Welcome to Things Unseen. There's a tradition in the Christian Church that I think in many

places has died out, that at this time of year, on the very first Sunday of Advent, celebrating

Jesus' first coming, Christians have paused to reflect on his second coming. And occasionally

are Christmas hymns acknowledged that. I wonder if, in your church, you sing W.Y. Fullerton's

hymn. I cannot tell how he will win the nations, how he will claim his earthly heritage,

how satisfy the needs and aspirations of Eastern West, of Synod and of Sage, but this I know,

all flesh shall see his glory, and he shall reap the harvest he has sown. And some glad

day his son will shine in splendor, when he, the Savior, Savior of the world, is known.

Why do you think this tradition became such a fixture in the old Christian calendar? I feel

fairly sure it was because our spiritual forefathers knew that the incarnation actually intersects

history, but it looks beyond the moment of the incarnation towards the end of history. The

birth of Jesus is the beginning of something new, it's not its consummation, that's still

to come. The humbling of the Son of God led to his humiliation on the cross, but it was the

prelude to his exaltation and glorification, and then ultimately his return. Think of it

this way. At Christmas time we're reminded of a very small number of Jewish people who came

to worship Jesus, people like the aged Simeon, and a few of the marginalized the shepherds, and a

handful of Gentile scholars from the east who came to kneel before him. But the scriptures

teachers, these were merely the first fruits. The tiny shoots pressing through the soil of

history as an indication of what one day will take place in the final harvest, when all the

nations will see the glory of the Lord Jesus when he comes again and usheres in the final

stage of his kingdom. That's the united testimony of the authors of the New Testament. They

don't all mention the details of his birth, although obviously they were conscious of it,

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