Preparations for Christmas have been underway in our household since early November. With adult children and more families to share the calendar with, we did an odd thing. We decided to have our immediate family Christmas next week, December 7th! Therefore, all decorations except the tree are up, and the stockings are even partially filled. Presents are bought and mostly wrapped. Some cookies and candies are already made and in the freezer to pull out soon. We chop down a live tree, so we hope to accomplish that in the next day or two.
The Lord himself made preparations for us from the beginning. He even told prophets many years prior that a Messiah would come.
Isaiah 7:14 says, “Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel.”
We make plans over and again, but not all come to pass. Unfortunately, we hurry around sometimes without thinking about what we are doing. But God Almighty is perfect and holy, and when he says he will do something, he will follow through every time. And in his love, he prepared a chosen people to know he would bring them hope as a Savior who would take away their sins. And he wanted man to know that there would be obvious signs of his coming. The above prophecy was among hundreds spoken within hundreds of years and more. From the beginning of time, he revealed that hope was coming.
This fact that Mary, who would give birth to the Messiah, would be a virgin separates Christianity from any other religion. A miracle would happen at conception like none other, born of purity to a woman no man had ever intimately known.
And why did our Heavenly Father do this? Because he wanted a relationship with us. The very name Immanuel means God WITH us. This was the will of the Lord. He wanted to be with you. He wanted to spend time with you. He tried to restore you. He wanted to give you hope and a new life for eternity. He chose you and still chooses you. He is preparing now to bring us all home with him forever. He’s coming again. Are we prepared to meet him?
Lord, thank you for a perfect plan of redemption. Thank you for choosing us to join in relationship with you through the power of your Son, Jesus, born of Virgin Mary.
- Eve Garrison, Penned Treasures