All You Need For Christmas

I love Christmas so much but I have to admit it’s a little bit frantic trying to make sure that all the Christmas shopping is done so everyone gets what they want for Christmas.

Here’s the truth that we really all know: most of us don’t actually need anything for Christmas. We have more than enough stuff.  

The incredible prophecy given by the prophet Isaiah 700 years before Jesus was born tells us everything that we actually do need for Christmas:

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭9‬:‭6‬ ‭

In that one verse is everything you need! Think about it. A Mighty God, the word literally means the warrior God has come to fight your battles. And He is your forever Father, who comes to bless you as a father blesses his children. And He comes to us in human flesh as the Son. Jesus is not called the king of peace in this passage.  He is the Prince of Peace. The king was distant from the people in those days, but the prince was a companion to the people. Jesus the Son has come to you with peace. But we also have a Wonderful Counselor. And the New Testament tells us that the Spirit of God is that counselor!

Think on this:  the entire Godhead has come to you! By Grace. As a gift.  In the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, you have everything you need!

And in a world where governments often shut down, the government of King Jesus never does. Because that government is on His shoulder. And that shoulder bore the cross. 

One of the greatest writers of the early church, Tertullian, said:

“But the one new King of the new ages, Jesus Christ, carried on his shoulder both the power and the excellence of his new glory, even his cross; so that, …he might thenceforth reign from the tree as Lord.”

We celebrate a baby in a manger because when He grew up, He put the weight of all of your burdens on His shoulder and carried it to a cross, and then burst forth from an empty tomb!

This is Christmas. And you and I have everything we need.

Article by John Avant