Dear Friends in Christ,
Our watchful wait is almost over. We have been like children, maybe even a spouse or two, who ask every other day, “Is it Christmas yet? I can remember my siblings and I coming up with that chestnut to our parents more than once.
Another kind of waiting is the expectation of a child’s birth. Mothers and fathers count the weeks during the pregnancy. Doctor’s schedule visits at certain markers in the watchful wait. Mary and Joseph like all expectant parents knew when it was time for the child to be born.
The four-week Advent preparation for Christ’s birth ends today. We have marked off the time with the lighting of the Advent candles. God’s Word has called us to watchfulness, repentance, joy, and now fulfillment as we get ready to celebrate “Jesus, the Reason for the Season,” as they say.
All Israel had been waiting for centuries for the time to fully come. Paul wrote to the Romans and for us that The Time has Come for the Revelation of God’s Mystery. The prophets had foretold it by God’s command; the gospel proclaims it to God’s glory.
God’s wisdom, power, and love, hidden in his nature, create new life. A child born into the mother’s womb is the work of those divine qualities. God knits the child together. That child remains hidden until an ultrasound reveals God’s handiwork.
Those same qualities of wisdom, power, and lovedetermined God’s action to redeem the lost world. No one could see into God’s mind to know his plan. No mind can conceive of such a thing that the holy God would love his lost world so much that he would send his one and only Son into the flesh. The plan of salvation is God’s mystery because the only way we can know it is when he reveals it.
God revealed that mystery to the Romans through Paul. He was not the first, of course. It had been revealed and made known “through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God.” From Moses through John the Baptist, God’s spokesmen proclaimed the good news of the Savior first mentioned in Eden. God had commanded them to do this as he called them to the work. God gave them the message and the power to proclaim the message.
Last Thursday and Friday, our preschool children revealed that mystery to their family members. With simple songs and plays done in a child’s faith, these little ones revealed the Christmas story in the hope their family members “might believe and obey it.”
The Savior’s handprints and footprints are all over the pages of the Old Testament. They are hidden from us until the Holy Spirit enlightens us to see them just as an ultrasound lights up the baby in its mother’s womb. While still hidden from the world as the Savior at his birth, the Father revealed his Son as the Savior at Jesus’ baptism.
The prophets had foretold by God’s command the revelation of the Savior. The apostles, like Paul, took that revelation to the world. They preached Jesus Christ, the fulfilment of all the prophets had said and written. The time had come for the revelation of God’s mystery in Jesus’ birth.
The gospel proclaims it to God’s glory. That child would be the Lord’s salvation prepared before the face of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of his people, Israel.
When a new baby arrives, the parents send out birth announcements. The long wait is over. They are overjoyed. One night in Bethlehem, a baby whom believers had expected for centuries came into the world. This is the good news of salvation the angel’s sang, the shepherds shared, Mary pondered in her heart, and for which Anna and Simeon praised God.
It is God’s wisdom to create a people for himself solely through the proclamation of Christ. Paul wrote, “Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ.” God has no less given us birth into his kingdom than he gave us birth in our mothers’ wombs.
The good news is not merely news but the power of God for salvation. The gospel creates saving faith. It is the means of grace. The time has come for the revelation of God’s mystery so that the Holy Spirit can call sinners to repentance. We are the next in line with the message of Jesus Christ, our Savior from sin, to share with hearts that are contrite and fearful because of sin.
The apostle offers a doxology, a song of praise, for this great truth. “To the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ.” We recognize with Paul that our salvation from beginning to end is his will and work. That glory is in Jesus Christ. I’m reminded of the incidents when someone steals the baby Jesus out of a crèche. If you would take the baby Jesus out of our salvation, there would be no salvation. All the rest would be meaningless without that little baby.
The theme for our upcoming Christmas Eve worship is “Children of the Heavenly Father.” We have become children through faith. The prophet Isaiah wrote in chapter 52:9, “Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.”
The revelation of God’s mystery has taken us from being the ruins of Jerusalem to being children of the Heavenly Father. It has taken us from sorrow over sin to songs of joy for redemption. It has given us comfort that matches our need for comfort.
Is it Christmas yet? Yes, it is time to open our present, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…” Isaiah 9:6. Amen. <SDG>