Preparing for Worship - December 28, 2025

The psalm for this Sunday, the First Sunday after Christmas, is Psalm 89:1-8. The author, Ethan the Ezrahite, seems to be the Ethan who, together with Heman, worked with temple music, and is mentioned in 1 Kings 4:31 and 1 Chronicles 2:6. This psalmist sings of the steadfast love of the Lord, who will be faithful forever. The Lord made covenant promises to King David and to his offspring that would last for all generations. The Lord reigns from heaven, above all the holy ones, the angels. Yet He cares about us on earth, and He faithfully kept His promises in sending a particular Offspring of David, our Lord Jesus, as Savior, with good new for all people. In the Christmas story, an angel announced His birth to shepherds, and the angels , the heavenly host, give Him praise and glory. (In Psalm 89:24, this Offspring of David is called the Lord’s powerful “Horn,” “the Horn of our salvation,” as predicted also by Zechariah, in Luke 1:68-69 and 76-79. The closing verses of Psalm 89:50-51, again after our reading, also predict how this Anointed One, the Christ, would be “mocked and insulted” by many, along with the mockery against His servants, His followers. Yet in His suffering and death and resurrection, the Lord and we who trust in Christ Jesus, will be blessed forever. Amen and Amen! This is most certainly true (Psalm 89:52).)

In the Old Testament lesson, 2 Samuel 7:1-16, this same promise of an everlasting kingdom is given to David and to a particular Descendant of His, Jesus the Christ, and all who trust in Him. David will not be able to do all he wished, including building a temple for the Lord. His son, Solomon, and other descendants would be blessed with a kingdom in Israel that would last for several hundred year. When they committed iniquity and sin, though, there would be discipline and judgment, often brought at the hands of their enemies. Yet the Lord would still fulfill His steadfast love, with the coming of an everlasting kingdom in Christ Jesus.  The alternate Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 11:1-5, is also a prediction of the coming Savior, our Lord Jesus, coming from the line of Jesse and King David. The Spirit of the Lord would be upon Him, from His birth by the power of the Holy Spirit, through His growth in the Word of God by the same Spirit, and His baptism, when the Holy Spirit came upon Him in a very visible way. He was called to fulfill all righteousness by His perfect life, in place of our very imperfect lives, and His faithfulness in doing His Father’s will and suffering and dying in our place, paying the penalty for all our sins. He would battle sin and evil for us and eventually will do away with all the wicked and bring His believers to eternal joy. (See Scriptures like Luke 1:32-35, 2:40, Matthew 3:13-17, 4:1-11, Hebrews 2:9-10, Romans 6:3-5, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, etc.)

This Kingdom of God was predicted to the virgin Mary, of the house of David, by an angel also, in Luke 1:26-38. By the miracle of God’s Holy Spirit, she would give birth to the Son of God, true God and a true man. This One would receive and reign over the everlasting Kingdom “not of this world” (John 18:36). The Christmas story tells of the birth of Jesus Christ; and when He was brought to the temple in Jerusalem, soon after, we hear our Gospel lesson, Luke 2:(22-32) 33-40. Two elderly people, Simeon and Anna, had been waiting in faith for the coming of this promised Savior, who would be the Consolation (the Comforter) and the Redeemer of His people, bringing the forgiveness of sins. God brings Simeon to recognize Jesus as “the Lord’s Christ” and the Savior of the world, for all peoples, both Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews). Simeon speaks the words of what is often used in worship, the Nunc Dimittis. God’s Word was fulfilled in the coming of Jesus, and now Simeon could die in peace, but he predicted that Jesus would also be a person whom many would oppose. He came to be the Savior of all, but many would resist and reject Him, too. Those who were brought to believe in Him would be raised to eternal life, but many would stumble and fall and lose the eternal Kingdom of God, which would only come through Jesus. The thoughts of all hearts would thus be revealed as being with Christ Jesus or against Him. Mary’s own soul would be pierced with sorrow at the suffering and death of her Son. But through God’s grace, she would still believe in Him and receive the gift of eternal life, as well. Elderly Anna had been a widow for many years, but continued in worship and prayer, trusting her Lord, even in difficult times. It was revealed to her that the Savior had come. She, too, could depart in peace at her death, to eternal life in heaven. She knew, though, that even though she was very old, she still had work to do for her Lord. She began to thank God and to tell others who were waiting for their Redeemer that He had finally arrived, in the birth of Jesus, so that they might have the same joy and peace in their Redeemer as she had. Are there people with whom we could share this Good News of Jesus, too, no matter what our age is?

In our Epistle lesson, Galatians 4:1-7, Paul speaks of the fact that when we were children, we were all under the supervision of our parents and enslaved to the elementary principles of this world.  Paul, as a Jew, was caught up in all sorts of rules and regulations, many of them humanly-made, which he could not do and keep. (See Colossians 2:20-23, for example.) Others, following false gods and false religions, lived far from the true God and His will, and served other creatures, including themselves and their ideas, instead of the Creator. (See the dramatic description of this is Romans 1:18-32.) God knew our sinful human condition and yet had a plan of rescue for us. When the time was just right, He sent forth His own Son, Jesus, born of a woman by a miraculous virgin birth. He was a true man, as well as the Son of God. He was under the Law, yet followed it perfectly, in our place, and redeemed us by paying the price of His own sacrificial death for all our sins and failings. He rose in victory and through His Spirit has been bringing people to faith in Him and making them (and us also who trust in Him by that gift of faith) the children of God. That means that we are no longer slaves to our old lives, but are heirs of eternal life when we die. (See Romans 8:9, 14-17.) This was God’s rescue plan for us, finally fulfilled for us in the Saving work of Christ, beginning with His coming and being born in Bethlehem. (See Paul’s description of all this also in Ephesians 1:5-9.) What a great future we have, now and eternally, as the adopted children of God, through the Christmas miracle and all that followed, by God’s grace.