This week wraps up the Old Testament with Christmas. The manual’s title comes from Isaiah 25:9: “we have waited for him, and he will save us.” From Adam and Eve to Malachi, God’s people looked forward to a Messiah, a Deliverer. They held onto that hope in Egypt, in Babylon and through their own mistakes, and the prophets kept promising that He would come to bear their “griefs” and carry their “sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4). When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the long wait ended. For teenagers, waiting is a familiar feeling: waiting for things to get better at home, for a friend to come back, for an answer, for life to start. This lesson connects that feeling to the most famous wait in history.
Teens appreciate prophecies with receipts. Isaiah foretold a son called Immanuel, which Matthew explains means “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:22–23). Micah named Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:4–6). Balaam saw “a Star out of Jacob” (Numbers 24:17; Matthew 2:2). In the Book of Mormon, Samuel the Lamanite foretold a night without darkness and a new star (Helaman 14:2–6). When unbelievers set a deadline to kill the believers if the sign didn’t come, Nephi prayed all day, and the sign came that very night (3 Nephi 1:9–21). Every one of these promises came true.
If questions come up: Jesus’s mother is Mary, and His Father is Heavenly Father, which is why the angel said He would be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35). Joseph was chosen to raise and protect Him. Jesus is also Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament, so Isaiah could call a baby “The mighty God.” He is called “The everlasting Father” because He created the earth under Heavenly Father’s direction and because we become His sons and daughters through our covenants (Mosiah 5:7). He is not Heavenly Father. No youth plays Jesus or Heavenly Father in any activity.
The manual invites us to look at the Savior’s names and titles and at Old Testament symbols that point to Him: a star, a shepherd, a lamb, water, a rock, a branch and light (Numbers 24:17; Psalm 23:1; Genesis 22:8; Exodus 17:6; 1 Samuel 2:2; Isaiah 11:1; Psalm 27:1). Many hang on Christmas trees. End by having each youth choose one title of the Savior to carry into next year, when they’ll study His life in the New Testament. Keep it warm and joyful: some youth had a hard Christmas, and the Prince of Peace is for them too.