There is nothing sweeter than to see the sparkle in a child’s eyes when he speaks of Christmas. For months they begin planning and dreaming of the presents they will receive on Christmas morning. As the day approaches the anticipation grows. Parents often use this anticipation to their advantage by telling the kids, “If you’re not good you won’t get any presents.” The child eagerly tries to be good, especially when he sees the first gift go under the tree. I can remember as a child getting the Christmas catalog from Sears. My sister and I would sit for hours and look through the catalog to decide what we wanted for Christmas. Then, usually on a Saturday, Mom would sit between us and go through the catalog one page at a time. I didn’t realize it then, but she was steering us to what she was going to buy for us. She would stop on a page and get our reaction to the item. If we were not excited she would start building up the item in our minds. She would literally make these toys larger than life with the stories of how they could be used for fun. The desire was obtained because of the giver of the gift.
As we get older we tend to lose that excitement about Christmas, but we shouldn’t. It should become greater, not less. We should anticipate this time of year even more so as Christians. This time of the year should remind us of the greatest gift ever given. When God sent His Son to earth in the form of a baby, to experience all the emotions, heartaches, pain, loneliness, and temptations that anyone ever experienced. In scripture, the giver of the gift gives us all the details to get us excited. He gives us a gift that can relate to us by experiencing what we experience.
Hebrews 4:14-16 “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
We now know the full story of this little baby born in a manger. We can relate to him as a human because he was 100% man, but we can worship him, exalt him, love him, and anticipate him because he is 100% God. Our hearts should be full of anticipation as we search through the catalog of scripture. As we stop on each page our hearts should be challenged to find out more about this present, God is making available to us. Just like a child gets excited when reading about a toy they so desire, we should get excited about the details of Jesus! Nothing should stir our hearts more than this baby born in a manger. The long-awaited one, the Messiah, came to this earth for us! It was the beginning of a life lived to die in our place. Just as the Jews anticipated the first coming of the Messiah, we should anticipate the second coming. If that doesn’t get you filled with joy nothing will.
Because of this birth, we can have great anticipation of the future. A future where we will spend eternity with him. If we have given our lives and hearts to him, and we are living for him, we ought to get up every day looking for him. Take a lesson from a child looking forward to Christmas. He is coming back. Can you read the following verses with anticipation?
Matthew 25:31-34 “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:”
I Thessalonians 4:16-17 “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
Matthew 24:42 “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”
Revelation 1:7 “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. “
Just writing this and reading these verses again causes me to want to shout, “Come now Lord Jesus, Come Now!” If these verses don’t fill you with joyful anticipation, then you may not be ready for this gift. If you don’t know for sure you are ready for the second coming, now is the time to unwrap the present of the first coming, and make it yours. Then you can truly experience Christmas.
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