Welcome to Christmas Eve!

Over 700 years before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah spoke of a coming King. 

Like many prophecies, not only were the prophet’s words rooted in historical situations and concerns, but they looked ahead to the future. 

This King would bear divinity. He would be born of a virgin and would be called Immanuel, which in Hebrew means “God with us” or “God is with us.”

Isaiah 7:14 says: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Some of the reformers from the sixteenth century spoke about God’s “condescension.” Today, when we think about someone being “condescending,” it’s a bad thing. But that’s not how they were using the term. To them, it was positive. It meant that God was coming down to us, to speak to us on our level, in a way that we could understand, and in a way that would benefit us personally. 

God condescended to our level to be direct, to forgive, to teach, to heal, to liberate, and ultimately, to lead us back to himself. 

I recently picked up a book of prayers from the early days of the church. Many of them are the first recorded prayers after the age of the apostles. In one of his prayers, Methodius of Olympia said: “You who built the bridge between heaven and earth, do you come to me?”*

At Christmas, we celebrate and ponder the life-altering fact that, in Christ, God has built a bridge between heaven and earth—for you. He has come to your level, as a man, for you. 

Tonight, Christians around the world will go to worship services to honour the God whose grace and truth is without limit. 

God is not distant or disinterested. He gets involved. He gets his hands dirty, so to speak. His arms are open to you. Are yours open to him? 

“You who built the bridge between heaven and earth, do you come to me?”

Brothers and sisters, you are worth coming for. You are worth dying for. You are worth rescuing. 

Let’s give thanks and ensure our arms are open to the one who bridges the gap between heaven and earth.

Notes:

–CHRISTMAS EVE. If you don’t have a church home, you’re invited to one of our two services at Westminster in Barrie, Canada. Our short “super family-friendly” service is 5:30 – 6:05pm, and our “traditional candlelit service” is from 7:00 – 7:45pm.

–Vacation Alert: After Christmas, this devotional will be on pause (for Christmas holidays) and will return on January 5, 2026.

-*Robert Elmer, ed., Fount of Heaven: Prayers of the Early Church (Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2022), 41.

-Bible quotes are from the ESV.