His first entry into Jerusalem was to lay down His life as the suffering servant, to take upon Himself the sins of the whole world, and to give His life as a ransom. He still chooses lowly things to carry His presence.

At first, I thought there certainly had to be some kind of mistake. It could not be possible that there are more UPG’s now than there were when we first started working in the 10/40 Window years ago. I tried to figure out what was going on and searched through the site. Then it hit me. Joshua Project updates their statistics every ten years, and this was the new number. My heart sank. When we started working in the 10/40 Window, that number was 6,943. A decade later, the number of ethno-linguistic people groups without access to the gospel had risen to 7,403.

What does this mean?

There is an appointed end to the operation of demons and oppression within the human existence because there is a Judge who has pronounced their sentence. Jesus doesn’t merely have an aversion to sin. He is actively opposing it and will eventually eradicate it from the earth. He is the Lion that moves with strength against all that defiles beauty and love.

Isaiah saw the Son born, the Suffering Servant, the Anointed Messenger, but when He saw Jesus returning as King and Judge, he could not but help ask, “Who is this?!”.

The baby in the manager gives us confidence that He will fulfill every word of these promises with accuracy and power on earth in the same way.

If Micah was spot on that He would be born in Bethlehem, then Zechariah is spot on that He will return to Jerusalem. If Zechariah saw clearly that the King would first come humbly, riding on a donkey, then we can be confident that John saw clearly that He would return on a white horse. Isaiah saw a son born to a virgin, and that same Son carrying the government of the earth on His shoulders.

The manger gives us courage.

The work that was finished on the cross will be fully revealed in the age to come. Restoration will be done. When we lose sight of the divine storyline, our hearts can begin to grow anxious and our confidence can be shaken. But remember, at present, we do not see everything in subjection to Him. We are living in the tension; in the patient endurance between was has been accomplished and what will be revealed. What shall we look at to give us confidence, peace, joy, and courage in this present chaos?

This Advent, we slow to remember and to recalibrate to the truth that we are living in the tension between it is finished and it is done. We are in need of endurance…

The fullness of the transcendent God came through Mary’s birth canal, covered in water, blood, and after birth. They wrapped in a blanket and laid Him among the refuse of a stable in Bethlehem. Sinai was in the stable.

The message of Advent tells us that all our ideas are wrong. What we esteem as lowly, God sees as glorious.

The incarnation shouts to us that God is determined to dwell with, wrap himself around, walk with, and display His glory through weak humans, creatures of dust…