Anticipating Advent: The Quiet Arrival of the Messiah - Luke 2:4-12

Well, good morning guys. My name is Mike.

For anybody that I have not met and I'm abandoning this right

now. Just letting you know Eric, it

you know what me it complicates me.

Well, listen, you know, John was just talking about the

announcements there about our Christmas Eve service.

And if you're not, if that's not already on your, on your

calendar, I, I just, you know, would remind you to, to put it

there and to consider coming and joining us that it's a very

wonderful service. I, I'm really excited for that.

I, I, I really hope you plan to, to join us because I look

forward to that service every year, especially knowing that

we're going to meet some, some new guests and, and you'll come

alongside them as, as they recognize that there is

something about Christmas and particularly Christmas Eve for a

lot of us that pulls us to hear about Jesus.

And Speaking of guests, I, I recently learned about this,

this play, this ancient play called Agamemnon.

And maybe, maybe you've heard of it, maybe not by it was written

by somebody named Aeschylus and it's from the 5th century BC.

And in this play, Crimson robes are are laid down for a king to,

to walk on, right. And, and it was a demonstration

of, of wealth and, and status in the culture, in the community

because of the cost and the, the rarity of red dyes and things

like that. And over the centuries, that

practice was adopted for royalty and and politicians.

And then even later on than that, you know, companies and

corporations and and stuff would use it.

The railroads and theaters would would use it to give off a

special vibe for higher paying ticket holders and special

guests. And now it's a common practice

in Hollywood for celebrities as they arrive to some sort of an

awards show or a movie premiere or whatever.

That's where we get that term. Roll out the red carpet, right?

Meaning to extend special treatment to Avip guest last

week we we learned that from the very beginning there's been a

prophecy of a coming Messiah a very special guest right and

Eric talked about the the covenant of Christmas and a

promise embedded here of redemption for lost humanity.

See, throughout the Old Testament, Israel was, was

looking forward to this coming Messiah, this coming king that

would save them from their predicament.

And as they saw it, it was perpetual enslavement, right?

And, and because they were physically and, and socially and

economically oppressed through most of their existence, most

Jewish faithful believe that they were anticipating A savior

that that would come and physically conquer the

government and their oppressor. So you might think that they

would be ready to sort of roll out the red carpet for this

coming Messiah, but they had not fully anticipated the humble

nature of his arrival, even though such a humble arrival was

prophesied. They were expecting someone

greater than the than the kings and the judges that they had

grown up learning about in their history.

Legends of of mighty men and rulers that conquered armies and

nations, somebody that would arrive with parades and fanfare.

So today I want to look at how I want to look at how although

Israel had been watching and anticipating the Messiah for

thousands of years, many of them still miss him when he arrived

quietly at their doorstep. Now here's our primary passage

that we're going to look at today.

It's we're going to look at Luke 2, four through 12 primarily

today. And it says, and Joseph also

went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to

the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was

of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with

Mary his betrothed, who was with child.

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth,

and she gave birth to her first born son and wrapped him in

swaddling clothes and laid him in a Manger, because there was

no place for them in the inn. And in the same region there

were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock

by night. And an Angel of the Lord

appeared to them in the glory of the Lord, shone around them, and

they were filled with great fear.

And the Angel said to them, fear not, for behold, I bring you

good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who

is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you.

You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a

Manger. So the main idea in this in this

passage is that Jesus arrived quietly at the first Advent,

despite the fact that that it was the fulfillment of of much

anticipated divine prophecy. In this passage we see two

different examples of how Jesus is received and how he is

regarded. And I think that same dynamic

exists today within the hearts of mankind.

We can we can disregard him because he isn't what we want

him to be, or we can recognize him as our Messiah and King.

And so the first point here today is I want to I want to

look at his humble arrival and how that red carpet wasn't laid

out there for him. So in our passage here, Joseph

and Mary are are in Bethlehem for the purpose of allowing the

government to to define who they are and what they are worth to

it for their own purposes, right for to to for taxing and things

like that. And a decree from Caesar is not

that's not easily disregarded or or disobeyed, right, Even if

your young bride is, is in the advanced stage of pregnancy.

So they are legally they are legally married here.

This word betrothed that we see means something more than what

we can kind of come to understand the word engaged in

our culture right now. We can we can know that they're

legally married because in in Matthew chapter 1, which I'm, I

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

don't have up here. But in Matthew chapter 1, we see

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

that that Joseph is planning a quiet divorce when he finds out

that Mary is pregnant. But the Angel appears to him and

says not to fear taking her as his wife, that she has conceived

by the Holy Spirit, which is in itself a fulfilled prophecy from

Isaiah 714, that says, Therefore the Lord himself will give you a

sign, Behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and

shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us.

So they are legally married, though the marriage has not been

consummated yet and and wouldn't be until after she gave birth.

Joseph is is from Bethlehem, even though they now live in

Nazareth in Galilee. Joseph is a a descendant of

David of King David as as we see in the 1st 16 verses of Matthew

and which in itself also fulfills prophecy that we see in

first Samuel and in Isaiah 11. So already we see fulfilled

prophecy in this in this passage, which is no small

thing. But there are some some other

important things that we see here that that actually tell us

about the heart of God. So the text says that Mary and

Joseph were turned away from the inn because there was no room,

right? We've all heard, we've all heard

that. Now, just understanding the the

situation here. It was, it was almost certainly

too cold to be, you know, giving birth to a a little baby

outside. Now, although the climate in

Bethlehem isn't as as extreme as as it is here, sometimes there

are only a couple months of the year where the average night

time temperature is over 50°, and in December it's usually in

the 30s and 40s at night. Now, now I'm in case you're

wanting to point this out, we can't say for certain that Jesus

was born in December, but I will tell you that early church

theologians, Tertullian, Julius Africanus and Hypolitis, who

each lived in the 2nd and 3rd century, all individually

calculated it to be December 25th.

Now the exact date doesn't really matter.

In fact, it it doesn't matter at all because God chose not to

share that with us. What does matter is the

information that he did give us that Jesus was laid in a Manger

and swaddling clothes. And why is that important?

Well, certainly with all the people in town for the census,

that would explain why they were turned away.

But in an apparent act of of mercy with, you know, with Mary

being on the verge of giving birth, the innkeeper seems to

have offered up an animal pen for them to sleep in.

Now, if you kind of think about what you usually look at or what

you usually imagine with the nativity, you're thinking of a,

a Manger as like maybe this wooden structure with this

beautiful, pristine, perfect hay and straw in there and, and some

clean animals laying there. But the, the Manger itself is,

is generally a like a large rock or, or something where the top

has been, has been carved out as a basin to hold animal, you

know, for the water and, and, and feed and that sort of thing.

So so he's actually laid in that and our our our verse that we're

looking at it says she gave birth to her first born son and

wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a Manger.

Now, the fact that Jesus is wrapped in swaddling clothes is

mentioned twice in this in this passage that we're looking at

the first part and at the end. And I believe that God gave us

every word of Scripture for a reason and with value.

So as I read this verse, what occurs to me is the humanity of

Jesus here. He he is small and cold and in

need of care. God himself embodies the same

frailty and helplessness that every single one of us did at at

birth. And so the, the, the meaning of

that name that we just saw in that passage from Isaiah,

Emmanuel, meaning God with us is it's demonstrated here in our

excuse me, in our in our passage.

Now if you're if you care for the theological, you know word

here it's something called the hypostatic union.

My wife loves it when we bring hypostatic union up in this and

and hypostatic meaning or hypo hypostatic union meaning that

Jesus is simultaneously God and man.

Now we are given no information to suggest that anyone else was

was with her other than perhaps Joseph.

Now if when you look at that it, it says that she wrapped him and

laid him in the Manger, it doesn't say that Joseph did any

of it or a midwife or or anyone else.

Mary is possibly alone. Now, maybe I'm reading a little

bit more into it than I need to, but it's I'll tell you guys.

It's not a stretch to say that this was a terribly humble

birth, a terribly humble, humble reception for a king right now

out out here, we have a whole bunch of new babies that are

part of our our church family. And I'm quite certain that the

idea of exposing those new babies to germs and gross stuff

ranks really high on the list of the things that moms are, are

always aware of. And in fact, as I'm talking

about germs and and all that kind of stuff in your baby, some

of you might be clutching some wet wipes right now to make sure

that you're ready to attack any germs nearby.

But but there's important context and meaning behind

laying a a brand new vulnerable baby in a gross cold animal

through let alone a king because it paint it.

It clearly paints a picture of humility.

Now, as I was studying this, I, I came across this this on from

gotquestions.org, which is a, which is a helpful website that

you know, if you've not familiar with it, it's a, it's a good one

to check out. But this is something that that

they said in an article. It said this humble birth

conveys an amazing message to creation.

The transcendent God condescended to come to us

instead of coming to earth as a pampered, privileged ruler.

Jesus was born in meekness as one of us.

He is approachable, accessible, available.

No palace gates bar the way to him, no ring of guards prevents

our approach. See, what we're looking at here

is is that although Jesus is God, he didn't hold on to this.

His right to be honored that way.

If you remember two weeks ago I I I shared Philippians 26 and

seven that says Jesus, though he was in the form of God did not

count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied

himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the

likeness of men. Guys, that is God with us.

He didn't come in in vanity or with pomp and circumstances

like, you know what, like what we might think, right?

Although he deserved to be the center of attention of the whole

world, he didn't demand. It says that he was born in the

likeness of men, but he was born well beneath the common

circumstance of most men. Being born in an animal pen was

not a common occurrence. Even in 1st century Bethlehem.

He voluntarily stepped into a humble life.

And why would he do that? Like I mentioned before, it

tells us something about the heart of God.

He was born in the meekest of ways, in the worst part of the

smallest city. See, this was no accident that

Jesus was was Born This Way. Think about this.

Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth, some 70 miles north.

Mary is obviously far along in her pregnancy.

And the the only reason that they took this very long

difficult trip was because of the decree to register in their

hometown, in Joseph's hometown of of Bethlehem.

That's the only reason that they were that they would be prompted

to go at this at this time where she's so far along right.

They lived under this ruler named Caesar Augustus, who was

the heir to Julius Caesar and he was the first emperor of Rome.

His title Augustus carried a a certain meaning of of royalty

appointed by gods. So when the people of the Roman

Empire are told to make a difficult, expensive journey for

the purpose of of paying taxes to their oppressors so that they

continue to oppress you, do it. But here's what I mean that it

was it was no accident. In Micah 52 we see this

prophecy. It says, But you, O Bethlehem

Ephrathah, I can't say that I've tried all week.

Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah from

you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel,

whose coming forth is from old from ancient days to a a part of

the humble nature of his arrival was that he would be born in

Bethlehem, which in itself would be considered a a slight on on

someone important. And we know that from the

reference of its of its lack of size, meaning its lack of power

and its lack of status, right. But this is a good demonstration

of why we can trust the Bible, because this prophecy that we

see in Micah was written more than 700 years before Jesus

birth. And and even this prophecy

references an even more ancient prophecy.

The census was was no accident. Our all knowing God used that to

fulfill prophecy and to demonstrate the truthfulness of

his word. So yes, Caesar Augustus decreed

the census, but he did it according to the will of God,

something that we are blessed to better understand through the

the gift of seeing these fulfilled prophecies.

And to that point, in just the first two chapters of, of

Matthew, we see, we see that God foretold the, the, the virginal

conception of the Messiah who would be born in Bethlehem.

Yet in some way it, it, it tells us in those in those two

chapters that he would come out of Egypt and he would be called

a Nazarene. Now facts matter, though, right?

And at first glance, one might look at the at at those passages

I think that Jesus coming from Egypt or Jesus being called a

Nazarene are somehow in contrast to him being born in Bethlehem.

But when you know the whole story, you see that they are all

true accounts of his origin, far too complicated to be

coincidence. Years ago when I was a police

officer, I used to have to investigate crimes and compare

witness statements and and when multiple witnesses for who come

at something from different perspectives share similar

information, it lends credibility to their statements.

And and we see that here Jesus birth story can be trusted

because it would be impossible for phonies to get their stories

to align on different continents and, and in different centuries.

Now, I think it would be easy to apply a, a certain amount of of

guilt or responsibility on the innkeeper here for not making

room for this obviously pregnant mother to not have a comfortable

place to sleep, let alone forcing her to give birth with

the the pigs and the and the goats.

In reality, guys, we don't know anything more about the the

whole situation, but I dare say that in general, the, the people

there, they weren't living their lives as though the King of

kings could be born in their stable at any moment.

They they simply were not looking for his arrival that

way, even though they had been taught about him their whole

lives. Alfred Edersheim, who was a a

19th century biblical scholar, he wrote a book called the Life

and Times of Jesus Messiah. He found 456.

Verses in the Old Testament that referenced the Messiah or his

times and there's more than 300 prophecies that ultimately are

fulfilled in Jesus life and ministry.

But as I mentioned a bit ago, the Jews were awaiting a

powerful warrior king to arrive and to to fight for them.

And so. So where would that idea come

from? Well, as we just learned about

Augustus, about Caesar Augustus, they lived in a world where

power was usually a very visible thing through conquest and, and

war and, and, and so for centuries, Israel was the nation

that was faithful to God, while the Gentile nations lived in

spiritual darkness. And although they did study the

the prophecies, they seem to have focused primarily only on

those that spoke of a glorious victory rather than passages

like Isaiah 53. That that says he had no former

majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should

desire him passages That that say he was despised and we did

not esteem him, or that says he was born like a lamb to be led

to the slaughter. The innkeeper did not recognize

the reality of of the the baby at the doorstep because they

hadn't prepared for the Messiah to be something outside of their

preconceived ideas about him. But we can have preconceived

ideas about Jesus too, right? A lot of people, maybe some of

us here in in the room, have gotten our ideas from secular

places at least to some degree, right?

Maybe TV or or school or family, even Christian family and

friends that misunderstand who Jesus is.

We might think that Jesus is a a good teacher or a a dynamic

leader or maybe a rabble rouser or a troublemaker or something

like that. But but but they miss or they

ignore that he is God with us. This humble birth demonstrates A

vulnerable, accessible God that came to reach a messy and and

obstinate and ignorant people. He came to be known by us.

So yeah, Jesus birth was fairly quiet and it was largely

unknown, but it wasn't his intention to stay that way, nor

was it completely unnoticed. He came with a purpose and an

Angel to announce it. And that's what I want to get

into our in our second part here is, is the message of good news.

What is what is that message of of good news in our the second

part of our passage in verses 8 through 12 it says and in the

same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch

over their flock by night and an Angel of the Lord appeared to

them in the glory of the Lord shown around them and they were

filled with great fear. And the Angel said to them, fear

not for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be

for all the people. For unto you is born this day in

the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in

swaddling clothes and lying in a Manger.

So let's start off here by looking at something that I

think is is very important. In verse 10, it says the Angel

said, fear not for I bring you good news of, of great joy.

Now angels are from our, our human perspective, I think

pretty scary. If you look at what, what

scripture says, the Bible says that some of them have 4 wings,

some of them have 6:00. They have four faces.

Often when when you read about them in Scripture, often the

first thing that they say to the people that they interact with

is don't be afraid right in it. But the Bible also makes it

clear that they are also very beautiful.

So this isn't a discrepancy or an inconsistency.

They are breathtaking and brilliant and intimidating and

imposing because they are messengers of the king.

And then in that passage, it says, it says the glory of the

Lord shown around them. Now the word for that is, is

Shekinah, Shekinah glory. Now it's not a, a word that

you'll find in in Scripture, but that's the, the, the, the way

that this is, is described. And according to the Old

Testament, when we see this, the Shekinah was the visible

manifestation of the invisible God.

The Shekinah was a radiant cloud often or brilliant light within

a cloud that signalled the immediate presence of God.

But something occurred to me as as John was was reading our our

passage before the before the the service from Luke chapter

one. What he was reading was it's

called the Magnificat. And and it's, it's a, it's like

a, a praise hymn that that Mary reads or, or sings, right.

And I see something similar there, although it, it's not

necessarily describing a visible glory, but but that baby that

was in Elizabeth's belly was John the Baptist.

And John the Baptist seems to have perceived the glory of God.

When when Jesus in Mary's womb is is in their presence, which

you know side note tells us that babies are are fully alive and

are aware and are precious and are valuable in the womb.

So we need to ask what about what about Jesus birth and the

messenger sent to announce his glory?

What about that could be both terrifying and beautiful at the

same time? Well, I think it I think it

tells us right away. It says for unto you is born

this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

So besides the glory of God shining around them, I imagine

there's a certain weightiness of an authority that comes along

with a message from God announcing the arrival of a

long-awaited Messiah. But if you were here last week

with us, you know that this isn't just a proclamation of

some warrior king that would lead to a rebellion against

Rome. Some people in, in, in, you

know, of that day may have still believed that, but not us.

We walked through Genesis 3 last week and we learned about sin

entering the world and separating us from God.

And then in verse 15, we see something that was that was

referenced in in that passage in Micah that I, I, I showed

earlier the coming from ancient of days that was foretold in

Genesis 3, verse 15 that says, I will put enmity between you and

Genesis 3:15

the woman and between your offspring and her offspring.

He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.

The good news of great joy is the birth of that spring here to

fulfill that prophecy. The good news is that Jesus the

Messiah was here not to rise up in rebellion against Rome, but

to crush sin and death. And that was a world shaking

announcement. And this brings us great joy to

know, guys, that this was always His plan as well, the promise of

redemption for lost humanity. Because in Ephesians 1, excuse

me, 4 through 6, that's not it. In Ephesians 1/4 through 6 says

even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the

world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in

love, He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons

through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to

the praise of His glorious grace with which He has blessed us in

the Beloved. In eternity past, Jesus wanted a

relationship with us now. He did this because it serves

His will and His good purposes. We see that there.

He didn't do it because of anything that you or I did.

He did it in spite of what we've done.

I am a wretched Sinner. I have never brought to God

anything to do with my salvation except for the sin that made it

necessary. And in Psalm 113, verse 7, and

Psalms 113:7

this is in the King James, it says he raises up the poor out

of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill.

Imagine that. I mean, I'm don't imagine it too

much, but imagine that like to, to the idea of, of raising us up

out of the dust and the dunghill.

Like that's what we deserve. When we understand that we are

sinners, every one of us, we are sinners with no hope of

redeeming ourselves, then we get what it means to be raised up

out of a dunghill. We know that we are sinners

already sentenced to eternal torment, but that the whole

reason we celebrate Christmas is because.

Because God loved us so much that he sent us a substitute God

in the flesh to be LED like a lamb to the slaughter so that we

could have eternal life with Him.

It doesn't just glorify God, but it gives us the opportunity to

participate in his glory, to be looked at as blameless in his

eyes on the day of judgement to be received as a son.

Because I want you to hear this. I want you to hear his message.

I want you to hear him because I want you to know him.

And here's why. Here's what it says in in John

17 three and this is eternal life, that they might know you,

the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Now we, you know, we can't know everything about Jesus, but what

we need to know is that Jesus was given to us in his humble

cradle so that he could be sacrificed for us at the cross

so that we could be victorious with him for eternity.

We have to trust and rely on that because we can't rely on

ourselves not one little bit. I can't make myself righteous.

Genesis 15-6 it tells us that Abraham's faith, his

anticipation of this this promised Messiah one day,

Abraham's faith was counted as righteousness to God.

That was before the the first advent.

And I want you guys to know that your faith in Jesus Christ alone

can be counted as righteousness before the 2nd Advent.

And if you don't know Jesus yet, or, or maybe you're apprehensive

about, about believing, let me just, let me just say that I

can, I can respect your hesitancy.

Maybe you're a person who has, you know, been confused with,

you know, religion over the years from hearing from a a

hypocrite preach about perfection and and

sanctification. Maybe you're just waiting for it

all to to to just click and and make perfect sense in your mind.

Maybe you're not absolutely against believing in Jesus, but

you're still wondering what all the fuss is about him.

Why should you make him Lord of your life?

Well, let me just tell you guys, if that's if one of those

questions, if you can relate to that, let me just tell you that

that that big decision. That's not that's not new.

You're not the only one who's who's, you know, ever been

presented with that in Matthew 16 verses 13 through 19 says now

Matthew 16:13–19

when Jesus came into the district of Cesare Philippi, he

asked his disciples, who do people say that the Son of man

is? And they said some say John the

Baptist, others say Elijah and others Jeremiah are one of the

prophets. He said to them, but who do you

say that I am? Simon Peter replied, You are the

Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus answered him, Blessed are you Simon Barjona, for flesh

and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in

heaven, and I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will

build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail

against it. I will give you the keys of the

Kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound

in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth

shall be loosed in heaven. This conversation took place not

too long before Jesus crucifixion on the cross.

People were still getting him wrong.

In fact, they'd be so wrong about him that they would nail

him to a cross and torture him to death.

But Peter's declaration here is important.

Think about this. The the, the, the empire thought

that Caesar Augustus's decree was powerful, But Jesus makes it

clear that this body of Christ followers here, his church,

This, this body of Christ followers that proclaims Jesus

as the Messiah and the Son of God is even more powerful

because of him. One day he'll return and kick

down the doors of hell as he gathers his church, those

followers that proclaimed him as the Messiah.

As we as we close here today, I want to I want to look at this

last verse in our in our passage.

It says it's verse 12 and it says, and this will be a sign

for you. You will find a baby wrapped in

swaddling clothes and lying in a Manger.

Now as I said before, this verse is given to us for a reason,

just as it was given to the shepherds it was it was

something exceptional that a newborn infant should be found

not in a cradle but in a Manger, and still stranger that this

baby would be the heir of the House of David and their

long-awaited Messiah. There may certainly were

probably other babies in Bethlehem, but the info that

they needed to find him was given to them.

Now, often by Christmas time, we can hear people from all angles

kind of criticizing the the holiday, right?

It's just a Pagan holiday that the church has Co opted or, or

it's just about commercialism and and materialism or, or it

makes me so depressed or, or something like that, right?

But guys, I want you to, to really remember that when you

see, you know, the, the nativity decoration in your in your

neighbor's yard or, or something like that, it is a reminder that

God gave us everything that we need to find the Messiah in

Bethlehem. All those years ago.

People weren't living their lives as though the King of

kings could be born in their humble stable at any moment.

But we had better live our lives as though He could return at any

moment as victorious King. Some missed him at his humble

cradle. Others missed him at his

humiliating cross. But you must not miss him when

he returns with His conquering crown.

You must acknowledge your sinfulness, repent of it, and

proclaim Jesus as your resurrected Lord and Savior.

But guys, you only have the rest of your life to make that

choice. And that decision that you make

will be either terrifying or beautiful.

And when I say you only have the rest of your life.

Now, if, if, if you were sentenced to, you know, prison

for the rest of your life, that would seem like a long, long

time. But in this context, when I say

that you only have the rest of your life to make that decision.

And after that, it's too late and you don't know how much more

time you've got. I hope it's a long time, but we

don't know how much more time that you've got.

And so that decision that you make, like I said, will be

either terrifying or beautiful. It'll be eternity in a place of

torment with the the weeping and gnashing of teeth or resting for

eternity in that Shekinah glory of of God.

Romans 10/9 says because if you confess with your mouth that

Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him

from the dead, you will be saved.

True faith as it says in Ephesians 3.

The Holy Spirit will dwell within your heart and this

Christmas as we as we contemplate Jesus being turned

away from. The the door at that in we can

celebrate the good news of great joy that we don't have to be

turned away. Will you guys pray with me?

Lord, God, I, I thank you again for the gift of, of that

innocent baby that that was given all those, all those years

ago. And, and then, Lord, as we, as

we understand the full context of what his life and ministry

would be, as I said before, it's so overwhelming to know that you

could love us that much. And, and so Lord, I, we know

that that many people missed him.

They missed you at that, at that moment of of birth and that you

didn't receive the the welcome that we would think that you

deserve. And yet you Lord, it was within

your plan. It was a because it demonstrated

something about your heart that is so crucial for us to know

that a God of of such magnificent magnificence could

love us and our and our brokenness to that you could

love us so much that you would be back that you would make a

way for us to be back in relationship with you is

beautiful and wonderful Lord, and we we just hope that you

will really truly be recognized as the reason for this season as

we go about our our lives this week, Lord, that if we haven't

come to that place where we have put our full trust in you that

we would that we would do that if we have to drop down on our

knees, Lord, and and surrender our lives to you, Lord, that we

would do that and that we would be in that right relationship

with you. So we can really truly celebrate

everything that this that this Christmas is about or we love

and thank you so much in Jesus name, Amen.