Over the Fall we finished a study on Joshua, and Judges. As we finished Judges, and we began to approach Christmas, I became increasingly excited to look at the birth of Jesus, and behold what makes Christmas so wondrous. One of the reasons is one thing that has stuck out to me from the Old Testament was God’s chosen continually crying out for rescue. And in response God providing a person to provide His people a temporary rescue. But their hope ended up being confined by a person’s lifetime. Scripture calls some of these people “judges”.
After awhile God’s people decided they wanted something more than a judge would bring them, and increasingly desired a king.
As I read between the lines, what they really wanted was eternal rescue and not temporary security. They probably couldn’t vocalize it, but I see it in their pleads.
What makes Christmas so wondrous?
We get the opportunity to know this eternal security. The longing was fulfilled by a King. The King of kings. Our promised King, Jesus. Who will never be confined by human reign, but has a Kingdom that will never end.
In preparing to begin looking at Jesus birth, I was reading Psalm 107. It is a psalm of thanksgiving for a God whose loves endures forever, who is merciful to His people, and gathers the lost. It is a call for the redeemed to tell their story.
As I read it, I remember Israel’s history. Wandering in the wilderness, sitting in utter darkness at times, and suffering, because they rebelled against God.
But when they staggered and had their courage melt away, they cried out to God in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm in a whisper.
Many of us… honestly most of us, know too well what separation from God feels like. We too were once wanderers. And He heard our cries too, and brought us into His marvelous light.
He sent out his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave. Psalm 107:20
Verse 20 says that God sent His word out, and rescued us from the grave. This word that will ultimately come… this is what we celebrate and remember this season. God indeed sent His word out. The promised King. Jesus. The truth, and the life. In Him there is no darkness.
He is the light of the world.
One of my favorite verses in this psalm says that God will guide us to our desired haven. It is a promise really, and we can be expectantly confident in this beautiful truth. And we see this with the Israelites.
They wanted a king to rule them. But the problem was, earthly kings reign would always come to an end. It’s inevitable. But the King that God would send, His reign would never end. His kingdom would go on forever.
Have you ever wanted of this world badly? Isn’t it so like God to meet the larger need opposed to the temporary needs of His people?
What else makes Christmas so wondrous? I will tell you.
When God moves, He doesn’t do anything unnoticeable. The same had to be for His Son. Jesus had to be born of a virgin, because it was foretold, but also so that there could be no mistake that this was God fulfilling His promise, with His mighty hand. What makes this so wondrous is that His birth can’t be explained by human reason, and I think my head gets caught up in that sometimes.
The Word became life… and our King has come.
Jesus was the Word (the truth) in the flesh. Living and breathing. Jesus was with God, and Jesus was in the beginning with God. All things came into being because of Him. Apart from Him, nothing could come into being. In Him, would have the fullness of life.
And the One who Jesus was with in the beginning, the Creator, sent His son, to become part of creation. Jesus was now limited by time, age, and even death. The same things that limit us.
Reading it like this seems almost incomprehensible. But this is the wonder that brings joy to the world. It really is amazing. God met our deeper desires. A King would come to earth, to bring us eternal rescue, instead of temporary security.
As we move through this season, may we stay in wonder of Jesus, and His birth, and how beautiful all this truly is.
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