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Christmas is about Jesus—God entering the world as a baby to begin the saving work he will complete when he returns as King. For centuries, Christians have used Advent to look back to Jesus’ birth and forward to his promised return, letting our hearts prepare him room and retelling his story to others. This devotional is designed to help us do just that: to remember the good news of Jesus’ first coming, anticipate his second, and find hope in the One “who is and who was and who is to come.
So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, ‘Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.’ And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter.
“Do you want the good news or the bad news first?” We’ve all been asked this at some point and felt the rush of excitement and dread of fear in the same breath. It’s a question that reminds us that joy and sorrow often arrive together. In Revelation 10, John receives a scroll to eat. It’s sweet like honey on his tongue but bitter in his belly. God’s message is both delightful and difficult, full of comfort and challenge.
John isn’t the only one to “eat” God’s Word. Ezekiel tasted a scroll filled with God’s promises and judgments and found it sweet and bitter too (Ezekiel 3:1–3). Even Jesus told us that God’s words were food that nourished him, yet he also drank a cup of God’s wrath on our behalf. God’s Word nourishes us, but it can also unsettle us. It confronts our sin and calls us to repentance.
In the same way, Advent can sometimes bring this same mixture of sweet and bitter. We rejoice because Jesus has already come and was born to bring salvation. That gospel sweetness is a mainstay of all our Christmas celebrations.
Yet, Advent also reminds us that Jesus is coming again to set all things right. He came as a baby to suffer as the Lamb the first time. Next time, he’s coming as a Lion and a Judge. His return will be glorious and his justice terrifying. The coming of our King is wonderful, yet weighty, news. For many, even the Christmas season itself feels bittersweet because it’s filled with memories of joy but also the pain of loss, loneliness, or unmet hopes.
This Christmas, we taste the bitter honey. God’s sweet grace announces forgiveness and life through Christ’s first coming. His sour judgment exposes the darkness in us and in the world. Like the plea of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” Advent invites us to rejoice in salvation and mourn the world’s brokenness as we long for Jesus’ return. We embrace the bittersweet as we yearn for the day when God makes all things new, when we will inhabit a world overflowing with sweetness upon sweetness.
Where do you taste the “sweetness” of Jesus’ coming this season? Where does his Word challenge or comfort you in the bittersweet places of life? Invite someone to pray with you through your answers. Ask God to help you welcome both, trusting that his love is at work in it all.
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