Eschatology and Advent

Advent is a time when Christians look to the birth of Christ at Christmas, and prepare for the coming of Christ who is "God with us." The coming of Christ in our lives draws us nearer to God, and nearer to one another: we experience the grace of forgiveness of sins and live life anew by fulfilling the law of love. The emphasis in Advent therefore tends to be on the present reality of God's grace associated with the coming of Christ. But there is another dimension to the coming of Christ which is oriented and tends to be overlooked in Advent; namely, the notion of eschatology or "last things." Inasmuch as with the coming of Christ the final purposes of God for the historical process is being played out , given that the birth of Christ is an unsurpassable "end-time" event in which is contained the fullness of all things, it follows that Advent is also a time for considering the Christian hope in the life yet to come . That is, the future life when the powers of death in the world will be no more. Christmas is a time for celebrating the coming of Christ in our lives, but it is inextricably related to the "second coming" of Christ when the kingdom of God and the "new creation" will be finally consummated in glorious fashion.