To Keep God's Promises
- Published Nov 26, 2014
“To show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham” (Luke 1:72-73).
God is now doing what he promised to do. The prophets saw it coming, but not every detail. No one saw it clearly, but they knew the day would come when God would visit his people. Micah spoke of it, and so did Isaiah and Jeremiah. Even old Abraham looked forward to this day, as did Moses and David. They all saw it coming! All of them looked through the dim mist of history and saw a bright glimpse of the day when God would visit his people. They knew it was coming; they just didn't know exactly when it would happen.
This truth leads to a crucial conclusion about Jesus Christ: He must be great because the preparation for his coming took thousands of years. This is no small event. History is really His Story! All that came before him pointed to him. All that comes after looks back to him. He is the centerpiece of history, the demarcation between yesterday and tomorrow. In the birth of Jesus Christ, we have come to the crux and pivot of history.
Luke is telling us something very crucial: God came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ and nothing will ever be the same again. If we look at Christmas this way, we see it in a new light. Nothing like this has ever happened before. God has visited his people and nothing will ever be the same again.
As the commercials keep telling us, there are only 23 shopping days left until Christmas. But think about what else that means. There are also . . .
—23 praising days until Christmas,
—23 singing days until Christmas,
—23 worshiping days until Christmas.
How are you going to spend the 23 days before Christmas?
My God, grant that I might not be so busy that I miss the joy of Christmas. Open my heart so that I might believe all over again. Amen.
You can reach the author at ray@keepbelieving.com. Click here to sign up for the free email sermon.
