This was the 2024 Christmas Day Devotional I sent out to our Peace Church family on Christmas Day. Click ‘here‘ to watch the video.

Hey Peace Church Family! 

I just want to take a moment and say Merry Christmas to you and your family on this Christmas Day. From my family to yours, I truly hope this day is marked most of all by remembering that when we say, “Jesus is born,” what that means is that He came to save you. 

Hey, I wanted to give you a quick blessing on this Christmas by offering up a Christmas Day devotional for you. 

So, if there are some kids watching this – I want you to yell out the answer to this question: Where was Jesus born?  

Bethlehem! That’s right! And one of the great Christmas verses we didn’t get to preach on this year comes from Micah 5:2 and in this prophecy Micah talks about how the Savior will come from Bethlehem… Let’s read it… 

Micah 5:2
² But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
    one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old,
    from ancient days.

What I love about this old prophecy is that it talks about how the coming of Jesus, how Christmas, is an ancient hope that God’s people have had – and here we see that Jesus, the Savior, will come from Bethlehem.

The passage starts off “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,” – now what is Ephrathah? Ephrathah is just the old, ancient name of Bethlehem… and Bethlehem, or Ephrathah as it used to be called, was a very small town.

But we see here that God reveals to Bethlehem that “from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel…”

This reminds us that Jesus is not just our Savior, but He is our King, He is our Lord, He is to be Ruler… and then Micah reminds us, this has been the hope all along… 

“…whose coming forth is from of old,
    from ancient days.”

So, I love how this verse starts with the ancient name of Bethlehem, Ephrathah, but then reminds us that this prophecy is also ancient.

What this means is that Christmas was a long time coming. And I know that one of the struggles we have ever year is wondering “How do we keep Christmas fresh and new in our hearts?”

But here is what I would say… Maybe Christmas isn’t meant to be fresh and new year after year… but maybe the strength of it is found in that it’s lasting; that we get to do this every year. 

So, here is what I want you to do: I’d love you for you to take a picture of the oldest Christmas decoration you have in your house, post it on social media and tag me. Because I’m willing to bet that decoration is special – and it’s special because it’s old…

And may it be a reminder to you that – whether you are sitting there with a cup of hot chocolate, or maybe in a room full of wrapping paper and opened presents, or wherever you are on this Christmas Day – remember this, what you celebrate here at Christmas is not new, it’s old, it’s ancient – and that’s what makes it powerful, because the birth of Christ is about our Savior, as our passage says, 

“…whose coming forth is from of old,
    from ancient days.”

And so, again, Merry Christmas to you and yours.

*Oh – and Peace Church, get ready because I believe that what God has for our church in 2025 is amazing! But first, let’s not move past today – let’s honor Christmas for what it is, an ancient hope and prophecy that we get see fulfilled – and we get to celebrate.  

Merry Christmas.