Day 1

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means “God with us”.

(Matthew 1:3 – quote from Isaiah 7:14)

Wow…God with us. The concept alone is as unfathomable as it is glorious. But where was the parade? How did mankind miss the birth of its Creator? Where were the throngs of people straining to catch a glimpse of the chosen One? But only a few got to come to the party that night…angels, shepherds and animals.

Did you ever stop to ponder that this is exactly the way God planned it? The Israelites had their mind on one type of king; God had his mind on another. They wanted freedom from the Roman Empire, to find another David. God wanted them to be free forever, to allow them to finally see Him.

To announce the Christ’s birth, there was an angelic pronouncement out in the fields, but not in the town square. It wasn’t his time. Thirty years later, at the start his ministry, Jesus silenced the demons who screamed out his identity. It wasn’t his time. People tried to throw Him off a cliff, but He walked right past them. It wasn’t his time.

Yet, at Calvary, where he bled nailed to a cross, it was finally his time. This is why He was born. When we start to glimpse the true meaning of Christmas, we begin to see it is not us with God, but God with us.

Application:

• Now it is your time.  There is at least one person God has put on your heart who needs Jesus. Ask God to show you how to approach this person and what to say. Maybe you can invite them to a Christmas Eve service or to your house for dinner over the holidays. Ask God, “How do I share the gospel with this person? Please open the door.”