Awaiting the Manger: 7 Days of Discovering Jesus in the Old TestamentSample

Before the Beginning

When did the story of Jesus begin? Was the beginning when the angel Gabriel descended to the dusty town of Nazareth to find a peasant girl, named Mary, who would be blessed among women? Or did it begin earlier in history’s halls? Maybe in an easily skimmed-over verse from the book of Micah, when the prophet hailed the little town of Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah. Perhaps it was when Isaiah’s aged hands scribbled down the Holy Spirit’s description of a child born “unto us” who would be stricken, smitten, and afflicted (Isaiah 53:4).

Or was it further back into the dark past when our first parents Adam and Eve sided against God, turned their hearts to the serpent, and broke the commandment to not eat from the forbidden tree? Or maybe shortly after this, when God promised a Deliverer would come from the seed of the woman to crush the serpent’s head, restoring the shattered relationship between God and his sons and daughters (Genesis 3:15)? Surely that was when the story began.

But no. Not even then.

Jesus’s story, the story of our deliverance from the shackles of sin to new life, began here: “Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4).

Before the universe was created, back in the pre-creation womb that our minds fail to fathom, yes, way back then, he loved us. No space, no stars, no planets, no Earth.

All that existed was the perfect union of love amid the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three in one. Holiness, love, creativity.

And there, before time and space, he thought of us. The next verse says, “In love he predestined us” (Ephesians 1:4-5).

During this mysterious age, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit made a divine promise, the Immanuel promise, that Jesus would dwell among us (John 1:14). He would heal the sick with a word or touch or spit. He would restore the outcasts. He would speak redemption to the broken bride who ventured to a well on a hot afternoon (John 4:1-45). He would refuse to condemn the woman caught in adultery, sparing her from being stoned to death by self-righteous Pharisees (John 8:1-11). He would remove the shackles of the demon-possessed, cave-bound man, replacing his torment with peace (Mark 5:1-20). He would weep with sisters and raise a brother (John 11:1-44). He would cry to his Abba Father in a garden, alone (Matthew 26:36-46). When the time came, he would walk the ugly road to the cross, paved with thorns and mockery and lashings (Matthew 27:27-31). On a dark Friday, he would drink the full cup of his Father’s wrath (Matthew 27:46), and on a bright Sunday he would rise in glorious victory (1 Corinthians 15:4).

And, all of this would first be heralded in a tiny space crammed into a crowded town, when, begotten of the Father’s love, the Son would trade his throne for a manger (Luke 2:7).

A lot happened before the beginning.

Practice

God loved us before the stars twinkled, but “knowing” his love eludes us at times. Today, speak of his ancient and unbreakable love to yourself and those around you. (Ephesians 3:19)

Reflect

What response do you have to knowing that before the beginning, God chose to love you? If you really grasped that he cherishes you, how would your thoughts, words, and actions change? (Zephaniah 3:17; Jeremiah 31:3; 1 John 4:19)

Pray

Father, before the foundation of the world you knew me, you loved me. Awake me to rest in the knowledge of your eternal love.

Sing

Of the Father’s Love Begotten