This week, as we look forward to celebrating the birth of our blessed Savior, I would like to encourage you with just three of the many promises that Christmas has kept. I’m confident that these three promises—all three found in one verse from Isaiah’s majestic prophecy—will encourage you and strengthen your walk with Christ.
Promise #1
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given . . . (Isaiah 9:6)
Way back in the third chapter of Genesis, God made a promise to send a Savior into this world who will ultimately crush the head of the serpent and redeem His people from sin and death. But this Savior would be a very special Child born . . . and a Son given!
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed. (Genesis 3:15)
You see, in that promise God made, the Redeemer would come from the “seed” of the woman and not the seed of the man. It would be a supernatural conception, accomplished by the power of the Most High God, and that conception would fulfill our first promise of this week. Even though He was conceived by the Spirit of God, Jesus was a child born just like any other—as a helpless infant, who needed the loving care and protection of His parents.
But Jesus was so much more than just a babe born in a manger! Jesus was fully man. He was the fulfillment of every man in the Old Testament who pointed to the perfect Man. Jesus is the last Adam, the better Moses, the greater David; He is the Prophet who makes God known, the Great High Priest, the King of kings!
But, as Isaiah wrote, this Child born was also a Son given. Jesus was fully man, yes, but He is also fully God, and as God’s only begotten Son, He was not “born.” He was given, as the second person of the eternal Trinity, to complete God’s perfect plan for the redemption of the world. This Son given was with the Father and the Holy Spirit from eternity past. He is the great “I Am,” who is dependent on no one or nothing for His existence. He had no beginning and He will have no end. He is eternally co-equal in the God-head. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. He is Lord!
It is my heartfelt prayer that, as Christmas Day draws near, this promise will encourage you to praise God for such an indescribable gift . . . a child born and a Son given . . . Immanuel – “God with us.”
Look for our second promise on Wednesday.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 