Have you ever written a letter to Santa? Perhaps you had a really specific gift in mind that year you just wouldn't be able to live without. You probably used a crayon to etch your list on paper for the quickly approaching Christmas morning. You might have even included a drawing just in case; maybe it was a bike, a kitten, a room all to yourself, a remote-controlled car, or a pony! Looking back, we might even wonder what we were thinking. You placed a stamp on an envelope containing your prized letter and brought it to the post office to slip it into the mail slot. But from that point on, what happened to the letter was unknown to you. You never actually knew if it reached its destination, if it was opened and read, or if the recipient could even understand your handwriting. If the letter had been received, you might expect to get back some sort of reply or confirmation, some sort of sign that the message was received loud and clear. The North Pole does not supply that, but in Christ, we have just that: a confirmation that God is perfectly aware of what we want and need. God has provided us with a sign that He is completely aware of our fallen state and our need for what only He can provide. God's reply is found in Jesus. We know God loves us because of Jesus. We know God hears our prayers and sees us because of Jesus. We know God is with us because of Jesus. The name Immanuel means just that: "God with us." The fact that the Messiah came from heaven to earth to set right that which had been broken and separated is proof of God's undying love for each of us. God is attentive to the needs and wants of the children He loves, and this is proved in the Christmas story. How awesome is that?

This single verse in Isaiah is one of the most famous prophecies regarding the birth of Jesus the Messiah in the Bible. A prophecy is a prediction that something will happen before it happens; in this case, it was 700 years before. This verse shows us that 700 years before the birth of Christ, God had already been planning and working everything out. God was preparing a message for you. Just like today, the people in Isaiah's day were trapped in sin and the consequences of it. Some cried out, some waited, and some gave up hope for a Savior. But God was with them. He saw them and had a plan in motion. Most people, if asked, would say they've never received a direct message from God. They have never heard a booming voice in the sky or had an angel show up to them and deliver a message, but the truth is that we have indeed been given many messages from God. His written word is one of them. Jesus is another. The sign of the baby in the manger was and is a message from God to His people. It says “I have listened to you, I know you, I know what you need. I know better than you do, and I am providing you with the most important thing you could ever receive”. Even today, the greatest gift we could ever receive is that God is with us; He hears us, and He responds to us. God has given us His son. What more could we ask for than God with us? Far better than anything we could ask for on a Christmas wish list, God has already promised and delivered the gift that we most desperately need. And isn't that worth celebrating this holiday season?