by David Chadwick
There is something about a treasure hunt that invites every person into wonder and delightful suspense. I want to spend the next two weeks taking you on a treasure hunt.
I want to pull out ten gems that are in the Christmas story. Treat them as precious jewels, as treasures you can go back to again and again during this time of the year to stir up your faith and renew your hope for Jesus’s return.
Remember: Jesus’s first coming set the stage for his Second Coming! Because our God can change everything in a moment!
There were 300 plus prophecies in the Old Testament about Jesus’s coming, one of which included prophesying the exact city where Jesus would be born. Micah 5:2 says, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times.”
What a lot of people don’t know is that between Malachi and Matthew, between all the 300 plus prophecies in the Old Testament to the coming of Jesus, there were 400 years of silence. Not one prophetic word. Nothing! Can you imagine waiting that long for an answer?
Waiting and silence. We have all been through it. It’s the reason for the great Christmas hymn “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” People were longing for Jesus’s first coming.
Are you in one of those times right now? If so, don’t give up. Like when Jesus finally came, God can suddenly break through darkness and change everything. In a moment. With one word. God’s light shatters darkness.
And immediately, there is hope!
Take this gem from the Christmas story and treasure it always!