First Coming, Second Coming #10: So what’s this got to do with Christmas?
We’ve just travelled through the book of 1 Thessalonians, summarising each passage in 100 words and sitting with those words to see what rises to the surface as an indication of what God might be saying to us each as individuals.
I hope that’s been a helpful process for you.
The title of this series has been First Coming, Second Coming, as we’re in the month leading up to Christmas. However, you may be wondering – what has all this got to do with Christmas, that first coming of Jesus? So to wrap the series up, here’s a series of points linking this first letter to the Thessalonians with Christmas.
Let’s see how we do.
- You can’t have a second coming without a first coming
The first coming of Jesus into this world is implicit throughout the whole letter, as it’s impossible to have a second coming without a first coming. The readers were basing their lives on the life and example of Jesus Christ, when he came to earth as God made flesh. This divine intervention into human existence was truly remarkable and the miracle of Jesus coming as a baby would have been familiar to the readers. God had burst into human existence in the most dramatic way. Believing that He could and would do it again was therefore not beyond human imagination. It’s possible that we have become over-familiar with the Christmas story, reducing it to pretty scenes on Christmas cards and children’s nativity plays. We have lost sight of the huge revolutionary impact of God coming to earth as a human baby. And so we struggle to get our heads around the second coming, because we have diminished the first coming and cannot comprehend that God’s presence could be manifested into human existence.
2. Jesus is the Good News
When Paul talks about the Good News, he’s talking about Jesus. When the angels came to tell the shepherds about Jesus, they described the announcement as ‘good news for all people’. Jesus came as good news for all people, to open up the way to God. A new and living way, open to all. From the moment he arrived on this earth as a baby, Jesus was the good news for us all. He continues to be that good news and will continue to be the good news into the whole of eternity. We get to spend eternity with this Jesus.
3. Jesus saves
The angels who came to Mary and Joseph were clear that this new baby was to be called Jesus – Mary will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. The name Jesus literally means ‘He saves’. Whatever we understand about the judgement to come, there is a sense in which we will all be held accountable before God and it is Jesus who saves us. He saves us now from living a life without God – this salvation starts right now. He gives us the opportunity to live each day as a new creation, in relationship with the one true God.
4. Living a life of faith is not easy – just look at Jesus
Jesus’ life on earth was never easy. From the moment he was born, there were those who sought to silence him. Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and the wise men all had to show tremendous courage in doing what God was asking of them, despite the reaction of those around them. Jesus walked a path of suffering to the point of death on a cross. A life of faith is not the easy life. We too are called to show tremendous courage in doing what God is asking of us, despite the reaction of those around us.
5. Come and join the celebration
At Christmas time, we join together with Christians all over the world – those we know and those we don’t know – to celebrate the coming of Jesus, the Son of God, to this earth as a baby. We share in the joy of our faith and in the hope of Jesus coming again to shine as a light in the darkness. The knowledge that there are people all over the world sharing the love and light of Christ is a wonderful encouragement. It strengthens our hearts to know that we are not alone.
6. Jesus is the ultimate example
As followers of Jesus, God wants us to live life as He intended, to learn to control our bodies in a way that is holy and honourable. It’s not always easy to know what that looks like. We turn to Jesus for inspiration. He lived as fully human and fully God. He is the only human being who has ever lived who has lived life 100% as God intended human beings to live when He created them. Jesus had to be born as a baby, grow as a child and live as an adult to show us the way, the truth and the life.
7. The element of surprise
Even thought the Jewish people were expecting a coming Messiah, who would deliver them and have the victory, they did not expect that salvation and deliverance to come when it did and in the way that it did. Many could never get their heads round the Son of God being born as a baby in the conditions in which Jesus was born. Many never accepted that Jesus was the Messiah. Many are still waiting.
By not having a comprehensive understanding of the context, we miss what a shock Jesus’ arrival was at the time. And yet His coming again will be the same. God is a God of surprises. Jesus will come when we least expect it in a way that we don’t expect. That’s how God works.
That’s where trust comes in. We have to rest in the trust that God knows best. We cannot ever work it out, we simply have to put our trust in the God or surprises.
