The man stood on stage, his once empty hands clasping a bouquet. In the blink of an eye, the flowers had materialized. For the next thirty minutes, I sat amazed, watching him make things appear and disappear at random.
This first encounter with a magician held all the magic intended for my six-year-old self. But as I grew and discovered a few of the tricks of the trade, the wonder slowly faded. The more I learned the logistics of magic, the less it awed me.
Unlike this magician, Jesus did not come merely to entertain us. Nor was His intent to fool us with grand illusions and tricks.
Instead of stepping onto a stage, He stooped into an empty womb. But He did not come empty-handed.
He came with the fullness of the Godhead willingly confined to human form.
He became like us to invite us to become like Him.
He came as He promised, in fulfillment of prophecy, with the full scope of His deity at our disposal.
Wonderful Counselor.
Mighty God.
Everlasting Father.
Prince of Peace.
This breathtaking Presence He provides to be with us? There is no end to it. Never.
His rule shall extend to the ends of the earth, established in justice and righteousness, and He will accomplish all He has promised.
Our Redeemer is not some fly-by-night shyster, pawning His wares to entice and intoxicate before scamming and fleecing us. This Savior is the Captain of the host of angel armies, come to war on our behalf. King of the universe. Creator of galaxies and planets and sun and moon and stars, all hung with precision at His word and called by name.
Not one atom splits without His notice. All is kept and upheld on His watch and under His command. This mighty God is an everlasting Father who outlasts the boundaries of time and space, existing within and beyond them in every way.
Yet, He stoops down with compassion to call us His own.
This Prince of Peace calms the fiercest of storms and quiets gales into stillness, all while soothing His beloved with songs of forgiveness and grace.
The Wonderful Counselor comes in ways higher than ours as He blends into infant form and places Himself in the care of a teenage girl He created.
All so we could know the wonders of His salvation, the lengths to which His love would come and go for us.
He gasps His first earthly breath with a newborn’s lungs in a manger meant for animals.
He lives a mere thirty-three years before sacrificing Himself on a bloody cross, taking our curse upon His own body. Scorned and rejected, He dies abandoned by even His closest friends.
But just when it looks like He has suffered the ultimate defeat, He turns the tables and upends death, spinning the gates of hell into a wild frenzy from which it will never recover.
The resurrection of Jesus was not some fabricated magic trick; it’s miraculous.
From beginning to end, Jesus is Immanuel. God with us. The fulfillment of prophecy and Keeper of Kingdom souls for eternity.
No, Jesus did not come to earth with empty hands; He came with outstretched ones.
Hands so full of love that they emptied on our behalf and embraced our death so we could live forever.
He extended the invitation to place His kingdom within us. To all who receive Him, He becomes this precious gift of God in Christ, and Christ in us — this is the hope that is ours. This treasure of being united with Jesus.
Because the Savior came for us, we who were once far from Him are no longer distant. He is as near as the very air we breathe, in each breath we take, and beyond it.
This Prince of peace has become our peace. And of His kingdom, there shall be no end.
I may not be so easily awed by a magician nowadays, but I hope I stay forever amazed by the wondrous gift of Immanuel. In me.
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.
. . . For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,
and the government will be upon His shoulders.
And He will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on the throne of David
and over his kingdom,
to establish and sustain it
with justice and righteousness
from that time and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.
– Isaiah 9:2,6-7