While the Advent and Christmas season can be filled with joy, laughter, amazing food, and new memories, for many people, this time of year also brings a sense of longing for the past and loneliness as we miss those who are no longer with us. We often miss the hugs and the hands to hold. We wish the person was still there to watch the children open presents, see the Christmas programs, stroll through the Christmas lights and window displays. The days feel dark.

Longing and loneliness are hard. They are deep-running emotions that are often the hardest to express. In these moments, we more fully grasp the meaning of what Isaiah called “bruised reeds” and “smoldering wicks” in our Scripture reading yesterday. Our deepest longings can be outmatched by doubts that our circumstances will ever improve. Our loneliness can make us feel so isolated and disconnected, and we wonder if God is listening. Dear bruised reeds and smoldering wicks, God is there, and he is listening to you. He knows your every need and takes delight in your every breath. He will bring you out of the darkness.

If you are carrying the burdens of longing and loneliness this Advent season, remember our Scripture verse from yesterday’s devotion. God said to you that he would send his Son as “a light for the Gentiles.” That means you! In the New Testament, Jesus came as the fulfillment of that prophecy, not as a source of physical light, but as the bright shining beacon of salvation. He said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” The temporary darkness of our earthly longings and loneliness is no match for the eternal life-giving light of Jesus.

If you have a friend or loved one wading through the sludge of heavy emotions this year, how could you be a light of hope for them during this challenging time? Let’s explore another verse about light: “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). As children of God who walk in his salvation promises, our every step should demonstrate our confidence in his almighty power, our trust in his plans for us, and his ability to hold us fast until we are called home to heaven. This kind of light shining in the life of a fellow believer can spur on those who feel trapped in the darkness of challenging times.

So, who needs your light today? How can you reflect the light of the world to those around you as we celebrate his coming tomorrow? Don’t hesitate to reach out and connect. Don’t question why that person came to mind or whether the timing is bad. Shine for Jesus and let him use you to bring light—his light—to those who need it. Jesus came to this world to bring light to sinners trapped in darkness. And he gave you to the world in this moment to bring light to the people he put in your path.

What is your heart set on? In order to figure that out, you might look at how you spend your time and your money. You might consider what you talk about most often or what kind of goals and plans you have. You might even reflect on what you worry about the most. What is your heart set on?

King David’s heart seemed set on building a temple. Then God came to David through his prophet Nathan and told him “no.” But God didn’t leave it there. God focused David’s attention on the coming Savior, how Jesus would build a lasting house and a never-ending throne.

Can you relate to King David? Whatever life plans you settle into, does God allow things to unfold differently? And if so, do you take it personally?

When life plans don’t work out, it can send you spinning! You have to wrestle with uncomfortable questions, the biggest of which is probably “Who am I now?” Emotions run high. You might have questions galore. You know your heavenly Father is in control, but it can feel pretty personal that he would allow life to unfold in such an unexpected or unwelcome way. Instead of reacting with a huff and a stomp of the foot (there is forgiveness for that, too), you can pause and evaluate: What is my heart set on? Or maybe the better question is: What is God’s heart set on?

Turning through the pages of Scripture, you see how God has personally sought you out. He set his heart on you as Jesus set his gaze toward Jerusalem and faced hell for you. He set his heart on you at your baptism, when the waters drowned you in your sins and raised you to life. He set his heart on you and made you his own dear child. When you face an unexpected future, you have the opportunity to remember what will never change: you are a child of God, hidden in Jesus.

This earthly life will always have an element of the unexpected as God uses all things to work for your good and pull you closer to him. When life doesn’t go as planned, you can take it personally in the best way. In those challenges, God hides you in Christ, sets your heart on things above, and strengthens you for the journey.

Remember how God redirected David’s gaze from an earthly temple to a heavenly throne? He does the same for you. As you spend time in his Word, he helps you zoom out to an eternal view. He puts into perspective how small your earthly struggles are in the grand plan of salvation. Yes, life will be hard. Yes, you will face the unexpected. You can take it personally because he makes sure that you will personally be before his throne with him in glory. The best is yet to come! Set your hearts on things above because God set his heart on you.

Unimaginable tragedy in this life happens. Sometimes, it happens quickly; other times, it is a long and arduous journey of pain and suffering. At these times, our merciful God has graciously given the body of Christ, his Word, to sustain us.

Job is an Old Testament character who surfaces during conversations about earthly tragedy. This portion of Scripture consoles us in our afflictions through his unimaginably tragic story. God permitted Satan, the prince of this world, to inflict unspeakable pain upon Job, sparing only his life. We learn how blameless and upright Job was in the face of his tragedies. We read and recite his response to his circumstances: “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” (Job 1:21)

The story compounds; the tragedies and circumstances surrounding Job persist. Beyond the blow of taking away his children, his sheep, his servants, his camels, and his health, Job is subjected to three rounds of discourses and four speeches from his friends. They admonish him, analyzing why God permitted calamity after calamity to come his way. Yet, Job shows us how his “gracious God sustains him…giving voice to the living hope of God’s children” * in the verses for today.

The writer’s pen (the author of Job is unknown) weaves a perfect story so that “everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope” (Romans 15:4).

What is this hope that Paul is referring to? It is the Messiah, the same hope that sustained our brother Job. His story is one of the Old Testament prophecies that point to our Savior Jesus. “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.” Job was broken down to nothing, literally had nothing, felt like nothing, but knew he had it all—because of Jesus.

“And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God, I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” His God would be the One who would conquer death. “Job was saying not only that the Redeemer was living even then, and therefore was the eternal, divine Messiah, but also that he could give life to others.”** Jesus would come to earth and suffer unimaginable tragedy on the cross. But he would also rise from the grave and conquer death forever. Not just for himself, not just for Job, but for every believer on this earth—and that includes you!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). This is the Gospel message filled with joy, hope, and eternal life for you—this Advent season and forever!

* Franzmann, Werner H. Bible History Commentary: Old Testament. (Milwaukee, WI Northwestern Publishing, 2000) 425

** Ibid

I have a young granddaughter named Charlotte who is being sleep-trained by her parents. When they put her in the bed, she often cries. Sometimes she gets herself all worked up in her crying and can’t seem to settle down on her own. As a loving parent or grandparent, it is hard to listen to Charlotte’s sobs through the baby monitor. She probably feels…abandoned. Forsaken.

Even though we have a loving heavenly Father, we also go through times of feeling forsaken. We may have a serious health issue, or we might lose a job and face financial hardship. Perhaps there’s strife in family relationships, our safety is threatened, or a loved one dies. Or maybe we just feel alone in this world. We cry out to God in our distress, and he seems distant and silent. God—are you listening? The Psalmist says, “Why are you…so far from the words of my groaning?”

Jesus can relate to these feelings. While we might feel forsaken by God, Jesus WAS forsaken by his loving heavenly Father! No doubt Jesus experienced intense physical suffering on the cross. But the worst was when the Father turned his back on his Son. It was hell on earth. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And yet, Jesus volunteered for this! In John 10:17, 18, we hear him say, “I lay down my life…No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord…”

We deserve to be the ones forsaken by God. Look at how often we have forsaken him! We have worshiped at the altar of many idols. We chase after comfort, security, health, and wealth at the expense of our relationship with God. But Jesus was forsaken on our behalf so that we would never be forsaken. “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you…” (Hebrews 13:5).

From our perspective, even though God promises to be with us, he doesn’t always seem near. We don’t understand what he is doing. Life doesn’t make sense. Like my granddaughter crying out from her bed, we long to be held, comforted, loved.

When my daughter hears Charlotte’s sobs turn to wails through the baby monitor, she will go in and comfort her, place her hand on her back and sing to her, and assure her of her presence and love. This usually calms Charlotte down, and she drifts off to sleep.

God is more watchful than a mother hovering over the baby monitor of her child. He will comfort us at the right time. “Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). We can trust his promises!

Are you a good gift receiver? I am not. I seem to romanticize gift-giving occasions and make them a lot grander in my head than they should be. It could be all those romantic comedies I watched on the Hallmark channel, maybe Instagram, or even just simply my own struggle with consumerism, but I seem to never be pleased with what I have. It’s easy for me to break that Ninth Commandment and covet what others have and feel jealous that I don’t have it too. This can really ruin the happiest times of the year because there’s no peace when struggling with sin.

Here’s the thing about sin: it can seem really small, even insignificant, so we start to ignore it. We might even think, “It’s not that big of deal; everyone feels that way sometimes; it’s fine, I’m only human.” But sin is like a virus. One little speck attaches to your cells, feeds off of you, and binds to you to grow and reproduce. Sin is so pervasive that we don’t just confess to sin but confess that we ARE sinners. We are infected with sin, and there is only one cure for getting rid of it: Jesus.

Jesus is the only man in history to be tempted in every way—just as we are—yet not sin. He wasn’t born into sin the way the rest of us were. He was fully man but was also immune to our sinful disease. We know what it’s like to mask up, stay six feet apart, and wash our hands an insane amount to prevent ourselves from catching a temporary sickness. Can you imagine willingly putting yourself at risk of an eternal sickness just to save people who don’t deserve it? Jesus was the one healthy man who made himself sick so that the masses could be healthy.

And just to be clear…Jesus didn’t infect himself with his own sin. He infected himself with your sin, and your neighbors’, and all peoples’ of all time. He removed it from us, put it on himself, and let it kill him. The only way to stop this disease from destroying us was to let it destroy him—and then for him to destroy it once and for all. He separated us from our sin so that we could finally have peace and healing.

When you are struggling with your sin, recognize it! Name it and call it what it is so that you can confess it and be reminded your peace doesn’t rely on you. Instead, your peace solely depends on Jesus’ death on the cross. Because of his suffering and death, we have peace in this life and in the next. He paid for our sins so that we could be reunited with God and be at peace again. Apart from God there is no peace, no Messiah, no forgiveness or healing. These things are the antidote that can only come from God and are only given to us because of what Christ did on the cross.

I love how God makes sure to record what we’re all wondering about anyway. His disciples verbalize it for us: “Jesus, what’s with all the parables?” Jesus tells us his threefold purpose in teaching this way. First, he was fulfilling prophecy. He was the master Teacher and Messiah that Isaiah spoke about. Second, he speaks an ominous judgment on the hearers who had continuously rejected his calls to repent and his offers of forgiveness and grace through him. Finally, he provided spiritual insight and growth for those who were searching for understanding and looking to him for answers.

In Matthew 13, we see yet another of the many prophecies fulfilled in Jesus. Here, he used parables as a way to teach the mysteries of the kingdom of God. There should have been no doubt that he was the Messiah spoken about for so many years. Generation after generation had been directed to know and search for these signs of the Savior. If they had been faithful in this, the descendants hearing him speak in the flesh would recognize him right away.

Unfortunately, there were many people who did not recognize Jesus and vehemently rejected him as anyone with authority at all. Jesus had been showering them with truths about the kingdom of God and giving them abundant opportunity to respond in repentance and faith. Instead, they continued to reject him out of feelings of hatred and hostility to the point where God finally gave them what they wanted. They could have their unbelief, and they would never understand. They could wallow in their self-righteousness, and they would never see their need for the Savior’s righteousness.

This is a warning for me too. If my faith remains stagnant and is no longer growing and seeking to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, I could be at risk of losing the one thing needful: Jesus. If I seek wisdom from other places apart from God, I am walking away from the only source of truth and am no better than one of these Pharisees. Thankfully, Jesus came for sinners like you and me.

What grace he gives to those who were looking to him for understanding and a desire to know more! What grace he gives us! It’s not that we are smarter or better predisposed to “religion”—no! If the Holy Spirit had not opened our eyes and allowed us to see the light of truth, we’d still be walking around in

the darkness of unbelief. Through the Word and sacraments, he’s given us faith to trust in him and his promises.

When we struggle to understand something that he tells us, we don’t have to panic and start googling it or hire a life coach. We can pray for the Holy Spirit to give us insight through his Word. We can study this Word in the Bible classes our church offers, where we have immediate access to our pastor (or can shoot him an email) so that he can help answer our questions. We can utilize our church library, which has been carefully curated to offer reliable books on spiritual topics. We can surround ourselves with spiritually strong friendships where conversations naturally turn heavenward.

Poor. Brokenhearted. Captive. Imprisoned. Mourning. Such a picture of despair, darkness, helplessness, and hopelessness! Yet these are the words that Isaiah uses in our Scripture reading for today to describe the people God the Father had in mind when he chose to send Jesus as the world’s Savior.

In the original context, Isaiah was speaking about the Israelites who were held captive in Babylon for 70 years as a punishment for their defiance against God. We read about what happened in Daniel 1:1,2: “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God.”

The Lord delivered them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar and into captivity. Before this account, Judah would have seen the northern ten tribes of Israel crushed by the Assyrians as a result of rebelling against God. Clearly, Judah didn’t learn from Israel’s example. Instead, they persisted in their sinful ways, and the Holy One of Israel allowed them to suffer punishment for it. Blood, tears, torment, and loss became their new existence. This may hurt our hearts to think about, but we must also remember that sin has consequences—for Judah back then, for the people of Jesus’ time, and for us today.

During Jesus’ ministry on earth, those first-century Jews would certainly have remembered the horrors of the Babylonian captivity and what it meant for their people. Babylon was a symbol of evil, bitterness, destruction, and enemies of God. But as Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecies in their presence, his followers witnessed a different type of deliverance—Jesus had come to heal them.

Can you imagine how awesome it would have been to witness these healings? To watch the blind person suddenly able to see God’s creation, loved ones, and the face of the Healer? To see the lame person walk for the first time? To see the diseased person set free? To see Lazarus emerge from the grave? Each of these accounts provides such a glorious, tangible picture of what it feels like to be delivered from a bodily form of captivity.

Jesus healed many people of their physical hurts, diseases, and even death, but this wasn’t the ultimate form of healing or deliverance for which he came to this world. It was for the spiritually poor who are bankrupted by their sin. It was for broken sinful natures. It was for the lives lived in captivity, imprisonment, and mourning because of defiance against a holy God.

Jesus’ healing was for them, and his healing is for you this Advent season! Instead of despair and darkness, you have deliverance. Instead of helplessness and hopelessness, you are held in the hands of your loving Lord. Praise God for sending his Servant, our Jesus, to proclaim this good news, bind up our broken hearts, declare us free, and give us comfort for all eternity!

It was tiny. It held very little significance. Bethlehem Ephrathah didn’t even make the top 100 cities that belonged to the clans of Judah. As a traveler crossing through the region, you would hardly notice the city. Now squint toward the barley fields. There you would find the spot where the poor foreigner named Ruth gleaned in Boaz’s field. The locals of her day wouldn’t have given Ruth a second glance. She was an outsider who had fallen upon tough times, desperately trying to make ends meet. Like Bethlehem, she doesn’t seem extraordinary at all.

Continuing our tour of Bethlehem, we approach the location of the humble home of Jesse, surrounded by fields that are dotted with sheep. When the prophet Samuel walked this road, he was searching for the next great king of Israel. Someone strong. Commanding. Mature. But God rejected the ones who fit those descriptions. Instead, God instructed Samuel to anoint the youngest brother, who didn’t even make the original lineup. Like Bethlehem, David didn’t seem like much.

Eyes like ours fixate on the talented, the important, the influential, and the famous. But God delights in using the weak, the poor, and the unexpected for some of the greatest roles in the story of salvation. Lowly Ruth became the wife of Boaz, the great-grandmother of King David, and part of the family line of the Savior. Little David became the greatest earthly king Israel had seen. With God’s help, David led the army to great victories and ushered in a time of peace for God’s people.

By the time Gabriel visited Mary, the once-thriving nation of Israel had been cut down. Isaiah referred to it as a twisted, gnarly stump. This was thanks to Babylon, then Persia, then the Greeks, then the Romans, all of whom took their turn wielding power over the area. But take a closer look at the stump of that royal line. It is not completely dead! We behold a branch shooting up out of its ugliness! The lovely bloom from that branch is our only hope, Jesus, born in Bethlehem.

Jesus himself didn’t appear glorious to eyes like ours. He was born to a carpenter and placed in a feed box. As Jesus began his ministry, he was a wanderer with less of a home than the foxes and birds. Somehow, some way, this humble preacher determined the eternity of us all.

Bethlehem, Ruth, David, and Jesus—they all show us how God looks with favor on the lowly. How the Almighty does great things. How he has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. Though Jesus hid his glory in his earthly existence, he was nothing less than our holy and true God! He traded his heavenly throne for our sins and exchanged what he deserved (glory) for what we deserved (the punishment of hell). As we see Bethlehem evolve from a tiny, unimportant city to the birthplace of the King of kings, let us also remember how God took us from dead in sin to alive in Christ. Now we lay claim to full rights as daughters and sons of the King.

It’s a midweek Advent service; you adjust the weekly family schedule to attend. You’ve rushed to get after-school activities and homework done. You might have just cleaned up the church kitchen after serving Advent dinner, hands still damp from the dishwater. Or you have agreed to participate in a special music offering and just completed one last rehearsal. These things have consumed your mind until you sit in the pew and hear the familiar note or bell signaling the start of worship. The service proceeds with some familiar Scripture heard every Advent season: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

The pastor rises to begin his sermon. Ahhh, a few minutes to relax, take a breath, and meditate. But this sermon starts out differently. Tonight, the pastor stands casually on the floor in front of the pulpit, like he is engaging in conversation. He asks the congregation (named Immanuel Lutheran Church), “What does Immanuel mean?” Suddenly, you are jolted from your passivity as his gaze sweeps over the congregation, looking for a response. Uncomfortable silence ensues until a brave man speaks up: “God with us.” A clear sigh of relief, or nervous laughter, rumbles through the church in agreement, seemingly saying: “Of course, God with us!”

But what exactly is this sign, this child, a son, named Immanuel? And what does it mean?

Initially, in the Old Testament, God instructed Moses to “make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8). This sanctuary was a tabernacle, which means “dwelling place,” and contained an ark, the first throne of the Lord. “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:34). This cloud became a sign for the Israelites as they were led by Moses in their nomadic journey to the Promised Land. “In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out” (Exodus 40:36).

Hundreds of years later, under King David’s rule, the ark was brought to Jerusalem. David’s son, King Solomon, built a permanent temple for the ark, and the glory cloud returned. “The cloud filled the temple of the Lord. . . . the glory of the Lord filled his temple” (1 Kings 8:10,11). In God’s eternal plan, 350 years later, this temple and the city of Jerusalem were destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 b.c. At this time, two things seem to have disappeared: the ark and its overshadowing cloud (see Ezekiel 10:18-22; 11:22,23).

As the years passed, the faithful waited for the return of the ark and the glory cloud—for God to return and dwell with them.

Can you identify with these ancient, faithful sisters and brothers? Are there days when you don’t feel God is with you? Are you waiting for him to make his presence known like the glory cloud?

Enter King Jesus.

Join us tomorrow as we study how the promise of “God with us” is fulfilled forever in Jesus and by the grace he has freely given to us. Forever.

The year was about 735 b.c. when Ahaz, age 20, became king of Judah. “Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God” (2 Kings 16:2). He even sacrificed his own son to idols. Despite this, God made some wonderful promises to Ahaz.

The kings of Aram and Israel were seeking to conquer Jerusalem. Ahaz and the people were afraid. Their hearts “were shaken, as trees of the forest are shaken by the wind” (Isaiah 7:2). Have you ever felt fear like that?

Fortunately for Ahaz, God sent Isaiah with a message of comfort and a promise of rescue. Isaiah told the king of Judah not to fear because of the minor foes against him—God would deliver them from their enemies. The Lord even graciously offered to give Ahaz a sign to assure him of this promise of deliverance, but in fake piety, Ahaz refused. Perhaps Ahaz declined the offer because he already planned to follow his own will rather than God’s. God was not pleased with Ahaz’s rejection. He gave Ahaz a sign anyway!

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). 

Yes, God would deliver his people from the two kings who threatened them, but an even greater deliverance was coming. God wouldn’t use a powerful king or a great nation to deliver his people. Instead, he would provide deliverance through a woman—a virgin, no less! God himself would step down from his throne in heaven and take on human flesh. He would take on human flesh and become Immanuel, “God with us,” to deliver his people from their sin, the awful punishment of death, and their devilish enemy.

Rather than trusting in God as Isaiah had advised, the apostate Ahaz looked elsewhere for deliverance: to the country of Assyria. He sent silver and gold from God’s temple, offering Judah as another vassal state. This supposed “ally” would eventually besiege Judah.

Ahaz was fearful—a “shaking in your boots” kind of fear! What do we do when we are fearful? Sometimes it’s easier to trust in the strength of what we can see and touch rather than in a God who is invisible and feels far away. Do we look to politicians to fix our problems? Do we rely on our savings account more than God? Do we put our faith and hope in doctors to cure us? Do we get impatient waiting for God to act and try to take matters into our own hands? I am guilty of it all.

In our moments of fear, in the midst of our trials, we can remember God’s promise to deliver us from all our troubles and thank him for his promise of IMMANUEL! God with us! With us in our fears. With us when our foes loom large. He has delivered us from our sin and will deliver us from our fears and failures with love, forgiveness, and mercy!

As the end of 2024 approaches, another election year has taken its toll, the economy is threatening a “light” Christmas, and we’re left wondering just what the New Year might bring. Does it all feel hopeless? Does it feel like our lives will never be the same? Does the future seem more uncertain than ever? My friends, we are not alone; these are not only 21^st-century problems.

Long ago, the Israelites were going through similar struggles. They were watching their country crumble around them, experiencing fear that their enemies would overtake them, and worrying that everything they had ever known was changing. It seemed hopeless for them. God was allowing them to suffer because of the faithlessness of their leaders, the sins they refused to leave behind, and their own willingness to turn away from God’s Word.

There were a small number of faithful few who remained true to God’s Word and followed his commands with true faith, but it was hard to see them through the masses of unbelievers. Israel was known for being God’s chosen people, but this was often in name only because their hearts were far from belonging to the Lord. It was hard to see how God’s promise of a Savior would come from the line of Jesse when so many of the kings and followers had fallen so far away from God. This family tree had certainly died spiritually and was close to dying out physically as well.

Isaiah was prophesying to a lost and hurting people, and here he gave them hope. They would not be divided forever. They would not remain dispersed. God would restore them and silence their enemies—just not the way they thought or anticipated. He would preserve the line of Jesse so that the King of kings could be born from this line. A king who would have much more power, riches, and wisdom than David and Solomon. A king who would bring them eternal peace, rest, and glory. A king who would make alive what once was dead.

God remained faithful to his people and faithful to his promises. A remnant returned to the mighty God and leaned on him for strength, hope for the future, and peace. The line of Jesse that had turned into a rotten stump would not prevent God from providing a new root. This new root would bloom in the face of adversity and be a sign for the people to rally around and be filled with hope that their wait was over.

The Root of Jesse would come to establish his heavenly kingdom, which could never die. He would fight all the evils of this world to rescue God’s people from their enemy. Even more amazing, this sign they were awaiting would be God himself in the form of a humble infant, born in a manger, willing to die on a cross to take away the hopelessness, worry, and uncertainty the Israelites felt and that we still feel today. In its place, he gave them—and gives us!—hope, peace, and rest in his eternal glory.

Adam and Eve had just been caught by God red-handed—maybe even with some telltale juice still dripping from the corners of their mouths. They experienced new emotions of shame and fear as they tried in vain to hide because their eyes were opened to their nakedness. Panicked, they immediately turned on each other and on the other party present, Satan, during this takedown of mankind. Moments before, the couple and the serpent had been best buds! Now Adam and Eve were waiting for the proverbial hammer to drop, knowing full well that there were severe consequences coming.

Was there some amount of relief when the Lord’s attention turned to their new nemesis? The first words of prophecy in Genesis 3:15 are spoken directly to Satan but have everything to do with the man and woman standing there. There would be severe consequences, but not what they expected.

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman . . .” Enmity isn’t a word we commonly use in our vocabulary, but we recognize its meaning of “hostility” or “division.” Just moments before, in their sinfulness, Adam and Eve began to experience a misplaced enmity between themselves and God. They made friends with and trusted Satan. They chose to align themselves with evil. There was no changing their minds and jumping back to God’s side now. It was impossible. They were sinners. An insurmountable wall of hostility now existed between God and his creation as a result of Adam and Eve’s sin.

God loved his newly created world too much to allow this wall of hostility to stand. So he promised to put the enmity back where it belonged—not between himself and humankind, but between the devil and God’s people. As bad as things were for Adam and Eve, God began to act!

“. . . and between your offspring and hers . . .” Sisters, here’s where it gets personal for us too. God’s plan to put the enmity back where it belonged extended far beyond Eve—to her offspring, her descendants, her spiritual children, believers—us! As for Satan’s offspring, this refers to the fallen angels and those people yet to come who would cozy up to evil and align themselves with the father of lies. These two groups, believers and unbelievers, will be at odds, on different sides of a spiritual war until judgment day.

“. . . he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” was a death sentence declared to Satan and the first promise of hope for Adam, Eve, and their offspring! While at the time this promise must have been a cryptic message shrouded in mystery, Adam and Eve also must have repeated these words over and over through their minds in the years to come. The Lord wasted no time in sharing this plan with the three of them: judgment for Satan, rescue for Adam and Eve. While we might want to distance ourselves from the curse, the promise is equally ours!

God’s remedy for sin came in the form of a promise that humanity would have to trust in and wait for. We have the benefit of hindsight, but God’s plan had yet to unfold for Adam and Eve. Although they would experience physical death before seeing the fulfillment of God’s promise, they still clung to the first gospel promise of a Savior. What a joyful blessing—not only for Adam and Eve but also for you and me! When we’re mired in the darkness of sin and guilt, we too cling to this precious gospel promise. We too trust in the One who saved us from our sin and broke down the wall of hostility between us and God. We are forgiven, dear sisters!

Immanuel, which means “God with us,” might be my favorite word. The saying, “You don’t know what you don’t know” holds true. If you haven’t grown up in a ghetto looking for scraps of food to get by, you don’t know. If you haven’t been married, you don’t quite comprehend the complexity of bringing two lives together. If you haven’t been single for an extended season, you likely don’t remember the tinge of loneliness that sometimes creeps in, and for some, the longing for a relationship to take that loneliness away.

Believers go from the comparative poverty of earth to the glory of heaven. We look ahead knowing the pains and frustrations of this life are momentary. We are on a pilgrimage, journeying to a better, never-ending life in glory.

Jesus left glory—the perfect splendor of heaven, where angels adored him and the Father and Spirit consulted and communed with him—for life on earth. To descend would be daunting. Mary and Joseph had never raised a child. Jesus entrusted his life to amateurs.

In heaven, the devil knew Jesus’ majesty and power, and he knew he was no match. But as a human, Jesus submitted to a weakened state. He became hungry. He experienced fear. And in his weakness, the devil tried again and again to plant seeds of doubt, to twist the truth and seduce Jesus from righteousness.

As a human, Jesus felt emotions. He knew Lazarus had entered his eternal rest, and knew he was better off, and even so, standing outside the grave, with Mary and Martha and those closest to Lazarus, he felt the pain of separation.

Despite being sinless, Jesus went to the cross where he felt the divide that existed between sinful humans and a holy God. God the Father allowed Jesus to feel the weight of sin—the full weight of the punishment of sin that we will never have to feel.

Because Jesus set aside his power and walked in our shoes, he knows loneliness and frustration. He understands rejection and what it is to be cold or misunderstood.

The author of the letter to the Hebrews reminds us of this significance. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:15,16).

Jesus knows what we are going through. We go to him in prayer knowing he understands. And because he understands, we go to him confidently. He knows what we need and is able to supply it in abundance from the storehouses of heaven.

By all historical accounts, Herod was a vicious man. He killed anyone he perceived to be a threat to his reign. And Jesus, whom the wise men referred to as the “king of the Jews,” was a threat.

Herod was just the first of Satan’s pawns. Jesus would face a lifetime of social and political enemies.

Today Christian values are seen as a threat too. Birth gender is no longer accepted as fact. Sex is not seen as a gift reserved for a married husband and wife, but rather as a pastime, casual entertainment, and acceptable experimentation for any age. The name of Jesus has little to do with prayer, praise, and thanks. Instead, it’s a favored and acceptable curse word on prime-time TV and in many workplaces.

Lest we think we are living in an unusually anti-Christian society, the apostle Paul’s words remind us it has and will always be this way: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12).

The Bible serves as a witness: it was just as evil in the days of Noah and Abraham and Joseph. Spend time in the books of Judges or 2 Kings, Esther or Daniel if you think maybe things were better then. Nebuchadnezzar and Xerxes were unusually cruel, and yet God caused these ruthless men to act favorably toward Daniel, Esther, Mordecai, and the remnant they represented.

Some rulers are more favorably disposed to Christianity than others. “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice” (Proverbs 29:2, EHV).

And when the Herods and the Hitlers and even the slightly cunning and somewhat malicious rise to positions of authority, then we do what Christians have always done. We worship, we pray, and we remember our home is in heaven.

Noah preached while he built the ark. Joseph worked hard in a heathen land for heathen rulers. Paul and Silas praised in chains. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walked with the angel in the fire. Daniel prayed in the lion’s den. Stephen died at the hands of men of power and watched heaven open to welcome him in.

It is no surprise when we feel alienated from the world. This is not our home.

We don’t know much about the Magi. Matthew only tells us that they were “wise men” from “the east.” Although they tend to show up as a group of three in Nativity scenes, we don’t know exactly how many of them there were. We can make a guess as to their place of origin—perhaps Babylon—but we don’t know exactly how long their journey was either. Estimates range from 400 to over 1000 miles and from a month to several years. But we do know how they were guided on their journey: by a divinely provided star.

There are times I wish God would provide me a star for guidance. Life contains so many choices to make, so many paths to take, and often I’m not quite sure if I’m on the right path or not. We all have those low times in our lives when we wonder whether God really still loves us, whether we are still worthy to be called his child, whether any good can come out of the trials and tribulations we’re experiencing. Where’s our star in those moments? Where’s our assurance that God is indeed with us every step of the way?

Thankfully, God does provide assurance that he is with us on our journey through this life, even if we can’t always see his presence. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). This verse doesn’t mean that we’ll always make the right choice or that we’ll always act in accordance with God’s will. We are sinful human beings, and that sinfulness shows itself daily in our words and actions. But in Romans 8:28, God does promise that he will take all our choices—good and bad, influenced by our old Adam or our new self—and use them for good, for his purposes.

The Magi were blessed to see the good at the end of their journey. They saw Jesus with their own eyes and bowed down and worshiped him. They had the certainty that their journey was not in vain, that they accomplished the task set before them, that they reached their goal. And then they returned to their own country, presumably to tell everyone what they had seen and heard.

It would be lovely if we could always see the good in our journey, too. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case. Sometimes we can see how God is working for our good in the moment. Sometimes, that seeing takes longer—months or even years. And sometimes, we aren’t able to see that good on this side of heaven. But we can be comforted in knowing that God is always working for the good of those who love him, whether that’s directly for our good or for the good of another fellow believer. Even in the midst of this uncertainty, may we share the joy of the Magi at God’s guidance and protection throughout our journey—from this life to the next!