The Promised One: Third Sunday of Advent 2022

Today, believers around the world mark the third Sunday of Advent. In some traditions, the third Sunday symbolizes joy. This week, we will examine joy through the lens of the birth of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ. Through the patriarchs and the prophets, God had pointed his people again and again to Jesus, the Messiah. But in those final days, God brought forth another prophet to make the way clear for the Messiah. May our study this week do the same for our hearts and minds, so that we may see Jesus more clearly.

Read & Ponder

Read John 1:1-18, focusing on verses 6-9 this week. As you meditate on these verses, use these questions as a journal prompt:

• What do verses 6-9 teach you about God?

• What do you learn about Jesus in this section of John 1?

• What do these verses teach you about salvation, about the goodness of God’s plan?

• Look back at verses 6-9. What do they reveal about John’s role?

• John’s role was to point the world to Jesus. How is that similar to what you’ve been called to do as a follower of Christ? What are some concrete ways you will live that out this week?