THERE’S EXCITEMENT IN THE AIR!

It’s Christmas time once again!  The bells are ringing, the choirs are singing, the world is proclaiming in the beautiful carols that Christ has come.  There is excitement in the air!

There is joy in our hearts as we put up our beautiful trees, and all the lovely colors speak of the majesty and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ:  Red stands for Christ’s blood shed for our sins.  Green stands for the fact that we have eternal life in Christ.  White stands for the purity of Christ, and the gold stands for the kingship and royalty of Jesus Christ.  So when you put up your tree and hang your decorations, be reminded as a Christian, what these colors mean to you and your relationship with your Wonderful Lord!

Then there are gifts to buy and send, always remembering that Christmas is not about all the gifts we receive and send but it is about God’s perfect gift, Jesus Christ.  There are goodies to bake to bless our families, friends and loved ones.  There is excitement in the air!  Christ has come!

And then I think of another day, another time when there was excitement in the air, a certain feeling that Someone was about to come on the scene.  And that Someone was prophesied to come in God’s Holy Word hundreds of years ago.  We go back to the time just before Jesus came, and think about the times in which the people in Israel lived.  They were cruelly oppressed by Rome.  There had been no message from God in 400 years!  Surely this must be the time when He will come?  I am sure shepherds sat around their campfires wondering when Messiah would come and bring peace to their world.  There was excitement in the air!

It was time for God to fulfill all the promises of Messiah.  For down through the years of history, God’s prophets had foretold that He would come. Many in that day were looking at the prophecies and wondering if this was the day and the time.  And indeed it was the time for His first advent, His first coming.  Let’s look at some of those prophecies in God’s Word.

God’s prophets also foretold of a coming Ruler, a Prince, a King who would rule forever and bring peace to a troubled world.  And we also are living in a troubled world, my friend, just as Israel was living in troubled times.  Among God’s people today, there is again excitement in the air.  Our King is coming! 

“But you Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting”  Micah 5:2.

The Prophet Micah foretold exactly where He was to be born, in Bethlehem.  And we all know the Christmas story in Matthew 2:6, and Luke 2:1-6.  He was born in Bethlehem exactly as the prophet foretold.  But Micah also prophesied that out of Bethlehem would come a Ruler who was from everlasting.  This Ruler had no beginning, He was before time. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God” John 1:1-2.

This little baby, who was born in Bethlehem, as the prophet foretold, was God in the flesh, coming to be the Ruler for all time.  He came to rule in the hearts of men who would accept Him as their Lord and Savior.  This little baby came to die for your sins and for mine.  And when He came there was truly excitement in the air!  The King had come!

“Therefore the LORD Himself will give you a sign:  Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Emmanuel” Isaiah 7:11. And in Matthew 1:22-23, an Angel appeared to Joseph in a dream telling Him to call the child “Emmanuel” just as the prophet had foretold.

 EMMANUEL

“God With Us”

“Emmanuel, I praise You for your faithful love.  Instead of casting me away from Your presence, You came to call me home.  Instead of punishing me for my sins, You came to free me from them,  Emmanuel, my God.   You are here with me today.  Live in me and glorify Your name, I pray.  Emmanuel continues to be with me in song and in His presence and in those special moments with Him. I would see a dramatic change in ministry and circumstances if I totally depended on the fact that God is with me, morning and evening.  This title reveals Jesus’ nature to “never leave me or forsake me”  Hebrews 13:5b. (Sharon Besler, 2007).

Emmanuel, “God with Us”, what a wonderful promise!  Yes, He sent His only beloved Son to dwell among us, to feel our pain and our sufferings.  And He does feel your pain and suffering, my friend.  He came as that little baby in Bethlehem, to grow into a man, live on this earth for three years and then to die on that cross, shed His blood for my sins, for your sins.  And He is still with us today, living in the hearts of His people, by the Holy Spirit.

Oh, the world will not see Him, will not feel that excitement.  But we feel that joy and anticipation as we look at His first advent.  At this time we celebrate His first advent, but there is another advent coming.  The second advent of our Lord and Savior will break the skies, as He will not come as a meek and humble baby in a manger, but will come as King of kings and Lord of lords!  And He will reign forever and forever!  This King “whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting” will reign at last.

So there is excitement in the air!  We will remember this season of joy His first advent and celebrate with scenes of that baby in the manger, Emmanuel, God with us.  He is desires to be Emmanuel to you, my friend?  He so wants to be with you, to be your Lord and Savior.  This could be the most wonderful Christmas you have ever celebrated by asking Him to come into your heart, and then you would be ready for His second advent, when He comes again.  Make that choice, my friends, and feel the excitement in the air! The King has come!

Have a Blessed Christmas Season,

Pastor Sharon