​I know it’s been awhile since I’ve blogged.  This is the first Advent season in three years that I haven’t written something.  Sorry for the silence!  This Christmas season has gone by in a blur of activity and festivity.  I hope you have all been blessed by the season.
 
But as we approach today—Christmas morning—there is a certain level of awe and wonder that ought to fill our hearts as we contemplate and ponder the birth of Christ.  Not only were the events surrounding His birth amazing and incredible, but the very fact that He came fills my heart with worship.  

​This Christmas season we’ve focused on the stories of Zechariah and Elizabeth.  Christmas is now over; however, before we move on, I’d like to take one last look at Zechariah.

​The longed for, long awaited day has arrived.  Merry Christmas, everyone!  It’s Christmas Day!  The presents have probably already been opened and sounds of joy, squeals if there are children involved, and thanks have filled the home.  But now as the tissue paper settles and the new gifts get neatly arranged, it’s time to take a moment and remember why we celebrate Christmas.  

​It’s finally here!  The day thousands of children have been waiting for.  The big deadline shoppers have been frantically preparing for.  The day before Christmas.  

​We are now going to move our focus briefly away from Zechariah and take a look at his wife Elizabeth.   In light of Mary, Elizabeth is one character of the Christmas story that is often overlooked.  But we’re going to change that today.  We’re going to take a close look at Elizabeth and her story, and see what lessons and insights we can gain from this righteous woman.

​He was the first person to hear a divine word in over 400 years.  He saw an angel while in the temple of the LORD.  He was a priest who was well versed in the prophecies of old and miracles from ancient times.  Yet despite all these things, he disbelieved Gabriel’s message and became mute for over nine months.

​As we gear up for Christmas, let’s cast our minds back to where it all began.  Over a year before the scene in the stable, God in His heavenly throne room summoned an angel and gave him a special assignment.

​Advent is here.  Christmas is just around the corner.  However, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, there is an aspect of the Christmas story we tend to overlook or underemphasize.  While flipping through the pages of Luke one and two and Matthew chapter one, we forget the lengthy gap that’s represented in the page that reads “The New Testament.”  For us, the span between the Old Testament and New is merely a couple of pages, but for the Israelites it was 400 years.    

​While Simeon was looking and watching expectantly for the consolation of Israel, another seasoned individual was also seeking God’s redemption of His people.

The festivities are over, the presents have been opened, the decorations are starting to come down, merchandise is over half off, and Christmas seems officially over.  However, is Christmas Day really the end of everything, the pinnacle moment, grand finale?  Or is Christmas Day truly the beginning?

​Sweet baby Jesus!  You left your heavenly dwelling of glory to be born among the lowly and despised of the earth, in a cattle stall among people who had no room for You.  From a throne of splendor to a straw filled manger, You humbled Yourself and be came like one of us in our very weakest and vulnerable state.  You came as a newborn baby, fully reliant upon an imperfect, inexperienced mother and father.  And while shepherds paid their respects, and wise men came to worship, the very people You came to save largely rejected and ignored You.  Their hearts and their doors stated “No room in the inn.”  And now, two thousand years later, many people still have signs hanging on the door frames of their homes and hearts declaring, “No room in the inn!”  But may we be like the shepherds of old who left their flocks by night and came to your bedside to worship.  Or may we be like the wise men from a far who traveled many miles in search of the King of Kings.  And may our Christmas prayer this year be this:  

​As we continue our “God Came Down” series, the next characters from the Nativity story that we will look at are the Magi or wise men.  How often we see these special guests depicted as three elegantly dressed men bearing rich gifts and kneeling before or hovering over an idyllic manger scene!  Now while I hate to burst your bubble or perfect picture, the truth of the matter is that the wise men were nowhere near the manger scene for the birth of Jesus.  In fact, we don’t even know if there were three who visited the infant Jesus!  There could have been five or ten for all we know!  Nevertheless, while no one knows the details on their identity, we can still learn some very valuable lessons from these semi-obscure worshipers of the Christ Child. 

"How many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?
Only one did that for me"
~"How Many Kings" by Downhere​

In our culture dominated by media and popular opinion, celebrities and royalty are lifted up and idolized.  I remember a few years ago when every magazine was covering the wedding of William and Kate—the royal couple of England.  Our world is obsessed with individuals and couples of fame and fortune, super stars and royals; however, there was one royal couple that the world completely missed.  They were not pictured on the front page of The Bethlehem Times nor interviewed on national news; they were not welcomed with a parade or put up in a five star hotel; instead, they were turned out of the only inn available and sent to live in a dirty, cold, smelly, stable.  They were royal not by right of birth nor surge of fame and popularity, but because of whom they raised—the King of kings.

​Can you guess the couple I am referring to?