Imagine yourself as a woman born centuries before Jesus came to earth as a baby. You have no cultural or political rights to speak of and your safety is tied up entirely in your relationship with your father, brothers, or husband.

But then, you hear the words of a prophet named Isaiah. He describes God forming a servant in his mother’s womb who will bring freedom. Isaiah says that God labors like a woman for his people’s salvation, and remembers his people with the same intimacy as a mother who remembers the nursing baby at her breast.

This God, it seems, greatly values women. As Beth Stovell writes in a CT Advent devotional, he offers a "combination of global salvation and personal intimacy." We see this most clearly in the person of Jesus, whose light brings freedom to those held captive.

During Advent, may we celebrate the first coming of a Savior sent by a God who loves women, and may we look forward to the second coming—the day when all oppression shall cease.