Christmas is coming soon. When we talk about Christmas, some people think of gifts under the tree, some think about Santa Claus and his reindeer, some think about Christmas carols or twinkling lights or holidays.
All of those things are great, but most of us know that the real reason for Christmas is Jesus. Christmas is where we celebrate and remember the birth of Jesus. It’s a time where we can stop and think about how much God must love us if he was willing to send us his Son. That’s a pretty great thing to think about.
Today, we’re going to go back a long, long, long, long time ago to the city of Jerusalem — about 700 years before Jesus was born.
We live in city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem used to be the main city in the powerful kingdom of Israel. We’ve been learning about a famous king of Jerusalem. What’s his name? David
King David loved God. When he was king, Israel followed God’s way. But after King David, there were many, many other kings who weren’t so good. They stopped following God; so the people also stopped following God. And they got into all kinds of trouble. They were attacked by their enemies and the nation split into 2.
So … Jerusalem at that time was not a happy place to live. The people’s hearts were frozen and hard. They were sad and scared. They felt like they were alone. It seemed like God had abandoned them.
But the good news is, God never abandons His people … even when they reject Him and don’t want to listen to Him.
God sends a prophet named Isaiah to us. A prophet is a man or woman who delivers a message from God. And the message Isaiah gives us is this: God loves you. And because He loves you, He wants you to have hope. He wants you to turn your frozen heart into a heart of love. And the best news of all: God will send the world his Son, a new king who will rule forever. The Savior of the world.
That’s Jesus. Here are some of the words Isaiah spoke describing Jesus to the people who had never met him:
Read Isaiah 9:2-7.
Isaiah tells us that we have been walking in darkness (like a cold, frozen land, where there’s no sun light). It’s hard to know where to go when the way is dark. But he describes meeting Jesus as “seeing a great light.” Isaiah uses many words to describe Jesus. He calls him a Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.
Dear God, Thank you for sending people into our lives that tell us about Jesus. May the message of Christmas give us hope and peace. In Jesus’ name, Amen.