“For with God nothing will be impossible.”

     And so are the words the angel pronounced to a humble and astonished Jewish girl as the mystery and glory of that first Christmas began to unfold over 2,000 years ago.

     Nothing will be impossible.  How foreign these words are to what we celebrate today as the Christmas experience.  We don’t hear these words in carols, nor do we find them in greeting cards. Yet these are the words recorded in the first chapter of Luke’s gospel, words that should perhaps be written in capital letters as a reminder for us to pause and reflect on the utter impossibility of Christmas.

     It was impossible to expect God to move after 400 years of prophetic silence, except that what man considers slow is never one second short of God’s perfect timing.

     It was impossible for a good and decent carpenter to accept the humiliation of learning that his betrothed was with a Child that he knew was not his own, except that in faith he bowed his heart to the voice of the angel who said to him, “Do not be afraid.”

     It was impossible to believe that the One who spoke the universe into existence was now taking on flesh in His mother’s womb, except that His glory was such that the child who would be known as John the Baptist leaped for joy in his mother’s womb at the very approach of the unborn Savior.

     It was impossible for a man and a woman from Nazareth to fulfill the necessity that the Messiah must be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah, except for the providential decree for a worldwide census.

     It was impossible to find suitable privacy for a woman to give birth in a small town wild with travelers and with no room to be found, except there was provided a lowly manger.

     It was impossible in an age before mass communication for the world to know that the King had been born, except for the myriads of heavenly hosts who illuminated the pitch darkness of the fields with an astounding announcement to the simplest of shepherds.

     It was impossible for those seeking the newborn Son of David to find Him, except for the brilliance of a star unlike any that man has ever seen.

     It was impossible to escape the wrath of a jealous and brutal tyrant, except for the angel’s warning to flee the approaching slaughter of the Innocents.

     It was impossible that the Word could take on flesh and not be worshiped by all who crossed His path, except that the Child from Bethlehem grew to walk in a world that did not know Him or the time of His visitation.

     It was impossible that a Child, whose first cradle was a feeding trough, would one day bridge the unfathomable gulf between a holy God and sinful man, except He lived a perfect life, gave Himself up as a sacrifice pierced with nails and crowned with thorns, and spoke with His dying breath, “It is finished.”

     It is impossible to believe that His mission was anything but a failure as the One once wrapped in swaddling clothes was now wrapped for burial and placed in a mournful tomb, except for an unexpected resurrection that forever crushed the power of sin and death.

     It is impossible to grasp that the birth of this King is still relevant to us today in a world of violence, uncertainty and injustice, except for the promise He made that He will one day return in an hour when we least expect Him.