Second Sunday in Advent AD 2023

Throughout history, people have been afraid of, and at the same time, waiting for the end of the world. It’s a kind of thrill mixed with fear, much like watching horror movies. Of course, next to the end of the world, horror movies are nothing: all you have to do is turn off the TV and switch on the light to make everything all right again. However, we can’t just turn off the end of the world.

Jesus says that when the end of the world comes, it will be as inevitable as spring being followed by summer. And this is not something we can take lightly: “…upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear…”

Yet, speaking of these terrible events at the end of the world, Jesus also says one of His most encouraging sentences: “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”

We Christians, God’s redeemed children, do not have to wait with fear for the end of the world. We wait for it with joyful hope: “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” The source of our hope and joy is Jesus Christ, of whom all the Holy Scriptures testify and in whom all the ancient promises are fulfilled. God has accepted us in Jesus Christ by His grace. We are His children and what others fear as the end of the world will be for us the beginning of something new and unprecedentedly beautiful.