THIS IS CHRIST THE KING

“This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and Angels sing
Haste, haste, to bring Him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.”
– What Child Is This

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14

Although the birth of Jesus was foretold by Isaiah, many people did not picture their King, their Savior, their Leader, to come in the form of a baby. They wanted someone who would rule for them. They expected someone of strength and power. Their visual expectations did not match who they received. However, they received exactly who they wanted – someone of strength and power. He just didn’t come in the form they expected.

Expectations. As humans, we are full of expectations. We expect people to do things a certain way. We expect specific things to happen at times we have appointed. It’s no wonder the people expected their Savior and Messiah to come in the form of a strong King. I doubt any one of them pictured a baby! Yet the promise of God was fulfilled . . . just in an unexpected way,

We, on the other side of His birth, have a better understanding of why He did have to come this way. It was the only way. Afterall, He was fully God and fully man. He came into the world humbly, lowly and in the weakest form possible.

God sent His only son to save us. God saw His suffering, sinful people and sent us His perfect love and mercy. He sent His son to share in our joyous moments and our suffering. He sent Him in fully human form so we could identify with Him, but also know Him as fully divine.

“And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:12

PRAYER

Lord, thank You for sending this fully human, fully divine baby to us. Thank You for sending this lowly, and weak baby into our world of darkness, so He could fully walk with us in the light. Amen.