Christmas, the day we have been anticipating, is tomorrow.

By now I’m sure you’ve been listening to a slew of Christmas songs, whether at church, in your car, or in the office. A popular song often sung and heard during Christmastime is the song “Mary Did You Know?” She did know! The angel Gabriel did in fact tell her, that she would be the one to give birth to a son and name him Jesus, Son of the Most High.

Christmas is the occasion in which we celebrate the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy of the coming Savior from Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Immanuel, in Hebrew means God with us. We celebrate the fact that the God of creation came to us and revealed himself. In the New Testament, John writes in 1:14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” The “Word” John writes about is Jesus, the second member of the trinity. God put on skin, took on a physical body, and dwelled with us.

The rest of John 1:14 follows “We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” In Jesus we see God’s grace and truth. God’s grace is the characteristic of God’s unfathomable giving and generosity, more than what anyone deserves. Jesus came to give the gift of salvation, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This is God’s gift of himself, even though we are completely undeserving. God’s truth is made visible in the person of Jesus. Jesus shows us the way of true life, how to live in His kingdom and He shows the truth of God’s faithfulness. Jesus is trustworthy.

As we wait in anticipation of Christmas day tomorrow, let us reflect on God’s faithfulness not only with Christ’s first coming, but His second coming as well. Mary rested on the faithfulness of the Lord and anticipated with assurance, that Jesus Christ is coming soon and will make his dwelling with us. Let us also look forward to the promise of Christ’s second coming. In which we too may be asked, beloved did you know that Jesus will return? Beloved, did you know that Christ will redeem all things and establish His rule and reign with us? Let us have the same assurance as Mary did in which we answer with a resounding, “we do!”