Christmas is a time of wonder, a season of expectancy. Children wait with anticipation for the mystery of presents under the tree to be revealed. Yet somewhere between childhood and adulthood, we lose this sense of wonder. We become cynical. We dread the stress more than we anticipate the joy.
Many people want to reclaim a sense of joy, wonder, and expectancy, but even those aspirations can seem hollow.
To have expectancy, we need to anticipate something bigger than ourselves—the kind of awe that comes from standing before a mountain, an ocean, or the Grand Canyon. We need to anticipate something truly wonder-full. Yet nothing compares to what God has done in Christ. When we consider him, our eyes are lifted high, and we become expectant for the glory of the Father in the Son by the Spirit.
A Promise Centuries in the Making
When it comes to the expectation of Christmas, we can begin by remembering that long ago the prophet Isaiah delivered a stunning prediction:
“For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder.” (Isaiah 9:6)
Isaiah anticipated a wonderful day when a royal child would be born—one who would carry the weight of governing and ruling upon his shoulder. Seven hundred years later, this prophecy came to pass when an angel announced to a young woman in Judea that she would miraculously conceive a child. The angel declared:
“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32–33).
This child born, this son given, would be David’s descendant. But unlike every other descendant of David, this king’s reign would never end. As the prophet Daniel foretold, “The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed… It shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:44).
This is how a sense of wonder and expectancy builds. For centuries—and then for nine months—the world waited in expectation for this child to be born.
The Key That Opens Heaven
Isaiah provided another crucial detail about this coming king. Speaking of David’s descendant, he said, “I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open” (Isaiah 22:22).
This is the imagery behind the line from the beloved carol:
“O come, Thou Key of David, come,
and open wide our heav’nly home;
make safe the way that leads on high,
and close the path to misery.”
Isaiah was anticipating a royal child who would possess the key of David, the authority to open and close access to God’s blessings.
In the book of Revelation, Jesus Christ is described in precisely these terms: “The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens” (Revelation 3:7).
This predicted child is the Holy One. He holds the key of David. As Jesus himself declared, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18).
One Child, One Way
Stop for a moment and consider the wonder: the Anointed Messiah has the authority to welcome you into his blessings or to shut you out from them. His arrival is the ultimate game-changer.
All this cosmic wonder, all this crescendo of expectancy—it comes down to one child, one man, one Messiah. And this wonder finds its focus in Jesus’s own words:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
He alone has the key of David. He opens, and no one can shut. He shuts, and no one can open.
No wonder the angels burst into song: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:14). They were filled with cosmic wonder at this royal Son of David, who is also Mighty God, who reigns forever and ever.
The Question Before Us
The question for each of us today is this: Are we filled with wonder and expectancy? Do we believe Jesus has the authority to open and shut access to eternal salvation?
Or will we remain cynical and disbelieving?
Receive the gift of this good news—the gift of the Key of David. The one Messiah came to live, die, and rise from the dead in the place of sinners, opening up the blessings of David’s son to you: the blessing of God’s own love.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
This Christmas, return with faith and expectancy to Jesus Christ, the Key of David.
