Friday, December 25, 2009
Christmas Day
Galatians 4:4-5 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.
A LONG WAITING OVER
Nine months may seem like a relatively short time for some, but not for an expecting mother. For mom-to-be, those final months, weeks and days seem like an eternity. Especially with a few false starts thrown in there just to keep things exciting. Finally the true labor arrives, and soon a little squinty-eyed face is staring back at mom and dad for the first time.
Now imagine what the Father felt like that first Christmas. Mary had to wait her time, to be sure, but that long nine months was nothing compared to the Father's wait. Of course, I'm talking about Jesus' birth Father, not His step-father Joseph. God the Father had been waiting for roughly 4,000 years since He promised Adam and Eve that He'd give the human race a Savior. In fact, passages like Ephesians 1:4, 2 Timothy 1:9 and Titus 1:2 teach us that God was waiting to send a Savior even before the world was created! Even before it was infected with sin He was planning how to save the humans He was to make.
But on the first Christmas Day, all that waiting came to an end. God sent His Son to buy us out of the sin-mess we had gotten ourselves into. Praise God forever! Worship His Son with happy hearts and thankful voices.
It is true that for Jesus, the "true labor" had just begun. His birth was only the beginning of His hard work to rescue sinners from hell. But for right now, let's just rejoice in His arrival. We know how this story ends--with the Father forgiving us because of Jesus, and giving us the keys of heaven as God's inheriting children!
