The Greatest Christmas Present

I suffered as a child from Christmas-Eve-Insomnia. Christmas-Eve-Insomnia is a common disease that children get once a year (on Christmas Eve) where they cannot go to sleep.

The cause of Christmas-Eve-Insomnia is two things - unopened presents and roughly 6-8 pounds of Christmas Candy.

Between peanut butter fudge, candy, and cookies, I couldn’t fall asleep for anything.

The wait was just too much for my little mind to bear.

Until my brilliant parents came up with an idea and a new family tradition. My sister and I were allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve. We could select any present from around the tree and open that present.

That longing for something was relieved by a small gift and an encouragement.

Our Heavenly Father knows that we need those encouragements as well.

I want to share with you a brief verse from Isaiah 9 where he does exactly that. It states,

Isaiah 9:6-7 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

Explanation

You may not be suffering from Christmas-Eve-Insomnia the way that I once was, but something else might be keeping you up at night.

Maybe, it is the loss of someone that you dearly love, and this will be your first Christmas without them.

Maybe, it has been a difficult year, financially, and you are wondering just how those presents are going to get under the tree.

Maybe, there is just some strife in your family, and it is breaking your heart.

If our own lives weren’t difficult enough, the world in which we live seems to be struggling, folks.

I see such anger and hurt and pain.

All of these emotions stem from a brokenness in our world.

I know that you see it too. We might wonder, where does it end. When does this tension and hurt and anxiety that I feel change forever.

Isaiah was living in a similar time in Israel. In fact, Israel and Judah were divided, Israel’s king had just died, the people had moved far from God, and the threat of an invading nation was imminent.

Isaiah could have done a lot of things. He could have told everyone that life was going to be ok. He could have told them that nothing bad was going to happen. He could have told them that what they were doing and how they were living was ok. He could have told them that Babylon was not coming to take them.

But, he didn’t. Because that wasn’t the message that God had given him.

Instead, he told them of the Messiah. He told them of the one who would come to right their wrongs.

He told them of the child who would be given for mankind.

He told them his titles, as a king, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace.

He told that the Messiah, the Christ, would bring forth peace.

He told them that peace would be attached to Christ’s throne would be established in justice and righteousness.

But it hadn’t happened yet. Isaiah was giving a taste, so that the people wound endure.

God had given his people a Word, and it was a word more precious than anything else. Much like the present I was able to open on Christmas Eve, it relieved the tension and allowed the people of Israel to sleep knowing that God was in control.

Application

We celebrate Christmas, because we know that Christ has come.

When you struggle, and suffer from the more severe form of Christmas-Eve-Insomnia, caused by things a little more pressing than candy and presents in the morning, open this book and see that Christ will come again.

When he comes again, he will finish what he began. He will end suffering, pain, loss, and grief.