Isaiah tells us that the coming King will not be an attractive, popular ruler. Instead the King will be a humble servant who comes to give his life away. Christmas is a season where we remember that Jesus came into our world as the incomparable king who came into the world to serve, suffer and save.

We live in a world marred by division, hostility and injustice. But Isaiah speaks of a coming King who make right everything that is wrong. Isaiah shows us the Advent hope that a coming King will bring us in harmony with nature, with each other and ultimately with the King of all Creation. One day all things will flourish under the radiance of God’s glory.

In midst of the dark backdrop of societal unrest, Isaiah gave people a vision of a coming child who would bring an ultimate hope. God’s power wouldn’t be found in military strength but a Child who would be called the “Prince of Peace.”

Jacob started off his journey running from home because of his broken family. At the end of Jacob’s journey he returns homeland reconciles with his brother. There is a longing in all of our hearts for a homecoming. The end of Jacob’s story shows us the promise of the Gospel to bring us back to our eternal home.

Jacob lived his life on the run from home and eventually from his uncle Laban. But he finally confronts his greatest fear as he wrestles with God at night. Jacob wrestling with God shows us how all of us need to bring our deepest questions and fears to a powerful yet gracious God. Only then can we like Jacob be renamed and renewed.

Matthew 6:5-13

John 8:48-53

Jacob’s wanderings finally leads him to a place where he falls made in love with Rachel. But all of his hopes and dreams are undone by the superior scheming of his uncle. Jacob’s bad romance leads us to understand the disappointments of life, our desperate need for love and the final act of seeing God’s redeeming rescue.

Jacob’s life was a picture of God’s grace. Although he was on the run from his brother, in an in between, unknown place, God powerfully reveals himself to Jacob in a dream of a ladder ascending heaven. Jacob’s Dream shows us the power of God’s presence to the lost and undeserving wanderer in all of us.

Jacob’s ultimate lie was to deceive his own father into giving him his older brother’s blessing. Jacob’s disguise and lie triggers a series of events that leaves him on the run. Jacob’s lie shows us the ruin of deception but also the glorious power of grace to transform any situation. Jacob's life teaches us that God’s truth is greater than any lie, God’s grace is greater than any sin, God's plan is greater than any scheme.