This has been a difficult year for all of us. It is in dark times that the message of the Advent of Christ takes on new meaning. It was and is a promise of hope, redemption, restoration, and God’s presence in the midst of hard seasons. 

I love the description of the prophet Isaiah when he speaks of the coming of Christ in these terms. “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2). This is the message we need to hear again in our day. Into the darkness of this year comes light. It is the light of Jesus in a hard season.

God created a beautiful creation and placed the first man and woman in the middle of that creation. In that place there was no darkness and no sorrow. But we know how it turned out as Adam and Eve, and every person born since, turned their hearts from God and encountered the darkness of a fallen world. You and I included. 

But we find here a story of God’s irrational love for us. For Scripture says that God knew a divine rescue mission was going to be needed before He even created the world. Think about this: God chose to create our world knowing that men and women would turn from Him and that He would need to send His son to die on our behalf - so that we could be restored to Him. Advent was planned before there was time, or people, or a world to enter. 

Revelation 13:8 says that the Lamb was slain from the creation of the world. That is, God had already committed to sending His son to die for us before the world had come into being. Why? Because you and I, and all those who know Christ, were chosen even before the world was created. Paul says, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” But for that to happen He would have to send His son to die. And still, He chose to create our world and us. That is irrational love. It is Amazing Grace. It is scandalous grace and incomprehensible love. But that is the God who chose to walk into darkness and bring great light.

As we walk this month toward Christmas and the celebration of Christ’s birth we will trace the promise of Christ from before our world was created to the birth of Jesus and the implications of His appearance. But today, remember this: His coming was not an afterthought because the world He created went bad. Rather it was His irrational love, knowing that the world would go bad before He even created it. You are not an afterthought, as a random individual who came to Christ. Rather, He chose you before the world even was on the basis of His Son who would die for your sin and mine. 

That is the irrational love God has for us. No matter how challenging our situation, or how dark our world, we can rest in the fact that His love is irrational and that we are the object of that irrational love. If He would pay that price for us, what would He not be willing to do for us today? 

Father, I thank you for your irrational and incomprehensible love, amazing and scandalous grace, that caused you to create and love me at the cost of your Son. Thank you for your Advent that brought great light to a dark world. Would you bring that same light to my world in this heavy season. Amen.