Christmas Preparation

This year was the longest my family ever waited to put up Christmas decorations and it was a challenge! We usually decorate the day after Thanksgiving, but we were so busy this year we had to push it to the next weekend. We put up the usual decorations: a tree, snow globes, nativities, Christmas villages, and stockings. These Christmas preparations and decorations have to happen before the actual day, of course—after all, you can’t open presents under the tree if you didn’t first put up the tree! One piece of Christmas décor that we and many others set out is an advent calendar—a calendar that specifically counts down to Christmas. The word “advent” means the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event and, of course, the whole reason we celebrate Christmas is to celebrate the arrival of Jesus Christ. In God’s perfect plan, there were a few things that had to happen, preparations that had to be made, before the advent of Christ.

“A voice of one calling: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’” (Isaiah 40:3)

“Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me.” (Malachi 3:1a)

“Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives.” (Malachi 4:5)

Prophecies written over four hundred years before John the Baptist and Jesus’s births stated that God would send Elijah to prepare the way for the Messiah. There is plenty of Scriptural evidence for the claim that John the Baptist was Elijah: 

“‘Then who are you? We need an answer for those who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?’ John replied in the words of the prophet Isaiah: ‘I am a voice shouting in the wilderness, Make straight the way for the Lord!’” (John 1:22-23)

John very clearly identified himself as the one spoken about in Isaiah 40:3, the one sent to prepare the way for the Messiah. The final word on John’s identity belongs to Jesus. 

“‘I tell you the truth, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is! And from the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people are attacking it. For before John came, all the prophets and the law of Moses looked forward to this present time. And if you are willing to accept what I say, he is Elijah, the one the prophets said would come. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!’” (Matthew 11:11-15)  

So we can be sure that when we read about Gabriel appearing to Zechariah to tell him his wife will have son, that this is in preparation for the Messiah to come, which is all part of God’s Christmas preparation.

“But the angel said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.’” (Luke 1:13-17)

Gabriel told Zechariah that the child would “be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah” and that “he will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord” as was prophesied. It would seem that God gave His people 400 years without a prophet so that when Elijah came again to prepare the way for the Messiah, they wouldn’t miss it. 

“Then his disciples asked him, ‘Why do the teachers of religious law insist that Elijah must return before the Messiah comes?’
Jesus replied, ‘Elijah is indeed coming first to get everything ready. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, but he wasn’t recognized, and they chose to abuse him. And in the same way they will also make the Son of Man suffer.’ Then the disciples realized he was talking about John the Baptist.” (Matthew 17:10-13)

We can miss things so easily. Jesus had already told the disciples that John was Elijah and yet “he wasn’t recognized.” As you make your Christmas preparations, filled with decorating and shopping and baking and partying, in all the hustle and bustle leading up to Christmas, don’t miss the preparation that God made for the advent of the Savior, the reason for the season.

To the glory of the Lord God, whose I am, and whom I serve.