You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fulness of joy
—Psalm 16:11
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Messianic Markings
Tree of Life. Genesis begins at the center of the garden, where we encounter the Tree of Life or Paradise tree (Genesis 2:9). It is a symbol of God’s life-giving presence and of the promise of immortality when we walk in God’s presence. Though we lost our right to share in the fruits of the Tree of Life, our yoke of suffering and death is broken on a tree by Emmanuel, who leads us into eternal life (Revelation 2:7).
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The Dove. A symbol of the Spirit of God, the dove returns to Noah bearing an olive branch to herald God’s reconciliation and ever-abiding peace with us (Genesis 8).
Rainbow. God sets the bow in the clouds as a visible sign of the covenant between the Creator and creation. It is a sign of God’s promise never again to curse the ground (Genesis 9).
Bread and Wine. Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, whose name means, “my king is justice,” offers bread and wine as a covenantal meal, blessing the “God Most High, maker of heaven and earth,” deliverer from our enemies (Genesis 14:17-20). From its beginning, the biblical story gives a profound sense of salvation history and of God’s unremitting plans. The covenant promises are the basis of our relationship with God: God reveals God’s presence so that we may know God and who we are—God’s beloved.
Seed of Abraham. In spite of humanity’s consistent rebellion, God reveals God’s Self so that we may know God as intimately as children know their mother and father. The seed of Abraham (Genesis 15) is the root of the sprout from which salvation will flower at the ripening of time, when “all the nations of the earth [shall] gain blessing” (Genesis 22:18).
Three Visitors to Abraham and Sarah. God visits Abraham and Sarah to speak to them about the birth of a son (Genesis 18:1–15) whose offspring will be as “numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore” (Genesis 22:17).
Jacob’s Ladder. Like the Tree and rainbow, Jacob’s Ladder is a symbolic “bridge” linking God with humanity. Angels descend and ascend a ladder between heaven and earth, bearing the message from God that Israel will be the harbinger of salvation to all humankind. The ladder leads to the gate of heaven, where God’s covenant of dynastic blessing is renewed with Jacob, descendant of Abraham and Sarah (Isaac and Rebekah’s son) (Genesis 28).
Burning Bush. When Moses encounters God in the burning bush (Exodus 3), he is empowered to lead the enslaved Israelites to freedom through the waters of the Red Sea (Exodus 14). Moses recognized in the fiery bush God-with-us, disclosing God’s regenerative light and victorious might against evil (see December 18, O Adonai).
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Freedom. Matzah, the unleavened bread of slaves, is the bread the Jews made in haste for sustenance during their Exodus from slavery to freedom (Exodus 12). Matzah conveys the idea that freedom involves internal simplicity, not outward circumstances of status. The matzah, plain and flat, is not puffed up with pride and desires.
The Crown of David. The crown symbolizes divine rule and is the focus of messianic hope. An anointed shepherd (2 Samuel 5) proves to be Israel’s greatest king, rising from humble status.
Ark of the Covenant. Solomon, David’s son, built the first Temple c. 960 B.C.E. to house the Ark of the Covenant, a symbol of God’s presence. Jerusalem, the site of the Temple and God’s dwelling place, becomes the center of the world (1 Kings 8).
Jonah and the Fish. The short book of Jonah admonishes against consistent refusal to trust God’s presence and willful avoidance of God’s call. God’s redemptive love requires repentance and cooperation: forsake idolatry, give thanks to God, and practice compassion and justice toward all. Again and again we fail, yet God’s promise is fulfilled. Jonah and the fish symbolize the full salvation accomplished by Jesus the Christ.
Advent Lessons and Carols
In many churches, the First Sunday of Advent is observed with an Advent festival of lessons and carols, which usually takes place in the evening during a service of light. A typical service consists of a bidding prayer followed by nine Old Testament readings proclaimed alternately with hymns, canticles and anthems specific to Advent. Often this service marks the first lighting of the Advent wreath.
Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away.
—Jeremiah 31:10
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The lessons recount our creaturely status (Genesis 2:4-9, 15-25); our disobedience (Genesis 3:1-22), including the “proto-gospel” (v. 15), interpreted by many as the first hint that God will come and save our
