The birth of Jesus reveals an invaluable virtue of God – God keeps promises. The reason this attribute of God is so valuable is that we don’t keep promises. Because we don’t keep promises, we created contracts. Sadly, not even the contracts are clear. You can read a whole page before finding a period. Furthermore, there are no names in the contract. It is either “payee” or “payer,” or, worse yet, you read “party of the first part” and “party of the second part.” Parties are usually fun to me, but there is nothing fun about reading these contracts, especially when the print gets finer as you move closer to the end. Yet, we continue to create contracts because we continue to break promises.

The fact that we break promises makes God’s action in Bethlehem two thousand years ago so valuable. The birth of Jesus represented the longest promise ever kept. With Jesus’ birth, God was fulfilling His promise to find a way to regain His relationship with us. That alone makes the gift of God’s promise priceless.

The gift of God’s promise is a marvelous Christmas story. The promise is made because of a tragedy. It is kept through years of adversity, and is finally fulfilled in near obscurity. As you hear the story of all God went through to keep His promise, ask yourself this question, “What are you doing with the gift of God’s promise?”

The Promise Made

The Christmas story begins in Genesis 1:1, where it reads, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Before God created everything, there was nothing – except God. There was nothing to see Him, know Him, praise Him, and love Him. Thus, God created Adam and Eve, man and woman, to have a relationship with Him.

When you think about it, being created by God for a relationship places each individual in an esteemed position before God. Of all God created on earth, only man and woman have the capacity to know and experience Him. This truth alone should change the way you see yourself and other people. Every person is valuable because he or she can talk to God, hear God speak, and can have an intimate relationship with Him. Regardless of the color of your skin, size of your bank account, whether you have lived a mistake-full or mistake-free life, you and everyone you meet are valuable to God.

It is sad, however, that those God created to fulfill His dream would be the very ones to destroy it. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree, their infidelity destroyed the innocence and purity of their relationship with God. Nothing they could say or do could erase the truth that they had turned their backs on God and robbed God of the relationship He so desired.

However, it was from this tragedy that God makes a promise. Satan had deceived Adam and Eve. He had led them to disobey God and destroy God’s dream. Thus, in Genesis 3:15, God makes a promise to send someone who will fix everything.

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

God promises to send someone who will ultimately crush Satan and restore God’s relation with His creation. Through this One, born of a woman, God promises to regain the relationship that was robbed from Him by sin. The One born of a woman would be God Himself – Jesus Christ.

It was the day after Christmas and Pope John XXIII visited one of the worst prisons in Rome. It was the first time in ninety years that a Pope had gone to a prison. When greeting the prisoners, the Pope said, “You could not come to me, so I have come to you.”¹ Realizing that we had sinned against Him, God said in Genesis 3:15, “You could no longer come to me, so I am coming to you. I will fix it so we can be together again. ”

The Promise Explained

God’s promise to regain His lost relationship is restated throughout the Old Testament with one word – “Messiah.” The Messiah was God’s Promised Anointed One who would destroy the Deceiver, annul the effects of sin, and return God and His creation back to the innocence of their relationship together. The anticipation for God coming as the Messiah grows throughout the Old Testament as more of His character and qualities are revealed.

When we were in college, my brother Chuck and I sang in a quartet. We were not that good, but Dad let us sing at the church’s Valentine Banquet where he served. I now wonder if this was Dad’s way to help me get a date. He gave my brother the names of four girls to call so that we could have dates. I remember standing beside him when he finished calling Loree. He said, “Man, her voice sounds great.” When I told them what Chuck said about Loree, they agreed, and proceeded to add how pretty she was and what a good girl she was. With all this hype, I could not wait to meet Loree. When she stepped out of her house, she was beautiful. When I talked with her, it was easy and enjoyable. There was only one problem. She was not my date. Chuck had hooked her up with another guy in the group. I could not wait for a chance to ask her out on a date and have her all to myself.

The hype about Loree lasted about two weeks and made me long to see her. Seeing her, it made me long to be with her. The hype about the coming Messiah was for thousands of years. The Old Testament prophets kept telling the people about the character He would have and the role He would play in their lives. They said in …

Deuteronomy 18:15-18 - He would be a prophet!
Revealing God’s truth to them

1 Samuel 2:25 - He would be a priest!
Standing before God on behalf of them

2 Samuel 7:12-16 - He would be a king!
One that would lead them

Isaiah 49:1-6 - He would be an example!
Modeling a godly life before them

Malachi 4:2-3 - He would give hope!
A better life for all of them

Did you hear all that was promised in the Messiah? Who today wouldn’t want someone to tell you what God wants for you, and then to stand before God and tell Him what you need? Who wouldn’t want an example that would never fall from their pedestal? Who wouldn’t want hope to escape or find reprieve from the decay of life and the heartache all around them? Then if this could happen, wouldn’t you want it to last forever? The promise that the coming Messiah would fulfill all these roles in the individual’s life made the longing for His birth more intense, more impatient, and more exciting.

The Promise Kept

Finally, the night came when God fulfilled His promise and presented the world with the Messiah. The experience is recorded in Luke 2:1-7:

1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register.

4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

In this one act God kept His promise that He would come. Yet in this one act, listen to all the other promises God kept regarding His coming. God promised that when He came He would be …

A Descendent of Abraham (Genesis 22:18)
Of the Family of Isaac (Genesis 21:12)
Of the Line of Jacob (Numbers 24:17)
Of the Tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10)
Of the Family of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1)
Of the House of David (Jeremiah 23:5)
Born of a Virgin (Isaiah 7:14)
In the Town of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)²

In Luke 2, years of waiting by the Creator and His creation had come to an end. God’s promise to Adam and Eve had been kept. God’s promises to generations since then had been fulfilled. The One promised to destroy the Deceiver, annul the sin, and return God and His creation back to their relational innocence and purity had been born. The long-awaited Messiah had come. The Prophet, Priest, Leader, Example and Healer was lying in a manger. God had fulfilled His promise and presented Himself as a gift to the world – Jesus Christ.

It is understandable that when God kept His promise and was born as Jesus Christ, there was a celebration. Luke 2:8-19 describes it:

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what theshepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

Even in the celebration, another promise is made and kept. The shepherds are told they will find the Messiah in Bethlehem wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. That is the way they found the gift of God’s promise to them. But when they left the stable, they proceeded to tell all who would listen that God’s promise had been kept. The Messiah had come.

What Have You Done with God’s Gift?

Now I want you to answer the question I asked you to ask yourself throughout this message: “What are you doing with the gift of God’s promise?” God promised to provide a way to end your separation from Him. What have you done with His gift?

Is it still wrapped and unrealized?
You know that wrapped up in the person of Jesus are all the qualities and character I’ve mentioned. You know that in Him you can finally fill the part of you that is missing – an intimate and innocent relationship with God. Yet, for some reason – a reason only you and God know – you have never opened and accepted this gift from God. You could only guess about all that’s in the package of Jesus.

Don’t find yourself standing sadly before God with His gift to you, never opened and received. Accept Jesus into your life today, and may God’s promise of a relationship with you become a realized experience.

Does it sit unwrapped on a shelf?
We do this so often with Christmas gifts. You express to family, “This is what I truly want this Christmas.” When you get it, you are genuinely excited about receiving it. You use it, make it part of your life, and enjoy it. Then months pass and your needs or interests change. You shelve that gift for awhile. It doesn’t have the same appeal to you it once did.

Many have treated Jesus the same way. There was a time you expressed with deep conviction, arresting excitement, or joyful tears how much you needed Him in your life. You unwrapped His gift and received it. After a few years of interest and enjoyment, your interests changed. He’s no longer a necessary part of your everyday life. You’ve shelved Him for something or someone else.

Return to the childlike joy with which you unwrapped this gift for the first time in your life. Unshelve Jesus and make Him a vital part of your life again!

The story of God’s promise did not end in Bethlehem. It is a story still being written today by each person who receives it and lives it. Pick up a pen for the first time, or for the first time in a long time, and continue the story of God’s fulfilled promise.

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[1] W. Frank Harrington, "The Love That Brought Him," Preaching Today, Tape No. 51.
[2] All but the Isaiah 7:14 reference came from Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler, Beyond Belief to Convictions (Wheaton, Illinois; Tyndale House Publishers, 2002), 64.