An Unexpected ChristmasSample

Day 12: Expecting the Unexpected

No one would have expected the story of the Savior of the World to include…  

• A childless couple who likely felt forgotten.  
• A teenaged girl whose life took an unexpected turn.  
• A young man facing an unimaginable choice.  
• A census that forced a change in a birth plan.  
• A tenuous journey at full-term.  
• A bustling city filled to capacity.  
• A barn as the setting for labor and delivery.  
• A baby as God’s arrival on earth.  
• A group of shepherds as the first to welcome the baby.  
• A choir of angels as the soundtrack.  
• A crew of foreign scholars who left their foreign land to see this new child.

No one expected the story to unfold like this. No one... except God.

Since the beginning of creation, he was crafting a plan. He first worked his plan through a group of people, the Israelites. He showed them time and time again that he could work through anyone despite their upbringing, status, or past. 

To this group of people, he gave a glimpse of his plan through the prophet Isaiah:

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)

Years later, Matthew, an eyewitness to Jesus’s ministry, would record these words related to the birth of Jesus:

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord has 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 1:22–23)

The unveiling of God’s great plan had a name—Immanuel, meaning God with us. And this name provided the purpose for God’s plan—to be with us.

What we may see as unexpected moments in the story of the first Christmas are the characters and staging God chose to premiere his plan all along. 

Wherever you are this Christmas, know that what God desires most in his relationship with you is togetherness. He is, after all, the God who is with us.

His presence is available to all who come to him. This is why it is good news of great joy that is for all people. 

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!

Let earth receive her King; 

Let every heart prepare him room, 

And Heaven and nature sing,

And Heaven and nature sing,

And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing!