Post Sunday December 21 2008

“It is a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” Daniel 2:11


There is just that flat out craziness that begins the day after Thanksgiving. There is extra everything. Extra food which results in extra pounds, extra parties, extra decorations, extra presents, extra credit cards, extra traffic and if your kids are anything like mine extra sugar. The extra sugar just creates this chattiness and movement that just won’t stop. It’s like us when we’ve had one coffee too many. The sugar intensifies and adds to and builds to the coming of this night. There is an anticipation of the coming of Christmas, the coming of a day in which gifts are given and gifts are opened. There is anticipation each year at this time of year that something extraordinary is supposed to happen.

Family gathers together once again and something extraordinary is supposed to happen. As we await our gifts there is always that glimmer of hope within each one of us that we will receive something totally unexpected, something extraordinary. It is these extraordinary moments that make the Christmas season so special.

There is an historical account in Daniel chapter 2 that tells of King Nebuchadnezzar having a dream and telling his wise men to not just interpret his dream, but he wouldn’t tell them his dream, he said if you are so wise first tell me what my dream was and then tell me what it means. There answer is the answer I believe our hearts tell us all in our day to day lives…

“It is a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” Daniel 2:11

In other words they are communicating to the king that what you ask is extraordinary. The only one that can provide you with this is God Himself and He doesn’t live here, He isn’t down around the block, He isn’t in the kitchen getting dinner ready, He isn’t here with us. He does not dwell with us. You ask for the extraordinary, but the extraordinary cannot happen for the extraordinary does not dwell with us, it does not walk amongst us.

There were a people who regularly witnessed the extraordinary they watched God do extraordinary things like the parting of a sea, bringing water from a rock and many other extraordinary things. But even these people began to depart from the extraordinary if it wasn’t extraordinary at every moment and upon their each and every demand. They neglected the extraordinary to the point that one day the extraordinary departed from their presence in the book of Ezekiel.

Then the extraordinary did something that was not expected and the extraordinary reappeared as most of the world slept in the small town of Bethlehem in the humblest of manners. Yet in this meek moment the wise men’s question in Daniel 2:11 suddenly became real and the extraordinary became flesh.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

The extraordinary came to earth and those questions of life that seemed out of reach, those dreams that we dream that seemed out of reach suddenly begin to come back into focus. The extraordinary began to walk our earth and brought what once was dark into the light.

The name of this extraordinary, this God who became flesh is of course Jesus. Jesus means God saves. Jesus came to save His people from their sins. He offers forgiveness; He offers the chance to start with a clean slate. Who doesn’t want that? Who has fallen short in life and has done things that you wished you could put behind you and then you hear the Christmas story and see that Jesus came to save the people from their sins. To wipe the slate clean, a new life and behold all things are new. Some of you experienced this in 2008, a clean start, a fresh start. The Christmas story offers freedom from that which has bound you. That which has longed to keep you ordinary has been defeated and the extraordinary has occurred, Christ has come to save you and dwell with you.

He is Emmanuel, God with us. The wise men of old knew that the impossible couldn’t be accomplished because God did not dwell with us. But Jesus is Emmanuel. He is God made flesh, He moved into our neighborhood and the Christmas story tells us once again that things going on in our lives are possible. Some of you experienced what you never thought possible in 2008, the extraordinary has begun to occur. Emmanuel, God with us, showed us that the hope that was promised is sure, the peace that was offered is still readily available to all, that joy can exist within the heart of men even in the darkest of times and the gift of love is ready to be opened and shared with all.

It is appropriate that Christmas is at the end of each year, for it accentuates all the positive, all the good that occurred through the months of January – December 24. It causes us to smile, reflect and say thank you to God above. But even more important than that it helps renew that hope inside for those things that were lost during the year, those things that broke, those times that failed, it reminds us of a child that was born to save, that was born to walk among men, that was born to die and rise again. Upon ascending back to heaven He said I will be with you always even to the end of the earth.

Because He is with us, because He exists within the hearts of many throughout our planet means that there is hope for all of us. People will fall, churches will fall, but the hope and strength that exists in so many because of Christ in them will not fail and will not fall. It reminds me once again of all the good that exists in mankind because of the love of Christ, it reminds me that my strength will indeed fail, but there is One that walks with me that never grows weary and whose strength does not fail. It reminds me that all that is broken can be repaired, can be rebuilt. It reminds me that what seems impossible is possible. It reminds me that my faith is not in vain. It reminds me that around the next corner something extraordinary may happen and will happen. This Christmas season we are reminded that the extraordinary is possible all over again.

Questions to Ask Yourself:

1. What extraordinary things have you seen as a result of our Savior dwelling among us?

2. What have you been most sensitive to this Christmas season? What do you believe God is attempting to communicate to you through this?