Christmas nears, but some of us might feel more of the Grinch’s grimace than Santa’s cheer. Gift-giving, cosy gatherings, and bright lights are great. But there are some of us who feel that Christmas is wrapped up in too much plastic happiness. There is a sense that our bells and jingles only paper over harsher realities that many experience on a daily basis. Orchard Road lights can feel like vain and superficial joy when economies tumble around the world, and COVID-19 death tolls surge.
If that’s how you are feeling, then Advent is for you. These 4 weeks matter, because it’s how Christians get to Christmas. It’s the road that we travel before arriving at Bethlehem. And this road we travel will bring us to contemplate the world’s darkness with somber humility, so that our hearts would be prepared for Christmas’ true and deep joy.
(A) Witness needed: A world in darkness, separated from God (1:6-11)
If you remember last week’s study, John the Apostle’s prologue begins with a cosmic consideration of Jesus Christ, the word of God, in the beginning of all things! Then the camera suddenly pans. We are introduced to John the Baptist. This John came as a witness, so that all might believe about Jesus through him.
This might seem abrupt, but consider the context. We are told that John the Baptist was “a man sent from God,” which reminds us that he was a really important figure. The Old Testament scriptures testify about him as well. He’s the last topic of the Old Testament in Malachi, angels were present to declare his birth, his parents underwent a miraculous journey (childbearing in their 80s!) to witness his coming. All things considered, John the Baptist was a really incredible man.
But he is introduced at this point to emphasis that while incredible, he is still a man. Not the light, but a man in history who is readying us for the incredible moment when the true light would enter into our world. You can almost feel the excitement. All of that cosmic grandeur in the first 5 verses is about to break into space-time history, in a manner that has never been seen before!
John 1:9-10 are verses that are very rich and we will unpack it slowly. John writes that the true light which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world (John 1:9). His dwelling place is outside of this world, and he comes to supply what we need and His coming is providential. He was in the world, and the world was made through him (John 1:10a). There is a distinct creator-creation separation and we, his creation, are accountable to Him, the Creator.
John also writes that the world did not know Him (John 1:10b). We, his creation, are in disorder. We are responsible to glory in the One who gives life, the One for whom and through whom all things are made! Yet we have severed our relationship with Him and are separated from Him.
John’s gospel helps us to see that this “light” that Jesus brings is not mere moral instruction, or an inward enlightenment. Rather, it is the clearest illumination of our true spiritual reality. We see this in Jn 3:19-20.
Before we move on, consider also that John the Baptist’s witness involved “(making) straight the way of the Lord” and calling us to “Behold.” This also tells us something about the current state of his audience! You only need to “make straight” what is crooked. You only need to call people to “behold” if their attention and affections are distracted. Put simply, the greatest moment of world history was about to happen, and the world was not yet ready for it. John came, that our hearts might be readied.
Friends, do you see what has happened? In the same way that rats in darkness scuttle when the lights are turned on, the world in its sin flees from the light that Christ brings. This is our fundamental problem: Jesus is the center of all creation. It’s not just a good thing to know Him, but a necessary thing! We are morally accountable to our creator, yet we separate ourselves from Him.
Why do we do so? An honest examination of our lives reveals that we attach ourselves to vain things that give us glory. We wake up and we attach ourselves to our screens, the stock market, and curated lives on social media. We go through our day and we attach ourselves to cheap thrills, wanton desires, our lusts, gluttony, and slothfulness. We run into crises and we attach ourselves to worldly securities, our own strength, pure hard work, grit, and dedication. But in doing all of these things we separate ourselves from God. We lock him into Sunday mornings and throw away the keys. God probably didn’t feature in your pre-COVID plans, you might have felt closer to Him for awhile in lockdown, but when you really think about it, He doesn’t feature much in your post-COVID plans either. The harsh reality of Advent tells us that we live in a world that does not know God and the true light comes to make that reality crystal clear.
The tragedy continues. Not only has creation forgotten its Creator. John 1:11 tells us that His own people did not receive Him! Bible Scholar D.A. Carson puts it this way:
“(God’s light) came to fallen mankind in law, prophecy, and wisdom, in deeds of deliverance, in judgment, and mercy, and in sheer, brilliant theophany. Now it comes in personal self-disclosure ‘to his own home’, but his own people did not receive him”
If you read through John’s gospel, you will see that this theme stretched out, especially in the first 12 chapters. God’s own people call Jesus a Sabbath-breaker, a demon, an insane man. They scheme to put him to death. But they should have known better.
For God’s light had come to them in His word to ready them for the true light of Christ. See what Jesus says in John 5:39-40: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”
God’s word rightly understood, and humbly received, gives life. And God’s people had God’s word, a light for all living in darkness. But it will only give life if you recognise what it reveals about yourself. It will only give life if you accept the true light it points towards. How did God’s people come to this blindness?
I like to think of the soldier who got angry at the sun. This is a fictitious story, but one that might hold some resonance for Singaporeans who have been through army field camp. Imagine that it’s 5am on Pulau Tekong island. You’re in the jungle, camping out in a hole on the ground. All of a sudden, your officer walks by and declares, “Fall in in 10mins, decorum check.”
Why do you need a decorum check in the jungle? You don’t know. But you scramble to wipe mud off the top of your boots, you ask your buddy to check if any bit of your uniform is out of place, you stare at the dirt embedded under your fingernails and wonder how on earth you’re going to get it cleaned.
This whole time your officer is pacing around with his torchlight, counting down the time and pointing out areas where you are unkempt and unclean.
One minute before fall-in, something miraculous happens. The sun rises abnormally early! It’s golden rays penetrate the canopy, slowly but surely covering the earth. Darkness hides. And then the sun falls on that neat little spot where your officer is standing, rendering his torchlight a useless flicker. And he gets angry. Real angry. Not just because his torchlight’s power has been overwhelmed, but because he is revealed to be terribly dirty himself! There’s mud caked over his uniform, his bootlaces are loosely tied, and he’s just a mess to behold. This makes him really angry at the sun, because the true light has revealed his own true condition.
That’s how it was for the religious people of Jesus’ day. They were not telling lies about God’s law, or that the moral instructions they issued weren’t good. Rather, they had rejected the actual purpose of the torchlight. The torchlight is merely meant to prepare us for a time when true light envelops the earth. But they were giddy with pleasure, swinging their torchlight around at 5am in the morning, forgetting that they themselves were just as stained by sin.
Friends, this is really important because most of us reading this are probably Christians. Hear this warning. Be careful if your heart gets puffed up whenever you do that new good thing, or you read that new theological book, or you gain that new perspective on a passage of God’s word, or you even teach that new Bible study that everyone loves. Be careful if your heart gets puffed up!
These are great, glorious, and wonderful things. But if they ever breed self-righteousness, or if they ever lead you to diminish the reality of Jesus Christ, then be warned. You are diminishing the true light, the ultimate light, the fulfilment of all that is light. This puts you in serious danger. Because when Jesus the true light dawns, everything is made clear. Every stain is seen. You either joyfully hide yourself in Him, or bitterly hide yourself in self-righteousness. It is terrible and perverse to wave around a torchlight, thinking that you hold the sun.
If this is you today, then Advent is exactly what you need. John the Apostle emphasises twice over that as great as John the Baptist was, he was just here to witness to the light. Like the world and the Israelites, we need to hear the Advent message that there is a deep darkness that swallows our hearts. And we need to find ourselves cleansed and hidden by the light.
This should help us to see that Advent doesn’t begin with the bright lights of Orchard Road. Rather, our journey begins in the dark and dusty cobbled paths of Lim Chu Kang (where cemeteries lie). This is where unpleasant smells and signposts of death linger. And this is where Advent begins. It is what every heart needs to know. God looks upon this world and He sees it all. He sees all of its tragedy. And He calls us to see it as well, to consider the grim darkness of a world in sin and separation from God. Until you do that, you won’t be ready for Christmas and the deep joy He is about to give us.
(B) Sonship guaranteed: A people who believe in Jesus’ name, adopted by God (John 1:12-13)
Our identity as children of God is perhaps the most profound privilege in the gospel. And this is what John brings us to behold. Consider how John walks us through its different aspects:
(1) Audience: “But to all” (John 1:12)
The privilege extends to all without distinction who fulfil the following condition.
(2) Action: “…who did receive him, who believed in his name” (John 1:12b)
All that is required is that we receive Jesus and believe in His name. But know that there is a sort of “receiving” that really seeks to refashion Jesus for our own purpose. Consider how the Jews “received” Jesus in John 6:14-15, where they sought to “take him by force to make him King.”
So what does it really mean to “receive” Christ? D.A. Carson puts it this way:
“The ‘name’ is more than a label; it is the character of the person, or even the person itself.” At its best, such faith yields allegiance to the Word, trusts him completely, acknowledges his claims and confesses him with gratitude. That is what it means to ‘receive’ him.”
(3) Authority: “He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12c)
This privilege is neither a mere. possibility, but a right! It carries legal connotations that entrenches a privilege according to God’s principles of righteousness.
(4) Antithesis: “Born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man” (John 1:13a)
If everything is conditioned on our proper “receiving” and “believing”, then what makes anyone “receive” or “believe” Jesus? John tells us that it is not of heritage, descent, personal moral effort, or even well-designed religious systems. Those things can be helpful, but they are not the foremost reason that anyone believes or receives Jesus.
(5) Agent: “but of God” (John 1:13b)
Rather, this happens to those who are born of God. God is the actor who grants this birth.
Put another way, here’s the good news. Everyone without distinction who has placed the entire weight of their lives on Jesus - acknowledging His claims, trusting in His works, and confessing him with gratitude - has the authority to be counted amongst God’s children. This is not caused by heritage or lineage, it’s not the result of your righteousness or your worldly affiliations. It’s definitely not from human strength and wisdom. But God adopts you of His own will and grace, you are His child.
This glorious truth calls to mind another story about the boy who loved aeroplanes. It’s a true one this time.
I first heard about this boy on a CNA Insider series about an orphanage in Beijing. In this orphanage, there was an 8 year old boy who loves aeroplanes. His name is Keyuan, and you can tell that something is off when you first hear him on screen. His enunciation is clunky, his speech sounds a little slurred at times, and then you look up and you realise why. This boy has no ears. It is an orphanage for children with special needs who have been abandoned at birth.
Keyuan loves aeroplanes because year after year, whenever his birthday draws near, he says to his caretaker, “My mom and dad are going to come on an airplane to bring me home.”
But if you look at his caretaker’s expression, you’ll see that she’s welling up with tears. Those who are familiar with adoption processes know that it’s really unlikely for Keyuan to be adopted. He’s much older than the other kids, and people adopt young. His physical condition stands out, and people tend for normalcy. The financial, let alone social costs, of adopting him, are daunting. In the estimation of the world, there’s no reason why Keyuan should be adopted.
A couple from my church who watched the video determined to set their love upon him. So much so that they were sure to bake a homemade cake in Singapore, scramble to bake another cake when the first cake fell from the oven, and fly all the way to Beijing just in time for his next birthday. All of this to adopt him as their child.
This story comes to mind not just as a touching Christmas “do-good” story. If you’ve thought carefully about what John has been saying so far, then you’ll know that this is also your story and my story. It’s the story of every Christian! We are the boy with no ears. We are orphans, destitute and lacking value by the world’s standards — entirely incapable of working out our sonship on our own accord.
But hear the marvellous news of Christmas that Advent is drumming up in anticipation. God in Christ condescends. He travels far more than the distance from Singapore to Beijing to redeem us. He brings more than the affection of a homemade birthday cake, but lavishes the blood-bought weight of His life! He lives the life we should have lived, and dies the death we should have died. All of this, so that you and I who have believed in Him would have the right to be called children of God.
So what does the good news means for our daily lives today? Consider how John speaks of it on another occasion in 1 Jn 3:1-3, 9-10:
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure…
…No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seeds bides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”
Children of God, our identity means that we look at our Google Calendars differently. The most event in our lives isn’t on it! It isn’t the next holiday, or that important meeting, or that special Friday night date. Rather, we are to look forward to that glorious day when He appears. There’s a pastor in America who tweets every morning without fail, “Christian, we’re one day closer to heaven."
That’s how children of God number their days.
Children of God, we are also called to delight in that treasure that we will one day be like Him, and that they are becoming more and more like Him. I’m not sure how you have been fighting sin. But I know that it oftentimes feels inextricable. You get swept up in pattern after pattern, and cycle after cycle. You triumph some days and your falter on others. New situations surface deeper idols that had otherwise seemed dormant. But your identity means that one day sin will finally be defeated. It also means that we have the means to persevere, knowing that as we behold Christ in Scripture, sing Christ to each other in song, and exhort Christ to each other in conversation, we are being made more and more by Him.
Finally, children of God love other children of God. Notice how “practicing righteousness” is closely tied to “loving our brother.” This family of God is not a ‘Stop-at-2’ family. It’s a multi generational family that stretches across every tongue, tribe, and time. And it has all sorts of people for us to know — even those who we have no commonality or goodwill towards by natural standards! But thanks be to God that our birth is not by natural means. We can love one another because the basis of our identity isn’t built on common human standards or qualities. We can love one another because we have all been brought into this family, without distinction, by God’s power.