Beautiful News to Hear Again for paper Dec 24

She gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2: 7

There is nothing more beautiful in all the world to hear in this season of Christmas. You needed to hear it again. The Good News that unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. Plenty of babies have been swaddled up on the day of their birth, but only one came from heaven with the plan of being wrapped in linen and laid in a tomb on the day of his death, having atoned for the sins of the whole world, a Savior, Christ, the Lord. That is the one whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, the true reason for the season, the one of whom the angels sang, Christ, the Lord.

The Son of God, descended from heaven, was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary to give himself for us men and for our salvation. He came that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people. He did redeem you! This is the good news of great joy that is for all the people; it is the good news of great joy that he is for you.

Before he had said, “Let there be light,” it was in the mind of God to redeem the people he knew would walk into the darkness. And he did know. And now the people walking in darkness have seen a great light. But why create a people who would rebel, who want to be God for themselves and kill him? – Because he is love. God is love, and out of his eternal love he made an object of his divine affection—mankind. Then out of all the peoples of the earth, he chose Abraham and gave him promises that through him all the peoples of the earth would be blessed. And when the time had fully come, he sent forth his Son—precisely according to his promise, for Joseph and Mary go from Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David, Bethlehem, exactly where the promise was to be fulfilled.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, …… The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. Isaiah 9: 6a, 7b

And he has done it. Into the darkness of this world, but much more specifically, into the darkness of your life, he has come—to do for you the work of his salvation—that is, to redeem you. And you have received the Good News that he did. Christ the Lord has been born. The sign for the shepherds on that night was the swaddling cloths and the babe lying in a manger. The heavenly host sounds forth, “Glory be to God on high!” because the King of heaven is the baby in the manger. The Creator comes into the world to save his people. As the angelic song went into the ears of the shepherds, so it has gone into yours too. And we join in and sing our Gloria in Excelsis Deo. All of time, every word and promise of God, all the Scriptures of the prophets, pointed to the moment when the eternal God would enter this earth as a child, and through him there is peace between God the Father and you. He is the Redeemer, the child wrapped up in the swaddling cloths, who would be wrapped up in linen with spices on Good Friday, having paid the redemptive price by dying on the tree.

This is why the almighty Word (Jesus) descended from the royal throne in heaven—to go into the darkness of death, to die. What peace there is for you! Into the darkness of death went the child, and now his light shines forth. Just as the angels cried out on the night of his birth, so were the angels again there when he burst forth from the tomb to proclaim that he is risen! This is why there is such great joy, and it is why we adore him.

Oh, come, let us adore him. Now, today, Christ the Lord comes to us in our baptism, and in bread and wine, his very body and blood. And we come to worship, adore, bow down, and kneel before the Lord and receive him according to his Word. What joy there is tonight that the Son of God, the Son of Mary, gives us his very body that was laid in a manger and a tomb and his very blood that was poured out from his cross. The redemptive price was paid, and you have peace forever. A Savior, Christ the Lord—that is who you have, now and forever. Read the good news once again:

She gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2: 7

There is nothing more beautiful in all the world to hear in this season of Christmas, and you have heard it. Believe it.

Blessings