A Very Special Gift

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."      Isaiah 7:14

     Thousands of years before the birth of Christ, the prophet Isaiah prophesied about His birth.  How did he know.   That alone should be enough to prove that Jesus was indeed the long awaited Messiah.  

      God prepared the way.  Prepared the way for us to recognize His Son when He arrived on earth.   If only people had listened to God's word and taken heed, they would have known who He was right away.   John the Baptist recognized Him.  Would you recognize Him?   

      I am awed when I think about the birth of Jesus.   Just the fact that God would send His own Son into the world to atone for the bad things that we have done and that we will do.   I know that I have done a lot of bad things.  I know that I will probably continue to do bad things as long as I live.   I will not want to do bad things, but indeed I will still do them.

       I am amazed that God spoke to people even back then and that they listened.  They did what He asked of them.   I know that it must not have been easy for either Mary or Joseph to do as God commanded.   I know that many folks today don't think that having a child before marriage is a bad thing but imagine what it was like back then.... I mean couldn't they like stone you to death for stuff like that?   And then Joseph married her knowing that it was not his son he would be raising.    Imagine the love that they both must have had for that child.   

       I know that I have known what it was to be an unwanted child.  I know the pain that being raised like that could cause.  And I have always believed that those children who find themselves adopted into families are really the most loved children in the world.   Why? Well that is easy... because the parents "chose" to adopt them.  They chose to bring a child into their home and to love that child and raise it as their own.  

       I know that Jesus was not adopted.   But still Mary and Joseph made a conscious decision to bring that child into the world and to raise Him as their own.   Like most adoptive parents they probably wrestled with the decision of when to tell Him the truth about his birthright,  but knowing that God would call Him just as He had called them, they probably told Him quite early.   The love that they must have felt for that child must have been overwhelming.  I wonder if they were aware of the sacrifice that He would one day make for you and me and all of mankind? After all that too was foretold in Isaiah and many other places in the old testament.

       Christmas has always been a very special time for me.   It has never been a "commercial" holiday for me.   It has always been celebrated quietly, behind closed doors.... just reading the story of Jesus' birth and pondering the gift that God gave to all of us on that day that Jesus was born.   I would have to agree that Jesus is indeed the "reason for the season".   

Merry Christmas to everyone  and a very special Birthday to Jesus