“For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him, God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.” — Colossians 1:19-20

Imagine Bethlehem 2000 years ago. Imagine silence from God for 400 years. Imagine what that would have felt like. The nation of Israel was waiting for Messiah. They believed the promises of God that Messiah was coming, but did they ever start to lose hope? I think I probably would have. Not only were they awaiting the coming Savior, but they were also doing it without hearing anything from God.

Silence. Sometimes, we forget that the access we have to God and His Word was not readily available to the people during that time. Hebrews 1:1 tells us, “Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets.” Yet during the period of centuries between the Old and New Testaments, beyond the period of the kings and prophets, God was not speaking to His people. The believers in God had to cling to the promises they knew, and all they had been taught through the Torah, the Law and the Prophets, and the Psalms. They clung to a belief that the Messiah was coming, but how did they feel during those years?

Imagine the generations of people that lived during those years, all without a fresh Word from God. Sometimes when I read the Old Testament and the accounts of how God spoke to Moses and Abraham and David, I wish God would speak directly to me like that. Oh for God to tell me where to go, when to resign from my job, where to live…just tell me so I don’t become overwhelmed with doubts about whether or not it is God’s voice I am hearing. Yet, I know that those of us on this side of the cross have what they did not. We have the guarantee of the promise of God–the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who does not leave us. God is quite literally with us all of the time. We are not bound by the ritual cleansing and the laws to ensure our purification and the sacrificial laws to ensure our justification. No, we have the blood of Jesus that covers all of our sins, once for all. He tore down the dividing wall, and He communes with us.

Jesus is Immanuel, God With Us. Jesus descended from heaven and took on the likeness of man as a newborn baby, fresh from the womb. The Savior of the world entered the world He would save as a baby born in the most humble of beginnings to a poor teenage girl, forever stigmatized by her scandalous pregnancy. Jesus didn’t run from the marginalized and the outcasts. He came through them.

Just take a peek at His family line in Matthew 1 and Luke 3. Jesus’ family line consisted of sinful humans just like me and you. He descended from the line of David, thus fulfilling prophecy, but, remember, David was far from perfect. Bathsheba is listed in Matthew 1. Rahab the prostitute is listed in Jesus’ genealogy. Ruth the Moabitess who was a Gentile woman is also found there. God’s plan for redemption always included the use of imperfect people to fulfill His will to get to the exact point in which the fullness of time came for Jesus to be born. For heaven to break into earth.

And as we read Paul’s words in Colossians, we learn that it pleased God for His fullness to dwell in Christ. The idea that it pleased God for Jesus to be fully human amazes me. We are so limited and finite, yet Jesus became one of us. While we celebrate the Christmas story, we must never lose sight of why Jesus came as a human. He came to fulfill the mission of the Father, to redeem mankind. From the beginning, God always intended to send Jesus as our redemption. God could have easily left us in our sins, eternally condemned to hell. Yet in His great love and grace, He did not. He created us for relationship with Him, and He fulfilled His covenant with us without requiring anything from us. To cut covenant in those days, both parties were in agreement and bound to it. Yet God Himself was solely responsible for the covenant He made.

See, we never could be good enough on our own. We would never measure up, despite our best efforts. We could work, strive, strain to do our very best but our best could never be enough. But Jesus IS enough. Thus, God was pleased for His fullness to dwell in Christ. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was always the purpose behind the first Christmas. That beloved baby boy’s sole mission was to grow into a man that would carry the sins of the world on Himself on the cross. Every. Single. Sin. Of. Mankind. Christmas cannot be separated from Easter. They were both always part of God’s singular plan of salvation and redemption.

One thing that puzzles me is that throughout the narrative of Scripture, God’s chosen people frequently forgot God’s goodness and faithfulness to them yet He never abandoned them or forgot His plan and promises to them. God remained faithful even when they were faithless. When I look at the world around me, I see a world full of people who lack faith, who lack any awareness of a need for God. I see a world full of people who have no use for a Savior or any respect for the authority and power of God. As a follower of Christ, this should break our hearts. It is evident that people are searching for hope, for purpose, for fulfillment yet cannot seem to find what fills that hole. Jesus came to give hope, purpose, fulfillment, satisfaction, and salvation. We have the hope they are seeking. During this holiday season, hearts are primed for hearing the Good News of Jesus. People are desperate for hope. Let us have boldness to share this hope we have with others.

Imagine the shepherds in the field that long ago night when the angel and then the heavenly host appeared declaring the birth of the Messiah. Hope had finally come. Biblical hope is not the same as the hope of this world. No, this hope is actually a word that is full of expectation. We know that our hope is found in Christ and ultimately fulfilled when He returns for us. It is confident expectation. I am reminded of the words of Job (19:25) when he said, “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last.” Confident expectation, hope!

Even as God remained silent for those 400 years, He was making a way for Jesus to come to earth. Even during those times, the followers of God maintained their belief that God was faithful to keep His promises and that He would send the Messiah to save and to rescue them. And God did not disappoint. The world experienced a thrill of hope when that baby boy was born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger because God had come for His people.

Millenia later, God still comes for people. To rescue. To redeem. To save. Where do you need a thrill of hope this holiday season? Hope is not found in busyness or in the hustle and bustle. Hope is not found in gifts or holiday parties. Hope is not even found in relationships. Hope, confident expectation, is found in Jesus alone. This hope does not disappoint. Jesus does not disappoint. Jesus meets us where we are and elevates us. Jesus came to earth so that we were not left in darkness. Jesus came to earth to bring us light and life. Light exposes darkness. And in Jesus, there is no darkness. People often disappoint us. When I have had expectations of people, I have been disappointed. But it is not like that with Jesus. He offers us so much more than anything we could ever ask, want, or imagine. He is the fulfillment of hope. Yet He offers us continuous hope because He is returning for us. Christmas was the First Advent, but not the final one! Therein lies our hope!

“And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance.” — Hebrews 11:2a