Advent Devotional | Week 2

Luke 1:5-25

What’s in a name? Quite a bit, as it turns out. In the First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament (IVP, 2021), the Translation Council chose to draw from First Nations naming traditions, which means the names of Bible characters are based on meaning, and not the typical names we are accustomed to reading. This choice was an important cultural one by the writers, but also a beautiful, artistic decision.

Elizabeth and Zechariah in the First Nations Version are Creator Is My Promise (Elizabeth) and Creator Will Remember (Zechariah). Yes! This is very much a story of promises made, kept and remembered. It is a story about longing, love and a holy waiting that is eventually rewarded – however painful and impatient it can feel at the time.

Everyone familiar with the nativity narrative will remember Elizabeth and Zechariah, from Luke Chapter 1. They are the older couple who become the unlikely parents of John the Baptist. Their story is Act 1 of the birth narrative, setting the stage for their son (named Gift of Goodwill in this lovely translation) and the work he will do as an adult to herald the coming of the real King, the long-awaited Messiah. Elizabeth – Creator Is My Promise – comforts Mary when the young mother visits her during her own pregnancy, a beautiful glimpse of how women hold each other up.

This is a story about waiting upon waiting.

A woman who waited years and years to have a baby will finally give birth to a necessary prophet. A skeptical father will wait months to speak out loud again. The long-awaited One, Jesus (beautifully and lyrically named Creator Sets Free in this version), will finally arrive to set us free.

It is so hard and long to wait. The whole weary world has been waiting for the pandemic to finally end. We are thirsty for rejoicing. In our own lives, we wait for God to show up, and sometimes He really does seem to drag his feet. But God promises and God remembers. Elizabeth and Zechariah’s story, retold through the ages, reminds us that we are not alone, that it’s never too late, and that our waiting will one day come to a peaceful and beautiful end, when we experience again Christ in all His fullness. These are the days of our waiting. Soon we will rejoice.

Karen Stiller
Author, The Minister’s Wife
(Tyndale House, 2020), and
Senior Editor, Faith Today

Prayer

Lord, it’s so hard to wait. Sometimes, I feel the waiting is wearing me down. When all hope seems to be lost, provide me with assurance that you are always at work and that your sovereign purpose is perfect.

Application

When you feel despair and anxiety cloud your thoughts or when you are on the verge of losing hope, welcome the healing touch of Jesus into your circumstance. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with hope and faith, and to give you peace that surpasses all understanding.