By Angela Watson
It’s the time of year when many worldwide are beginning to focus their attention on the celebration of Christmas. For those of us within the Christian community, our thoughts often focus on the advent, the coming of Jesus into the world as the baby born to save the world.
The gospels of Matthew and Luke provide the details of the miraculous birth of Jesus and the salvation He would bring. And it’s in these 2 books that we see Jesus referred to by His title, the Son of Man, more times than anywhere else in Scripture.
Many of these references provide the beautiful truth of the reason Jesus came into this world as a man: to provide salvation for His creation. But I’ve noticed that over half of these verses use this title Son of Man to proclaim the second advent: Jesus is coming again.
In the unfathomableness of eternity, God created this earth, and with it came the existence of time. Time is a measure that applies to everything around us and everything we do. In Genesis 1, at the creation of light, our time began. “And God said, “Let there be light in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from night, And let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and for years.” We can read, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
Much of our time here on earth is spent waiting. When we are young, we can’t wait to grow up. If you chat with kids this time of year, most will say they can’t wait for Christmas. Whether it’s the presents or the break from school, the resounding phrase can be heard, “I just can’t wait!” If you listen to parents of young children, you’re likely to hear, “I can’t wait until they (the children) sleep through the night!” For students and those in the workforce, you might hear, “I can’t wait for the weekend,” “I can’t wait for my vacation,” or even, “I can’t wait for retirement.”
It was well known in the Old Testament that the Israelites were waiting for the Messiah. Luke Chapter 2 highlights what that waiting looked like for Simeon and Anna, who were present at the Temple when baby Jesus was presented before the Lord. “Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25). “And there was a prophetess, Anna…and coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:36-38).
But I wonder if those around us know we’re also waiting?
It was through Abraham and his descendants that the first advent was promised, but it is through Jesus, the Son of Man, that salvation came to all nations. God has given us each a time on this earth: “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of this earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place” — for one purpose: “that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him” (Acts 17:26-27).
In Luke 19:10, Jesus tells us why He came as a man to this world: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
“So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:28).
For those of us who have trusted Jesus, we can look forward to the day Jesus calls us home to be with Him. We can claim the promise that Jesus comforted His disciples with in John 14 when he said, “I will come again.”
Would our friends and neighbors say that we eagerly await Jesus, the Son of Man, to return and take us home to be with Him forever?
May we find joy in Jesus, our consolation and redemption. As we wait for the second advent of Jesus, we can use this season to tell others about His birth, death, and resurrection and make them aware that we are waiting because Jesus is coming again!