In Expectation
The Unexpected Gift: Rediscovering the Wonder of Christmas
Christmas has a way of losing its magic as we grow older. The twinkling lights, the wrapped presents, the festive gatherings—they all become familiar, routine, almost mundane. We rush through the season, filling our calendars with parties and shopping lists, often forgetting to pause and consider the profound miracle at the heart of it all.
But what if we've been missing something extraordinary? What if the greatest gift ever given came in packaging we never expected?
Beyond the Wrapping Paper
The Christmas season easily transforms into a consumer-driven celebration, complete with synthetic decorations, overeating, and spending beyond our means. We focus on the season rather than the reason. Yet beneath all the cultural noise lies a truth so staggering that it demands our attention: Christmas isn't just about giving and receiving gifts—it's about waiting, watching, and welcoming the presence of God.
There's a humorous story about a church Christmas play where a child held up a doll representing baby Jesus. Another child yelled from the audience, "That's not the real baby Jesus! That's the same doll from the toddler room!" A third child responded, "Yeah, but it's okay. Jesus doesn't have to be real until Easter."
While we might chuckle at childhood innocence, aren't we adults sometimes guilty of the same thinking? We expect God to work in ways that look right to us, in packages we recognize. But the real story of Jesus came wrapped in completely unexpected packaging—something we often take for granted today.
A Plan Written in the Stars
Long before the first Christmas, God was already in motion. This wasn't a last-minute improvisation or a backup plan when humanity went astray. The arrival of God in flesh was meticulously planned and executed with precision that should leave us breathless.
Consider this: 700 years before a young woman named Mary was betrothed to a carpenter in an obscure town called Nazareth, a prophet named Isaiah wrote on a scroll measuring 24 feet long. In it, he foretold the coming King of Kings:
"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel." (Isaiah 7:14)
Emmanuel—God with us. Not God thinking about us from a distance. Not God's sympathies extended toward us. But God literally with us.
The prophecy continued: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6-7)
Over 300 prophecies about the Messiah were written in the Old Testament. Each one would be fulfilled with stunning accuracy. This was no accident, no cosmic coincidence. God exists outside the limitations of time, space, and matter—all three of which He spoke into existence. As 2 Peter 3:8 reminds us, "With the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day."
God is never surprised. He is never shocked or taken back by anything that happens. His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are higher than our ways.
The Wrong Gift List
For centuries, God's people waited. Since Adam and Eve's disobedience in the Garden, sin had plagued humanity, breaking our relationship with God and writing death into our very DNA. Generations came and went. Years became decades, decades became centuries, centuries became millennia.
The people waited for a Saviour.
By the time the first century arrived, God's people had fallen under Roman power. Many felt disillusioned. Where was this promised deliverer? A group called the Zealots even took matters into their own hands, engaging in guerrilla warfare against Roman soldiers—but to no avail.
The people had their list of what God's gift should look like. They wanted Emmanuel to be a crusher of their earthly enemies, a political and military leader who would restore Israel's glory. They memorized the prophecies but expected them to unfold according to their understanding.
What they received flew completely beneath their radar.
"Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord." (Luke 2:11)
Jesus came in all humility—not born in a palace, not raised in a temple to become a warrior king. He was born in a manger, in a stable, in a backwater town that no one expected. A baby who would one day crush the enemy as foretold in Genesis 3:15, but not in the way anyone anticipated. In a much better way than anyone could have imagined.
The Perfect Gift We Needed
Jesus grew up without sin to taint His sacrifice. When He died on the cross, He took our place—a punishment with our names written all over it. He became the offering sufficient to permanently erase our sins.
This was the gift the world needed, even if it wasn't what they thought they wanted. Sometimes we ask for things we think we want but don't actually need. God, in His wisdom, gave humanity exactly what was required: not a temporary political solution, but eternal salvation.
Waiting in Expectation Today
Christmas reminds us that we too are waiting in expectation—not just for Christ's return, but for prayers to be answered, for loved ones to come to faith, for God to move in seemingly impossible situations.
George Müller, a Christian minister in 19th-century England, prayed daily for the salvation of five specific friends. After five years, the first came to Christ. After ten years, the second. After twenty-five years, the third. After more than fifty years, the fourth finally believed. But Müller died before seeing the fifth friend come to faith—though eventually, after his death, that prayer too was answered.
Waiting in expectation can feel like planting a tree whose shade you'll never enjoy. But God hears every prayer. He keeps every promise. Sometimes our prayers are answered beyond the scope of our earthly lives, but they are answered nonetheless.
The Invitation to Wait and Worship
As we navigate this Christmas season, we're invited to slow down, to look past the distractions, and to settle into the joy that Christ brings—a joy that permeates even our pain and suffering.
Who are you waiting for? Whose name weighs on your heart? This Christmas, commit that person to prayer. Wait in expectation, knowing that God is never surprised and always faithful.
And as you wait, worship. Worship God because He is marvelous and wonderful. Worship Him knowing that He took our sins and sorrows and gave us the freedom to lift our voices in praise. Worship Him because the greatest gift ever given came in unexpected packaging—and it was exactly what we needed.
The real baby Jesus doesn't have to wait until Easter. He's real right now, working in ways we cannot see, keeping promises written before time began.
That's the true wonder of Christmas.
Christmas has a way of losing its magic as we grow older. The twinkling lights, the wrapped presents, the festive gatherings—they all become familiar, routine, almost mundane. We rush through the season, filling our calendars with parties and shopping lists, often forgetting to pause and consider the profound miracle at the heart of it all.
But what if we've been missing something extraordinary? What if the greatest gift ever given came in packaging we never expected?
Beyond the Wrapping Paper
The Christmas season easily transforms into a consumer-driven celebration, complete with synthetic decorations, overeating, and spending beyond our means. We focus on the season rather than the reason. Yet beneath all the cultural noise lies a truth so staggering that it demands our attention: Christmas isn't just about giving and receiving gifts—it's about waiting, watching, and welcoming the presence of God.
There's a humorous story about a church Christmas play where a child held up a doll representing baby Jesus. Another child yelled from the audience, "That's not the real baby Jesus! That's the same doll from the toddler room!" A third child responded, "Yeah, but it's okay. Jesus doesn't have to be real until Easter."
While we might chuckle at childhood innocence, aren't we adults sometimes guilty of the same thinking? We expect God to work in ways that look right to us, in packages we recognize. But the real story of Jesus came wrapped in completely unexpected packaging—something we often take for granted today.
A Plan Written in the Stars
Long before the first Christmas, God was already in motion. This wasn't a last-minute improvisation or a backup plan when humanity went astray. The arrival of God in flesh was meticulously planned and executed with precision that should leave us breathless.
Consider this: 700 years before a young woman named Mary was betrothed to a carpenter in an obscure town called Nazareth, a prophet named Isaiah wrote on a scroll measuring 24 feet long. In it, he foretold the coming King of Kings:
"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel." (Isaiah 7:14)
Emmanuel—God with us. Not God thinking about us from a distance. Not God's sympathies extended toward us. But God literally with us.
The prophecy continued: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6-7)
Over 300 prophecies about the Messiah were written in the Old Testament. Each one would be fulfilled with stunning accuracy. This was no accident, no cosmic coincidence. God exists outside the limitations of time, space, and matter—all three of which He spoke into existence. As 2 Peter 3:8 reminds us, "With the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day."
God is never surprised. He is never shocked or taken back by anything that happens. His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are higher than our ways.
The Wrong Gift List
For centuries, God's people waited. Since Adam and Eve's disobedience in the Garden, sin had plagued humanity, breaking our relationship with God and writing death into our very DNA. Generations came and went. Years became decades, decades became centuries, centuries became millennia.
The people waited for a Saviour.
By the time the first century arrived, God's people had fallen under Roman power. Many felt disillusioned. Where was this promised deliverer? A group called the Zealots even took matters into their own hands, engaging in guerrilla warfare against Roman soldiers—but to no avail.
The people had their list of what God's gift should look like. They wanted Emmanuel to be a crusher of their earthly enemies, a political and military leader who would restore Israel's glory. They memorized the prophecies but expected them to unfold according to their understanding.
What they received flew completely beneath their radar.
"Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord." (Luke 2:11)
Jesus came in all humility—not born in a palace, not raised in a temple to become a warrior king. He was born in a manger, in a stable, in a backwater town that no one expected. A baby who would one day crush the enemy as foretold in Genesis 3:15, but not in the way anyone anticipated. In a much better way than anyone could have imagined.
The Perfect Gift We Needed
Jesus grew up without sin to taint His sacrifice. When He died on the cross, He took our place—a punishment with our names written all over it. He became the offering sufficient to permanently erase our sins.
This was the gift the world needed, even if it wasn't what they thought they wanted. Sometimes we ask for things we think we want but don't actually need. God, in His wisdom, gave humanity exactly what was required: not a temporary political solution, but eternal salvation.
Waiting in Expectation Today
Christmas reminds us that we too are waiting in expectation—not just for Christ's return, but for prayers to be answered, for loved ones to come to faith, for God to move in seemingly impossible situations.
George Müller, a Christian minister in 19th-century England, prayed daily for the salvation of five specific friends. After five years, the first came to Christ. After ten years, the second. After twenty-five years, the third. After more than fifty years, the fourth finally believed. But Müller died before seeing the fifth friend come to faith—though eventually, after his death, that prayer too was answered.
Waiting in expectation can feel like planting a tree whose shade you'll never enjoy. But God hears every prayer. He keeps every promise. Sometimes our prayers are answered beyond the scope of our earthly lives, but they are answered nonetheless.
The Invitation to Wait and Worship
As we navigate this Christmas season, we're invited to slow down, to look past the distractions, and to settle into the joy that Christ brings—a joy that permeates even our pain and suffering.
Who are you waiting for? Whose name weighs on your heart? This Christmas, commit that person to prayer. Wait in expectation, knowing that God is never surprised and always faithful.
And as you wait, worship. Worship God because He is marvelous and wonderful. Worship Him knowing that He took our sins and sorrows and gave us the freedom to lift our voices in praise. Worship Him because the greatest gift ever given came in unexpected packaging—and it was exactly what we needed.
The real baby Jesus doesn't have to wait until Easter. He's real right now, working in ways we cannot see, keeping promises written before time began.
That's the true wonder of Christmas.
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