A great deal has been said about the timing of that first Christmas. The Greek culture had permeated the world of Jesus’ day. Greek philosophy changed the way people thought about life and influenced almost every aspect of the culture. Rome was the world power of Jesus’ day, and the government exerted influence and control over the behaviors and laws of the people. The Greco-Roman world was drastically different than the world King David had known. The Hebrew nation had been subdued and could no longer claim ownership of the land God had promised as theirs. Jewish worship continued in the synagogues but had become more about a routine adherence to priestly rules than about a personal relationship with their Creator. As always, a remnant of the faithful remained. The remnant was waiting, hopeful that their Messiah would come and change the world.

The Old Testament records that God sent confusion to the people after they tried to build the Tower of Babel. Then God sent a flood upon Noah’s world because they had become degenerate and disinterested in the ways of God. When the Egyptian Pharaoh refused to heed God’s warnings from Moses, his people endured continual plagues until he finally acknowledged God’s authority and let the Hebrew people go free. The Israelites became the nation of power and influence in the world until they chose to blend with the world. God’s chosen people stopped listening to God’s chosen prophets and, therefore, exchanged God’s blessings for discipline and judgment.

But “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Jesus came to change the world that first Christmas. And he did.

This advent guide is written to help you understand the world Jesus chose to enter and chose to change. I pray he will do the same this year through each of us.

—Janet Denison