December 31st, 2023
The church celebrates Christmas over twelve days, from December 25 to January 5. We begin and end every year celebrating the birth of Christ, who is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. He is the Lord of history, which is why we count time based on his birth and every year turns during the celebration of his birth. AD 2023 will soon pass into AD 2024. AD is short for Anno Domini, which means “in the year of the Lord.” 2023 has been the year of the Lord. 2024 will be the year of the Lord.
Our calendar bears witness to the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy concerning the birth of Christ:
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end. His government and peace abide in 2023 and into 2024.
I marvel at Isaiah’s prophetic announcement, because the One whose government and peace has no end is a child born unto us and a Son given to us. And I marvel at this announcement, because the Son who is born and given is identified in the same verse as “Mighty God” (Isaiah 9:6). The Son who is given, is the eternal Son, the Only Begotten from the Father. In the gift of the Son to us, we know the love of God for us: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9).
As we reflect on 2023 and look ahead to 2024, we remember and we celebrate the gift of God’s Son to us. We remember and we celebrate God’s love for us. As we look back on this year and reflect upon the various joys and successes, and disappointments and failures, we remember and we rejoice that God is with us and God is for us. As we look ahead to the new year, some of us do so with joyful expectation, and others with uncertainty and fear.
Whatever our present lot at the end of this year, our Lord Jesus Christ “is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). He remains God with us and God for us. 2023 has been the year of the Lord and 2024 will be the year of the Lord.