For this is what the high and exalted One says — he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.” – Isaiah 57:15.
As many of us leave our season of Thanksgiving and transition into the season of Advent, we remember our most significant reason for giving thanks: Jesus’ coming as God’s incarnation in human flesh. Advent means “the coming,” and in particular, the coming of God to earth in Jesus. God loved us so much that he refused to be God far from us, dwelling only in a high and holy place. He chose to come near us and be one of us in Jesus. God is holy and beyond us (Isaiah 6:1-6). Yet, he became one of us in Jesus because of his mercy and grace (Isaiah 57:15). In Jesus, God surrendered his divine privileges and humbled himself so we could see both God’s grace and our path to him in his greatness as a servant (Philippians 2:5-11).