Perhaps you think that even God has broken his promises to you. Death of a loved one, some kind of tragedy, sickness, challenging work, financial circumstances – whatever it is, you feel that God has let you down.

If you feel like this, well you’re in good company. This is something of how the whole nation of Israel felt just before the birth of Jesus. They had experienced this for nearly one thousand years! Why hadn’t God kept his covenant promises to Israel – that he would be their God and they his people? In their eyes, he was failing them as they had endured exile in Babylon some 500 years before, and now they were suffering under brutal Roman rule. Where was their promised king, the Messiah from God, and where was their eternal kingdom that he would rule over? Where was God?

What we’re going to see in this passage is the true hope of the Christmas story: that the covenant promises of God have not failed. God does not break his promises!

Preacher: Antonio Coppola.