Preparing for the Celebration of the Birth of Our Savior
Advent marks the beginning of the church year, which reminds us annually of God’s plan of salvation through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit in the world today.
In the 21st century, the wonder and expectation of Advent can easily be overlooked as consumerism and the “magic of Christmas” take people’s eyes off of the great miracle of the incarnation—God becoming flesh in Jesus, whose name means “God saves.”
Our hope is that this Advent Devotional will help you prepare your hearts and minds to celebrate the joyful birth of Jesus the Messiah on Christmas Day. It can be used in any calendar year, as it begins with November 28 and goes through December 25 with an additional devotional for Epiphany, the celebration of the Magi’s visit to see Jesus in Bethlehem and the first Gentiles to worship Jesus.
Over the centuries, the story of Jesus’ birth has been augmented and “gilded” with various well-intentioned traditions and extrabiblical additions, such as the “donkey” that carried Mary to Bethlehem.
This C.S. Lewis Institute devotional seeks to focus on the biblical texts alone and glean insights from biblical history, geography, culture, and archaeology that illuminate the Nativity story and ground it in the time and place in which Jesus entered the world. This can provide us with a deeper appreciation for the miracle and the humble beauty of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem without all the extra trappings that can distract from the deeper message.
I hope that, as you read this devotional, on at least one or two occasions you will have an “aha” moment and rejoice in a new understanding of the miraculous story of the Nativity of Jesus.
The idea for this devotional came out of the C.S. Lewis Institute’s Biblical Study Program in Israel. I would like to thank each of the contributors, photographers Marc and Kathryn Woodward and writers James C. Martin, D.Min., Joseph Kohm, J.D., Lynne Kohm, J.D., Randy Newman, Ph.D., and Thomas A. Tarrants, D.Min.
My prayer is that, like the shepherds from the fields of Bethlehem who ran to see the King of Kings in the manger, throughout Advent and on Christmas Day, we will give glory and praise to God and tell others all that we have heard and been told about our Savior, Jesus the Messiah!
Dr. Joel S. Woodruff
President, C.S. Lewis Institute
