Christmas Eve 2025

Waiting

Have you been counting down the days till Christmas comes?

Based on most people I’ve been speaking to, rather than a countdown, the general sentiment has been - how did we get here so quick!

But yet, as we draw close, there does tend to be a growing anticipation for the day. Maybe the anticipations in wanting it to be over, perhaps with all the stress that can sometimes come with the day. Or maybe you actually have great excitement for getting all the family together, something that doesn’t happen all that often.

We’ve just finished the period of advent, and while sometimes we think of advent purely in terms of anticipating Christmas Day - or at least, that’s what the advent calendars are all about - but advent considered the longing because this world is just not right.

We wait for things to be restored. We wait for justice to be done. We wait for wars to end.

Sometimes these wait seem to be a bit like in the play “Waiting for Godot” - never arriving.

But yet we wait.

Now while in one sense, there will always be things we’re waiting for, but yet one wait has finished, and it’s this wait that is of course the focus of Christmas.

Jesus has come to be with us, and this should change the way we look at everything else that we wait for.

Old Testament wait

Now, let’s cast our minds back to the Old Testament. I won’t go into all the detail, but if you go back to my message from last Sunday, you can see all the maps and I spoke of some of the background.

For today however, suffice to say that we find the Jewish people under attack.

It seems that somethings never seem to change.

They were looking for hope.

But things were only getting worse.

As the state of affairs deteriorated, some prophets rose up. They spoke of hope.

The prophet Isaiah spoke of a time when the people walking in darkness will see a great light.

He spoke of a time when the yoke that burdens them will be shattered.

He spoke of a time when a child would be born. But this is no ordinary son.

This is a son on whom the government will be on his shoulders.

I don’t know about you, but I watch the news, and I don’t even want the best government from the best country on my shoulders - that is a weight no shoulders can bear.

But that’s because this child that the prophet Isaiah foretold of would be called “Wonderful Counselor”, “Mighty God”, “Everlasting Father”, “Prince of Peace”.

What’s happening here, is that in the midst of the dark period that was happening in this Old Testament time, a time was prophesied when someone will come who will make a difference. The messiah.

And so started the wait.

A long time went by. Hundred of years even. But they continued to wait.

Birth of Jesus

We then come to the year when Caesar Augustus is in charge of the entire Roman world and he decides to hold a census, which we’re told by the very detailed oriented Luke happens to be the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

Things have not really improved much for the Jews. The specific circumstances had changed numerous times, but things were not as they should have been.

There were not many people aware at this particular point in time, but that time that the prophet Isaiah had spoken about long ago was about to come to fruition.

Because of this massive census that was taking place, Joseph needed to travel to Bethlehem so he could be registered as per the protocols of the day.

You can just imagine the frustration Joseph must have been feeling… knowing that his wife was so close to giving birth, and now he needs to travel.

They arrive in Bethlehem, but they weren’t the only ones getting their.

Now in the popular telling of the story, they go from hotel to hotel but they’ve all got the no vacancy sign out.

Just a curious little thing that you may or may not be aware of, this idea largely comes from Luke 2:7, which in the King James Version says: “because there was no room for them in the inn”.

You might notice in the NIV which we read earlier for you, it says “because there was no guest room available for them”.

A more likely reconstruction of how things went, was that they went straight to a relatives house, but this relative’s house didn’t have a guest room, but because hospitality was important to them, they quickly made room where the animal slept, something that was generally part of a house in that time and culture.

Anyway, the point is, it was in this obscure setting, out of sight from a watching world, that unbeknownst to most people, the long wait was over.

Did the world suddenly change - well, yes and no.

The reality is, when the world woke up the next day after the birth, they wouldn’t really have noticed any difference.

The same kings and authorities were in power. Any illness that an individual may have been inflicted with would have remained. Conflicts remained as potent as ever.

To the outside observer, the wait was still ongoing.

But on another level, a huge change had just occured. Something that would change the course of history.

Shepherds

For a small number of people, there was a glimpse of the enormity of this change that night.

One such group were used to waiting.

You see, the shepherds would generally be somewhere on the outskirts of the town, and for the most part they would just watch and wait on their sheep.

To be honest, I’m no expert when it comes to shepherding, but I imagine that there was a whole lot of waiting and doing not very much.

Night time has fallen and which is both the time of greatest danger and the time of least activity.

At night they needed to be mindful of predators like wolves, that could come and take their sheep.

So they would wait. But on this night, something extraordinary happened.

An angel of the Lord appeared to them. They chose these shepherds to be some of the very few that got to see just how big this very moment was.

“Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord”

Now, I can’t begin to think what must be going through their minds right at this moment.

But whatever it was, it wouldn’t have had much time to form before they got to witness one of the most remarkable things ever - a group of singing angels!

We’re told a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests”.

You see, while most of the world would have remained oblivious to what has been happening, the heavenly hosts knew.

They knew a new order had begun - not just another flawed earthly one, but one that is from God and of God.

It would be another thirty odd years before some of the real changes became known by the wider population. Perhaps another 10 or 15 years after that, in which the changes spread in a big way throughout the Roman world.

But in time, this kingdom grew from a small seed into the largest of plants.

The shepherds went to visit the baby.

In one sense, it might have seemed just another baby - but with what had just happened with the angel and the heavenly choir - they knew this was different.

The wait is over

So here’s the thing… at that moment of birth on that night in Bethlehem some 2000 odd years ago, everything would have stayed the same, but at the same time everything changed.

While most would not have known it, the long wait was over.

The one who will carry the weight of the government on his shoulders is here.

The one who is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace… he has come.

We live over 2000 years since this birth. Over that 2000 years, we’ve seen world changing things happen. We’ve seen shifts in value system. We’ve seen changes to the rights of the vulnerable. We’ve seen education system and health systems open up to everyone.

I’m not sure how aware you are of this, but those things I’ve just mentioned are well documented to have been the result of the changes that Jesus brought into this world.

But it’s not just the big systemic changes, it’s the change it makes in our hearts.

The biggest of all, is the freedom he has given us from the bondage of sin. He has lifted a burden off us.

The changes have been huge.

We can still feel like the oblivious people who lived when Jesus was born, unaware of cosmic significance of what just happened.

But at Christmas - we should be reminded - the wait is over!

Jesus has already come - and you can know him right now!

Invitation

On this evening of Christams Eve, as we sit here and reflect on Christmas I want each of you to know that whatever it is you’ve been waiting for - the coming of Jesus changes everything.

Perhaps you’ve come here, not really sure what to make of it all. Perhaps thinking it’s a nice story but that’s about it. Can I urge you to think deeper about what this all means.

The change Jesus brings is real. He already has changed much. And changes are still to come. And you can be a part of it.

If it’s something you’d like to discuss more, I’d love to talk to you more - or perhaps you might like to reach out to other strong believers.

Jesus has come - and he can completely change your life.

Merry Christmas.

Let me pray...