We're going to begin this morning with an origin story.

This passage represents 2,000 years of history, the history of the people of God, the many trials and travails of the people of God. Much of the time was dark. Much of the time seemed to be bereft of God.

Where is God in the middle of this?

And if you would go back in history and you would just randomly drop into any part of this 2,000 years of history, you would probably enter a time of darkness, a time of difficulty. You would probably enter a time when you would be hard pressed to be hopeful during that time. So where could Israel find hope?

Well, it wasn't in their current circumstances. It was only in the words and the promises of their God if they believed it, you see. Well, we'll see today that our hope is found today in the promises of a faithful and all-powerful God.

Promises are only as good as the one making the promise, as the desire and the ability to fulfill the promise of the one making the promise. They're not good if the one promising can't and is unwilling to do it. Well, God made promises. And though those promises are often hard to see and how they will be fulfilled, we can trust these promises because of the one who made those promises. See, Christmas is a fulfillment of hope. And Christmas points to a yet future fulfillment of hope as well, and we're going to talk about that.

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