Advent Reflection Guide – Week 4

In an age of instant gratification, fast food, and one-day shipping, observing Advent is a counter-cultural activity because at the core of Advent is waiting. Yes, we wait in anticipation for Christmas, but Advent is much more than a calendar countdown: it is an opportunity to pause amidst our waiting. As Christians, we are not to be consumed by the commercialization of Christmas; instead, we are to be focused on the Messiah who is the fulfilment of our deepest longings. Through the lens of the Promises of the Messiah – his past coming in the flesh, his present coming in the Spirit, and his future coming in glory – we seek to wait faithfully while seeking Him urgently.

During the Sundays of Advent, we will be exploring passages in Isaiah that present some powerful images of what the promises of the coming of Jesus looks like. They remind us of the desperate need of the Messiah by the people of Israel. They will also give us glimpses to how the promises of the Messiah spark our imagination for God’s restoration and provide a lens to identify how God’s kingdom is breaking into our own lives today. Lastly, they will stir our hearts to long more deeply for Christ’s second coming – for the day of completion of everything he began during his time on earth.

How to Use This Guide

Throughout the week, please use these guided reflections to prepare yourself in the waiting. Each reflection includes a related Scripture passage, a brief connection to Advent, and prompts that invite you to prayerfully respond. Take your time: read and re-read the passage slowly. Return to the same guided reflection two days in a row if needed. Try to let these reflections lead you to moments of waiting in silence. When you become distracted or anxious to move on to the next item on your to-do list, graciously direct yourself back to waiting in God’s presence.

WEEK 4: The Name Immanuel

Guided Reflection #1: 

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, “Ask the Lord your God for a sign,whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”

But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.”

Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.

Isaiah 7:10–16 (NIV)

In Isaiah 7–12, the prophet proclaims a series of prophecies about the deliverance of the nation. Although these prophecies gave hope to their immediate context and circumstance of internal and external conflict, interpreters have viewed these prophecies as promises of the Messiah for millennia. This prophecy is a supernatural and miraculous sign of a saving King whose rule is distinct because of the very presence of God: Immanuel, as in “God with us”. The hope for the people of God is not politically strategic allegiances with powerful nations, nor is it a warrior king; the hope for the people is God’s presence.

• Jesus fulfills this prophecy in a truly awesome and unexpected way in being fully human and fully God. He lived a real and humble human life: he grew, learned, and died. Yet, he is true God from true God, begotten, not made. He is truly and perfectly “God with us”. Prayerfully reflect on the difference Christ’s humanity and divinity make on your spiritual life. How does the fulfillment “God with us” bring comfort and hope?
• We do not always live as though God is present with us. Sometimes we feel like he is distant. When we feel this way, more often than not, we are distant to him; he is not distant to us. Spend 7–10 minutes in silence, breathing deeply and meditating on the reality that God is present with you.

Guided Reflection #2:

Hear us, Shepherd of Israel,
    you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who sit enthroned between the cherubim,
    shine forth before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.
Awaken your might;
    come and save us.

Restore us, O God;
    make your face shine on us,
    that we may be saved.

How long, Lord God Almighty,
    will your anger smolder
    against the prayers of your people?
You have fed them with the bread of tears;
    you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.
You have made us an object of derision to our neighbors,
    and our enemies mock us.

Restore us, God Almighty;
    make your face shine on us,
    that we may be saved.

Psalm 80:1–7 (NIV)

Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,
    the son of man you have raised up for yourself.
Then we will not turn away from you;
    revive us, and we will call on your name.

Restore us, Lord God Almighty;
    make your face shine on us,
    that we may be saved.

Psalm 80:17-19 (NIV)

The phrase “make your face shine on us” that is repeated throughout this prayer is an ancient Hebraic idiom that expresses the idea of God’s presence and blessing. God’s presence as a means of rescue was not a new idea for the people of God. Thus, Isaiah’s prophecy of deliverance through a King described as Immanuel – “God with us” – would have aligned with their understanding of God’s character.

• Do we naturally correlate God’s presence with rescue and blessing? Prayerfully reflect on what you tend to turn to in the face of trouble.
• Re-read the verses above. Spend 7-10 minutes in silence, confessing your need for God’s rescuing presence and meditating on the blessing of his facing shining upon you as his beloved child.

Guided Reflection #3:

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set a part for the gospel of God— the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:1–7 (NIV)

In Paul’s greeting to the church in Rome, he connects his identity to the person of Jesus, who he highlights is the fulfillment of all the promises to the people of Israel. He even extends these promises to the Gentiles, including them in the people of God: the Church. In Christ – the promised Son of David and the incarnate Immanuel – Paul sees the long-awaited sign given through Isaiah fulfilled, and he invites the church in Rome (and us) into the same story of God’s rescuing presence now extended to all nations.

• Paul describes Christians as those “called to belong to Jesus Christ.” Prayerfully reflect on what it means that Immanuel – “God with us” – has also made you his own. Where in your life do you need to remember that you belong to him?
• Spend 7-10 minutes in silence, thanking God for the grace that has reached not only ancient Israel but the whole world. Ask the Spirit to form in you a deeper obedience of faith that flows from knowing God’s promises have been fulfilled in Jesus, the Son of David and Son of God.

Guided Reflection #4:

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us).

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Matthew 1:18–25 (NIV)

In this passage, the angel announces that the child born of Mary is the long-promised Immanuel, the very sign Isaiah foretold – a Son born not through human strategy or power, but through God’s gracious and miraculous presence. At Christmas we celebrate that this promise is no longer distant hope but fulfilled reality: God has come near to us in the humility of a manger and scandal. The shining face of God that Israel longed for is now revealed in the face of Jesus, the Savior who brings rescue not just to one nation, but to the whole world. In him, we behold the wonder of a God who draws near, who enters our darkness with light, and who names himself forever as the God who is with us.

• As you consider the Christmas story, prayerfully reflect on where you need to experience the nearness of Immanuel today. Where is God inviting you to welcome his presence, not as an idea but as a person who has come for you?
• Spend 7-10 minutes in silent gratitude before God, imagining the Christ child and thanking him that the ancient promise has become flesh. Ask the Spirit to help you live with the joy and confidence that come from knowing that God is, truly and always, with us.