Advent 2025—Week 1: The Coming of Christ In The flesh

Grace, Riches, and Poverty

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich.” — 2 Corinthians 8:9

Introduction To Advent

Just as Sunday is both the first and eighth day—a day of creation and new creation—so Advent marks both the first and last day on the Christian calendar; it stands at the threshold of the Church year as its beginning and its end. During this season, we acknowledge both the start and the consummation of all things. And in doing so, we celebrate Christ Himself, who is the Alpha and the Omega; the beginning and the end; the first and the last. Advent is the time when the Church remembers and rejoices in the incarnation of our Lord, even as we look forward to His second advent—that day known only to the Father, when all things will be brought to completion and the cosmos redeemed.

The very term Advent is drawn from the Latin Adventus, meaning “coming.” And when we speak of the coming of Christ, we confess that there is yet an advent still before us. We celebrate His first coming—His birth, His breaking into history as true man, wrapped in flesh and subject to all the constraints of humanity. And we await His second advent, when the King shall return in glorified flesh, without frailty, without suffering, without the curse.

For the Christian, the bride of Christ, Advent is the season of preparation. Together we aim to make room in our hearts for the long-promised Savior. We commemorate the Bridegroom leaving His chamber and, like a strong man, running His course with joy to save a people unto Himself for His eternal glory.

But Advent is also the season in which we remember the humiliation of Christ; His voluntary self-emptying; His descent from divine glory to take on human nature. In the incarnation, Christ did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but rather, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. Found in human form, He humbled Himself to the point of death—even death on a cross. In this humiliation, we include His incarnation, His human weakness, His submission to the law of God, His obedience in suffering, His death, and His burial. In all this, Christ abased Himself for the sake of his bride.

Historically, the four Sabbaths of Advent have focused on the four comings of Christ: His coming in the flesh; His coming at the hour of death to receive His people; His coming in judgment on Jerusalem in A.D. 70; and His coming on the last day, according to the time fixed by the Father. In the 20th century, however, the themes of Advent have shifted to something more general: hope, peace, joy, and love, each corresponding with a different week in Advent.

And so, in keeping with the ancient tradition of the Church, we turn our attention to the first coming of Christ in the flesh and the beginning of His humiliation. And we do so through the lens of Paul’s magnificent declaration in 2 Corinthians 8:9.

His Grace

Paul begins, “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here, the apostle says “you know” because this knowledge of our Lord’s grace ought to be common among the redeemed. As our Lord often said, “Have you not read?” or as He said to Nicodemus, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” The truths Paul proclaims are not secrets reserved for a spiritual elite; they are not hidden truths that may only be ascertained by those who have scaled the heights of theological understanding. No. They are the very heart of the Gospel; the very power of God which saves man.

Notice too that Paul speaks first of grace before speaking of Christ’s self-giving in the passage. Before he speaks about working, he speaks about grace. Before ethics, he gives us Christ. And this is always the biblical order of things: gospel before obedience. Adoration before action. Love before law. You’ll remember that God delivered Israel from Egypt, baptized them through the sea, fed them manna from heaven and water from the rock in the wilderness, gave them worship, and only after that did he then gave them His law. It has, therefore, always been and will always be Christ before commandments.

So what is grace? Well, grace—charis—literally means favor, gift, or kindness, but in the biblical context, it always indicates that something is given to someone who is undeserving. It is giving blessings, love, treasure, goodness, etc., to those who hate you and would otherwise seek your destruction. And when we consider the first advent of Christ, we recognize the overwhelming grace in the form of the condescension of the Almighty:

The God whose angel armies fill the heavens, whose single word creates life, whose thunder shakes mountains, and whose breath raises the dead—He is the God who fashioned the dust that became Adam, the rib that became Eve, the womb that bore Him, the hands that held Him, the breasts that nursed Him. This God, glorious and eternal, one in three and three in one, felt such compassion for a creature doomed to die and full of hatred for God, that He gave Himself—for you. That is grace. That is something truly undeserved.

In the Advent season, we remember that our salvation begins not with human striving but with divine initiative. Not with us reaching upward, but with God descending in the person of Christ to redeem an altogether unlovely people.

His Riches & Poverty

Paul continues by saying that “[Christ] was rich.” But what were His riches?

The psalmist reminds us(Psalm 50) that every beast of the forest, every bird of the hill, every creature that moves on the earth belongs to Him. Abraham Kuyper captured this when he said: “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’”

But Paul is not speaking here of material wealth; he isn’t speaking of something you can count. Rather, he speaks here of Christ’s eternal riches—His divine glory, his communion with the Father, his power in the heavenlies.

John Calvin wrote:
“The riches of Christ were nothing less than the infinite and eternal glory of the Godhead. He was rich in that all things belonged to Him, and rich in that He had no need of anything. From these riches He descended, not losing them, but veiling them, that we might partake of His fullness.”

Stephan Charnock adds:
“He was rich in the splendor of deity, rich in the delights of the Father’s bosom, rich in the praises of angels, rich in the command of heaven and earth. And yet He stooped to the poverty of our flesh. Glory stooped to disgrace, that disgrace might be lifted to glory.”

J. C. Ryle concludes:
“Let us not forget what he gave up for us. He was rich—rich in honor, glory, power, and love—and He became poor. The higher we estimate His former riches, the more we shall love Him for His grace.”

As these men point out, Christ was rich with eternal glory, fellowship in the Father’s bosom, and rich with honor, glory, power, love, and the need for nothing.

Paul then says, “yet for your sake he became poor...” Now, consider these riches and then consider the contrast: heaven’s throne becomes Bethlehem’s manger. The Lord of glory becomes a peasant child laid among animals, born to parents in poverty. He who lacked nothing becomes a man with no place to lay His head, no beauty that we should desire Him, despised and rejected, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief.

And what was the greatest richness He surrendered? Not material glory, but the intimate communion of the Father’s bosom, that He might suffer the imputation of sin and give His righteousness to His people.

True wealth, then, is not summed up in material possession. True wealth is rightly defined as communion with God, fellowship with the Trinity, and rest in the Father’s bosom. Pity the man who owns vast lands he is unable to survey, more houses than he can live in, and more cars than he can drive, and yet knows nothing of sweet fellowship with the Lord.

Advent therefore, calls us not to sentimentality but to worship. Christ embraced lowliness for the sake of His bride, and His brothers and sisters resemble Him when they embrace a humility like his.

Our Provision

Paul concludes, saying, “…so that you by His poverty might become rich.”

The riches Paul tells us we are given by Christ are not material in nature, but are rather spiritual. Now, though the blessing of the Lord may indeed bring earthly wealth—a wealth which no man should despise or feel guilty over—this is, nevertheless, not what Paul is speaking of. We can be assured of this because while not all Christians will be materially wealthy, all Christians are given these riches.

John Owen writes:
“The abasement of Christ is the spring of all our exaltation. He became what we are that we might partake of what he is. His poverty brought us the riches of grace: pardon, adoption, access to God, and the inheritance of glory.”

Thomas Watson declares:
“Christ emptied Himself that we might be filled. He became poor that we might be enriched with the treasures of heaven—grace, peace, hope, and an eternal crown. The angels marvel that beggars should be made princes by such a price.”

And Charles Spurgeon says:
“Christ’s poverty is our treasury. Because he stooped, we are lifted, because he was classed with the lowly, we are numbered with the saints. Because he bore the curse, we inherit the blessing. Every spiritual riches in the covenant is coined out of His wounds.”

Do you realize what wealth this is that we have been given? Do you, dear saint, comprehend what great riches your savior has blessed you with?

Every time you enjoy peace with God because you are justified; every time you bring Him your weary soul and receive comfort; every time you remember that He will never cast you out of His kingdom, but has made a room just for you; every time you rest in the truth that you have an Advocate with the Father, do you think of how rich you are? Do you understand that you are tasting the riches purchased by Christ’s poverty?

In this great exchange—our poverty for His riches—Christ has made His Church the envy of the universe.

Conclusion

In light of all this glory, what shall we do? As we remember our Lord’s first advent, what shall this drive us to? What is the only fitting response? Well, it is threefold: worship, obedience, and feasting. There is simply no other way to express the love we have because of the love we have been shown. There is simply no other way to appropriately express our thanks for what God has done for us through his beloved Son, Jesus Christ!

So this Advent and Christmas season, do the only thing that makes sense in light of such grace: Worship the Lord truly with a full and open heart. Obey all his commands sincerely and fully without grumbling. And feast on the fatness that the Lord has provided for you, savor the fudge, delight in your wife, revel in your children, laugh with your friends, and be filled with thanks!