The Incarnation and the Exultation: An Advent Devotional - Saturday, Second Week of Advent – Comfort and Restoration

This short essay is taken from the book, The Incarnation and the Exultation: An Advent Devotional. This devotional reflects on the scriptures of incarnation and exaltation in order to take you on a journey of thoughtful self-reflection. It is meant to draw you more deeply into the mystery of Christ’s coming into the world to help you walk your own inner path toward the season of Christmas. As you celebrate the coming of Christ into your lives during Advent and spend time reflecting on the readings in this devotional, may the light and love that entered our world lead you to the cross in wonder and thanksgiving. May you find joy and discover strength as you walk this wondrous journey to Bethlehem, always holding within your heart the image of the Hill of Calvary and the hope of the Age to come when Christ will return to call his people home!

Incarnation – Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. (Isaiah 40:1-2)

Exaltation – And behold, they brought to him a paralytic, lying on his bed; and when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” (Matthew 9:2)

Forgiveness is a beautiful balm to the one made weary by sin, transformed by grace in the fires of suffering, and standing at the edge of rebirth. For those who have been touched by Christ’s mercy there is no bitterness over the trial, only joy in passing from death to life. In the coming of Jesus, the days of trial are over and we hear the tender voice of reconciliation. The Messiah has entered the world and salvation is at hand!

The rest of the reading from Isaiah goes on to talk about the voice calling, “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." (Isaiah 40:3) The way to heaven shall be smoothed over, the burden made easy and light. The glory is revealed and our fragile lives will be forever transformed. We are like the flowers that fade and the grass that is here today and tomorrow burned in the fire. And yet, in Jesus, we are given eternal life. Our meaningless, dead, sin-filled existence is transformed by the crèche and the cross and we are given new birth in Christ. As we await the coming of Jesus at Christmas, we are comforted by the hope of restoration that he brings.

No matter where we are in our walk today, through the incarnation of our Lord, God offers us comfort, restoration, and new life. Our time of turning back brings us to the place where we may receive the blessings that Christmas brings. Let us rejoice in that hope as we continue to reflect on the story of the birth of Jesus.

Prayer: Merciful Father, how great is your love, given to us by Christ in his perfect, complete, and total surrender through his incarnation and his suffering on the cross. May this truth prepare my heart so that I may make straight the way of the Lord for others who long to know the way home…Amen!

Comfort for the lost and lowly,

Warfare ended, sin removed.

Child of grace, God’s incarnation,

Healing balm, our way approved.