The fourth candle of Advent is LOVE. The Bible has a lot to say about love; in fact, depending on your translation, the word appears 100-300 times. It makes sense since God IS Love: 1 John 4:7-8: Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God. The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
We cannot walk with Jesus without love. It is the centerpiece of the Christmas story. 2 Corinthians 5:17, So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away – look, what is new has come! (NET)
Jesus, being fully God and fully human, embodied love and lived it out for us as a model.
Jesus connects all of the Advent candles. Through him we have hope, peace, joy and love, without him we don’t have any of these. Jesus stepped down into darkness to bring true light to the world. (John 8:12) Because of Him we can be a light to others.
Amy Grant put it well in her song Love Has Come:
Love has come For the world to know
As the wise men knew Such a long time ago
And I believe that angels sang That hope had begun
When the god of glory Who is full of mercy
dSent his son.