March 9
2019
Glory to God in the Highest
And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. “And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” Luke 2:9-14
Without Christmas, there is no Easter.
The Easter story, although it began before the foundation of the world, hit an important milestone in the Christmas story.
After 400 years of silence, at the beginning of the Christmas story, Zacharias, Mary and Joseph all heard from God, through an angel, but individually.
The first widespread proclamation of the Good News that had arrived was to the shepherds.
What was that Good News?
The Good News was that Christmas, the birth of Christ, was never meant to be celebrated out of context, but always to be celebrated looking ahead to Easter.
The angel didn’t say Christ the baby was born, but rather, “for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
The Good News of Christmas was that the Babe had been born, which, although the people didn’t understand at the time, pointed us directly to Easter.
That baby had to grow into a man, walking the journey the Father had set out for Him, go to the cross for our sins, be crucified, dead and buried, to rise again on the third day, to ascend to the right Hand of the Father, that we, dead in our sins, may be reconciled to the Father.
As we move on to devotions on Jesus’ ministry, we must always remember, without Christmas there is no Easter and without Easter, Christmas has no meaning.