Rediscovering ChristmasSample

An Invitation to Rediscover the Promise of Christmas

Simeon walked through the temple courts, another day like so many before. He had spent the morning in prayer—again, like so many mornings before. But this morning was different. As he walked, he felt the prompting—the urging—of his lifelong friend, the Holy Spirit. It was as though the Spirit were guiding his steps, and in fact that’s precisely what the Spirit was doing.

As he walked, Simeon thought about the promise God had made to him years earlier: that his old eyes would cast their gaze upon the Lord’s Messiah before he passed on from this life. In that moment, as he obediently followed the Spirit’s leading, he opened those old eyes a bit wider to look for God’s appointed vessel of salvation.

Fitting, Simeon thought as he surveyed the busy morning activities of the temple court. Here, where people come to draw near to God. It’s here that God will reveal the answer to the longing of every human heart. And that’s when he saw him. There was nothing particularly special about the boy—at least nothing that could be seen in the natural. But the Spirit illuminated Simeon’s mind to grasp the truth. The little Jewish boy, just a few weeks old, was the one Simeon had waited his whole life to meet, the one all of Israel had been waiting for.

Some seven hundred years earlier, the prophet Isaiah had written about the Messiah:

For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6–7)

As Simeon held the baby Jesus in his arms, there was no thought of a Roman cross or an empty tomb. The death and resurrection of the Messiah were still pieces of the Old Testament’s mosaic that hadn’t yet come into focus for the Jewish people. At this point in Jesus’ young life, the clearest picture of what he would become could be found in Isaiah’s description.

A lot is packed into those four titles—Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace—but all too often, in the busyness of Christmas, we fail to unpack them. We celebrate the baby in the manger, and some of us reflect on that old rugged cross and the garden tomb with the stone rolled away, but few of us take time to dwell in who He is today. Like children who’ve inadvertently left gifts under the tree, we’re missing out on all that God has for us at Christmas. We may sing about “the thrill of hope,” but we stop short of stepping into that hope.

Over the next few days, you’re invited to pause for a few minutes each day to unwrap a gift—to learn more about the Jesus who is alive today, the King of glory who stands at the door and knocks (see Revelation 3:20). We’ll explore the beautiful promise that Isaiah could only glimpse but that is now our joy, if only we will embrace him—and there’s no better time than Christmas.