Advent

Isaiah 40

Comfort, O comfort my people, 

    says your God. 

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, 

    and cry to her 

  that she has served her term, 

    that her penalty is paid, 

  that she has received from the LORD’S hand 

    double for all her sins.

A voice cries out: 

  “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, 

    make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 

Every valley shall be lifted up, 

    and every mountain and hill be made low; 

  the uneven ground shall become level, 

    and the rough places a plain. 

Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, 

    and all people shall see it together, 

    for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Behold, The Lord God comes with might,

   and His arm rules for Him;

behold His reward is with Him,

   and His recompense before Him.

He will tend His flock like a shepherd;

   He will gather the lambs in His arms,

He will carry them in His bosom,

   and gently lead those that are with young.

Revelation 7

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
"Therefore they are before the throne of God,
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
 the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every
tear from their eyes."

We eagerly wait for the second coming of our Shepherd Savior even as we prepare to celebrate His first coming!