Blessed Are All Who Wait for Him, according to His Plan Luke 1:26-38; 2 Samuel 7:1–11, 16; Romans 16:25–27  

 

Grace, mercy and peace to you, from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, whose birth we’ll celebrate very soon… and probably in the rain!

 

We’re going to talk about waiting for Jesus, according to His plan.

 

Waiting can be difficult, especially if there’s no plan and no promise attached.

 

To wait, but to not know the plan, leaves us wondering why we’re waiting, what we’re waiting for. 

 

In His Word, God tells His people exactly what they’re waiting for, and assures us that it’s worth it. 

 

If we delay having or experiencing something, some good thing, that we could have or experience now, we need to know that it’s worth putting off and waiting for... that gives us the resolve, and patience, and faith to wait.

 

It takes faith, believing that what we’re waiting for is worth it, worth the sacrifice and the foregoing, worth denying ourselves of it now, because later it will be better, later it will all come about, and it’ll be beautiful and better.

 

Sometimes we wait for things and we’re disappointed when the time comes when we receive or experience what we’ve been waiting for. 

 

For years, for centuries, for millennia, God’s chosen people waited for the Promised One to come to them, the Messiah to come and bring them a better life.

 

He did, but not like they all expected. Instead of coming in glory, He came in humility and poverty, born in the most humble of settings.

While angels announced His birth, only a few lowly shepherds saw their glory from God, and heard their song. 

 

But they told many the story, as Luke says, 17 And when they saw it, the baby in the manger, they, the shepherds, made known the saying that had been told them, from the angels, concerning this child, that born this day in the city of David is a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  

 

Although He laid in a dirty, lowly manger, it didn’t keep the angels from praising Him: Glory to God in the highest, they sang. 

 

And it didn’t keep the shepherds from telling others that the Savior had finally been born.

 

And later, it didn’t keep the wisemen from traveling to the poor, obscure little town of Bethlehem, to adore Him… to presents gifts to Him, worthy of a king.

 

As for us, His humble beginning, the virgin birth, the stable, the manger… His fleeing to Egypt, a refugee… 

 

His return to an even more obscure little town, Nazareth, growing up there in a modest home… 

 

… His earthly father a laborer, who taught him to work hard for a living…

 

… none of this makes Jesus any less in our sight… quite the opposite. His sacrifice and humility makes us love and appreciate Him all the more.

 

Some didn’t feel that way, though.They simply couldn’t embrace a Savior so poor and humble, a Messiah from the working class rather than from the religious aristocracy.

 

They waited, and when, what, or who, they waited for, finally came and revealed Himself, it wasn’t what they wanted or expected… Jesus didn’t measure up to their standards.

 

But here’s the thing, the standards that matter, Jesus measured up to entirely. 

 

The standard of love… no person has ever loved God, and His creation, angels, and people, all people, no one has ever loved them more.

 

No one has ever loved sinners so deeply, as Jesus loves me, a poor, sinful being, and you, and all fallen humanity… so much so that He took our place upon the cross.

 

His love led Him from the manger to the cross for us.

 

The standard of truth… His every word, kept and fulfilled, brought to perfect completion.

 

In the news these days, and on the internet, and on social media, it’s hard to know what’s true and what’s not. Too many things have proven themselves false.

 

Jesus’ words have been proven true.

 

He told us that He loves us so much that He was going to die for us, in our place, and He did.  

 

He said to His disciples in the Upper Room, No greater love has anyone than this: that he lay down his life for his friends. 

 

And the next day He proved that He meant what He said when He gave Himself up on the cross for us.

 

And He promised that He would rise from death for us. 

 

Destroy this temple, He said, speaking of His own body, and in three days I will raise it up again. And on the third day from His death, He walked from His tomb, alive again.  

 

If He could keep that promise, those promises, He can keep every promise, carry out every detail of His plan to save us.

 

When He ascended to the throne of Heaven, He sent an angel with a message to His people: This same Jesus that you have seen depart into Heaven, will return in the same way. 

 

And so we know the plan, as we wait for Him to be true to His Word, as He always is, and return to raise up in glory, and bring us home in peace… for us to live in joy, which we surely will.

 

Believing His promise, we are wonderfully blessed as we wait.

 

Every Advent we wait for Christmas to come, to celebrate Jesus’ birth again, and proclaim His salvation. 

 

And each Christmas comes, usually with snow, and on rare occasion with rain, and we’re reminded of the promises, the prophecies made about Him… and kept by Him, by His birth, by His holy life, by His holy death, and by His glorious resurrection and ascension.

 

While the circumstances of our lives may change from Christmas to Christmas, this Christmas will be different for our family, but the essence of it always remains: our Savior was born to save us. 

 

We celebrate Christmas because it has happened, the promise kept, the plan fulfilled.

 

The Messiah has come to save us… and that’s worth celebrating more than any of the secular aspects of Christmas. 

There’s a lot that’s beautiful about this season… but the greatest beauty was wrapped tight and laid on the hay in the manger.

 

Every baby born is beautiful, fearfully and wonderfully made, as the Psalm says… but the baby of Bethlehem was beautiful in a way no other child has ever been… 

 

… beautiful with a pure and holy spirit within, beautiful as a Savior for the world, beautiful as the one and only Son of God.

 

And that’s what makes Christmas beautiful… and that’s why tonight will be beautiful, and amazing, and inspiring, and a blessing to us all.

 

And the baby of Bethlehem is what will make tomorrow beautiful, rain or snow, sunshine or clouds… and the rest of the Christmas season, beautiful… and all the seasons that follow…

 

… and all the season of your life, they have their beauty in Christ, who kept the promise: He carried out the greatest plan there’s ever been. 

 

No earthly plan has ever matched God’s plan to save the world through His Son.

 

No other son, ever, has had so much on his shoulders, as the Son of God, son of Mary, and yet no other plan has been so perfectly fulfilled and carried out. 

 

No plan has ever had so great and lasting an impact on humanity, as God’s plan for the world through His Son. 

 

Knowing His plan, knowing the Gospel of Christ, we rejoice to serve and adore Him, as we confidently wait for His glorious return…

 

And while we wait, we celebrate, we sing and proclaim His praise, hymns of good news of great joy.

 

And finally as we wait, we abide in His peace, which passes understanding, and guards our hearts and minds, in Jesus, our Savior, whose humble birth is our great gift, our blessing and our salvation. Amen.