Advent Devotions | Second Presbyterian Church

Reflecting on Places of Christ's Incarnation

Pastor George Robertson

One of the greatest challenges we face as students of God’s Word is understanding the world into which the text was originally written. It is tempting for us to impose our own categories and experiences on the text. And while God’s Word is relevant for all times and places, we miss meaning when we do this. Or to put it positively, the better we understand the world of the text, the better we can understand the text’s meaning and apply it with greater relevance and power to our own lives.

My mentor, Jim Boice, once said that his single focus in life was to become a better Bible teacher. That is my desire, too, so I have been immensely grateful for the opportunities the Lord has given me to tour Israel. Recently, I had the opportunity to do so with some of our people at Second. My prayer for these trips has always been that they would help me become a better teacher of God’s Word. I have also made an even more personal request to God, asking that he would make this a pilgrimage for me.

As we celebrate the Advent of Christ this year, I hope my reflections on places involving Christ’s incarnation will be of encouragement to you. I hope you will better understand the world of the Bible and so become a better student of God’s Word. And I hope you will see Christ more clearly than ever.

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Accounts of Christ's Birth Throughout Scripture

Pastor George Robertson

As we draw near to Christmas, I want to lead us to reset and anticipate the Advent of our savior with intentionality. Whether you do so in personal devotion, around the dinner table with your family, or around a fire with friends, these devotionals are to help all of us reorient ourselves to the event in human history that supplies meaning and significance for everything else in a way no other event does—the birth of Jesus Christ. To do so, I want to lead us on a journey, not merely through familiar accounts of Christ's birth from the Gospels, but through the whole of scripture, Old Testament and New.

So here is how I would like to lead us over the next 25 days until Christmas:

On Sundays, we will gather for corporate worship and look forward to Jesus in Revelation.
Throughout the week, we will look back at the anticipation of Jesus in the law (December 1-4), the prophets (December 6-11), and the writings (December 13-18).
And on Christmas week (December 20-25), we will narrow our focus to the gospel accounts of Jesus' Advent.

I hope you'll join me in reorienting ourselves around the "good news of great joy" of our savior's Advent.