G. Archer Frierson
Chair, Austin Seminary Board of Trustees
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Advent Devotional for December 12
• Luke 1:8-20
God is a promise-making God. God is a promise-keeping God.
God made a promise to Zechariah: He and his wife, Elizabeth, were going to have a son in their old age. The son’s birth would bring joy. The son would proclaim repentance and renewal to the people.
God made a promise to Abram. He and his wife, Sarai, were going to have a son in their old age. Through that son would come nations and kings, and his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. One of those descendants, many hundreds of years later, would be named Zechariah. One would be named Elizabeth. And one would be named John.
God is a promise-making and promise-keeping God, but quite often— almost all the time—the promises are kept in surprising ways. The final part of the promise to Abram was, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). How was that blessing going to come about?
The numerous-as-the-stars people were protected, guided, rescued, spoken to, punished, exiled, and restored year after year and century after century. Other promises were given and received. Other prophets spoke and hoped and lived and died. Other people lived by faith, always remembering the words of God, “I am about to do a new thing” (Isaiah 43: 19). The new thing turned out to be a man down by the river clothed in camel hair, eating grasshoppers, and calling on the people to repent. The new thing turned out to be a babe in a manger.
Old promises and new things. We still live in the midst of them, remembering what has been given, remembering that we who are blessed are vessels of blessing for others, and awaiting the fulfillment of the final promise: “Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5 RSV).
Help us, O Lord, to appreciate the things that have been even as we anticipate what shall be. Amen.
The Reverend Dr. David W. Johnson
Associate Professor of Church History and Christian Spirituality
For the glory of God and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is a seminary in the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition whose mission is to educate and equip individuals for the ordained Christian ministry and other forms of Christian service and leadership; to employ its resources in the service of the church; to promote and engage in critical theological thought and research; and to be a winsome and exemplary community of God's people.We hope that you are preparing the way for the Lord in your life as you read these meditations and prayers. And, we hope this Advent season is a meaningful one for you. Please know that Austin Seminary’s dedicated, diverse, and loving community of faith is not complete without you. Did you know?
• Students in our masters-degree programs receive up to 85% need-based tuition aid.
• Historically, more than 80% of our graduates are called to congregational ministry.
• Our students come from more than a dozen denominations.
• Our alumni serve in ministry in forty-eight U.S. states as well as in twenty different countries across the world.
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