Long Before

For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
      -- Isaiah 9:6

Yesterday some old feller thought that some big day was coming next week and I had the pleasure of gently reminding him of a holiday we know as Christmas. As the 25th is on a Saturday this year, it may seem kind of a 'long before', but it is next week. However, when Isaiah wrote down the prophecy from the Lord about a Child to be born, it was not a next week thing but a hundreds of years down the calendar sort of thing. You probably do not have a calendar sitting in a drawer for oh, 2535 AD? 2600 AD? Not even published yet, you say? Should the appointed date for our Lord's return be that far out, you and I will likely not be alive on this earth at that time. While one or two might ask why the BC numbers counting down each year toward zero didn't give them an idea that something was coming, we think that the whole BC to AD thing was invented sometime after the big event in Bethlehem. 

So, to us the birth of Jesus seems so long ago, but Isaiah wrote the prophecy long before that, and then we learn that God knew that His Way was the only way to save us long before even Isaiah's time and our little mind gets lost in the long ago-long before-eternal past sort of thing, and we stop and say, 

Merry Christmas! 

Bucky