Tuesday, December 3, 2024
"Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us." Matthew 1:23 (NRSV)
As we journey through this Advent Season, I’d like to share some words and insight from the great writer and preacher Oswald Chambers, which I have adapted for this devotional.
“His Birth in History." … that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God’ (Luke 1:35). Jesus Christ was born into this world, not from it. He did not emerge out of history; He came into history from the outside. Jesus Christ is not the best human being the human race can boast of. He is a Being for whom the human race can take no credit at all. He is not man becoming God, but God Incarnate, God coming into human flesh from outside it. His life is the highest and the holiest entering through the most humble of doors. Our Lord’s birth was an advent—the appearance of God in human form.”
So, if our Lord came into human history from outside it, He must also come into you and me from outside. Ask yourself this: Have I allowed my personal human life to become a “Bethlehem” for the Son of God? We cannot enter the realm of the kingdom of God unless we are born again from above by a birth totally unlike physical birth. Jesus said in John 3:7, “You must be born again”. This is not a command, but a fact based on the authority of God. The evidence of this new birth will be realized when we yield ourselves so completely to God that “Christ is formed” in us. And once “Christ is formed” in us, His nature immediately begins to work through us, and our lives are never the same again.
One of my favorite Christmas songs is by Michael Card titled “Immanuel”. I know, there are many Christmas songs with the same title, but this one stands out for me because of its meditative melody and it’s powerful crescendo that ends with these words: “And if God is with us. Who could stand against us? Our God is with us. Immanuel.”
(YouTube: https://youtu.be/O7DG3N6rYqk)
This is why we celebrate this babe born in Bethlehem, why we gather to worship Christ’s birth in us, why we come to the table to remember that it is he who so profoundly made possible for you and for me our redemption and our salvation. When Christ is with us and in us, God is visible.
Let us pray... Immanuel, most Holy God, be with us and within us as we journey through this Advent, let us prepare to open our hearts to let the Christ Child in, that we may experience a new birth of faith and love and hope and peace. Let us hold fast to the truth and reality that you, O God, are with us. Amen.
Rev. Ralph S. Wearstler,
Regional Elder, District 15
(Let There Be Peace on Earth!)