Victory in Advent

In my reading of John Wesley's sermons in reverse chronological order, I came across 'The End of Christ's Coming' within the last week. I thought that the sermon was apt for the beginning of Advent, where we prepare the way for remembering Christ's first coming while longing expectantly for his second coming. Wesley's text for the sermon is 1 John 3:8 - "For this purpose was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." The purpose for the Incarnation, John tells us, is to bring triumph over and, ultimately, an end to all evil. Obviously, this mission is still being lived out seeing that evil (& its fruits) covers the face of the earth. But the reign of God in Christ has been inaugurated and awaits its consummation. That, to me, is a pretty good way of looking at this season of Advent.

One of the key passages for this season comes from the prophetic words of Isaiah, in which we find Christ entitled the 'Prince of Peace.' I find, therefore, a bit of a paradox in this title in light of Christ's mission of "destroying" the works of the devil. That's what led me to post on twitter the other day: "The Prince of Peace came to wage war on evil & destroy the works of the devil."

Now if you've any studying on atonement theology, you will be well aware of the language of 'Christus Victor' which points to Christ, who in the Incarnation and through his death, has wrought victory over the powers of evil and darkness, and (in the words of Irenaeus) "destroy[ed] the knowledge of evil and introduc[ed] and provid[ed] for the knowledge of good." Although Wesley himself didn't put as much emphasis upon this model as he did upon language of guilt & punishment (the key words for 'penal substitution' atonement theology), it is encouraging to see that he embraces the language of victory over evil in this instance, and links it to the work of Christ.

To return to the sermon in view, Wesley contends that the "works of the devil" are simply, "sin and its fruits." The 'remedy' (i.e., Christ's Incarnation) then must serve to undo or "right" all these works. Therefore, we clearly see that it is not solely for our 'justification' for which Christ came into the world, died, and rose again. It is also for our 'sanctification' and 'glorification.' Wesley contends: "Be not content with any religion which does not imply the destruction of all the works of the devil, that is, of all sin." That destruction is still in process.

Because until death, "the last work of the devil" according to Wesley (and the Bible, too), is destroyed then the remedy is still being applied. This is the content of our hope: our future bodily resurrection! We anticipate the 2nd coming in Advent and the content of that coming is the general resurrection, which will follow the lead of Christ's resurrection some 2000 years ago. And when we are raised to see and inhabit the new heaven and new earth, we will know that the "works of the devil" have been completely destroyed. Until then, we praise the King who was born in a stable and pray, "Even so, Come quickly Lord Jesus!"