This Name comes from the Hebrew verb which means "to be." And twice in the book of John, to the utter horror of the Jews who made sure to treat it so carefully, Jesus claimed it as His own - most shockingly at His betrayal, when the chief priests looked for Jesus of Nazareth and He answered, "I AM."

We usually think of Christ as the Light source, not a mere reflection of it. And He was - while He walked on earth, He was the Light of the world. But like sleepy Bethlehem on that silent night, we are waiting expectantly in the interim. We can see the Morning Star - for the Christ has come and done the work of salvation - but we await still the arrival of the Day, when He returns to be the Light of the New Earth.

Every knee will bow to this King and this Lord - and for that glorious day, our anticipation may (or may not!) extend long past Christmas of 2017, but in our hearts it is already reality: The kingdom of this world has become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ (Revelation 12:10).

But we wait expectantly - prostrate with gratefulness, like David the king - knowing that ours is a God who keeps His promises, and that the work Christ began when He first came as the Root and Descendant of David is still in the process of completion.