Advent 2019 – Merry Christmas!

From Russ Ramsey’s The Advent of the Lamb of God:

“Since Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit God told them not to touch, every generation had been groaning with the pains of childbirth, longing to be delivered from the effects of their first parents’ fall. And now their deliverer had come. He was the hero of their story, the perfect spotless lamb sent to adorn the doorposts of their hearts with his own blood. He was the descendant from Eve sent to crush the head of the deceiver.

He was Isaac’s ram caught in the thicket, God’s perfectly timed provision of a substitute. He was the heir of Abraham’s line through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed—born by a miracle and filling the world with laughter. He wrestled with Israel and wouldn’t let go, giving Jacob the gracious gift of a limp to remind him of his weakness. He was the new Joseph, the forgotten brother, unrecognizable in a foreign land, though he alone possessed the resources needed to satisfy the hunger of his people in their spiritual famine.

He was their new Moses, sent by God to deliver them from the land of their slavery into their promised inheritance. He wouldn’t just deliver God’s law to them. He would fulfill it on their behalf. Perfectly. He was the faultless judge who would rescue his people from their own waywardness. He would do what no other judge before him was able to do—he would take their hearts of stone and give them hearts of flesh.

He was the King the Lord promised to David, a ruler from his own body whose kingdom the Lord would establish forever, ancient and strong. He had courage deeper than David, wisdom greater than Solomon, and faith firmer than Elijah. He was the remnant growing beneath the smoldering ruins of Judah, the son to be given, the child to be born.

He was Immanuel—God with his people. He would turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. Where there was despair, he would bring hope. Where there was brokenness, he would bring healing. Where there was sadness, he would bring joy. Where there was bondage, he would set people free.”