Merry Christmas from CRTS!

Friday, December 20, 2019

“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:31-32).

This was the prophetic birth announcement that the angel Gabriel gave to the young woman, Mary. Her immediate, and entirely understandable, question was “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (v. 34).  Another way of phrasing this inquiry would be, “How will the impossible be possible?” The angel Gabriel provides this answer: “Nothing will be impossible with God” (v. 37) and, in more detail yet still mysterious, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (v. 35).  Isn’t it striking that in these few words the angel speaks twice of God as the “Most High”?  The child to be born will be called Son of the Most High, and he will be conceived in Mary’s womb by the power of the Most High.  Yes, the power of the Most High was at work to bring us our Saviour, but the same power of the Most High is also at work in our lives through this Saviour and his Spirit.  Please note: it’s not merely a “higher power,” as many would say today, but “the Most High”!  This also means that his redeeming power is infinitely higher and greater than all the sorrow, sin, and struggle that we experience here below.  That is our comfort as we come to the close of 2019 and celebrate the birth of our Saviour, and as we step forward, the Lord willing, into another, new year in 2020.  From everyone here in the CRTS community, we sincerely wish you and your loved ones the Lord’s blessings.  Together let us give all praise to him and let us continue to confess that our help is in the Name of the Lord… Most High.