When we were children, we spent hours poring over the Sears Wish Book, folding over the corners of the pages where pictures of our treasures were displayed in full technicolor. We wrote letters to Santa with a fervor we rarely invested in homework essays, explaining how good we’d been and making promises for even better behavior next year if we’d only receive our heart’s desires.
Then we waited. Hours turned into days and days into weeks. Until finally there were presents crowded under the tree dressed in vivid colors, ribbons, and bows. We poked, prodded, and shook them, anticipation nearly causing us to explode while our brains churned through the possibilities of what the packages could contain. Might we really get what we wanted more than anything?
Finally, Christmas morning arrived with us at our breaking point; the yearning to rip off the wrappings to discover what we’d received, to see if our wishes had been granted, was too much to bear.
Some years we got what we asked for, others we didn’t, but the anticipation was still real and there was always next Christmas.
As an adult, the perspective has changed, but the expectation hasn’t. We still look forward to this greatest of holidays but instead of focusing on GETTING we focus on GIVING: exploring the likes and desires of our family and friends, searching for that special gift to surprise them, bring a huge smile on their faces, and fill their hearts with joy. We watch with eagerness as they take presents into their hands, admire the paper, and tear it away to finally reveal the treasures we selected for them. As we witness the happiness they’re experiencing, we receive the greatest gift of all: love.
And we’re reminded of the ANTICIPATION behind the real meaning of Christmas. Old Testament prophets foretold the coming of the Deliverer; the one sent by God to rescue his people, the nation of Israel, from their enemies (Isaiah 7:14, Micah 5:2, and Isaiah 9:6-7) but they expected a warrior king and certainly not a lowly baby born in meager surroundings with no fanfare.
The adult Jesus met ridicule and rejection because he was not what the people, especially religious leaders, expected or wanted. They pressed him for answers, anxious for his kingdom to come (Luke 17:20-21) not understanding it wasn’t just a future event, but was both already present (in his life and that of those who placed their belief in him - Matthew 12:28, Matthew 3:2 / Mark 1:15, and Pentecost in Acts 2) and a future one (a fully realized eternal reign to be established here on a new heaven and new earth - Isaiah 65:17, 2 Peter 3:13, and Revelation 21:1-5).
Here we arrive upon another Christmas and ANTICIPATION is our constant companion: yearning for the joy of what today has to offer us through the most amazing Gift ever given to mankind in the person of Jesus, the only begotten Son who offered his life so we can have life now as new creatures, giving us purpose and inner peace as God’s adopted children. We yearn to be lifted out of the worries, concerns, and cares of living day-to-day in this troubled world.
With ANTICIPATION we cast our eyes and hearts forward to that day when Salvation is complete, fully resolved, when we are rewarded with perfect, eternal life in the future when he returns.
Because there will be no more tears - fear, death, mourning, and pain will be wiped away.
We will finally get not what we deserve, but much more than we wanted or could have imagined.
Come, Lord Jesus.
By Jeff Bull, (former pastor of the Litchfield Church of God)
(used by permission)