“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Is. 7:14). These words were spoken by the prophet Isaiah around 700 years before Jesus was born. The One to come would be Immanuel, which means God with us. In the incarnation of God in the flesh, Isaiah’s prophecy is ful filled. Jesus is true God and true man. As he walked among us, He was, literally, God with us here on earth; God with us here in the flesh.
We love the scene on that Christmas Eve night, with Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus laid in the manger hay, animals looking on, wondering shepherds gazing at the Savior born for all. Our Advent season prepares us for His coming, leads us, also, to the stable, to kneel and worship this newborn King.
It’s quite a wonder that the prophet Isaiah foretells the incar nation in Christ. And, he has more to say about the baby Jesus: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counse lor, Mighty God, Everlasting Fa ther, Prince of Peace” (Is. 9:6).
We hear Isaiah’s words read of ten in the Advent and Christmas seasons. But the story of the Babe of Bethlehem doesn’t begin with Isaiah. Around 1400 BC, 700 years before Isaiah, Moses proph ecies and writes, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him” (Deut. 18:15). And 700 years before Moses, around 2100 BC, God tells Abraham (Abram) that all nations of the earth would be blessed through him – blessed, we know, by the birth of the Savior through Abra ham’s line.
But the story of Jesus begins even before Abraham, before the flood, back in the Garden of Eden, as God promises to send a Savior who would crush the head of the serpent. As soon as Adam and Eve sin, God promises to send the Redeemer who would pay the price to restore humanity to holiness and a right relationship with God. But those words, “Savior” and “Redeemer,” they reveal that the story does not end at the manger, as beautiful and peaceful as that picture is. The incarnation of Je sus, God taking on human form and human flesh, is done for a rea son. We say that Jesus is the “rea son for the season” to turn our at tention away from the glitz and glamour of the commercialized Christmas and focus on the Christ child in the manger. But that Christ child, God incarnate, is born for a reason. He is born to be our “Savior” and our “Redeemer.” He is born under the Law to live the perfect and sinless life that we could not live. He is born to bear our sin and shed his blood on the cross and rise from the dead on the third day.
The story does not end in the stable, under the Christmas star. Christmas is not what Advent is all about, not what the prophets and history have been about. The promise to Adam and Eve, to Abraham and to us is not fulfilled with the incarnation and birth of Jesus. The incarnation and birth are just the beginning of the won derful action of God, stepping into our world and our flesh to restore us to Himself. Baby Jesus is just the beginning, and the story ends not at the cross, not with the empty tomb, not even with Jesus’ ascension into heaven. It doesn’t even end with Pentecost and the out pouring of the Spirit on the Church.
Christmas is not the end, it is just the beginning. It is the begin ning of the action of God for our salvation, and that action ends with Judgment Day and the marriage feast of the Lamb in heaven.
Our salvation is complete. Im manuel has come. Christ has died for us and risen from the dead. We are citizens of heaven and children of our heavenly Father. But the story of our salvation is yet to be completed.
Our celebration of the birth of our Savior is always a high point in our church year. But His birth is just the beginning. We look forward with great anticipation to Holy Week and Easter, and even beyond to that final day when our Immanuel returns to judge the earth and welcome His bride, the Church, into the wedding hall in heaven.
As we begin a new year, let us do so in the name of Jesus, giving God thanks for the work of salva tion that He has accomplished for us through that baby lying in the manger. And let us look forward in joyful anticipation of His sec ond advent, when he will come in great power and glory at the end of the age. Then, our bodies raised immortal, we will enter the halls of heaven to the great wedding feast of the Lamb. That will be a great day! That will be a wonderful end to the salvation story.
God be with you and bless you, in 2025 and always!
Pastor