Advent Devotional - December 23

December 23 Glad Tidings

“The great glad tidings tell”

Pray

With a glad and open heart I greet You, Lord. May the promises of Your Word continue to bring me hope, as I await the day of Your coming. Amen.

Read – Luke 1:19

“And the angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings”. (NKJV)

Reflect

“Glad tidings” just means “good news.” In an even earlier vernacular “glad tidings” would have been “God’s spell,” from which we derive our word, “Gospel.” Whatever you call it, it’s good news. In a world where bad news seems to predominate, we take a stand for glad tidings.

It may not have seemed so at the time, but the birth of Mary’s child in a stable, in Bethlehem, was certainly good news. Cynics may have rolled their eyes at stories of angels and a star in the east, but Mary knew better. She had risked her life to have this special baby. Her future could have been ruined, along with her reputation, but Mary didn’t care. God had called her to be faithful – that was all that mattered in the end. And so “good news” was born, into poverty, into a world riddled with violence, into an oppressed land where the common people were far from free. Good news was born in Bethlehem. He is still good news.

Wherever the poverty of ignorance, and the fear of violence, and the yoke of oppression settle on the land like a thick, December fog, there the light of Christ breaks through. That’s why His coming will always be glad tidings. The Gospel is always good news.