Advent: Where is God in 2021?

 Matthew 1:23

23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

The year 2021 has been a difficult year. I don’t mean to dampen the mood again by reminding you of that. It’s Christmas after all! You know very well it was a tough year. We had everything from national protests, a global pandemic of variant this and variant that, to strange phenomena like mass toilet paper panic. It truly was a difficult and confusing year! And so, it is understandable that many this year would ask the question: Where was God in 2021? Well, I’m glad you asked because our verse today provides an answer to this natural query; it stirs up comfort you’d do well to remember this Christmas season, given the year we’ve all had. Matthew 1:23 declares a great truth that brought assurance to Joseph when he heard it first on the heels of the difficult news that his fiancée, Mary, was pregnant. It encouraged the faithful on that first Christmas as they waited for God to speak up after four hundred years of silence. And it’s encouraged believers for millennia since! Now I don’t often get excited about prepositions—those little terms that express the relationship between one word and another—but in Matthew 1:23 there is a preposition we should all get excited about this Christmas; it ushers comfort into our tough year. Every Christmas season is an opportunity to remember that God is not “against” us, God is not “beyond” us, and God is not away “from” us. Rather, every Christmas—no matter the year—we are reminded that God is “with” us. There it is—that preposition “with.” Who would’ve thought a preposition could bring such a comfort to Joseph then and to us now? So, rejoice in that today. What Matthew stresses at the beginning of his Gospel in chapter 1:23 (“God with us”) he reiterates at the end of his Gospel in the words of Jesus in chapter 28:20 (“I am with you”). It’s an important truth to proclaim. Together, 1:23 and 28:20 are like God’s arms drawing us in for a great and comforting divine hug in this tough year. Where was God in 2021? With us!

God keeps His promises.  Again, the theme of Advent.  God promised He would come and save us (Gen. 3:15) at the beginning, He did.  He promises that He will never leave us nor forsake us.  He hasn’t.  He’s promised that He will come back again in such a manner that He left.  He will.  The Christian’s life is full of hope and certainty.  That should be a hallmark sign to tell if someone is a Christian.  A life of hope.  A life of confidence.  Why?  We serve a mighty, faithful, all powerful God.  We can proclaim His truth among others because we know without a doubt that it is the truth.  Christian, during this time of pandemic, there is no need to worry.  Be as Christ commanded, “be wise as serpents and as calm as doves.”   Take what we are going through seriously because God has always wanted us to do that (look how He told us to treat issues like leprosy, etc.), however, we should not live in fear because no matter what, God is in control.  Instead of looking to each other, to political parties, to social media, to mainstream media, we need to have our focus on God during this time.  God challenges us to love each other, be kind to one another.  Remember and keep His commandments.  One, love God with all your heart, soul, and strength.  Two, love your neighbor as yourself.

May God’s promises encourage us to live on during these days.