Salvation

The father of John the Baptist, Zechariah, struck dumb after not believing the angel’s announcement, proclaims God’s salvation. All throughout the pregnancy Zechariah has been silent, it is only when the boy is born, and he writes to confirm John’s name, that he can speak. Filled with the Holy Spirit, he begins to prophesy:

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace”.

In this short prophecy, Zechariah, the doubting father, articulates the ministry of Jesus – the Hebrew 'Y’shua' literally means ‘Yah (God) is Salvation’ – and looks forward to God’s gift, for whom his own son John is the forerunner.

Salvation sits at the heart of Christmas.

Favour

Luke 1 tells us the story of Mary’s own angelic visitation when she is addressed as "highly favoured lady". The Greek word for favoured is ‘charitoo’, which essentially means grace (Noah was described in a similar manner). There are just six places in the New Testament where this is translated ‘favour’, everywhere else it is grace. It was out of this favour that Mary spoke forth the Magnificat.

Favour is also a key part of Jesus’ manifesto in Luke 4:18-19 where he makes known that he has come to declare the ‘year of the Lord’s favour’ – ‘ratzon adonai’. 'Ratzon adonai' appears twice in scripture, both times in Isaiah (58:5 and 61:2).

Because of Christmas we are living in the ‘year of the Lord’s favour’.

Blessed

Both Elizabeth and Mary speak of blessings when they are together and the Greek word used is ‘makarios’, which literally means happy.

In Acts 3:25, Peter is speaking to the people of Israel and as he does so he reminds them of God’s promise that it is through Abraham’s offspring that the world will be blessed. He goes on in verse 26 to state that Jesus was sent to bless them, the children of Abraham, by causing them to turn from sin to God in repentance.

Christmas reminds us that Jesus came to bless us.

Joy

At Jesus’ birth, angels visit the shepherds watching over the lambs in the field. Bethlehem’s principal purpose during the 2nd temple period was as the home of the Passover lambs. The lambs used at the temple Passover ceremony were born and raised in Bethlehem. It was to shepherds watching over those lambs that angels proclaimed the coming of the ‘Lamb of God’ and announced tidings of great joy to those shepherds.

Christmas is our season of joy, as we rejoice in the coming of Jesus.

Peace – Shalom

As the angelic host declared the birth of the ‘Lamb of God’ to the shepherds, they also declared "peace to all men". Of course, peace is a poor translation for ‘shalom’. Shalom is all about fullness, wellbeing and completeness, whereas peace is about the absence of strife. Isaiah 9:6 declares that Jesus is the ‘Prince of Peace’ – ‘sar shalom’.  Jesus is our shalom and it is only in Jesus that we find that peace. 

Christmas is a season when we remember and celebrate that God’s aim for all creation is shalom.    

Redemption

Jesus was born of observant parents; so much so that they fulfilled the ‘pidyon haben’ or redemption of the first born. It was whilst they were in the temple that God brought Simeon and Anna to speak words into the life of Jesus. Both Simeon, a righteous man, and Anna, a devout widow, were looking for the redemption of Israel and Jerusalem. It was their words that declared Jesus’ purpose as our redeemer.

Christmas is a time when we remember our redemption and rejoice.

Guidance

I often reflect that we should not be surprised that people struggle to recognise Jesus, given that Joseph had a similar struggle. It took a word of guidance, from God to open Joseph’s eyes to what he was doing. God gave similar guidance to Joseph, with a warning to depart Bethlehem in advance of Herod’s massacre, and also as to when he could return to Nazareth after Herod the Great’s passing.

All through the Bible we see God guiding his people and we live out that reality of God’s guiding hand in our lives today.

Christmas reminds us that it is only in Jesus that we come into right relationship with God, and thus into his guidance.

Salvation, Favour, Blessing, Joy, Peace, Redemption and Guidance, these are God’s gifts to us through Jesus – this Christmas and every day.