Today’s fruit of the Spirit is faith – sometimes rendered as faithfulness. Faith and faithfulness are both essential parts of the birth we celebrate at Christmas time.
Where is the faithfulness of God to mankind shown more clearly than at the manger? Faithfulness is a covenant term. It’s a declaration of steadfastness, reliability, trustworthiness. It’s a statement that the terms of covenant will be kept – that the covenant partner will be 100%, unquestioningly loyal to the other, that the partner will always be there.
Through sending His Son as the Mediator, that’s exactly what God was revealed to be. Through providing the one way for restored oneness with God (in spite of our unfaithfulness to the covenant and constant breaking of its terms), He sacrificed Himself to bring us to intimacy with Him.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel is a reflection upon His covenant and His faithfulness:
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory o’er the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer,
Our Spirits by Thine advent here.
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Key of David, come
And open wide our heav’nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai’s height,
In ancient times didst give the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
He is God with Us! He is the ruling Rod of Jesse. He is the Sunrise from on high, bringing the light of the morning. He is the Key of David that unlocks the kingdom to us. He is Lord and Ruler – and He has come, ransoming, freeing, dispelling darkness, unlocking doors, and fulfilling the law in us. He’s completed every aspect of covenant – it stands fulfilled and living in Him.
All we have to do is live in Him.
That’s faithfulness – the faithfulness of God to us!
And it’s now mirrored in our lives. “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20).
That covenant faithfulness of God is mirrored in our lives as the faith of the Son of God. The full faithfulness of the Father is also contained in the Son, and by the power of the Holy Spirit within us, it works its full fruit in our lives.
All faith that we possess is simply a reflection of the perfect faith of God.
Have you received that faith? Are you living in it?
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem!
Come, and behold Him, born the King of angels!
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord!
Sing, choirs of angels; sing in exultation;
sing, all ye citizens of heav’n above!
Glory to God, all glory in the highest!
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord!
Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to Thee be all glory giv’n!
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing!
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord!
Come back tomorrow for Let’s Call It Gentleness.
Find the rest of today’s Twelve Days of Christmas party posts here.
Enter the giveaway here.
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