One Zealous God

 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 Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 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)
Zeal. Not a word we use every day. We use synonyms like "excitement" or "enthusiasm", but they fall so far short of ZEAL. Basically, Zeal is not valued in our culture - especially when it comes ot spiritual matters. But God is Zealous. The paragraph following this one is entitled Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression in my study Bible, and we know Who the One is Who will be doing the judging: zealous, jealous God.  In fact these two words are the same in the original languages of the Bible. Part of God's judgment on our pride and abuse of others is to send His Son, the Prince of Peace, to rule and reign. Christ comes to show the zeal of the Lord - how passionate He is about saving us, and judging sin. How zealous will we be about receiving His gift and the forgiveness of sins?  May you have a zealous Christmas.