Did you ever hear the phrase “Just wait until your father gets home!” In my home growing up, that meant there was going to be a whooping – and usually one that was well deserved, I might add.

 Another phrase I heard sometimes growing up was, “Your father would like to have a word with you!” Depending on how and when it was said, that had different meanings. It might mean I was in trouble, but not always.

Think about that phrase: Your Father would like to have a Word with you. And think of it in terms of Your heavenly Father would like to have a Word with you. This season of Advent is a good time to consider how the Father had a Word with you.

We have the Word of the Father that has been revealed to us, written down and preserved in what we often call “The Bible.” (Which, by the way, simply means “The Book.) This is God’s Word, Him telling us about Himself, about our sin, about His love and what that led Him to do for us. If you want to hear God speaking to you, listen to His Word.

Part of that Word is His Law, which would be like hearing that phrase “Your Father would like to have a Word with you” in harsh tones. And that is well deserved. When we look at the law of our God, how He has told us to live, we have not done it. It condemns us for our disobedience.

But there is better news. We also hear in the most loving manner possible, “Your Father would like to have a Word with you.” That is the Gospel, the Good News, the Word made Flesh. Jesus came to make sure we could be reconciled to God in spite of our disobedience. He paid the penalty for all sin and gives that payment to everyone who will believe in Him. We have the written Word and that Word made flesh with us in our lives.

At Christmas, which we are preparing to celebrate God made sure to have HIS loving Word with us.

John 1:1–2, 14  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning  … The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

You probably know that “Immanuel” means “God with us.”  In Jesus, God – the Word – is truly with us. Your Father would like to have HIS Word with you.