Jesus Came to Proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God

Jesus came to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God.

And when it was day, He departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought Him and came to Him, and would have kept Him from leaving them, but He said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” And He was preaching in the synagogues of Judea. –Luke 4:42-44

Christmas comes this year in the wake of the sobering realities of evil. Of course, Christmas comes to us in the midst of the wreckage of our fallen world every year, but this year, Christmas will come just 43 and 42 days after the terrorist attacks on Lebanon and Paris, respectively. It will come as hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees struggle to survive in boats, waiting for a place to go, a place to belong. It will come as we argue over what should be done about the state of our world, and whether we should drink out of those red Starbucks cups.

Yet Jesus says, “Take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). This, friends, is the glorious, magnificent Good News He came to proclaim. Into a world shaking with fear and distraught with sin, He came. To love a people turning on one another and unable to save themselves, He came. With the Best News Ever in the History of the World, He came—and He proclaimed it.

There was no CNN blasting news of the latest terror, but there was one King Herod killing baby boys all over Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16). It’s safe to say there was a distinct lack of good news that year, and that Christmas would come in the midst of heartache.

How the world must have breathed a sigh of relief that night in Bethlehem so many years ago: her Savior had come. And this year, when Christmas comes, may we do the same, for He has come. Good news abounds.