Incarnation Fast 3 (Eastern) First Sunday of Advent: Humanity’s Renewal
The Spiritual Mysteries of the Divine Calendar: First Sunday of Advent — Humanity’s Renewal ~ November 30 – December 6, 2025 ~ As we walk the path of Jesus Christ through the Seasons of Salvation in the Divine Calendar, we begin to see the magnificent event of the Word becoming flesh rising on the horizon. Entering the first Sunday of Advent, we turn to the majestic mystery of how Jesus restored the Image of God in human nature at His coming—and how His wholeness becomes our restoration. These weeks will be an intriguing journey, so prepare for a deep dive into the mysteries of Advent.
This is the third week in the Season of the Incarnation Fast. In the first week, we began exploring The Nativity Fast and Its Mysteries, and last week we reflected on How to Prepare the Manger of the Heart for Jesus. These past two week laid the foundation for the Incarnation (Nativity) Fast, which began on November 15 and concludes on December 24 (November 28 to January 6 on the Old Calendar). The Incarnation is indeed too vast for our minds to fully comprehend, so in this third week we will approach this marvelous event from yet another angle.
If you attend an Eastern Old Calendar parish, this week would correspond to Week 1. The post The Nativity Fast and Its Mysteries aligns with your current place in the Divine Calendar, even though it follows the Gospel reading for the New Calendar.
The Word Became FleshThe mystery of the Incarnation is beautifully summarized in John 1:14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
In John 1:1, we read that “the Word was God”—and yet He became flesh. Jesus revealed God through the example of His life. Wherever He went and whatever He did, He declared God to us, as John 1:18 affirms: “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” Jesus, God in human form, was the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person (Heb. 1:3).
Why did God become man, a mystery we prepare to celebrate during this season of fasting? He became man so we could know Him as a fellow human being in Jesus Christ, see what we were created to be, and ultimately “be conformed to the image of [Jesus], that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29).
Jesus = The Image of God
In first week of the Nativity Fast, we saw how sin shattered the image of God in man (Gen. 3:3,10). Also, we talked about how the unshattered and original image of God was revealed in our world through Jesus Christ. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Col 1:15).
This is God’s gift in the Incarnation Season, especially during the Feasts: The life of Jesus enters our soul as a divine seed, which grows and restores the image of God. The Holy Spirit completes this seed’s transformation of our soul into the likeness of Jesus Christ (Gal. 4:19), throughout the Seasons of Salvation, year after year.
Last week, we discovered how the key to enter this spiritual season is the emptying of our honor and prestige through hunger for true fulfillment. What more can we learn about this wholeness we are currently preparing to receive? Let us go deeper into this gift.
Fullness
The image of God reveals our fullness—the fullness of human existence and experience.
The Apostle Paul wrestled with words to express the fullness of God in Ephesians 3:16–19: “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
We also read in Ephesians 4:13: “Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
In the Incarnation, God united Himself with humanity so that “he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him” (1 Cor. 6:17). Just as Jesus and the Father are one, so shall we be united with God. “That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us …” (John 17:21).
When Mankind Reaches Fullness
We read in Genesis 1:26: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness’” (Gen 1:26a). This twenty-sixth verse of the Bible is so revolutionary that we often fail to grasp its depth.
During these weeks of the Incarnation Fast, we seek to comprehend the gift we will receive in the Incarnation Feasts. Our hungering to receive the spiritual seed of Jesus’ divine-human nature serves as the greatest motivation throughout our preparation and fasting.
Let us now examine Genesis 1:26, phrase by phrase.
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“Then God said …”The Hebrew word for God in “Then God said …” is Elohiym, the plural of eloahh, meaning “a deity” or “the deity.” It is significant that Elohiym is plural. The Bible later reveals this plurality as the Holy Trinity.
1 John 5:7 clearly affirms this mystery: “For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.”
“… Let Us …”
The Holy Trinity is involved in the act of speaking that created man: “… Let Us …” (note the capitalization of “Us”).
We see God the Father speaking: “For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast” (Ps. 33:9). God the Son is present with Him, as Proverbs 8:30–31 declares: “Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in His inhabited world, and my delight was with the sons of men.” Finally, the Holy Spirit is inseparately involved in creation: “You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; and You renew the face of the earth” (Ps. 104:30).
“… Make Man …”
The word “man” in “… make man …” is the Hebrew adam. This does not refer to a male, as the following verses clarifies, but to both a human being and humanity as a whole: “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” When the Holy Trinity made man in God’s image, it refers both to an individual human being and to mankind as a race.
This is significant because, in creation, all of humanity is represented in a single human being. The text does not say “make mankind” as a multitude of individuals, nor “make a man” meaning a single male or female. “Make man” means the entirety of humanity in every human being.
This reflects the Holy Trinity: Three Persons in one Divine Essence. When Elohiym made man in God’s image, man was created to encompass a multitude of individuals sharing the same humanity. This fullness of a human being, carrying the whole of humanity in the heart, is theologically called a hypostasis.
The Hypostatic Principle
Hypostasis means “person”—but the fullness of a person. We lost the fullness of our personhood in the Fall in the Garden. Yet through the Incarnation, Jesus came to restore the full personhood in the human being—the hypostatic principle within us.
To illustrate this, Apostle Paul describes the Church—the redeemed mankind—as a body: “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many […] And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually” (1 Cor. 12: 13–14, 26–27).
The redeemed mankind—the Church—displays the hypostatic principle. If you cut your finger, every other member of your body reacts. In the same way, God created humanity as individuals sharing one human nature. If one of us suffers, all of us should feel it: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15).
In this age, we can experience this to a limited degree, but after our physical resurrection, this unity will be fully realized. Consider how far humanity has fallen from God’s original design. Sin shattered the reflection of the Holy Trinity in the human race.
Love Your Neighbor as Yourself
Christ said the greatest commandments are: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 22:37–39). Perhaps we begin to see how “your neighbor as yourself” reflects the hypostatic principle in humanity.
Jesus prayed to the Father: “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us” (John 17:21). He taught us the revolutionary command: “Love your enemies” (Matt. 5:44), because even our enemies share in our common human nature.
Just as each Person of the Holy Trinity is fulfilled in the fellowship with the other two, so every human being will be fulfilled in the fellowship of the entire human race, saturated in the presence of God. This is the vision of humanity after Christ’s return and the resurrection of our glorified bodies. God will overflow within every person, and through Him we enter the fellowship of humanity, allowing us to know God in ways beyond comprehend. This is what the image of God looks like when humanity is redeemed.
The Grace of the Incarnation
This Christmas, we receive a tiny seed of the divine-human nature revealed in Jesus Christ—the grace of the Incarnation. When nutured throughout the Seasons of Salvation, this seed can help us love our neighbor and God more. Christ’s salvation gradually makes us more fully human in the truest sense of the word, year by year.
This does not mean we lose our individual personhood—each member remains unique—but our uniqueness will no longer crash with that of others. Instead, the bond of love among the redeemed will allow the fullness of God to fill us, like one shining city of gold, silver, and precious stones.
“In whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Eph. 2:21–22). “[The New Jerusalem] having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal” (Rev. 21:11).
A Sidenote About the End Times
In the end times, we will witness the spirit of the Antichrist working to replace the image of God with the image of the beast at an unprecedented rate.
Revelation 13:14–15 warns: “And he [the false prophet] deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.”
This worship of the beast imprints its image on the human soul. Initially, it may not take the form of a physical idol, but those who succumb will embrace the antichristian spirit in all its manifestations. Eventually, the Antichrist will demand to be worshipped, and the image of the beast will have already prepared human souls to bow before Satan incarnate.
History and recent events reveal how easily humans can lose what it means to be human. Even in our so-called age of enlightenment, the beastly nature manifests itself. Therefore, let us seek to be “conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29). Our very existence can become a continuous form of intercession, as the image of God shines ever brighter within us—like a mended mirror reflecting the glory of the Heavenly King.
“… in Our Image, According to Our Likeness.”
There are different views regarding these terms in Genesis 1:26. Still, we may say that:
The image of God is our unique spiritual nature that enables communion with God. While the animal kingdom is full of creatures with souls, humans alone have spirits. Our spiritual nature unites us to God, making us resemble Him. Every human being is made in the image of God. Our makeup reflects traits of God—morality, compassion, love, creativity, symbolism, and abstract concepts like beauty and purpose. These qualities are reflections of God’s image in every human being.The likeness of God is our process of growing in the attributes given in God’s image, even gaining additional ones. Our transformation into Christlikeness (Gal. 4:19) is the process of growing in the likeness of God.Therefore, the image of God is given by grace when God brings us into this world. The likeness of God is attained by grace through our cooperation with the Holy Spirit over a lifetime of faith, beginning with our coming to faith in Jesus Christ: “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you” (Gal. 4:19). As we grow in spiritual virtues and the fruits of the Spirit, we attain the likeness of God. Journeying through the Seasons of Salvation can indeed be part of this transformative process.
You Are gods
With this foundation from Genesis 1:26, we can reflect on a controversial verse that some misinterpret. Psalm 82:6 says: “I said, ‘You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High.’” Jesus echoes this in John 10:34: “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”’”? When Jesus calls us gods (lowercase g), He affirms our partaking of the divine nature. We are being redeemed as a divine-human race, destined to become true children of God—gods in this sense.
Some confuse the essence of God with the nature of God. The essence of God is unreachable and incomprehensible; we will never become Gods (capital G), as some sects mistakenly claim—creating worlds of our own is unbiblical.
Instead, we will partake in God’s divine nature. We will become gods, meaning “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). We will never share in God’s essence—even in eternity—as Isaiah declares: “‘I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God” (Isa. 44:6b).
The biblical truth is that we partake in the divine nature—Christ incarnates in us, and we are gradually becoming more like Him. The Apostle Peter makes this clear: “By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature…” (2 Peter 1:4).
With the first weeks of the Season of the Incarnation behind us, we are now ready to enter a new phase of the Incarnation Fast—the four Sundays of Advent. May the Holy Spirit, by His grace, awaken in us a genuine hunger for the Word to become flesh (John 1:14).
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Entering the First Sunday of AdventWe have arrived at the first Sunday of Advent. While the exact word does not appear in the Bible, its meaning is rooted in Scripture. The first known use of advent dates to the 12th century, from the Latin adventus, meaning “arrival,” “appearance,” or “to arrive.”
These four Sundays before Christmas cultivate an expectation for the arrival of the Logos, when “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). This eager anticipation of the Lord’s coming—the advent of Jesus—has three perspectives: the historical advent, the spiritual advent, and the second advent.
I. The Historical Advent
We read in Isaiah: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14). In the New Testament, we see its fulfillment: “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?” (Matt. 2:1–2).
This is the most familiar perspective of the Lord’s coming. At Christmas, we remember the historical event when the Virgin Mary “brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger” (Luke 2:7). Yet if our celebration ends here, we miss the deeper spiritual riches the early Church experienced.
Although decorations, deep cleaning, gifts, and Christmas carols are part of the celebration, they should never become the focus. Instead, they should help direct our minds and stir our spirits toward the second perspective of Advent.
II. The Spiritual Advent
Many Bible passages speak of the spiritual effects of the Lord’s first coming. From the Old Testament: “No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me” (Jer. 31:34). From the New Testament: “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).
The early Church focused on Christ’s spiritual advent into our inner man. This is also our aim in this series through the Seasons of Salvation. In the Spirit, the Holy Spirit allows us to witness the birth of Jesus. Though often not percieved by our mind or emotions, this reality is possible because every act in Jesus’ life is an eternal act.
The early Church Fathers believed that the Holy Spirit was the eyewitness of every event in Jesus’ life. They based this understanding on John 16:7: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” The Greek word parakletos, translated as “Helper,” means “intercessor,” “consoler,” “comforter,” and “advocate.” The Holy Spirit is our advocate, speaking on our behalf.
An advocate implies an eyewitness, and since the angel told the Virgin Mary that “the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you” (Luke 1:35), the Holy Spirit was with Jesus from the moment of His miraculous conception (see also Luke 1:41).
Our Spiritual Eyewitness
With the Holy Spirit as the eyewitness to everything that happened to Jesus, the Spirit allows us to share in His witness. This grace is always available, but during a feast the spiritual heavens open in a unique way, allowing us to draw nearer to the event being celebrated.
We know this from personal experience. When we confess our sins and bow before the crucified Lord, we encounter real forgiveness. How can Jesus—crucified in Jerusalem two thousand years ago—clear our conscience here and now in a genuine experience of mercy?
It is the spiritual principle of Christ’s eternal acts of salvation. The Holy Spirit enables us to come into contact with every act Jesus performed, including those we celebrate in the Incarnation Feasts. The Spirit allows our spirit to interact with a historical event in Jesus’ life, even though it occurred millennia ago in the Middle East.
In the spiritual realm, time ceases to exist as we know it. In the Holy Spirit, past, present, and future are continually here and now. “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” (1 Pet. 1:20). “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8).
The clearing of our conscience from the guilt of sin is undeniable proof that Jesus is not only a historical figure but God in the flesh.
The more deeply we experience this second form of the advent of Jesus—His spiritual incarnation in our inner man—the more alert we become to the third perspective of Advent: The Second Advent.
III. The Second Advent
In 1 John we read: “But we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:2b–3). And the Apostle Paul writes: “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand” (Rom. 13:11–12a).
Jesus Himself warns us: “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matt. 24:42–44).
The weeks of Advent stir our longing for the Second Coming of Jesus. The more we come to know Him—and the more the Holy Spirit forms Christ in our inner man (Gal. 4:19)—the deeper our longing grows for His second advent. As Revelation proclaims: “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’” (Rev. 22:17).
This four-week countdown to Christmas connects us with the eighth and final Season of Salvation: the Season of the Second Coming. Jesus is “the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End” (Rev. 21:6). So, the First and Second Advent builds expectation to see Jesus face to face: “But we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).
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Sunday Gospel for First Sunday of Advent — Humanity’s Renewal: Luke 18:18–27 (NKJV)Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ” 21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.”
22 So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 23 But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.
24 And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And those who heard it said, “Who then can be saved?” 27 But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
First Sunday of Advent: Something’s Missing
As we approach the Feast of the Nativity, our expectation for the advent of Jesus grows ever deeper. On Christmas Day, at the manger in Bethlehem, the Holy Spirit creates an inner confidence that the Lord has come and that everything has changed. As we discussed earlier, we might feel nothing with the senses of our soul, yet it is just as real. “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Notice that the words Jesus speaks are not mere emotions or thoughts—they are spirit and life.
The Sunday Gospel for the first week of Advent tells the familiar story of the Rich Young Ruler. He asked Jesus, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” His question reveals that he senses something is missing. He feels insecure about whether he has truly gained the promise of eternal life—otherwise, he would not ask.
Jesus tells him to keep the commandments to enter into life, listing five of them. The young man responds: “All these things I have kept from my youth.” Clearly, he is a righteous person, striving to follow God’s commandments. Yet he feels something is lacking. Despite his faithful living, he cannot be certain that it grants him eternal life.
First Sunday of Advent: Hindering Our Emptying
This is a significant revelation. We can strive to lead a good life and do all the right things, yet still feel incapable of attaining what we truly desire. Despite our best efforts to follow Christ’s commandments, we may find ourselves unable to recognize the fullness of God’s blessing. Somehow, something remains missing.
Luke 18:22–23 tells us: “So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, ‘You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’ But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.” Jesus showed the rich young ruler exactly what was lacking. His deep struggle lay in his attachment to wealth. Replacing the earthly treasure of his heart with a heavenly one seemed beyond his ability, so “he became very sorrowful.”
Jesus confirmed to His disciples that for someone clinging to wealth, entering the Kingdom of God would be harder than for a “camel to go through the eye of a needle” (Luke 18:25). The young man had been unaware that his love for wealth hindered him from fully keeping the commandments until Jesus revealed it.
During the Nativity Fast, the Holy Spirit may open our eyes to what we have yet to realize—what keeps us from truly emptying ourselves before God. We may sense that something is missing in our life with the Lord. Let us pray that the Spirit will guide us to uncover those hidden treasures we hesitate to surrender, so that we may fully receive the grace of Advent.
First Sunday of Advent: Impossible Possibilities
Jesus shocks His disciples with the comparison of the camel: “And those who heard it said, ‘Who then can be saved?’ But He said, ‘The things which are impossible with men are possible with God’” (Luke 18:26–27). But Jesus also comforts them: what is impossible for us in our own strength is possible with God. “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts” (Zech. 4:6b).
This is exactly how we may feel when the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to the hidden treasures of our earthly attachments. The focus of the Incarnation Fast is the emptying of self to be filled with the Person of Jesus. The Spirit shines light into the treasure vaults we did not realize we were guarding. These hidden treasures give rise to the feeling that something is missing. We feel this emptiness because it is the essence of these attachments: only when we recognize them do we realize how tightly we have held onto them.
But “the things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” When we resist surrendering a particular treasure—our plans, convictions, false securities, social prestige, financial stability, or anything that inflates our ego—we are not to despair. By God’s grace, through the Incarnation, He will transform these earthly treasures into the truth and fullness found in Jesus Christ.
What Is My Impossibility?
As we enter this first week of Advent, we can ask ourselves: What is my impossibility? What feels impossible for me to face, change, believe, or surrender? Can we dare to trust Jesus’ words: “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God”?
This Advent, we will find grace to let go. And when we do, we will be amazed at how completely Jesus makes us whole.
After all, God Himself became Man—the most impossible event conceivable. If He can do that, He can transform our impossibilities into possibilities.
Concluding First Sunday of Advent: Humanity’s RenewalThank you for taking the time to read about entering Advent with a spiritual perspective. It is my joy to share this journey with you. God bless you.
If you are participating in the Nativity (Advent) Fast from November 15 to December 24 (November 28 to January 6 on the Old Calendar), you may find it helpful to review what we talked about previously regarding What Is Fasting?
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