Free Methodist Church Of Santa Barbara

Luke 2:1-20, Isaiah 9:1-7 As we continue our portrait of the Incarnate God, who we understand to be Jesus Christ, we come to His birth. This Advent, we have talked about Him at the beginning and we have also looked at how what came before played in various ways in His story, most notably last week through Joseph’s experience. This Sunday, we read the familiar words from Luke 2 as well as words from Isaiah 9. While the lectionary often pairs these two scriptures together for the celebration of Jesus’ birth, they are not a natural duo. Yet, side by side, they show a picture of the kind of God who rescues His people. In looking at them in tandem, we see the words of Isaiah were meant for an earthly king in his time. These words have come to represent Jesus birth today, so we want to talk about them. Mostly, we want to know the Lord whose plans coalesce in amazing ways throughout all of history. I pray this has been a meaningful journey through Advent as we await the arrival of the Lord anew in our l