...He is Almighty...

“10 See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him and his recompense before him.

11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms and carry them in his bosom and gently lead the mother sheep”

Isaiah 40:10-11.

I really love this passage from Isaiah because it sets before us both the overwhelming authority and the intimate compassion of our God. He is the One who comes in might, whose arm rules for Him, who defines the universe, counts the collected might of all the nations on earth as nothing, command the stars by name, and holds the oceans in the hollow of His hand, a hand that would later be pierced by His love. YHWH is indisputably the ALMIGHTY God, and this is what we celebrate on Christmas!

And because of this truth, Jesus is also the gentle and good shepherd who is able to take the same hand that holds the raging oceans and use it to clasp a newborn lamb to His heart. He is the God who wields sovereign power in the service of self-giving love.

He is the God of Philippians 2:6-11.

6 

who, though he existed in the form of God,    

did not regard equality with God    

as something to be grasped,

7 

but emptied himself,    

taking the form of a slave,    

assuming human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a human,

8 

    he humbled himself    

and became obedient to the point of death—    

even death on a cross.

9 

Therefore God exalted him even more highly    

and gave him the name    

that is above every other name,

10 

so that at the name given to Jesus    

every knee should bend,    

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 

and every tongue should confess    

that Jesus Christ is Lord,    

to the glory of God the Father.

He is Jesus Christ who, because He is fully God, wields aAlmighty power to make Himself nothing so that He might pour Himself out in service to the point of death on the cross. And it is because of this descent into service and death that the Son is recognized by all the universe to be YHWH, the Holy One of Israel – to the glory of God the Father

(Philippians 2:11).

Our God is the Mighty Ruler and the Gentle Shepherd. His is the One who orders our sickness in sovereign authority and who lovingly holds us to Himself through it. He is the one who, in inscrutable wisdom, commands a thorn in our flesh, and who also sustains us in the midst of it, because INFINITE power and INFINITE compassion are united in our God in whom  we have unshakable hope.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.