Advent Week 4
The fourth advent candle is the last one lit in most advent wreaths, marking the last phase of the advent season. It has perhaps the most sentimental meaning of all the advent candles, a meaning that is often seen as just a cliché. However, that candle’s meaning is unexpectedly powerful.
What Does the Fourth Advent Candle Stand for?
While Advent wreaths as we know them have been around for nearly 200 years, the tradition of celebrating Advent goes back much further. As a result, advent wreath designs and the number of Advent candles vary worldwide and across denominations.
In contemporary Western Christianity, the typical Advent wreath has four candles inside an evergreen wreath. Each one is lit during a new week of Advent and has a particular meaning attached to it. Candle 1 is purple, known as “the Prophet’s Candle,” and it stands for hope. Candle 2 is purple, known as “the Bethlehem Candle,” and stands for peace. Candle 3 is pink or rose-colored, known as “the Shepherd’s Candle,” and stands for joy. Candle 4 is purple, known as “the Angel’s Candle,” and stands for love.
Some Christians add a fifth candle, a white one known as “Christ’s Candle,” which stands for baby Jesus. This candle is lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, the culmination of Advent.
Learn from our How-to Guide on Advent Wreaths for celebrating this Christmas season.
What Place Do Angels Have in the Christmas Story?
Angels appeared in the Christmas story even before Jesus appeared on the scene. The Gospel of Luke describes how the angel Gabriel appeared to a man named Zacharias, informing him that he and his wife would soon have a son (Luke 1:1-25). Zacharias’ son grew up to be John the Baptist, who preached that the Messiah was coming and baptized Jesus in the Jordan River (Mark 1:1-7).
After giving Zacharias this message, Gabriel appeared to a young woman named Mary. He informed her that even though she wasn’t married and still a virgin, she would soon become pregnant with a son. This son would be from God, the long-promised Messiah (Luke 1:26-38). After Mary became pregnant, her fiancé Joseph considered “divorcing her quietly,” (Matthew 1:19) a way to avoid scandal. An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, telling him that Mary’s child was conceived by the Holy Spirit and to marry her in spite of her pregnancy (Matthew 1:18-25).
The night Jesus was born, angels appeared to shepherds outside Bethlehem, announcing the Messiah’s birth and telling them where to find him (Luke 2:8-20). Several years later, after the Wise Men had visited Mary and Joseph with gifts for Jesus, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream. This time, he got a warning that Herod’s soldiers were coming to kill the infants of Bethlehem and to escape. The small family fled for Egypt and didn’t return until another angel appeared and told Joseph that Herod had died, so it was safe to return to Israel (Matthew 2:13-23).
Thus, within the Christmas story, angels function as messengers of love. They told people “good news” (Luke 1:19), which is unexpected but no less good for being shocking. In some cases, the news that the angels gave saved people’s lives. Other times, it alerted people to something worth celebrating in the future or nearby. In each of these cases, their message showed God’s love.
Get your FREE copy of A Thrill of Hope - 25 Days of Advent Devotionals and Readings! Print these and share them with family and friends to keep your mind's attention and heart's affection for Jesus this holiday season.
How Does the Bible Describe Love?
More so than perhaps any of the other advent candle themes, love is easily misunderstood. We often think of love in purely sentimental terms, thinking it means being happy or being nice.
The Bible affirms that and that his sending Jesus into the world was an act of perfect love (1 John 4:8-12). Jesus loved people, and yet he didn’t try to always be nice to people. Sometimes, he pushed people to consider what they really believed if they really wanted to follow him (Mark 10:17-27). Sometimes, he got them to admit their mistakes to see how much they needed God (John 4:1-42). Throughout his ministry, he maintained that the key to finding God was not to “follow your heart” but to follow him and obey his teachings.
The Bible also clarifies that Jesus’ death and resurrection was the great act of love (1 John 3:16). This helps us see that love is sacrificial. As the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says, “Love, whether used of God or man, is an earnest and anxious desire for and an active and beneficent interest in the well-being of the one loved.” 1 Corinthians 13 describes the attributes we pursue when we love someone (patience, kindness, trust, not having envy, etc.). None of these attributes are easy things to practice, which means that we need God’s help to live them out. In fact, God must teach us how to love: before becoming Christians, we were dead in our sins (Ephesians 3:1), and we still struggle to do anything that is not self-centered.
Therefore, we know that love ultimately is about living a life centered on God. To love God is to obey him (1 John 5:3). When we do that, we set our standards not by how we happen to feel but by an eternal standard and a person who can guide us. This helps us go beyond just trying to be nice, giving sacrificially, and doing difficult things because we love others.
Why Is Love So Important to Christmas?
As noted above, the Bible states that God sent Jesus into the world as an act of love. Jesus came into a world that desperately needed help because it was in the grips of sin. King Herod’s slaughter of the innocents captured this truth in a graphic way: Jesus had entered a world where greed and ruthless self-protection reigned.
Jewish prophets had said centuries earlier that someone would come that would bring an end to this strife. This Messiah, from the family line of King David (Ezekiel 37:24), would be born to a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) and be a great ruler (Isaiah 11:12). Gabriel affirmed these prophecies when he told Mary that her son would sit on David’s throne, reigning forever (Luke 1:32-33). The Messiah would bring an end to strife not by being a conventional ruler but by dying for people’s transgressions (Isaiah 53:5). People would be healed by the Messiah’s sacrifice, bringing freedom at last.
Thus, Jesus’ birth was proof that God had not abandoned or forgotten the world. His gift of love had come, to bring freedom for captives and heal the hurting (Luke 4:18). Jesus was the perfect gift.
A Prayer for Advent Week 4
Lord Jesus, thank you for your gift of love. We know that we were dead in our sins, and did not deserve anything but death. Thank you that in spite of our many sins, you still loved us and came to save us. You came and showed us how to love. Teach us what it is to love, and how to practice it each day. Remind us that love is paradoxical, sacrificial, and only found in you. Give us the wisdom we need to love well, the mercy to forgive ourselves when we neglect to love well, and the hunger to always learn more about love. We ask for all these things in your name, Amen.
Scripture Readings: 1 John 4:8-12, Matthew 2:13-23, Luke 2:8-20, Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:26-38, Luke 1:1-25, Mark 1:1-7, John 3:16, John 15:9-17, John 15:13, John 13:34.
Written By: Connor Salter
Source: Crosswalk.com
Advent Week 3
Each candle in the Advent wreath has a significant meaning, but the third candle of Advent has an unusual place. In most advent wreaths, it is the one candle that is a different color than the others. There is something unique, more spontaneous, and celebratory about the theme of the third week of Advent compared to the others.
What Does the Third Week of Advent Candle Stand for?
The advent wreath has had many variations since it was invented in 1839, but the most common version has four candles inside a wreath. The first advent candle (“The Prophet’s Candle”) stands for hope. The second candle (“The Bethlehem Candle”) stands for peace. The fourth candle (“the Angel’s Candle”) stands for love. The third candle, also known as “the Shepherd’s Candle,” stands for joy. Each candle is lit on a different Sunday leading up to Christmas Day. Some Christians also include a fifth candle, a white one representing Jesus himself, in the middle of the Advent wreath and light it on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
Get your FREE copy of A Thrill of Hope - 25 Days of Advent Devotionals and Readings! Print these and share them with family and friends to keep your mind's attention and heart's affection for Jesus this holiday season.
Why Is the Third Advent Candle a Different Color?
In most advent wreaths, the first, second, and fourth candles are purple, but the third candle is pink or rose. Various writers have given different explanations for why the third candle is pink. Generally, there is a consensus that the colors connect to the different candles’ themes. Purple or violet is associated with contemplation and fasting, particularly in Catholic Lent celebrations that influenced Advent celebrations. Thus, candles 1, 2, and 4 are purple and are occasions to contemplate hope, peace, and love.
In contrast to purple, pink or rose represents joy and celebration. Susan Clement writes that one of the ancient church’s popes gave a citizen a pink rose on the third Sunday of Lent, symbolizing the moment of joy amidst Lent’s fasting and penance. Therefore, when Catholic priests modeled Advent celebrations on Lent, they wore rose-colored robes and set the third Sunday of December as the time to remember joy. The pink or rose-colored advent candle is lit on that third Sunday.
It’s also worth noting that more so than the other three Advent themes, joy is something we associate with spontaneous action. Hope, peace, joy, and love are all things that God places in us and should be ongoing attitudes in our lives. However, hope and peace are generally seen as inner qualities that we cultivate by meditating on ideas like God’s provision. Love is something we do, but also something we cultivate and meditate on. Joy tends to have a more spontaneous effect. Joy can motivate us to celebrate or worship with glorious abandon (like David did when he danced in front of the ark of the covenant). In that light, it’s appropriate that the advent candle representing joy is a different color, highlighting the different nature of joy compared to the other advent themes.
Learn from our How-to Guide on Advent Wreaths for celebrating this Christmas season.
What Place Do Shepherds Have in the Christmas Story?
The third advent candle is called “the Shepherd’s Candle,” and the shepherds’ section of the Christmas story is very much about joy. The shepherds are mentioned in Luke 2:8-20. In this scripture passage, they were watching sheep in their pastures when an angel appeared to them. As many people in the Bible reacted when angels showed up, the shepherds were frightened, so the angel said, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:10-12). The next moment, a whole group of angels appeared around the first one, praised God, and then disappeared. The shepherds immediately entered Bethlehem and found Joseph and Mary with their baby. After meeting the Messiah, the shepherds told others what they had seen and then returned to the manger, “glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen” (Luke 2:20).
The shepherds serve as witnesses to Jesus’ birth and emissaries of joy. They received a message of joy from the angels and passed that on to other people after seeing Jesus. They even returned to see Jesus again and praise God. In other words, their response to Jesus’ birth was very joy-filled.
Why Do We Say That Christmas Is a Time of Joy?
In Biblical terms, having joy means being happy about something good that has arrived or is coming. Like hope, it has a long-term view of life, emphasizing the good that will come. However, it has a component of great happiness, rejoicing at the good news. Zacchaeus welcomed Jesus with joy when Jesus said he would stay at Zacchaeus’ home (Luke 19:6). Jesus tells his disciples to have joy in their sufferings for their reward is great in heaven (Luke 6:23). As noted in the section above, the shepherds who visited Jesus were both given a joyful message and acted joyfully.
People could have had joy before Jesus came, but his arrival was the culmination of a special promise. Ever since sin entered the world, humanity had been broken. Creation was also broken by sin, and since that time, has been crying out with groans for relief (Romans 8:22-23). Jesus’ birth fulfilled prophecies that the Messiah would come and break sin’s hold, starting a new phase of God’s redemption plan. As Jesus said multiple times during his ministry, the kingdom of God had come now that he had arrived. Sin continued to be a reality after Jesus’ death and resurrection, but Jesus broke its hold.
Thus, at Christmas, we joyfully celebrate that God’s greatest promise was fulfilled: God’s kingdom has come. The final movements in God’s plan (the last battle against Satan, the resurrection of the dead) are still to come. As some scholars have put it, we live in the “already/not yet” phase of God’s kingdom, where it has arrived, but the final effects haven’t come yet. However, with Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection, the definitive move in the battle against evil was struck. More skirmishes will follow, but the war has, for all intents and purposes, been won. That is definitely something to be joyous about.
Prayer for Advent Week 3
Lord Jesus, thank you for coming into the world to pay the price for our sins. We do not always appreciate how high a cost you paid, and how your birth made good on promises that God the Father had made. Thank you for your great love, for your sacrifice and victory against evil. Thank you that while we know hard times may come, your kingdom has come. Thank you that while battles may come, the war against evil is effectively finished. Help us to never grow tired of that truth, to discover it anew and see how great it is that we can know it. Show us how to have joy every day, how to rejoice in your love and provision time and time again. We ask these things in your name, Amen.
Advent Week 3 Scripture Readings: Luke 2:8-20, John 3:22-30, Matthew 2:1-12, Luke 1:26-56, Luke 1:67-75, Luke 2:25-38.
Written By: Connor Salter
Source: Crosswalk.com
Choose Joy
The week after Thanksgiving feels like catch up. Our families and friends return to their homes. We start back to work. Our kids readjust after the many treats and sweets last week. We feel refreshed, tired, overwhelmed, sad, anxious, lonely, and at peace. So many emotions and so many things to do. With Thanksgiving at a close, we want to remember to remain thankful in all circumstances. How can one do that despite the laundry list of things listed above? Answer: Choose Joy.
One of the best ways to fight the holiday blues is by choosing joy. This is not something that the Lord thought would be easy when He told us to “rejoice always,” but He did tell us how. Simply that. Rejoice always. Our circumstances do not have to impact our decisions. This means that we can decide and choose to rejoice just as commanded. We can choose to list off all the ways we are thankful. We can choose to worship and praise the Lord. We can choose to say “thank you, Lord, for allowing us to feel deeply and understand grief.” We can rejoice in the goodness of God because He sees us. He loves us.
When you start to feel the enemy tempting you with negativity, look up. Look to Jesus and tell Him. Say “Lord, right know I feel ____. I want to choose joy, and it is hard. But I commit to choosing joy. Please fill me with your Spirit and help me rejoice always. Please show me all the beautiful things around me. Please fill me with gratitude. Please help me obey your command to rejoice always. Thank you for listening when I talk to you and for helping me when I ask for it. Amen”
When we choose joy, we become thankful. When we become thankful, we choose joy. What a beautiful cycle to fall into. What a gift.
Written By: Elizabeth Keith
AmazingGrace.Life is 8!
This is our 8th year of AmazingGrace.Life, and what a year it has been! Our number one goal at AGL is to share the Gospel with everyone and anyone who will listen. One of our big ways of doing this is by connecting people to the Gospel through our website www.amazinggrace.life. We have had the privilege of sharing the gospel with over 2 million people on our website this year alone. We have had over 39000 people actively accept Jesus and share their faith transformation with us. We have had over 3500 people chat with JesusCares.com after finding our website and needing resources or help answering questions. Over 5000 people read through answers to their life-altering, hard questions on our website, and more than 10000 people sought help in how to follow god. People really felt a pull to start that relationship with Jesus this year and more than 52000 people read about ‘6 ways to follow God in their day to day life’. The Lord is moving and using AGL to help spread His Good News!
In addition to these amazing ways the Lord has been moving, we have had the privilege of sending our Amazing Grace books and Gospel of John books all across the world. Each year we set out to share the Gospel with remote parts of the world. This year we sent over 3000 books to international locations in order to help fulfill that vision. What a gift it is to share the Gospel with the most remote places. Also, we were able to give to various relief projects that supported areas of conflict or natural disaster including Maui, Pakistan, and Africa. The Lord is gracious and good, so we give Him all the glory as He used this ministry to provide support internationally.
We truly cannot praise the Lord enough for His faithfulness throughout this year. He has allowed us to do more than we hoped. He is moving and powerful, and we get to be a part of His Kingdom!
What is the Gospel?
What exactly do Christians mean when they talk about the “gospel of Jesus Christ”? Since the word “gospel” means “good news,” when Christians talk about the gospel, they’re simply telling the good news about Jesus! It’s a message from God saying, “Good news! Here is how you can be saved from my judgment!” That’s an announcement you can’t afford to ignore.
Why Is the Gospel Good News?
So, what is the good news about Jesus Christ?
Since the earliest Christians announced the good news about Jesus, it has been organized around these questions:
Who made us, and to whom are we accountable?
What is our problem?
What is God’s solution to our problem?
How can I be included in his solution?
Christians through the centuries since Christ have answered those questions with the same truth from the Bible.
We are accountable to God.
Our problem is our sin against him.
God’s solution is salvation through Jesus Christ.
We come to be included in that salvation by faith and repentance.
Let’s summarize those points like this: God, Mankind, Jesus Christ, and Our Response.
God
The first thing to know about the good news of Jesus is that “in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Everything starts from that point, so if you get that point wrong then everything else that follows will be wrong. Because God created everything—including us—he has the right to tell us how to live. You have to understand that in order to understand the good news about Jesus. To understand just how glorious and life-giving the gospel of Jesus Christ is, we have to understand that God is also holy and righteous. He is determined never to ignore or tolerate sin. Including ours!
Mankind
When God created the first human beings, Adam and Eve, he intended for them to live under his righteous rule in perfect joy—obeying him and living in fellowship with him. When Adam disobeyed God, though, and ate the one fruit that God had told him not to eat, that fellowship with God was broken. Moreover, Adam and Eve had declared rebellion against God. They were denying his authority over their lives.
It’s not just Adam and Eve who are guilty of sin. The Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Sin is the rejection of God himself and his authority over those to whom he gives life.
Once you understand sin in that light, you begin to understand why “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). That’s not just physical death, but spiritual death, a forceful separating of our sinful, rebellious selves from the presence of God forever. The Bible teaches that the final destiny for unbelieving sinners is eternal, active judgment in a place called “hell.”
But . . .
Jesus Christ
The word “Christ” means “anointed one,” referring to anointing a king with oil when he is crowned. So, when we say “Jesus Christ,” we’re saying that Jesus is a King!
When Jesus began his public ministry, he told the people, “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news!” As Jesus died on a cross, the awful weight of all our sins fell on his shoulders. The sentence of death God had pronounced against rebellious sinners struck. And Jesus died. For you and me!
But the story doesn’t end there. Jesus the Crucified is no longer dead. The Bible tells us that he rose from the grave. Jesus’s rising from the grave was God’s way of saying, “What Jesus claimed about who he is and what he came to do is true!”
Our Response
What does God expect us to do with the information that Jesus died in our place so we can be saved from God’s righteous wrath against our sins? He expects us to respond with repentance and faith.
To repent of our sins means to turn away from our rebellion against God. Repentance doesn’t mean we’ll bring an immediate end to our sinning. It does mean, though, that we’ll never again live at peace with our sins.
Not only that, but we also turn to God in faith. Faith is reliance. It’s a promise-founded trust in the risen Jesus to save you from your sins. If God is ever to count us righteous, he’ll have to do it on the basis of someone else’s record, someone who’s qualified to stand in as our substitute. And that’s what happens when a person is saved by Jesus: All our sins are credited to Jesus who took the punishment for them, and the perfect righteousness of Jesus is then credited to us when we place our trust in what he has done for us! That’s what faith means—to rely on Jesus, to trust in him alone to stand in our place and win a righteous verdict from God!
Written By: Greg Gilbert