Our Hope Was Born By Means Of The Most Unlikely, An Infant

The Christmas story reads like stuff that myths are made of, except it wasn’t fiction, but true. The account of Joseph and Mary was rooted in actual history, verified by well documented events. On that Advent Day, a Savior was born in Bethlehem 2,017 years ago.

The change for humanity since Jesus’ birth boggles the mind but exalts the spirit. Hope was born by means of the most unlikely of means: an infant, a boy named Jesus, the Christ. The mother was a teenager who had never been married. She was a Jewess, a virgin named Mary, who had never been with a man. She was already betrothed to an honorable man named Joseph when she became pregnant by God.

Angels and prophetic dreams are very much a part of this story. Look backwards to the time before Israel was a nation and you’ll see angels involved. God had given Abraham the promise an inheritance, the land of Canaan. But Sarah, the wife of Abraham, was ninety years old and barren. When the Lord came along with two angels to see them, Abraham was 99. The Lord told Sarah she would become pregnant. She laughed. Then the Lord said, “Is anything too difficult for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14) One year later, Isaac!

Fast forward past Abraham, Moses and the Law, Joshua and the Promised Land, past David and all the kings and prophets, past their captivity in Babylon until Israel’s return to Jerusalem. Come to Israel as it was during the New Testament era of the Bible.

Picture this: an angel appeared to Mary and explained what was about to happen; how she would conceive the Son of God by the Holy Spirit and bring forth the King, our Savior, the Lord Jesus. The angel said, “For nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37) Do those words sound familiar? Almost the same words that were spoken to Sarah!

God’s word spoken by angels is unalterable. (Hebrews 2:2) When God speaks a word, the word has within it the power to bring us into our destiny. All we do is believe it. In the fullness of time, if you carry a word of faith, having become pregnant with a promise, the word becomes flesh. In other words, the word gets accomplished in your life.

Are you like Sarah in her old age — hope depleted, feeling barren, unfulfilled, frustrated; left with nothing to show for your long journey of faith? Go back and revisit the words the Lord spoke to you. Recall the promises God made to you. Rehearse his goodness and remind yourself of who he is. Are you like young Mary — hearing incredible promises from God? Are Scriptures leaping off the pages of your Bible that seem way too good to be true, too amazing to be meant for you?

I’m old enough and walked with the Lord long enough to have experienced both kinds of promises: the kind that came in my youth that were idealistic and incredible; and the kind that arrived in my mature years that seem too good to be true, so I can scarcely take them in. In our youth, we don’t know how difficult a thing may be, nor the process of time involved. In our maturity, we’re more realistic. We see our inadequacies, so we are skeptical that we can qualify.

Thank God, he knows our weakness even before he chooses us! His grace is sufficient. He sends messengers to reaffirm his word so that we can endure in faith until the finish.