“From Hopes And Dreams To Reality”
Text: Isaiah 7:10-14 & Matthew 1:18-25
12/24/2023
In the name of our long-expected Savior, dear friends in Christ. The season of Advent leading up to Christmas is a time of excited anticipation. That’s certainly true for the kids because they have grand hopes and dreams for all the gifts they hope to receive. When they open them tonight or tomorrow, those hopes and dreams will become a reality. Believe it or not, that waiting period actually enhances the joy of the gift when it’s finally received. And you know, on much larger scale, that’s true of God’s plan of salvation. Although He could have, the Lord didn’t surprise the world on that first Christmas. No. For hundreds and even thousands of years, He sent messages about the coming Savior to His beloved people here on earth. Through the Old Testament prophets, He shared His promises about this wondrous gift for our world. And those promises filled the hearts of believers with hopes and dreams that became a reality when Christ was born. During those years of anxious waiting, not only did it enhance the joy of God’s gift, but it also allowed mankind time to prepare to receive the Savior.
Maybe all that will make more sense if I give you an illustration to compare it to. It seems the Hallmark channel is on everywhere that I go. And just last week someone told me that the story of how I met my wife could be made into one of those Hallmark shows. Anyway, here’s the short version. I was in the Army, stationed over in Germany, when Gayleen started teaching at my home church in Michigan. She was a long way from home and my parents graciously invited her over for supper periodically. During one of those early visits, my mother told her about all 7 of her children. When she got to me, Mom explained that I was kind of lonely overseas and encouraged Gayleen to write me a letter. And she did! For the next 8 months we corresponded back and forth. We told each other about our lives from childhood to the present. We also shared our hopes and dreams. We truly got to know each other through those letters even though we had never met in person. And as impossible as it may sound, we fell in love.
When I finally came home on leave, I asked Gayleen to pick me up at the Detroit airport so I could surprise my family. Keep in mind, even though we had exchanged pictures, we had never met before. We only knew each other through written letters. But when I stepped off that airplane and saw her in person for the first time, all those hopes and dreams from those letters became a reality. So naturally I kissed her. I kept telling her over and over that I couldn’t believe it was real, but it was. A few days later I proposed to her. And the rest is history. See, I told you it could be a Hallmark movie!
Now why did I share that mushy story with you on Christmas Eve? Well, it’s sort of a parable of God’s plan to send His Son into the world to save us. Allow me to explain. When Adam and Eve sinned back in the Garden of Eden, God didn’t abandon the human race nor destroy it. Rather, because of His unending love for us, He promised a Savior. Over the centuries that followed, He sent us “letters,” so-to-speak, through the prophets and writers of the Bible. In those letters, the world could get to know God and His love as well as His plan of salvation. Slowly but surely, He explained more and more how it all would unfold. Our reading from Isaiah is just one of the many prophecy-promises where the Lord gave more specific details of how His Son would someday come into the world. Those became the hopes and dreams that God’s people were clinging to. It filled them with joyous anticipation as they waited for it to become a reality. Yes, at times they grew impatient and some gave up on those hopes and dreams. Sadly, those folks missed out when the gift of God’s Son was born in Bethlehem.
Thankfully, though, there were believers who prepared to celebrate that miraculous, holy birth. Joseph almost gave up on it when he found out Mary was pregnant and he knew he wasn’t the father. But the angel who came to him in the dream quoted from that 500-year-old prophecy of Isaiah and Joseph believed it. His hopes and dreams about marrying his fiancé weren’t shattered as he had thought. Even better, he recognized that the hopes and dreams of the promised Savior would become a reality through the child that was in Mary’s womb. Likewise, the lowly shepherds had their hopes and dreams fulfilled when they followed the angel’s instruction to go and see the newborn Christ Child. They believed and rejoiced over this gift from God. And of course, there was Simeon and Anna at the Temple as well as the Wisemen who also trusted in the promises of God found in those Old Testament letters. Their hopes and dreams became a reality when they saw Jesus the Savior face to face.
That celebration didn’t end when Christ ascended into heaven. No. Just like the believers in the New Testament who never saw Jesus in person, we know the reality of His presence. By faith, we can hear those promises of old and believe that they were all fulfilled in Jesus. By faith, we can look back into that manger and see the reality of God’s Son, Immanuel, who came to save us. By faith, we experience the reality of forgiveness through His sacrificial death on the cross. All of our hopes and dreams for salvation and eternal life are wrapped up in Him. By faith, we continue to celebrate His wondrous birth and look forward with joy to His glorious return to earth when He’ll take us to our heavenly home. May you all have a blessed Christmas as you remember God’s gift of love for you and for me. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria