The Promise of Christmas: A 31 Day Journey from the Manger to the Cross

By Dr. Tommy Spotts

Christmas is such a magical time of the year. Elves on the shelves, presents, family gatherings, ribbons, all the lights, decorated trees, and shopping tend to capture our imagination and time. For several months we become consumed with the allure of Christmas and all the other not so important things that accompany this season. With all the distractions of Christmas, we tend to give Jesus one or two days during December. We attend the yearly Christmas Eve service with our family and Christmas Day we open gifts and read the Christmas story from Luke 2. Does this sound like your family? You will certainly experience challenges, weariness, disagreements, and heartache this season, but I want to challenge you to give Jesus every day in December. You are about to embark on The Promise of Christmas. Carve out some time in your schedule to read through this each day. I hope it will encourage you as we journey from the manger to the cross.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Nov 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483542218

Book preview

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Day 1: Christmas Means God Fulfills His Promise

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah 7:14

I don’t know anyone who enjoys doctor visits. The older I get, the less I enjoy the comments about my weight, what I eat, and how I should wear sunscreen every time I go outside. However, not too long ago I went to my doctor and she looked over my back and saw something that was questionable. She told me that it was probably nothing, but the word probably sent me into the land of what ifs and more focused prayer! She removed the lesion and sent it off for testing. Seven days passed before I received any information regarding the test. The results were negative for cancer, but it was considered precancerous.

Here’s the point. The blemish on my back was a sign of something down the road, and my amazing doctor knew what to look for to discover it. Her knowledge helped her to understand the sign. When the sign was there the results were as expected.

God also provided us with a sign. He made an incredible promise to us and for us. Let’s take a look.

Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son (Isaiah 7:14).

This sign was a miraculous sign. God did not tell us that a young woman would conceive, but that a virgin would conceive. In Scripture, a young woman is often referred to as a virgin. However, in this case, it is both a young woman and one who has been sexually abstinent. This is important because just a young woman conceiving would not necessarily be a miraculous sign. There are many young women who conceive. But the significance of the virgin birth is that there never has been anything like this...ever. How would this happen? Let’s look at Matthew to see how this prophecy about Christ would be fulfilled.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us).When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus (Matthew 1:18-25).

This passage in Matthew is really a fulfillment of the prophecy given in Genesis 3:15, where we read that the seed of the woman would ultimately destroy Satan.

So, what’s the good news? The good news of Christmas is that God stepped out of fourto be the Savior of the world through the virgin birth. Adrian Rogers said it like this, (Christ was an) earthly child of a heavenly father and a heavenly child of an earthly mother.

The virgin birth was simply necessary because if Jesus were not born of a virgin, He would have been a descendent of Adam. This would pose a huge problem. In Adam all of us die. In the same way, in Christ all of us will be made alive again (1 Corinthians 15:22). The virgin birth was absolutely necessary for our salvation.

This is the great news of Christmas! God, through Christ, entered the world as a sinless Savior to seek and save those who are lost (Luke 19:10).

What is keeping you from hearing the good news this season? Let me encourage you to slow down and cherish the time you have with the Lord and your family this year. Choose to hear the great news!

I can’t wait to see how this 31-day devotional will change your life! It’s going to be a great journey this December!

Questions

1. How will you set aside time each day to read through this devotional?

2. Where will you set aside time each day to read through this devotional?

3. Why will you set aside time each day to read through this devotional?

Day 2: Christmas Means Experiencing God’s Presence

All this took placeto fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us). Matthew 1:22-23

Thunder and lightening are two things that always brought our family together when our kids were younger. I always knew when a thunderstorm was forecast, that our bedroom would eventually have midnight visitors. One flash of lightening and a crack of thunder would be followed by the thud of little feet hitting the ground and running across the kitchen floor toward our room. For whatever reason, the thunder was much quieter and the lightening much dimmer when my children were in my presence. There was something about the security and safety my kids felt in my presence. But as much as my presence impacted my kids, I could not really offer any real deliverance or safety from the storms. It’s probably a good thing they didn’t know that! However, there is someone whose presence actually does provide real deliverance and safety. The presence of Christ as Immanuel should impact us infinitely more than the presence of Christ just as a prophet, good man, priest, or ruler. Christ did not come to deliver us from the storms. He came to redeem us to Himself and rescue us from a Christless eternity in hell.

The word Immanuel means God with us. This term occurs three times in Scripture and is clearly associated with Christ in the following: All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (Matthew 1:22-23). As you read through Matthew you can’t help but sense a common theme of God’s presence with His people. It’s almost like running to Christ’s room when the thunder and lightening strike. We know there is safety in His presence.

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