Day 25: God

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. — John 1:14

African peoples have always felt a closeness to the divine while also experiencing a sense of distance from God. They sense a connection to the spiritual realm through nature, myths and stories, but these tales often recount how God withdrew from them because of their rebellion. Despite rebelling against God, they searched within creation and in vain for the salvation only He can provide. They filled the relational gap with idols, which offered no real hope of salvation and instead left a deep longing and an unspeakable ache for communion with a Creator who walks among them, defeats death for them, shares their meals, dispels their darkness and heals their wounds. For a long time, Africans have yearned for God to resolve their rebellion and to build His mud-and-wattle hut among them. We’ve yearned for a God who is near.

Now, I said I am telling a story about Africans. And I am. But Jews also had this longing for a saving God who is close to His people. John’s Gospel describes the coming of this God to His people as a fulfilment of Jewish expectations. The context in which John the Evangelist writes is one filled with hope among God’s people for the arrival of their God and His Messiah. See, for instance, John 1:19–25. The Jews asked John the Baptist if he was the expected Messiah (Christ in Greek), or Elijah (who would prepare the way for their Lord, cf. Malachi 3:1–5), or the Prophet (a Moses-like figure who would save God’s people from their bondage, cf. Deuteronomy 18:15–19). The Baptist’s response acknowledges this expectation, for he is the voice in the wilderness, charged with preparing the coming Lord’s way as foretold in Isaiah 40:3. Israel longed for God to resolve their rebellion and pitch His tent among them. They desired a God who is near.

Every human heart longs for communion with God. We desire His nearness. We all yearn to be fully known and genuinely loved in a world free from sin and sickness, where death and evil hold no sway. We crave a God who is so close that all our struggles are lifted. We long for a salvation that only the God who is near can provide.

John 1 tells us how Jesus embodies and satisfies our longing. He is the God we long for, a God who understands our deep desires because He is human like us. John insists that the Word that was with God shares God’s identity as one who created all things (1:1–3). He is the light that dispels human darkness and ignorance of Him (1:4, 9), despite being rejected by the very people He made (1:10–11). This Word, Jesus, resolved our rebellion by becoming human and dying our death as a sacrificial lamb (1:29) while pitching His tent among us (1:14). In Jesus, God dwells with His people.

Christmas tells the story of how God has lived among us as one of us, our guest and friend. Christmas is God’s story, written on the canvas of our history, recounting how the supreme Creator became one of His people, humble and walking among them on foot, sharing their meals, dispelling their darkness and healing their hurts. Christmas is a scandal of significant proportions that sings a strangely comforting tune of the God who has made His home among those who rebelliously rejected His presence.

The yearning Africans and Jews have for a God who “dwells with” and saves is a universal need answered for all in the story of Christmas. As we share meals with family and friends during the Advent season, let us reflect on how Jesus’s coming satisfies our longings for death’s defeat, moral darkness to be dispelled, healing of our brokenness and fellowship with God.

We have a God who is near.