My daughter Kim gets very excited about her trips to Disney. She talks about going to Disney like a year before we go! She talks about it every day! Where she wants to eat. Who she wants to see. Which rides she wants to go on. Which park she enjoys the most. The list goes on and on. She is always waiting for and looking forward to our trips to Disney.
Did you know that God gets excited too? God gets even more excited than Kim gets about Disney. In fact, God was so excited about something that he talked about it for 700 years before the exciting thing happened! Now that’s a LONG time to talk about something you’re excited about! It is also a long time to wait for it to happen!
God was excited to give us a gift…an amazing gift! This gift from God was so amazing he started announcing it 700 years before the gift came! The man who made the first announcement so long ago was named Isaiah. He had a job called “prophet.” Prophets were people who God spoke through. You know how you can make a puppet talk? Well, that’s a little bit how God would talk through a prophet. When God had something to say, he would say it to the Jewish people, his special friends, through the prophet. So God spoke through a prophet named Isaiah.
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…And he will be called
Wonderful Teacher, Mighty God, Forever Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6 (NIRV)
God told Isaiah that a special child, a special baby would be born. Isaiah and the whole Jewish people were waiting for this baby, this Messiah, to be born. The Bible tells us about Zechariah and Elizabeth, about Mary and Joseph–all of whom were waiting. And if we keep reading, we can see how God provides for each of them.
“He keeps his promises for all of us who wait.”
I’ll bet you know someone who is waiting. Maybe it’s for healing. Or a broken relationship to be fixed. Or perhaps you are like me, and you are longing every day for Jesus to return. He will. Maybe Jesus will come back today! He keeps his promises for all of us who wait.
Adapted from Jill Miller’s Advent: The Coming of Jesus Leader's Manual.
