HOPE.
What an amazing gift - to have hope. Not just hopeful, wishful thinking, but a hope that is absolute. Born-again Christians have that. Our HOPE in Jesus is an absolute assurance that He is our salvation, and that we will be with Him for all of eternity. A very blessed hope, indeed!
Jesus came from glory - fully God, to be congruently fully human. His coming brought the fruition of hope into the world. Prior to his coming, the Jewish faithful were hopeful - but they hadn't seen the embodiment of that hope. Sadly, many did not recognize Jesus as the ONE who was promised - but they will when he returns again at his Second Coming.
When I was on a tour of Israel in 2011, our Jewish tour guide told our group that when Yeshua comes they are going to ask him, "Is this your first time or your second time coming?" I love that they are still watching for him - but sad for those who do not believe he already came as the little babe, born in a stable in Bethlehem.
And I am grateful that Yeshua came - and that we as Gentiles were welcomed to be adopted into the family of God. Yeshua means Salvation.
May the HOPE that came alive with the baby born in a stable and placed in a manger, with the sounds of cattle lulling him to sleep, give you hope. Not wishful thinking. HOPE!
A little P S: The other thing that was poignantly clear after my first visit to Israel several years earlier, was that their stables were caves under their homes. We got to go down into the caves below the Church of the Nativity so I have a visual of what that must have been like when the Innkeeper told Mary & Joseph 'there is no room in the inn, but we can put you safely down in the cattle stall, in the cave below the house!'
I am visual learner - so I love having that visual clearly imprinted in my mind.
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