Peter MacLaren Jan. 4, 2026

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Pastor Matthew Trott Dec. 21, 2025

Dr. Barclays Bible Study - The Gospel of Mark Part 25

Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - ADVENT

ADVENT

The Advent season is one recognized by many churches throughout the Christian world, but not all. The word advent means “coming” or “arrival” and when Roman Christians first tied it to the coming of Christ, it was not to Christ’s coming as a child in the manger but to His second coming as a judge of the world.* However, now it is more recognized as relating to Christmas as well as to future revelation. Each of the four Sundays of Advent refers to one aspect of the faith and each follows upon the previous.

The first aspect is “hope” and represents what we all need - hope for our health, our families, our country, and our future. We need to have hope that our present existence with all its trouble, turmoil, anger, and distress is not all there is; and to those who follow Christ we have the hope, really the certainty, that it is not. The Bible states that:

…Our days on earth are as a shadow, 

and without hope. 

(1 Chronicles 29:15)

But,  

Be of good courage… 

All you who hope in the Lord. 

(Psalm 31:24)

There is hope in your future, says the Lord… 

(Jeremiah 31:17)

[for] if we hope for what we do not see, 

we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. 

(Romans 8:25)

And…

If in this life only we have hope in Christ, 

we are of all men the most pitiable. 

(1 Corinthians 15:19)

Therefore,        

…sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, 

and always be ready to give a defence 

to everyone who asks you a reason 

for the hope that is in you… 

(1 Peter 3:15)

Without hope how can anyone expect to have peace which is the second part of Advent. If there is no prospect of a future, how can anyone have true peace when only blankness and darkness lie ahead of them? But hope in Christ confers just the opposite for He said:

…Peace be with you. 

(John 20:19)

These things I have spoken, 

that in Me you may have peace… 

(John 16:33)

Peace I leave with you, 

My peace I give to you; 

not as the world gives do I give to you. 

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 

(John 14:27)

And if you truly have hope and peace then you are more likely to be content and therefore have true joy in your being, and that is the third part of Advent. The Bible mentions happiness only once for that is an emotional response to external influence and can come and go as the mood strikes. But the Bible mentions joy almost 160 times for that is an internal influence from God and one can still have joy even in the most trying circumstance. So the Bible says:

…Weeping may endure for a night,

But joy comes in the morning 

(Psalm 30:5)

Those who sow in tears 

Shall reap in joy.

(Psalm 126:5)

And Jesus said:

These things I have spoken to you, 

that My joy may remain in you, 

and that your joy may be full. 

(John 15:11)

And only when you know you have hope and peace and joy can you really appreciate the true love of God. That is, after all, the true end of Advent and the true hope of all who believe in His second coming. For He said:

…I have this against you, 

that you have left your first love. 

(Revelation 2:4)

So,

keep yourselves in the love of God, 

looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 

(Jude 1:21)

For after all…

…God is love, 

and he who abides in love abides in God, 

and God in him. 

(1 John 4:16)

Just something else to think about this Advent season.

 

*taken from Christianity.com

Blake Storey Dec. 14, 2025

Dr. Barclays Bible Study - The Gospel of Mark Part 24