I pray that you are all having a great Holiday season.
Isaiah 9:6 says, “For unto us a child is born, to us a child is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Nighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Isaiah 7:14 says, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him, Emmanuel.”
These are words of promise out of the Old Testament. How much of that promise do we really hear and pay attention to? At Christmas we seem to concentrate on the child, the baby, the promise of a son and king who will take charge and run the world the way it should be run. This we see as the promise of the Messiah.
I think the more important part of the prophecy is the verse from Isaiah 7, that Matthew takes up as he introduces the Messiah. Matthew 1:22 says, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet; ‘the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Ennanuel, which means, God with us.’”
The key word in all this is “Emmanuel.” God WITH us! Not just for the little while that Jesus was alive, but it is there in the promise and in the birth of the child, the Son of God. The promise is there at the crufifixion. The promise is there at the resurrection and a Pentecost. Most importantly the promise is here today with each and every one of us. It is the greatest promise we could ever imagine. God is with us in good and bad times, trials and tribulations, pain and pleasure, in everything that happens. GOD IS WITH US!
In prayer, we need to always remember that we are stretched at times to stand on faith to remember that God is with us no matter what is happening around us. He says that we are to seek Him and we shall find Him. He came to us in the flesh so that we could have His presence with us at all times. This Christmas season, I pray that you will know and remember that Christ our Lord is with us and He will never leave us nor forsake us.
I pray that the Lord will shine upon you during this Season of Joy in knowing His love for you and that He will always be with you.
Merry Christmas!
Jane Ahl
