Powerpoint Pictures: WAY put in a manger; Tiny picture of donkey; Night scene with person putting finger to lips; Christmas Tree with 12 numbers boxes on it; No.1 badge and Noel Edmonds; Christmas written in white; Three kings cards; Magnificat anima mea Dominum

Can you guess the following Christmas themed songs from the clues? [Away in a manger; Little Donkey; Silent Night; 12 Days of Christmas; The First Nowell; White Christmas; We Three Kings; Mary’s Song]

Mary’s Song was the original Christmas song and it contains a really important line.

Remember that there had a been silence for 400 years.  400 years without God speaking anything new to His people.  And in those 400 years some of God’s people were thinking and remembering God’s promises and looking to see if they had been kept.

Promises about a Saviour, a King, the Lord Himself.  Promises about a messenger like Elijah who would get them ready for His arrival.

Well here’s the line Mary sings: “He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants for ever, even as he said to our fathers.” (Luke 1:54-55)

One of God’s people who was remembering God’s promises and looking to see if they had been kept was Mary and in that line she is singing that God has done just that!  He’s kept His promises!

How can she sing that?

She can sing that because an angel had appeared to her and told her that she was going to have a baby.  No ordinary baby.

“You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:31-33)

This baby will be three things.

A Saviour – Jesus means God saves – God will keep the promise He made to Abraham.

A King – He will reign as King for ever – God will keep the promise He made to David.

God Himself – He will be the Son of the Most High, Immanuel, God with us – God will keep the promise He made to Isaiah.

This baby Mary will give birth to is God keeping His promise.

So, what will happen when He arrives?

Find out next time!