From Promise to Presence: Advent Prophecy Revisited

A Three-Week Advent Bible Study
December 3 & 10 (Wednesdays) at 6:30 p.m.
December 16 (Tuesday) at 6:30 p.m.

Every Advent, familiar prophetic lines echo through our sanctuaries: “The virgin will conceive…” “Unto us a child is born…” “But you, Bethlehem…” For many of us, these passages have always been framed as predictions—ancient promises pointing forward to the birth of Jesus.

But what if the prophets’ first hearers understood these texts differently? What if these words spoke directly to their own moment—its crises, its politics, its fears—and then took on deeper meaning as the early church looked back through the lens of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection?

Our upcoming Advent study, “From Promise to Presence: Advent Prophecy Revisited,” will explore these questions with depth, curiosity, and wonder. Together, we’ll step into the world of Israel’s prophets, listen as their original audiences might have listened, and then notice how the Gospel writers, inspired by Christ’s presence among them, re-read these Scriptures with new eyes. Rather than weakening these texts, this fuller understanding reveals how God’s promises unfold across time—faithfully, creatively, and often surprisingly.

Week 1, December 3rd— “What Child Is This?”

Texts: Isaiah 7:14; Micah 5:2
We’ll explore King Ahaz’s crisis, Bethlehem’s quiet hope, and why God so often chooses ordinary signs—a child, a village—as vessels of divine promise.

Week 2, December 10th — “Glory to the Newborn King?”

Texts: Isaiah 9:6–7; Jeremiah 23:5–6
What did coronation hymns and promises of a “righteous branch” mean to Israel—and how do they point toward Jesus as the Shepherd-King who brings justice and peace?

Week 3, December 16th — “Ransom Captive Israel”

Text: Hosea 11:1
How does Matthew’s use of Israel’s Exodus story shape our understanding of Jesus as the embodiment of God’s people, carrying their hope forward?

Throughout the series, we’ll reframe prophecy not as fortune-telling, but as testimony to God’s ongoing presence. These Scriptures weren’t originally straightforward predictions of Jesus—and that’s not a problem. In fact, it’s the key to their depth. Prophecy reveals a God who shows up again and again, meeting people in their time and speaking new life into old promises.

Advent invites us to see our own lives this way too—to look back and discover, “Even here, God was with me.”

Join us as we enter this season with curiosity, honesty, and hope. And consider this closing question as we begin:

How might this way of seeing prophecy shape the way you wait for God this Advent?

Join us for this exciting study!