalem, the one who will come at the end of time: he comes to you now. He comes to you right now as you read this word about him.

He does not come to you today on a donkey; he comes wrapped up in his word of love. He comes in the cleansing water; he comes disguised in the bread and wine. He even comes in the person of a needy neighbour, or in the loving Christian friend whose comforting arm is around you.

Pastor Ian