We all have things that we’re hoping for. Just like Jenna hopes that she will pass her test, and Samuel hopes that he will be able to see his friends, the people of Israel were hoping for a messiah, a savior – someone who would rescue them. The Israelites had been waiting for thousands of years, and during those years many prophets had told them how the savior would come:

Isaiah 7:14-“… The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

Isaiah 9:6- “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.. and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Many times, we don’t know how or when what we hope for will happen. But the Israelites had been told through the prophets that the Savior would come as a baby, through a virgin birth. Hundreds and hundreds of years passed, and the people who heard these words held on to them and passed them on to their children, who then passed them on to their children, and so on-until what God had told them through the prophets finally happened (Luke 1:1-2). Our story today begins with an angel appearing to Mary, a virgin…