“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
Isaiah 7:14
The Lord sent a sign to announce the arrival of His Son Immanuel, meaning God with us. And yet, Christ did not arrive in the way people expected. Those who first encountered Christ were fearful, confused, and overwhelmed. They had questions. For centuries, God’s people had been anticipating a warrior king who would free them from their earthly oppressors. Instead, Christ established a spiritual kingdom to free them from their sins. He was not who they were expecting, but he was exactly who they needed.
After they met the newborn Christ, the people at the nativity spread the good news about God’s plan to redeem His children. During Advent, we remember how Christ first came into the lives of Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph, Simeon and Anna, the shepherds, and the Magi; we also remember how he came into our own lives and continues to transform us. As inheritors of the gospel message, we are called to share it with others. Jesus was for the people in Bethlehem, he is for us, and he is meant to go beyond us.
This Advent, you are invited to join the Impact 360 community as we read the first two chapters of Matthew and Luke. Over the coming weeks, we will study the beginning of the gospel story to see how the people in Scripture prepared a place for Christ in their hearts as we prepare a place for him in our own.