Promise Keeper
Christmas Eve 2024
My parents never made empty promises to me. They were always honest with me.
I was asked recently what I know to be true about God.
1. He’s good.
2. He loves us.
3. He keeps His promises.
Because of my parent’s honesty, I’ve found it easier to believe in a God that keeps his promises.
Jewish people were holding on to promises made to Abraham thousands of years earlier.
Genesis 12:2 NIV
“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you …”
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Israel didn’t feel like a great nation, and they certainly didn’t feel blessed.
Isaiah 9:2 NIV
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
Our dark world needs a cure. We need the light to burst forth.
We need to something to believe in, something we can trust to be true.
We need a promise keeper!
And then one night, a frightened teenage girl gave birth to a baby with only her young and confused husband by her side.
It was an arrival announced by angels! The light had come.
Hope had arrived!
Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.
GK Chesterton
God has made us a promise.
Isaiah 9:6-7a NIV
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.
The birth of Christ was not merely a historical event but a turning point in human history.
“Long lay the world in sin and error pining, till he appeared, and the soul felt it’s worth.” Oh Holy Night
