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The word advent refers to an arrival, and we have so associated “advent” with the coming of Christ at Christmas that we often forget that, that arrival is but the first stage of a two-stage program. On this Christmas Eve, let us cast our eyes toward that great and final arrival—the coming of Christ in His glory as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
The first advent is what makes the second advent a cause of celebration and not of fearful despair. For the incarnation of God at Christmas leads to Christ’s atoning death on Good Friday and His victorious resurrection at Easter. Now God, by the Spirit, is calling a people to Himself on the basis of the saving work of Christ so that in His glorious second coming Christ may be united with His bride and the kingdom of God may come in all its fullness. This is what we pray for—that “the kingdoms of this world may become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.” It is right that King George stood in reverence when these words were sung, and it will be right for us to do the same when Christ is revealed in all His majesty and He inaugurates the new age.
May we long for that great Advent, when we will see, as portrayed in the last words of C. S. Lewis’s book The Last Battle, that the story of our life in this world was but the cover and title page of the real story. Then will begin “Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.” Hallelujah!
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William L. Kynes
William L. “Bill” Kynes is the Senior Fellow for Pastoral Theology at the C.S. Lewis Institute, and retired Senior Pastor of Cornerstone, an Evangelical Free Church, in Annandale, VA, where he served from 1986 – 2022. He majored in Philosophy at the University of Florida, where he also played quarterback and was later inducted into the university’s Athletic Hall of Fame. He attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, receiving an MA in theology. He received an MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, before returning to England for a PhD in New Testament from Cambridge University.