Devotion Booklets for Seasons of the Church Year 2016 | Page 35

Friday—December 23rd

O Come, Immanuel
Isaiah 7:14
One of the most enjoyable parts of Christmas is the time you get to spend with your family.
Whether it’s Clark Griswold hosting a Christmas for the ages, or Buddy the Elf traveling to
New York to find his dad, the time you get to spend with family makes Christmas that much
more special. But what if you don’t have any family? Or what if you are separated from your
family on Christmas? Christmas can be an especially sad time for those who feel alone.
In Isaiah 59 we read, your sins have separated you from God. Think about that. Our sins, our
failures to put God first in this busy Christmas season, our refusal to forgive family grudges, all
of our sins have separated us from God. It is sad to be without or away from family on
Christmas, but even more depressing is to think of being isolated from God for all eternity.
That’s what we deserve for our sins. We deserve eternal separation from God.
But what does God say in his Word? “Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: the
virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” In his grace, God
refuses to allow our sins to separate us. Instead, he sends his own Son, born of a virgin, to be
“Immanuel”, a.k.a. God with us.
The greatest truth of Christmas is that God became one of us. Real flesh, real bones, a real
human being. Yet at the same time, this child is really God himself. That’s the miracle of
Christmas. Jesus, true God, became one of us, to bear our sins, and remove that which
separated us from God. This Christmas, you are not alone. You will never be alone. Rather,
Immanuel, God is with you.
PRAYER:
Oh come, oh come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lowly exile here, until
the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel! (CW 23, vs. 1)
ACTIVITY:
Sing: O, Come, O, Come, Emmanuel (CW 23)

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