We know that:
- It comes before Christmas
- We set up Advent Wreaths with different colored candles for each week
- Some people also set up Jesse trees to show the lineage of Jesus
- It’s also the time when people start to set up creche’s (and some won’t allow baby Jesus to be present until Christmas!)
- Everything seems to have red, gold, white, and/or purple
But what else do we know about Advent?
The word “Advent” originally referred to the coming of the Emperor in ancient Rome. When the Emperor traveled around his empire, there were people sent ahead to make sure that the next place he stayed would be well prepared to receive him. We do that today when we prepare for the celebration of the birth of Christ, the long-awaited savior, which is why that season is called Advent.
Advent is a time preparation to receive Him as fully as we can when He arrives (when He’s born) on Christmas. Part of that preparation is reflected in the songs we sing during Advent, like “O Come Let us Adore Him” (Venite Adoremus).
The prefix ad means “toward” and venire is the verb “to come,” so Advent is a time when something is coming toward us but isn't yet here. What we’re doing is trying to be more fully united to our savior by going towards Him so that we can be closer to Him when He arrives.
Advent is not just referring to the past preparation for the birth of the king though, it is also reminding us of the Second Coming—the return of that king—at the end of the world.
We are preparing to receive Him both now and when He returns.
The reason that the Son of God became incarnate is because He was the only one who could begin the healing of the rift between God and us that happened at the Fall, but that rift will only be fully healed with His Second Coming.
That idea of Christ as the Emperor or King also finds its way into a lot of stories.
Whenever there is a male child who is born to be a king—especially if he’s an only child—it is a reference to the birth of Christ and His role within the world. King Arthur (as in the Sword in the Stone), is an example of that, but it shows up in a lot of other stories as well.
In C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, all four of the Pevensie children were part of a prophesy which said that they would rule Narnia as kings and queens, with Peter as the High King (that’s also a reference to St. Peter, who was chosen by Christ to be the head of His church, or the highest bishop of all of the bishops).
In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Aslan is referred to as the “Son of the Emperor,” but that emperor is the emperor of the universe and not just of Narnia. He’s using that reference to show that as a Christ figure, Aslan is both the ruler and the son of the ruler, just as Jesus is both the Son of God, and God Himself.