Centuries ago, Jewish survivors in time of war met to rededicate their Temple and prayed that God would keep the lamp burning in their Temple though there was only enough oil for one day. God answered and miraculously the Menorah burned for eight days. Today, Jewish people throughout the world celebrate this miracle in their observance of Hanukkah. The Hebrew prophet reminds us that --
… “the Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save; neither is His ear so dull that it cannot hear.”(Isaiah 59:1)
Some six hundred years later, God miraculously fulfilled another promise made to that same prophet of Israel--
… “behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”(Isa 7:14)
Then a little later Isaiah tells the people --
… “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.”(Isa 9:6a)
Micah, writing hundreds of years before the birth of Christ foretold the exact place where He would be born --
… “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.”(Mic 5: 2 NASB)
At the right time in history, God sent forth His Son. The Roman census being taken at that time brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem where the Babe would be born. A stable was an unlikely birthplace for a king, for that He was, but all that was within God’s Plan in bringing salvation to mankind. In announcing the birth of the Savior to the shepherds, they were told where to find the Christ Child and how He would be clothed --
… “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”(Luke 2:11-12 NKJV)
The Creator of heaven and earth had entered into human history – Immanuel, God with us. In his humanity, He would go to the Cross to purchase our salvation. Yet as God, He would sustain the very lives of those who would abuse Him, and then nail Him to the Cross. The song writer ponders “What wondrous love is this O my soul, O my soul.” God’s gracious gift of the Savior, Jesus Christ was a reality --
… “for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life.”(John 3:16)