HOPE for the Holidays - Christmas Eve

My precious granddaughter, Christmas Eve 2011

"Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In HOPES that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads."(1)

Story of HOPE:

      When we were teenagers, my brother, Mark, slipped out of our house while no one was looking one Christmas Eve night, climbed up on the roof, and then bellowed a hearty "ho, ho, ho" down the chimney. What a fun Christmas memory!
     All around the globe,"tiny tots with their eyes all aglow will find it hard to sleep tonight"(2), as they anticipate Santa's arrival via sleigh and eight, flying reindeer. Moreover, for many long years before the birth of Christ on a starry night in Bethlehem, the world had waited expectantly for the fulfillment of God-given visions, not of sugar-plums, but of a coming Messiah.

         Seven hundred years prior to nativity, God had promised: "As for you, Bethlehem...too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be Ruler in Israel" (Mic. 5:2). "For, behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a Son, and she will call His name, Immanuel (Isa. 7:14)...a child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us...and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor...Prince of Peace" (Isa. 9:6). 
       Those promises were fulfilled indeed two thousand years ago when the virgin Mary swaddled her baby Savior in cloths and laid Him in a manger. And one day (perhaps soon), just as God has also promised, Jesus Christ will come to earth again: 

              "And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is call Faithful and True...He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called the Word of God...And on His robe...He has the name written, KING OF KINGS, and LORD OF LORDS" (Rev. 19:11,13,16)!

              "...and the Lord God will give Him the throne of...David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end" (Luke 1:32-33)!

Lord Jesus, as we celebrate Your birth, we also wait with great expectancy, HOPE, and joy for Your return! 

Joy to the world! The Lord has come

Let earth receive her King!

Let every heart prepare Him room

And heaven and nature sing

And heaven and nature sing

And heaven and heaven and nature sing!(3)

1 THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS. Clement C. Moore, 1823.
2 THE CHRISTMAS SONG. Mel Torme' and Bob Wells, 1944.
3 JOY TO THE WORLD. Isaac Watts, 1719.