{"id":10989,"date":"2025-12-03T04:52:31","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T04:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=10989"},"modified":"2025-12-03T04:52:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T04:52:31","slug":"why-we-need-advent-more-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=10989","title":{"rendered":"Why we need Advent more than ever"},"content":{"rendered":"


By Taylor Combs<\/span><\/span>, Op-ed contributor Monday, December 01, 2025<\/span>Two advent pillar candles burning for the second week of Advent.<\/span> | iStock\/Kara Gebhardt<\/span><\/p>\n

I admittedly have a bit of a melancholic personality. And I think\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0in part\u00a0why\u00a0I love Advent. Advent is the perfect mixture of melancholy and joy.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a raw, honest season of\u00a0saying\u00a0out loud\u00a0the truth about the world\u2019s darkness \u2014 and yet, during this time, we dare to hope. And year after year, we find it in Christ.<\/p>\n

All\u00a0people, at some point or another, walk through dark times. In fact, as I write these words, my own family has been through one of its darkest seasons, with the\u00a0untimely death\u00a0of a beloved family member.\u00a0Perhaps you\u2019ve experienced\u00a0the same grief. Or\u00a0maybe your\u00a0dark time looked different \u2014 a crippling diagnosis, a prodigal son or daughter, financial hardship, the loss of health or strength, rejection by one you\u00a0loved, betrayal by\u00a0someone you trusted.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whatever the details of any\u00a0particular dark\u00a0season, darkness\u00a0often\u00a0in general\u00a0presents in the same\u00a0ways. It leaves you disoriented. You feel you\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know up from down, right from wrong, and you certainly\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know which way to walk next.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s\u00a0scary. You\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know what might be lurking around the\u00a0corner,\u00a0what the next awful thing is that might reach out and grab hold of you.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s\u00a0lonely. With darkness often comes silence. \u201cIs there anybody out there,\u201d we wonder, feeling abandoned, left to figure things out on our own.\u00a0<\/p>\n

God\u2019s people have walked through various seasons of darkness, but\u00a0maybe none\u00a0more significant than the exile. When God first called Abraham, he promised he would give Abraham abundant offspring. He would be their God, and they would be his people, and among other things, He would give them a land \u2014 their very own, special, holy land where they would worship\u00a0God,\u00a0and He would dwell with them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

God made good on this promise, but almost\u00a0immediately\u00a0after He brought them to the land, the people began to sin horribly against God. They completely forgot Him, turned their backs against Him, worshiped other gods, and committed awful injustices against one another. Things got so bad that God punished them by purging them from the land. They were exiled through the\u00a0hand\u00a0of other powerful nations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During this time, God\u2019s people must have felt they were in total darkness. Where was God? Had He abandoned them forever? Were they no longer his people? They must certainly have been disoriented, scared, and lonely. Yet, in his mercy, God gave them promises \u2014 both before and during the exile \u2014 that it would not be this way forever. He would have mercy on them. He would deliver them. He would save them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the greatest of these promises came through the prophet Isaiah:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness. You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. The people have rejoiced before you as they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils. For you have shattered their oppressive yoke and the rod on their shoulders, the staff of their oppressor, just as you did on the day of Midian. For every trampling boot of battle and the bloodied garments of war will be burned as fuel for the fire. For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this\u201d (Isaiah 9:2\u20137).<\/p>\n

God promised through Isaiah that He would deliver His people from their darkness. He would send a child, and that child would become their great rescuer.\u00a0He would rule and reign with justice and righteousness forever and ever.\u00a0The people would\u00a0again walk\u00a0in the light.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The waiting<\/strong><\/p>\n

With promises like this in hand, the people began to wait. And wait. And wait.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And eventually, God did free them from exile and bring them home. But still,\u00a0things just\u00a0weren\u2019t\u00a0the same. Their glory days\u00a0were\u00a0over. God\u2019s presence was no longer felt in the way it had been. His people were not\u00a0prospering but\u00a0continued to be subject to oppressive nations. And, worst of all, God eventually stopped talking to them. For 400 years, the prophets were silenced, and there was no word from God. But the people kept waiting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is the posture we take up during Advent.\u00a0Advent \u2014 the season in the Church calendar\u00a0immediately\u00a0preceding leading up to\u00a0Christmas, beginning four Sundays prior to Christmas day \u2014 is the time of waiting.\u00a0Its name comes from a Latin word that simply means \u201carrival.\u201d Advent is not the\u00a0joyous celebration\u00a0of all that is merry and bright; rather, it is a time of remembering the darkness and longingly looking for the arrival of One who will shine into that darkness. It is a time of recognizing and admitting all that is wrong in this world, and of leaning in with longing for the appearance of One to make it right. It is a time of daring to hope, of daring to believe those great promises of God\u2019s Word: \u201cFrom ancient times no one has heard, no one has listened to, no eye has seen any God except you who acts on behalf of the one who waits for him.\u201d (Is 64:4)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still waiting<\/strong><\/p>\n

But\u00a0you may wonder, why do we need to rehearse this posture of waiting when the promised child has already come? After all, Christmas\u00a0did\u00a0<\/em>happen, Christ\u00a0has\u00a0<\/em>come, and a light\u00a0has\u00a0<\/em>shone on those who walk in the darkness. Jesus came saying, \u201cI am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life\u201d (John 8:12). Indeed, all this is true! Christ is the child promised to His people, the one who rescued them, the King reigning forever on a throne of justice and righteousness! But the Bible tells us there is another coming of Christ \u2014 another arrival, another Advent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We live in the time between the times. We\u00a0live in\u00a0between the two Advents. Christ has come;\u00a0Christ will come again<\/em>. And until He does, much remains dark about this world. Much remains dark about our lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You feel it, don\u2019t you? Our world is still filled with the stench of death; we wait for the time when death will be no more, when it will be swallowed up by victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Our world is still filled with the presence and consequences of sin.\u00a0Yes, Christ came to rescue us from our sins, and on the cross, he paid the penalty of sin for all those who will have faith in him. Yet, we long to be freed from the very presence of sin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Our world is still filled with injustice \u2014 with people mistreating one another, committing violence against one another, oppressing one another based on race or ethnicity, income or class,\u00a0religion\u00a0or political persuasion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yes, there is much that is still dark in our world \u2014 and in our own hearts. And for this reason,\u00a0we are still waiting<\/em>. We are still waiting for the One. He has come, but he will come again, and when he does, he will make\u00a0all things\u00a0right.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Taylor Combs is the author of The One We\u2019re Waiting For: An Illustrated Advent Devotional For Families<\/em> and has a BA in Bible and Ministry from Lipscomb University, an M.Div. from Southern Seminary, and he holds a doctorate in historical theology from Midwestern Seminary, where he studied Protestant Christianity and American culture. After working in Christian publishing, Taylor, together with his wife Lindsay and a group of friends planted King\u2019s Cross Church in East Nashville where he serves as lead pastor. Taylor and Lindsay live in Nashville, Tenn., with their three young children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Taylor Combs, Op-ed contributor Monday, December 01, 2025Two advent pillar candles burning for the second week of Advent. | iStock\/Kara Gebhardt I admittedly have a bit of a melancholic personality. And I think\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0in part\u00a0why\u00a0I love Advent. Advent is the perfect mixture of melancholy and joy.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a raw, honest season of\u00a0saying\u00a0out loud\u00a0the truth about the world\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[909],"class_list":["post-10989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-christian-living","tag-advent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}