Sunday December 24, 2023
Isaiah 7:14 14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
They waited for many years for the one who would be their savior. Many years went by, and many things happened that would remind them that a savior would be given to them. They preached about a savior and many prophets repeated the need and the coming of one who would save them all.
Many years came and went, hundreds of years, thousands of years, and again and again they were told that they will be given a savior. They were even told that this savior would come to them as a child. After a while, it would seem like just a story, some would stop believing, some might even try to disprove the prophets and some even killed the prophets.
The long wait came to an end as Mary and Joseph made their way from the town of Nazareth to the town of Bethlehem, about seventy-eight miles on foot and towing a donkey. Bethlehem, also known as the city of David. In a lowly stable under the living quarters of their family, who had no room for Joseph and Mary, Jesus was born a child yet a king.
The sign was given, the star lit the night and day’s sky. The light of God lay humbly in a manger, a feeding trough for the farm animals. Here lay a king wrapped in rags and cloths to keep Him warm in the cool dusk of the most important day of everyone’s life.
1 John 4:7–8,13 7Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 13By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
A message, a command that comes from a childlike faith, love one another. Simple, yet so hard to conceive, Jesus has that childlike faith, and He tells us to have that kind of faith too. Love one another, if only they knew that loving even your enemies might be a means to save you from your enemies. Loving God is loving one another. Loving even your enemy is loving God.
Jesus came to bring the “Good News”, the news of salvation. Salvation is God’s love for us. Loving one another is loving Jesus who died for all people’s sin. What a gift! That love should prevail forth from our savior in the form of a child, a young man of Godly wisdom and care, and a man who suffered and died for our sake to forgive us and give us the gift of immortality, eternal life with our God.
1 John 4:14–16 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Look at this child born in such poor estates. He comes to save us. Jesus saves us from our enemy, and we are our worst enemy. So, Jesus came to save us from ourselves as we are all contaminated with a sinful nature that rules and ruins our lives.
Matthew 1:18–25 23“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
What child is this who lays to rest on Mary’s lap is sleeping? It is Christ the Lord, the Savior blest who forgives us to life everlasting. This Jesus is coming again, the gift given will be the gift realized. And we will live with our God forever and ever. Amen.