Episode 2: Waiting for the Promised Son

Christmas Carol: Prepare Him Room

VERSE 1 O behold, the mystery now unfolds See the star shine on the virgin foretold Angels sing and light up the sky Hope rings out in a newborn’s cry Swing wide, you ancient gates For Christ is born today!

CHORUS Prepare Him room Prepare Him room Let the King of glory enter in

VERSE 2 God with us, the promise has come to be This, the one the prophets were longing to see In the darkness a blazing light To the hungry the words of life His kingdom now is near For those with ears to hear

VERSE 3 Oh, our hearts, as busy as Bethlehem Hear Him knock, don’t say there’s no room in the inn Through the cradle, cross, and grave See the love of God displayed Now He’s risen and He reigns Praise the Name above all names!

How does reflecting on God’s faithfulness to His promises, particularly the promise of a Savior fulfilled at Christmas, deepen our understanding of His character and influence the way we celebrate the season?

1. The Lost Promise

Genesis 11:8–9 “So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.”

Genesis 11:27–32 “Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. Now Sarai was barren; she had no child. Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.”

2. The Surprise Choice

Genesis 12:1–3 “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.””

Joshua 24:2–3 “And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac.”

Nehemiah 9:7 “You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham.”

Genesis 16:1–3 “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.”

3. The Promise Son Has Come

Genesis 17:17 “Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?””

Genesis 18:11 “Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah.”

Genesis 21:2 “And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him.”

4. The Faithful Are Exalted

Romans 4:13–24 “For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a …”

Hebrews 11:8–13 “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.”

How does the faith demonstrated by Mary, Joseph, and others in the Christmas story inspire us to trust God in our own lives, especially during seasons of waiting or uncertainty?