Christmas 2017 - 1 - "A Promise Made, a Promise Kept"

(Friends, today beings a seven part series devoted to the Lord's entrance into the world, a promise made and a promise kept.  Thanks, Glen)

Christmas 2017

-1-

"A Promise Made, a Promise Kept"

    The birth of the Lord Jesus Christ constituted a promise fulfilled by the God who always and perfectly honors His commitments.

    "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle and separated unto the Gospel of God, which He had promised afore by His prophets in the holy Scriptures concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 1:1-3).

   When we think of Bethlehem, the manger, and it blessed Occupant, the Spirit of God bears witness to our hearts that God is true and faithful.  From Genesis 3, when our Heavenly Father immediately foretold His redemption, to the book of Malachi, when He promised the coming of the Lord to His temple, the Old Testament sounds and resounds with the herald of hope (Genesis 3:15; Malachi 3:1).  The New Testament then opens with hope fulfilled, the promise kept, and a gift given: 

    "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ… Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 1:1; 18).

    Indeed, Christmas is many things to many people, but the pervasive and piercing Light that shines through all the seasonal trappings illuminates the blessed reality:  God is true.  He cannot lie.  He cannot fail to fulfill His promises, all of which center in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  We can trust Him with all of our hearts, in any and every moment, about any and everything.  "The Lord is faithful" (II Thessalonians 3:3).  We must trust Him accordingly, first, for His saving rescue from sin and its eternal consequences, and then, for the living of a life that honors our Rescuer and influences others to embrace the trustworthiness of God revealed in His Son.  "The just shall live by faith" declares both Old Testament and New (Habakuk 2:3; Romans 1:17).  No other way exists to truly live, and again, the Season sings with the glory of a Promise made, a Promise kept, and the assurance that Someone exists who can be trusted completely and without reserve.  As Solomon wrote, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart" because no one has ever trusted the God and Father of the Lord Jesus and been disappointed for doing so.  And no one ever will.  Christmas says this above all else, proclaiming it blessed hope in our Lord's perfect faithfulness for this moment and forevermore (Proverbs 3:5).

"And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee. And as concerning that He raised Him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, He said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David."

(Acts 13:32-34)

Weekly Memory Verse

    And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:10-11)