The Messiah’s Arrival

Listen to today’s reading:

Isaiah 9:6

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Psalm 98:1-3

Sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvelous things;
his right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
The Lord has made his salvation known
and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
He has remembered his love
and his faithfulness to Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Today’s Reading:

Over 400 years passed from the life of Nehemiah, and the consequences and stains of sin remained on us all, with no physical cure in sight. The people of God still clung to the prophets’ words – but when would the messiah come to set the world right? As Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” But when, God, would you save us? David sang to God a song of sorrow in Psalm 13, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?” Yes, the season had been long. The Gospel of Luke records 76 generations from the father of us all – Adam. At the appointed time and place, the cure became a reality; he remembered and fulfilled his promises. The angel Gabriel told a woman named Mary, “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” Being the very nature of God, The Councilor and Prince of Peace came in the form of a man, but first, a child (Philippians 2:6-7, Isaiah 9:6). When our soul was troubled and damaged – because of us, because our disobedience – God came to redeem every part of us. The God of Creation would’ve been right to leave us alone; we chose to separate from him in our actions. Redemption still came! 

Jesus is the redeemer of our selfishness. 

He redeems our inadequacy to care for the world, this place we continue to corrupt. 

…Our continued failures through time. 

…Our shameful acts. 

…Our curse that we rightfully merited. 

…Our waywardness and wandering in this foreign land. 

…Our disregard for righteousness and our running into depravity. 

…Our punishment that we deserved. 

…Our vanity – pride and meaningless works. 

…Our confusion of right and wrong. 

…Our many, many violations. 

Forget about Satan… our deceitfulness! 

…Our battles against him when all that he wanted was good gifts for us. 

…Our betrayal of him. 

…Our doubts about him.

…Our discontentment in him. 

…Our desires of things over him. 

…Our inattention to him.

…Our forgetfulness of him. 

…Our worldliness – our love of the world that we wanted to build away from him, that could never last apart from him. 

…Our divisions between ourselves and him. 

…Our sadness brought to us, by us. 

…Our complete inability to save ourselves. 

…And ultimately, our brokenness….

He purchased us as we are in all of our shortcomings. He came to redeem our being, down to the core of our soul – the very nature of who we are. The truth is, we have hated God in what we have done. In an overflow of grace, he decided to give disobedient children a gift in the gift of himself – the Son – who did nothing to deserve death, but did die as a sacrifice for us. We hated him through our time on earth, but he chose to love us anyway in this way – coming to save us from ourselves! That is amazing. As John 3:16 declares, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” At the end of this Advent, we know that he loved us. He says today to the disobedient, “follow me.” He promises that he will do the rest as we follow him. He wants you to play for his team today! This is for the unbeliever and believer. The invitation is here for all today. Every day, the redeemed, all of the believers are waking up and deciding to put on the jersey to compete on his team. You! Yes… you! Slide your arms into the jersey and button up! And know that you are not alone. We are in this together in this new season. That’s right, a new season began when his physical body left us, and he left us with The Spirit. In this new Advent, we are eagerly waiting for the day of glory, when he returns and all things will be fulfilled – uniting us with our team through ages past, present, and future – when we will see him in his fullness and our joy will be complete. Until then, this joy that we cling to is meant to be shared! We have great news for the world! We have a wonderful reason to celebrate this Christmas! He came! We are forgiven! Our redeemer came! Hallelujah!

Today’s Prayer Guide:

Praise – Praise God! Praise him for this overflow of grace on ungodly men and women through this gift of salvation from sin into abundant life through Jesus Christ. 

Confession – Tell him that you don’t deserve anything from him. Confess that some days you don’t feel like putting on the jersey of the redeemed.

Ask – Ask him to overflow your heart with joy so that others will have a taste of this wonderful gift though you. Ask him to come along side you today as you take the opportunity today to share the good news behind this Christmas story, while loving and serving others - because he has so loved us!