Advent Devotional - December 18, 2016

“Joyful, all ye nations rise / Join the triumph of the skies / With the angelic host proclaim: / ‘Christ is born in Bethlehem’ / Hark! The herald angels sing / “Glory to the newborn King!”

-Hark the Herald Angels Sing

“But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish....The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them light has shone. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end.” –Isaiah 9:1-2, 6-7

Isaiah 9 presents one of the most well known Biblical images of Christmas. Isaiah foresees a day when the nations that long in darkness walked have now beheld a glorious light. Isaiah 9:6 tells us that the light comes from a child being born. From this child, and from the mission that he would accomplish and subsequently send out his disciples to publish, the kingdom will widen beyond all comprehension. No longer would God’s people be a Middle Eastern ethnic minority, but his people would soon include every tribe, language, people, and nation (Revelation 5:9). Carried in the news of Christmas is the news that the gospel of the kingdom is the most ethnically inclusive kingdom the world has ever known. Literally, various people from every skin color, every tongue, and every cranny of the earth would be swept in. Ethiopians and Athenians. Asians and Australians. Americans and Brazilians.

Revelation pictures the appointed consummation of this prophecy. It depicts nations streaming into an eternal kingdom, where there is “no longer any need for sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light and its lamp is the Lamb” (Revelation 21:23), much like Isaiah had foretold. The question for us is whether or not we will play any part in carrying this light to the nations, and share in the joy of seeing them join their voices to ours both now and forever.

As you worship the risen and reigning Christ this Christmas, widen your view to see your brothers and sisters from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth joining with you and with the angels, singing “Glory to the newborn king.” Can you see it? And don’t you want to?