“‘Listen to me, Jacob, and Israel, the one called by me: I am he; I am the first, I am also the last. My own hand founded the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summoned them, they stood up together.’”
Isaiah 48:12-13 CSB
It’s hard to believe that the One who here declares Himself as the First and the Last is the same One shepherds will find lying in a feeding trough for farm animals. The hands that founded the earth will become helpless for a time. The voice that summoned the heavens will be reduced to wordless cries and coos.
I want to pause and let these things sink in. Our Creator became one of us. Though outside of time, He entered space and time for us. And that night, when the angel terrified the shepherds and announced the glorious news that a Savior had been born for “all the people,” the sign confirming this was a baby “wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:10-12).
Does today bring any hardship-stress, pain, fear, grief? Let us look to the Baby in the manger and let Him summon us. It is precisely because He became a baby and started with no words that we can listen for His words today and find them to be life-giving.
He is the First and Last, and His words can likewise bracket the first and last things we do today. And, in the end, it seems He will have the last word and it will also be extraordinarily good—“But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).
Photo credit: Zoe Lim