With the Birth of Jesus Christ, God came to the earth in human form to take the future of our well-being into God’s own hands.

Christmas is about a loving God regaining control amid the breakdown of human governments, and of human indifference.  At Christmas we celebrate God’s arrival in the person of Immanuel, restoring balance, order, peace on earth, and life everlasting.

Isaiah 61 is one of the best known and best loved records that we have of God’s plan to intervene in human history.  Today we can learn from Isaiah about God’s Good News, and how it is to function in our lives: The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me.

God’s Good News Possesses men and women of faith in such a way that we have to tell the world about it.  One of the miracles of Holy Spirit possession is that the same spirit has grabbed hold of men and women across the millennia, from one generation to the next, on every continent and posited within each of us the urge to proclaim the Good News.  This is nothing less than God’s doing. It is not a message that we sought, but the message sought us, infused us, and demanded that we proclaim it.

God’s Good News is preoccupied with transforming the predicament of the world’s most vulnerable people. It is Good News precisely because humankind is the object of its concern, mission, and affection. While the worship of God is our individual and personal spiritual service, proclaiming God’s concern for others is our vocation and mission.

God’s Good News Points to a climactic moment in history when God’s power, prominence and provisions will be established for all to see. ‘The year of the Lord’s favor’ is a time when human beings will enjoy the relief, uplift, liberation, comfort, and consolation that God alone brings to all people throughout the world. In the year of the Lord’s favor God’s glory will be displayed as God performs deeds of charity and healing for others, which will be the ultimate vindication and proof of God’s existence.

God’s Good News Promises a new day when all that is ruined will be repaired. In the future that is predicted by Isaiah—which we believe started with the birth of Jesus Christ—the world as we know it is going to be transformed both by God’s power and by the special abilities that God will grant to the faithful.  God’s everlasting covenant with us will be fulfilled.

The long-awaited Messiah of ancient prophecy has come to the world in the person of Christ.   Jesus himself confirmed the powerful truth of this claim when he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath at the start of his earthly ministry, turned to Isaiah 61, and read these words aloud.  When he finished reading he went on to interpret the meaning of the passage, and then stated that “Today this scripture is fulfilled.”

Let’s tell the whole world what God has done in Christ!  God has established his authority as Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.  The Government shall be upon His shoulders, and of His Kingdom there shall be no end; for He shall reign forever and ever. Glory, glory, Hallelujah!