O Come, King of Nations
Isaiah 9:6
Thursday— December 22nd
Every year growing up my parents would buy one of those Advent calendars that had chocolates inside of it. At the end of each day, one of us kids would open the appropriate door and savor the chocolate inside( even if it tasted a little bit like cardboard). That calendar was important to us because it meant Christmas was coming soon. With each calendar door ripped open, with each chocolate digested, the anticipation would grow. We wanted Christmas to come.
In Isaiah 9:6, God speaks to his children and tells them, CHRISTmas is coming. God promises a child would be born, a Son would be given. You can call him Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. For thousands of years, God’ s children had been eagerly anticipating the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior. Here in Isaiah God tells them, he’ s coming. Can you imagine the anticipation of God’ s people? They wanted the Christ to come.
But what’ s the motivation behind this anticipation? For my siblings and I, as I’ m sure you can guess, the reason we were so excited for Christmas to come was we wanted presents. Many in Israel longed for the coming of the Messiah because they wanted him to restore their government to earthly supremacy. But that wasn’ t God’ s plan for the Christ. That wasn’ t God’ s plan for Christmas. Christmas is not about earthly presents. Christmas is not about an earthly kingdom. Christ came for a much more magnificent purpose. He came to be the King of Israel. He came to be the King of Nations. He came to be our Savior King.
As you gaze upon the Christ-child this Christmas, remember why he came. He came because he loves you. He loves you and gave up a throne in heaven for a crib in a manger so that he could put your sins upon his shoulders, make his way to a cross, make his way out of a tomb, and give you the sure hope and anticipation of an eternity in his Kingdom of Heaven. That is the exciting message of Christmas. For that gift we rightly pray, Come, O Lord!
PRAYER:
King of nations, as we anticipate the joy of Christmas, keep our eyes fixed on you and the reason you came to this earth. May we never forget you came to be our Savior King. Amen.
ACTIVITY: Watch the movie:“ The Nativity Story.”
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