What better place to start than the beginning?

From darkness, light. From emptiness, everything.

Sun, moon, stars. Mountains, valleys, forests.

And life: swimming in seas, soaring through skies, bounding over open plains.

Before eggnog and Ebenezer Scrooge, before carols and candlelight services, there they stood, ashamed and afraid, the first transgressors reeling from the first transgression. They had enjoyed creation as it was intended, a peaceful and perfect world. But everything changed so quickly.

God’s plan would continue to unfold through promise. He revealed that a great nation would descend from Abraham. From one, a multitude. But there was an even greater promise in this covenant: the promise that through this nation, every family on earth would be blessed.

In the midst of giving laws pertaining to Israel’s leaders, God reveals that he will raise up another leader, a prophet who will be like Moses. This must have been encouraging to God’s people.

Moses was the leader Israel never expected, but David was the king for which they begged. He was a man of courage, faith, and compassion, a fearless leader who sought to honor the Lord above all else. David loved the Lord, and Israel loved David.

And so the Israelites waited. They waited for the promise to be fulfilled. For the prophet like Moses. For the king whose reign would be unending. They waited through failure and strife.

Shadows of glory, whispers of grace. Isaiah offered Israel glimpses of the coming Messiah, continuing the tapestry that began with a single thread in Genesis. The very nature of his coming would be inherently miraculous and specifically identifiable.

Peace: a term foreign to the Israelites. They lived in a world thrown into constant turmoil because of sin. Peace was the dream, the ideal that Adam had experienced in the garden before his sin brought with it ruin.

He will come, both mighty and gentle, a conquering king and a compassionate shepherd. These were the marks of the Messiah to come, the Messiah Israel longed for.

Isaiah promised that the Messiah would be the anointed one, the bringer of good news, the mender of broken hearts, the liberator of captives, the breaker of chains, the proclaimer of truth and justice, and the comforter of those who mourn.

Our own righteousness is one of our biggest problems. Because we do good things, we think we are good. And when we do good things, we feel good about ourselves and believe others should think better of us for it.

In their darkest days, Israel had pleaded with God for a king. And God had granted them exactly what they wanted: a king that they had deemed worthy. A king who was strong, handsome, and charismatic. Israel adored Saul for all that he was, and ignored all that he wasn’t.

“Fear not” is easier said than done, especially for the Israelites. After everything they’d been through, everything they’d faced, fear was a part of their lives. They had rejected God over and over again, spurning him for selfish desire and worshiping idols in his place.

The eternal reign of the Messiah was not an empty promise, but a divine guarantee sealed by a bloodstained cross and an empty tomb.

And on that night in Bethlehem, that very breath gave him life. And with that first breath, light was born into the world, a hushed guarantee that darkness would never prevail.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Such simple words with such incredible implications. From the very beginning, he had always been there. But now he was here. The author of life born into creation.

The only name with the power to save, spoken in tongues across the globe, from the heights of the Himalayas to the depths of the Amazon basin.

He lived as one of us, only better. He died as one of us, only worse. And he rose again, as only one who has power over life and death could. God with us.

The burden must have been tremendous. In accordance with the census that had been decreed, Joseph would have to travel to his ancestral home along with Mary, his betrothed.

Salvation holds no beauty for those who have no need. But for those who recognize the poverty of their spirit, there is no more glorious news.

What do you do with the greatest news you’ve ever received? You share it! There in the field they heard the word of the Lord, proclaiming the arrival of the Messiah.

Born a child, and yet a King. Even these wise men from foreign lands recognized the rule of the newborn King. And so they came, not just to see him or confirm his birth; they came to worship him, to give him glory and praise.

On that day, all that was undone in the garden will be restored; everything tainted by sin will be made clean.

Christmas should remind us of the abundance of hope that we have. And it should remind us that our hope is not in anything of this world, but in the God of inexhaustible, unconquerable hope.

Today, we celebrate. We celebrate Christ, who came in flesh to dwell among us. And we celebrate Christ because he is going to come again to make all things new.