Promises! Promises!

No matter what year it is and no matter what time of the year it is, Christmas is always coming. Even though Christmas provides the occasion for celebrating a birth that took place about 2000 years ago, it celebrates a promise being kept and a promise being made.
The promise that is kept is that a redeemer was promised many years before. The first hint of it is found in Genesis 3:15 where God said that Satan would be defeated one day by the seed of the woman. God reiterated his promise many times confirming it to each of the Patriarchs. David was allowed to declare it over and over again in the Psalms that he wrote. Isaiah clearly stated that a virgin would give birth to a son who would be “God with us.” Micah was specific about the city where the Messiah would be born. When Jesus was born, lived, died, and rose again, it was a promise kept.
The birth of the Savior was not just a promise kept, but it was also a promise given. Even as the day of His birth was proclaimed, it was declared that He would one day be the King of the line of David. He was King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That promise is yet to be fulfilled, but His day of triumph and glory will come and every tongue will declare that He is Lord.
It should be no surprise that Christmas is a day of continual celebration. We celebrate by giving gifts and expressing love for one another. It is good to remember that these expressions are possible because of the Prince pf Peace who should rule in the heart of every believer.
Every gift given is because of Him. Every expression of love is because of Him. It is sad to think that so many do not understand this and are a part of a celebration that has no real meaning for them. Today would be a great time for e very person to stop and ask, “Why am I celebrating Christmas?” “Who is this child?” “Why did He come?”
He is the one person who came to earth for the express purpose of dying. Oh, other babies have died. Other people have had their lives taken by bloodshed or violence, but only one gave His life for all the world. His gift of life brings a release from death for every person who believes in Him and finds the new life that He offers in exchange for the old one we knew. That gift is a promise given of the life that is to come. Because He now lives, we too will live.