Since Anika was very young, her great-auntie Anna told her stories about God: how God created the beautiful world, how God chose the people of Israel as his own, and how the people failed to trust God and yet God kept calling them back to himself. Anika was filled with hope because her people were waiting to be saved by the Deliverer whom God had promised.
Now Anika asks great-auntie Anna many questions about the Deliverer: what will he be like, what will he look like, how will he deliver the people, and when will he come? Though Anna answers as best she can, Anika is still perplexed about the Deliverer.
One night, Anika wakes up to the singing of majestic angels and watches as jubilant shepherds, proclaiming the birth of the Deliverer, rush past her bedroom window. Anika is excited! A month later, when she visits her great-auntie, she is thrilled to learn that the Deliverer had been brought to the temple and Anna had the opportunity to cradle the Christ Child and speak to the people who were present about God’s promise to redeem them through him.
Still, Anika’s feelings are mixed: though she’s happy that her great-auntie had a chance to hold the Deliverer, she herself has still not seen him.
Everything changes for Anika when, much later, she notices a bright star like none other in the sky. Anika follows the star to the place where it rests above a small house. There she meets three men with gifts, but more importantly, her greatest prayer is answered and she meets the Christ Child, now a toddler.
Author Sarah Shin, a Korean American theologian, and her husband, illustrator Shin Maeng, capture the wondrous hope and relentless enthusiasm of a child who longs to meet her Deliverer. End notes include “A Guide to Anna and Anika’s Stories” for readers who are interested in finding the Scripture references for the narrative and illustrations that render a reimagining of Jesus' birth and the prophetess Anna's encounter with her Deliverer.
The Deliverer Has Come is a book to be savored year after year with young children during the seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. (WaterBrook)