Monthly Thought

December 2007

As I waddle to my computer to write this I am as ever conscious of the 9 ½ month old baby still sitting inside me waiting to be born. The past few days and weeks of waiting are getting me ever more fed up and full of longing to see what this little person will turn out to be. Will he be a boy or will she be a girl? What will she look like? Will he have his Dad’s nose or his Mum’s eyes? Will he be blond and curly-haired like his big brother? When she grows up what will she like doing? Reading? Playing football? What talents will he have? What job might she do? Will our child follow our example of loving Jesus or will he turn his back on our teaching and not want to become a Christian?

As you can see, plenty to occupy my impatient mind.

I wonder what Mary, Jesus’ mother, was thinking as she waited 2000 or so years ago for her child to be born? I’m sure she was more gracious about the countdown to her first born than I was, particularly considering the ridiculous last minute journey she had to take and risks which she had to face about where he was to be born. A lot more uncertainty in her mind about how and where her little bundle was going to join the world.

But many of the questions I have about my baby simply don’t apply to Mary. She knew was carrying a boy because the angel Gabriel had told her. She didn’t even have to deal with the endless "what are you going to call him?" questions since Gabriel had answered that one for her as well. But how about the deeper questions? How much did Mary have to guess about her little one? If we look in the Bible we find out the astonishing amount that Mary could already have known about her unborn son. His arrival on earth had been predicted for hundreds of years before, all the way through the Old Testament. Centuries before Mary herself was born, God’s people, Israel were given hints and tips about who to look out for:

• But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past. (Micah 5v2)
  Jesus would be born in Bethlehem – not where Mary lived!
• All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). (Isaiah 7v14)
  Jesus would be born to someone unmarried who’d never slept with anyone!
• Even my best friend, the one I trusted completely, the one who shared my food, has turned against me. (Psalm 41v9)
  One of Jesus’ closest friends would betray him.
• My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs; an evil gang closes in on me. They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones. My enemies stare at me and gloat. (Psalm 22 v 16&17)
  Jesus would die publicly with very specific wounds – those of a crucifixion.
• For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave. (Psalm 16v10)
  Jesus would die but come back to life again!

These are only a small smattering of the dozens of prophecies made about Jesus many hundreds of years before he lived. How incredible that God should give us so much information about his Son so long before he was born. More incredible still, that knowing all that Jesus would have to go through on earth, that God still allowed his precious firstborn to come down amongst us. Jesus was prepared to get his hands dirty by living amongst us to give us a shot at a new life. He gives us life that can be set free from all that we choose to do wrong and a life that can finally please God. This Christmas let’s praise him for that new life.

Becki Dean

[Edit: Congratulations to Ant & Becki on the birth their daughter Imogen!]