Expectations can be funny. Things do not always work out the way we expect, the way we think they should. When our children were younger, we always had one special present for each of them to open at Christmas that we would save until the last thing. It came to be known as “the big present.” There was always a lot of excitement and anticipation leading up to that last present being opened by each girl. I remember one year, though, when it didn’t work out so well. After all three of them had opened their “big present,” what mom and dad thought would be an extra special gift, one of them was sitting there very quiet and dejected. I asked what was wrong and she said, “It wasn’t exactly what I wanted.” You know how parents can be. We thought we had bought what she wanted, but it wasn’t right. I don’t remember all the details, but an exchange was made a few days later and there was no lasting damage done to either parents or child. And I don’t tell this story to embarrass anyone. But think about how it felt to hear, “It wasn’t exactly what I wanted.” Or expected.

How must our heavenly Father have felt when He made good on the promise to provide a way out from sin and death and condemnation, when the timing was absolutely perfect for everything to happen. He had set it all into motion right after Adam and Eve disobeyed Him and passed the promise along through Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Ruth and David, and all the way down to Joseph and Mary. The time had come and there He was, in the city of David, the Son of God born for us, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. God kept His Word. Jesus came to save all people. And God’s chosen people looked and said, “It wasn’t exactly what we wanted.”

• He was born in the poverty of a stable, not the opulent surroundings of royalty – not what we expected. Not what we wanted.
• He grew up and began His ministry. He told people about the kingdom of God, about why He has come, and Jesus heard, “You’re not what we expected. You’re not what we wanted.”
• After Jesus lived a sin-free life, after He was betrayed and condemned and crucified for the sins of the world, after He rose in triumph on the third day, His disciples took the message of who Jesus was and what He did throughout the world, only to hear, “No, we don’t want that.”
• And our world today continues to say, “We don’t want that.”

Consider how that must break God’s heart to hear those words, to have us reject Him. What is the pain that our God feels at those who say, “I don’t believe it. It is not what I would have done. The Son of God born in a stable? It doesn’t make sense to me. It is not what I was expecting. I don’t think any of it is true.” But simply saying something is not true does not make it false! God kept His promise, sent His Word to us in the form of that baby boy. And God continues to lovingly say, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”

You deserve condemnation because of your sin, but God says, “Put your trust in me, in My Son, and I will forgive you.”

God kept His promise. He sent the one who would take care of the problem of our sin, the one who would offer Himself in payment for the sins of everyone, the one who would satisfy the judgment that stood against us. Jesus was and is the Savior and Redeemer, that little baby was God’s Son. Just as it had been promised. Not what the world was expecting, but exactly what we needed. What we all still need. A Savior, who is Christ the Lord.