Daily Devotion

 With Pastor Ancel Presnell

“THE MIGHTY GOD: BEFORE AND BEYOND”

When we look at the names given to this Child in Isaiah 9:6, we must grasp that He is far Beyond the Manger. He is not just “Baby Jesus” who existed once upon a time as a profound teacher. He is The Mighty God!

Part of Him being beyond the manger was Him being before the manger. John 1 tells us that He was in the beginning, and He was the Creator. The Mighty God was the creator beyond and before the manger, holding all things together. People don’t mind the innocent baby; they don’t mind the philosopher. But they absolutely do not want to see Christ as the Mighty God—the one who was before creation and who holds ultimate authority.

No one wants to see Him before the manger either, because that points to His divinity, His power, and His absolute right to judge sin. We cannot diminish Him just to make the Christmas story comfortable. Our belief in Christ can’t just hang around a baby in a feed trough. You must look beyond the swaddling clothes and accept that He is the Eternal.

John 1:1–“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”