"That Day"

(from Don Everts in "Jesus with Dirty Feet")

That Day.
The ancient Israelites always whispered in their tents at night about
That Day.
Young boys and girls exchanged stories their parents had told them about
That Day.
Old, leathered men would slowly stroke their beards wondering if That Day would come before their own days came to an end.
For generation upon generation the Hebrews had been waiting for That Day -
the blessed day when HE would come!
The Annointed One, that is.
On That Day, the I Am's saving presence would come in person as the One
who was special
who was annointed.
The One to save.
The One to heal.
The One to suffer - and win.
They waited for the promised Annointed One
or Messiah, as their language put it.
They knew He would come.
The only question was when.
Through beatings in slavery they waited.
In prison camps far from their destroyed homes they waited.
Even while prospering in times of victory they waited.
And then one day
in a dirty barn
He came.
The nation erupted
He had come!
The intricate prophecies were exactly fulfilled! The cosmos changed forever!
The Messiah
had finally come!
It was just as it had always been promised.
It was first-century Ixsrael, and the man who caused all the commotion was none other than Jesus Himself.
'They say his name is Jesus'
they would whsiper to each other as they rushed to the synagogue to hear him teach.
Little boys and girls would squeal when Jesus
the Messiah!
would stop and talke with them and hold them.
And when Jesus was still a tiny baby,
one old man
a complete stranger named Simeon,
stopped stroking his beard when he saw the baby, Jesus.
He walked over, picked Jesus up with his old wrinkled hands and (as Jesus's mother watched with wonder) held him toward the sky.
Simeon thanked God that he could finally die in peace
for he had lived to see That Day.
The Messiah had finally come.