The Gift of Anticipation: Waiting for the Savior

Waiting is rarely enjoyable. We wait in endless lines at the store, sit trapped in traffic, and spend frustrating minutes on hold with customer service. Waiting often feels like the curse of our modern existence. Yet there’s a particular kind of waiting that transforms frustration into joy: waiting with anticipation.

Think about the excitement of waiting to open Christmas presents, the eager countdown to a long-planned vacation, or the tender anticipation of a child’s birth. These moments of waiting aren’t burdensome—they’re electric with possibility. Anticipation, it turns out, brings spice to life.

Ancient Anticipation

The season of Advent is fundamentally about this kind of waiting. It’s about anticipation rooted in hope, about looking forward to something—or rather, Someone—who will change everything.

The ancient Israelites understood this anticipation deeply. For centuries, they had been pushed around by superpowers: Babylon, Greece, Rome. They clung to prophecies with white-knuckled faith, holding fast to promises like the one found in Zechariah 9:9-10:

“Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey, riding on a donkey’s colt. I will remove the battle chariots from Israel and the war horses from Jerusalem. I will destroy all the weapons used in battle, and your King will bring peace to the nations. His realm will stretch from sea to sea and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.”

They anticipated a deliverer, a messiah who would rescue them like Moses had rescued their ancestors from Egypt. They longed for the fulfillment of Isaiah’s promise: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

These weren’t just beautiful words—they were lifelines of hope in dark times.

The Characters Who Waited

The Christmas story is filled with people who experienced anticipation in remarkably different ways.

**Zechariah and Elizabeth** anticipated the birth of their son John, even as Zechariah was struck mute until the baby’s arrival. They weren’t just expecting a child—they were anticipating a Nazarite, a special leader who would prepare the way.

**Mary** faced total confusion when the angel appeared to her. Yet despite her bewilderment, she responded with stunning faith: “I am the Lord’s servant. Let it happen as you have said.” What was she anticipating? A song asks the question beautifully: “Mary, did you know?” Did she grasp the magnitude of what was unfolding?

**Joseph** experienced a roller coaster of emotions—doubt, apparent betrayal, confusion, fear, and hope all swirling together. After his angelic encounter, he chose to trust, but surely there were moments of uncertainty along the way.

**The shepherds** weren’t anticipating anything at all. They were simply minding their own business when angels appeared with their message: “Don’t be afraid.” Suddenly filled with curiosity and wonder, they rushed to see what had happened, then became the first evangelists, telling everyone what they had witnessed.

**Simeon and Anna** had been waiting the longest. Simeon had been promised he wouldn’t die until he saw the Messiah. When he finally held the infant Jesus, he said, “Now let your servant die in peace.” Anna, a widow who served faithfully in the temple, had been anticipating God’s rescue of Jerusalem. Both recognized in this tiny baby the fulfillment of ancient hopes.

**The wise men** followed a star for two years, anticipating the birth of a king. They brought gifts fit for royalty, though they couldn’t have fully understood the kind of king they would find.

A Different Kind of King

The prophecy in Zechariah promised three things: a new kind of king who would be righteous and bring salvation, unlike the power-hungry rulers they had known; a king characterized by humility, riding on a donkey rather than a war horse; and most importantly, the promise of peace—instruments of war eliminated, peace spoken to the nations.

This was hope for ancient believers, but it remains a message of hope for us today.

Hope in the Hardships

Following Jesus doesn’t make life smooth. The journey is full of potholes, detours, U-turns, and dead ends. Consider Mary and Joseph themselves—their story was hardly easy. They faced a scandalous pregnancy, refugee status, constant movement, lack of resources, and the terror of Herod’s attempt to slaughter innocent children. They had to flee to Egypt. These were godly people used by God, yet their path was anything but comfortable.

Confusion and hardship can steal our hope—the hope that our lives matter, that we’re going somewhere, that we’re counting for something. When all we can see is difficulty and challenge, where does hope go?

Romans 8:28-29 offers perspective: God works every detail in the lives of those who love Him into something good. From the very beginning, God decided to shape the lives of those who love Him along the same lines as the life of His Son. God wants to make us more loving, giving, humble, joyful, peaceful, faithful, compassionate, and self-controlled. Our life becomes God’s curriculum to accomplish that transformation.

The invitation, then, isn’t to avoid hardships but to walk into them with Jesus.

The Ultimate Anticipation

Life is full of surprises—some good, some not so good. Life is full of things we can’t anticipate. But because of Christ, we can anticipate that the God who was born in a manger is coming again, and we will see Him face to face.

This is the gift of Advent: learning to wait with hope, to anticipate with joy, to trust that the Savior who came once will come again. The story moves from “The Savior is coming” to “The Savior has come” to “The Savior is coming again.”

In a world that demands instant gratification, Advent teaches us the sacred art of waiting. Not passive, resigned waiting, but active, hopeful anticipation. The kind of anticipation that transforms how we see our present circumstances, knowing they’re part of a larger story being written by a faithful God.

As we journey through this season, may we embrace the anticipation, holding fast to hope even in difficult times, trusting that every detail of our lives is being worked into something good by the One who came as a humble baby and will return as the King of Kings.