15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger.
Can you imagine being one of them, a shepherd....being visited by angels? Wondering why it was us shepherds that God sent an angel to announce his birth? Getting your eyes opened into the spirit realm for a moment in time? Going into town and finding things just as the angel had told you? Finding a familiarly smelly cave with a man, a woman, and a newborn baby swaddled in strips of cloth, laying in a feeding trough of hay, surrounded by animals? And finally, the “aha” moment as you stood looking at the infant "shepherd" and it dawned on you. The realization that set in that he was like you. Lowly. Common. Working class. Plain. Regular. Like you. He came down to your level. He chose to announce it to you. He invited you to him. He bypassed kings and queens, and came to you. You are invited to see the Savior. You are invited into his tangible presence. He is like you, but still somehow God. God, here, with me.
Of course he is a king, of course he is God, but he laid down his rights as king to come to you. He wanted to come here. To change your life. To make your life more full than you ever thought it could be. To become your Savior, but also to become your friend. To show you that you could talk straight to him without having a priest talk to him for you. To walk with you and cry with you through hard days, to laugh and rejoice with you on the good ones. To be available to you at any moment of the day or night. To be faithful to draw you close to him no matter what you had done. To take your place for the punishment of yours sins, even though he had no sin of his own to be punished. To spend forever with....
Do you realize what level he stooped to, just to come to us? Do you realize he WANTED to? He chose to? The author of life, creator of everything, creator of YOU, reduced to a tiny...naked...hungry...crying...shivering... helpless bundle, totally dependent upon a human for his existence, for his nourishment, for his warmth, for his safety and protection. All because he wanted to come rescue you.
Ask God today to show you the level of sacrifice it took for Him to become one of us. The irony of being born to a carpenter, who would teach him how to create and fashion wood with his hands (even though it was him that created the tree and who taught men to create), to play in the sawdust at his feet as a toddler, to build your first project together with your dad as a young boy, to stand alongside him as a teen helping him build, and then as a man to have your own hands and feet nailed into that wood...all because he became one of us.
17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.
It was just as the angel had told them! What they saw and experienced could not be contained! They had to share it! They were changed men! They took it back to their daily lives with them, “glorifying” God. Can we say the same? Can we say that what we have experienced by having Jesus come into our life cannot be contained to the point we have to talk about it? Can we say we take it with us everywhere we go, even into our workplace? Can we say it has made us a changed man or a changed woman forever? Does our very life bring honor and glory to God by the way we now live it?
All they saw that day was a baby. You and I have seen the whole picture - of his birth, his life, his ministry, his death, his burial, his resurrection, his ascension, the coming of the Holy Spirit. We have the books in the Bible to read about him, we have first hand accounts. We have it all. What do we do with it all is my question today?
I got a glimpse of what we do with it all, with the precious gift of Jesus we have been given. Just one trip to Kohl’s and Target hampered and grieved my spirit! Lines of people herded into roped off waiting lines like cattle, waiting for the “next available cashier”, people obviously tired and overspending, lights, tinsel, decorations, Christmas tree dinnerware, sales, sales, sales, dancing snowmen, penguins, and singing Santas, an old lady arguing in the aisle with a grandson because he couldn’t tell her what everybody wanted, a child tired of waiting in line, tired of being in a buggy. People scurrying everywhere to get something, anything, just so Aunt Hazel has a present under the tree. It has just never affected me like it did this time. It all seemed so foolish, like “chasing the wind”. Bowing to a god, a "spirit" of commercialism that has totally distracted us from the birth of our only hope. I feel ashamed of what we have done, of what it has all become. Of how ignored our guest is at his supposed celebration.
The only “birthday” celebration I’ve ever known where the “honoree” doesn’t get a gift, gets virtually ignored, and the guests go about lavishing on each other, but never on him. How odd and how selfish we humans are. Why are we not giving him anything?
But yet, knowing this would be, he still came. He knew we would do this. He knew mankind would totally reject him and find something else to worship. He knew he would be the last to get any recognition. He knew that materialism and commercialism would overtake us. He knew Santa would become the hero of the holiday and the Easter bunny the hero of the most sacred of his days. And he still came. He is still there, in the shadows, in the dark and dirty places, waiting for us. Because he thought we were worth it. And he is waiting for you.
What would it even look like this year to turn our hearts totally toward him? To give him a gift? Even the phrase “the true meaning of the season” has become cliche. What is it your parents say they want when you ask them? “Don’t get us anything, they say. Write me a card or something.” They want to know you. They want to know that you love them. Stuff is unimportant to them because they are your parents. Our Father is the same way. He just wants us. It’s all he’s ever wanted –us.
When you wrap the last of the stack of gifts, or when that last gift is opened Friday, sit among the paper and the bows and all the stuff you and your family have acquired, and ask yourself did you forget to give the most important present of all. Did you forget to give yourself to Christ? In the midst of all the giving mayhem, what did you truly give this year?
I love you all and I hope you truly sense what he has done for you. So much so, that you cannot contain it!
Teresa
Showing posts with label christmas story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christmas story. Show all posts
Monday, December 21, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Day 17, The Christmas Story, The Shepherds
8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
As Mary and Joseph were alone and taking in the wonder of what had happened in the past few hours, they held this newborn baby boy and enjoyed the warmth of the moments that are the first treasured times with your child. A calmness comes over a woman who has her new baby in her arms. I can say, outside of the peace that God himself gives, there is no other peace quite like it for a woman. I would say that humanly, the absolute most contented times I remember in my life are those holding my newborn children. Everything feels like it is absolutely right with the world, that you are right where you were made to be – holding this tiny new life, finally knowing what everybody else meant when they tried to describe the love you would feel for this child. You nodded and smiled, but you didn’t really understand the depth of what they meant until you experienced it for yourself.
Meanwhile, surrounding the town where they are staying, we see a fourth angelic visitation take place in this story, the angel’s visit to the boys and men tending sheep on the night watch that evening around Bethlehem. Dark night, maybe it was overcast, maybe there was some moonlight. They could see flickers of light from the buildings in town. But there in their field were only themselves, and their flock of sheep. I don’t know why, but I’m beginning to find it slightly funny that “boom”, an angel is standing in front of your face out of nowhere and he keeps saying “don’t be afraid!”. If I was out in a field alone in the middle of the night in extreme darkness, and all of a sudden a being immediately just burst into the scene before my eyes, I think smelling salts would be in order, not just a “do not be afraid”. But nevertheless, the angel of the Lord said it. Is there any doubt in your minds by now that if you ever see an angel, he’ll probably say that to you before you faint?
So, once the shepherds regained their composure, they realized it wasn’t dark anymore! There was a radiance, a glow all around them. The really neat thing about all these angelic visitations in this story is that not one of these people questioned that an angel was visiting them. They got scared, but nobody disbelieved that there was an angel there with them. I think in our culture, it would be much harder to convince anyone that we just saw into the spirit realm. However, I truly believe the further that time progresses, the more we will begin to see supernatural things and see into the spirit world. We will be returned to a place of belief. The shepherds believed and they listened to what was being told to them.
“I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
The unlikeliness of the announcement can’t be missed here. God didn’t send the angels to the authorities, the pharisees, the town administrator, the governor, or any king or other ruler. The first place he wanted to tell that his son had arrived was a bunch of shepherds. Everything he has done in this story is unlikely (according to our human understanding), but when looking at the bigger picture it all makes perfect sense. Of course, he would come to the lowly and humble. Of course, he would ask these shepherd boys to come see one like them, a shepherd, the shepherd of their people. Their savior. They were the first to be told that the prophecy of their people had been filled just a short distance from where they stood that very night. There was nothing to merit such a visit to this unlikely audience, except that God delights in humility, in humbling himself to come here, to be born in the nastiest, dirtiest, place. To reaching as far down as it took to get to even the absolute lowest person in our eyes. To be born into the exact stuff he came to set us free from. Filth and dirt, darkness, coldness, aloneness, social prejudices, poverty, oppression... He didn’t just come to earth, he came down as far as one could come, so much so that it would be a very difficult thing for his own people to accept that he was their King, their Messiah. It didn’t fit their fairytale dream of how they decided it would be once he showed up. It didn’t this night, and it never would. He was pure and innocent and holy, yet everybody was so offended by him. He would become a stone to cause many people to stumble. But not the shepherds – not tonight. God chose to announce the Shepherd of his people to these shepherds. He was now one of them, a shepherd.
13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
Suddenly, the shepherds saw something even more amazing than one angel in front of them, they saw a host, it says they saw the ARMIES of heaven praising God. Now THAT would be an overwhelming sight. I believe their eyes were opened into the spirit realm. They saw what was going on in the heavenly realm. They saw armies, not wimpy little thin blonde metrosexual angels as we so often see portrayed in pictures and movies. They saw warriors. (You men reading this, think "Gladiator" or "300"). They saw the massive strength of the heavenly host, all humbly praising their commander, consumed in total worship of God at that moment. They were witnessing a worship service, church, heaven-style. They were witnessing what every member of heaven was experiencing at that moment. They were given an open window to watch it. A scene no one could ever forget in their lifetime. And very few since that time have been privileged to see into the worship that surrounds the throne of God. Stephen, Paul, and John are a few.
And then, as soon as it had come, it was gone. The glowing light around them was gone and the night was again black around them and they could only hear the bleating of the sheep around them. (I’m thinking the sheep weren’t able to take all this in, because knowing how stupid and afraid sheep are, they would have run away while the shepherds weren’t watching them, scared to death. Thank goodness they weren't shepherding fainting goats.)
15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
And it is here we will stop for the weekend. Tomorrow will be the last Sunday before Christmas, and I truly do hope for you it is the most meaningful Sunday that you have experienced this whole year of 2009. I hope that more than ever, you identify with this story in such a personal way that it becomes more than just The Christmas Story. I would also encourage you to watch the movie that came out last year entitled “The Nativity”. It is an amazing Biblically-based movie that just totally brought to life the characters of these events for me, and I can’t wait to watch it again this year! When Perry and I left the theatre last year, we were both in tears and speechless because it was so real to us. I know if you watch Elf, Christmas Vacation, Four Christmases, The Family Stone, The Santa Clause, The Grinch, etc., etc., that you can carve out the time to watch the one movie that has been out recently that will encourage you in your faith this Christmas!! Buy it, rent it or borrow it. It is showing on cable TV all the time right now. I want to encourage you to carve out quiet time this week with God and with your family. A time to hear in your mind and see in your mind what these shepherds must have witnessed. These next five days are the last five of this season to truly deeply reflect on why Jesus came to you. What he did by coming to you.
Before ending, I want to share this true story with you. As I said before, I believe in these coming days, we will be allowed to see more and more into this spirit world that the shepherds saw into. Into things that are happening but that with our human eyes we can’t see. I have an awesome first-hand account from my mother-in-law, who was watching over her unconscious sister in hospice during her last days, and this occurred only a few weeks before last Christmas. She was in her room alone with her and heard voices singing. She thought the radio was on too loud in another patient’s room nearby. She called her husband to listen, but he couldn’t hear it. So she asked him to go see if somebody had a radio on too loud in another patient room. She called her brother, a pastor, to come in and find where that sound was coming from, but he didn’t hear anything either. But for her, the sound got louder. She stood up looking around for it, and came to the foot of her sister’s bed, where she stopped, and the sound began to get even louder. It was clear to her now that she was hearing singing, like a choir. She closed her eyes, and when she did, her “eyes” were opened and she saw a host of innumerable angels surrounding her sister’s bed. And it finally became clear the words she was hearing, “Holy....Holy....Holy....” It was so real that she reached out to touch them. She was in the presence of angels. She was given the privilege of seeing what was happening in the heavenly realm as her sister’s life was fading from this reality to the ultimate reality. She got to see just a little glimpse of what her sister was seeing and would soon see for all eternity. I’ve heard a few other amazing stories from very reputable people lately about seeing into the spirit realm. God is at work, but you know, he always has been. Most of the time our spirit eyes are shut, and a few times God will allow them to be open. Let him open your eyes to the depth of this time, of God actually becoming one of us. And coming here with one purpose in mind.
Teresa
As Mary and Joseph were alone and taking in the wonder of what had happened in the past few hours, they held this newborn baby boy and enjoyed the warmth of the moments that are the first treasured times with your child. A calmness comes over a woman who has her new baby in her arms. I can say, outside of the peace that God himself gives, there is no other peace quite like it for a woman. I would say that humanly, the absolute most contented times I remember in my life are those holding my newborn children. Everything feels like it is absolutely right with the world, that you are right where you were made to be – holding this tiny new life, finally knowing what everybody else meant when they tried to describe the love you would feel for this child. You nodded and smiled, but you didn’t really understand the depth of what they meant until you experienced it for yourself.
Meanwhile, surrounding the town where they are staying, we see a fourth angelic visitation take place in this story, the angel’s visit to the boys and men tending sheep on the night watch that evening around Bethlehem. Dark night, maybe it was overcast, maybe there was some moonlight. They could see flickers of light from the buildings in town. But there in their field were only themselves, and their flock of sheep. I don’t know why, but I’m beginning to find it slightly funny that “boom”, an angel is standing in front of your face out of nowhere and he keeps saying “don’t be afraid!”. If I was out in a field alone in the middle of the night in extreme darkness, and all of a sudden a being immediately just burst into the scene before my eyes, I think smelling salts would be in order, not just a “do not be afraid”. But nevertheless, the angel of the Lord said it. Is there any doubt in your minds by now that if you ever see an angel, he’ll probably say that to you before you faint?
So, once the shepherds regained their composure, they realized it wasn’t dark anymore! There was a radiance, a glow all around them. The really neat thing about all these angelic visitations in this story is that not one of these people questioned that an angel was visiting them. They got scared, but nobody disbelieved that there was an angel there with them. I think in our culture, it would be much harder to convince anyone that we just saw into the spirit realm. However, I truly believe the further that time progresses, the more we will begin to see supernatural things and see into the spirit world. We will be returned to a place of belief. The shepherds believed and they listened to what was being told to them.
“I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
The unlikeliness of the announcement can’t be missed here. God didn’t send the angels to the authorities, the pharisees, the town administrator, the governor, or any king or other ruler. The first place he wanted to tell that his son had arrived was a bunch of shepherds. Everything he has done in this story is unlikely (according to our human understanding), but when looking at the bigger picture it all makes perfect sense. Of course, he would come to the lowly and humble. Of course, he would ask these shepherd boys to come see one like them, a shepherd, the shepherd of their people. Their savior. They were the first to be told that the prophecy of their people had been filled just a short distance from where they stood that very night. There was nothing to merit such a visit to this unlikely audience, except that God delights in humility, in humbling himself to come here, to be born in the nastiest, dirtiest, place. To reaching as far down as it took to get to even the absolute lowest person in our eyes. To be born into the exact stuff he came to set us free from. Filth and dirt, darkness, coldness, aloneness, social prejudices, poverty, oppression... He didn’t just come to earth, he came down as far as one could come, so much so that it would be a very difficult thing for his own people to accept that he was their King, their Messiah. It didn’t fit their fairytale dream of how they decided it would be once he showed up. It didn’t this night, and it never would. He was pure and innocent and holy, yet everybody was so offended by him. He would become a stone to cause many people to stumble. But not the shepherds – not tonight. God chose to announce the Shepherd of his people to these shepherds. He was now one of them, a shepherd.
13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
Suddenly, the shepherds saw something even more amazing than one angel in front of them, they saw a host, it says they saw the ARMIES of heaven praising God. Now THAT would be an overwhelming sight. I believe their eyes were opened into the spirit realm. They saw what was going on in the heavenly realm. They saw armies, not wimpy little thin blonde metrosexual angels as we so often see portrayed in pictures and movies. They saw warriors. (You men reading this, think "Gladiator" or "300"). They saw the massive strength of the heavenly host, all humbly praising their commander, consumed in total worship of God at that moment. They were witnessing a worship service, church, heaven-style. They were witnessing what every member of heaven was experiencing at that moment. They were given an open window to watch it. A scene no one could ever forget in their lifetime. And very few since that time have been privileged to see into the worship that surrounds the throne of God. Stephen, Paul, and John are a few.
And then, as soon as it had come, it was gone. The glowing light around them was gone and the night was again black around them and they could only hear the bleating of the sheep around them. (I’m thinking the sheep weren’t able to take all this in, because knowing how stupid and afraid sheep are, they would have run away while the shepherds weren’t watching them, scared to death. Thank goodness they weren't shepherding fainting goats.)
15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
And it is here we will stop for the weekend. Tomorrow will be the last Sunday before Christmas, and I truly do hope for you it is the most meaningful Sunday that you have experienced this whole year of 2009. I hope that more than ever, you identify with this story in such a personal way that it becomes more than just The Christmas Story. I would also encourage you to watch the movie that came out last year entitled “The Nativity”. It is an amazing Biblically-based movie that just totally brought to life the characters of these events for me, and I can’t wait to watch it again this year! When Perry and I left the theatre last year, we were both in tears and speechless because it was so real to us. I know if you watch Elf, Christmas Vacation, Four Christmases, The Family Stone, The Santa Clause, The Grinch, etc., etc., that you can carve out the time to watch the one movie that has been out recently that will encourage you in your faith this Christmas!! Buy it, rent it or borrow it. It is showing on cable TV all the time right now. I want to encourage you to carve out quiet time this week with God and with your family. A time to hear in your mind and see in your mind what these shepherds must have witnessed. These next five days are the last five of this season to truly deeply reflect on why Jesus came to you. What he did by coming to you.
Before ending, I want to share this true story with you. As I said before, I believe in these coming days, we will be allowed to see more and more into this spirit world that the shepherds saw into. Into things that are happening but that with our human eyes we can’t see. I have an awesome first-hand account from my mother-in-law, who was watching over her unconscious sister in hospice during her last days, and this occurred only a few weeks before last Christmas. She was in her room alone with her and heard voices singing. She thought the radio was on too loud in another patient’s room nearby. She called her husband to listen, but he couldn’t hear it. So she asked him to go see if somebody had a radio on too loud in another patient room. She called her brother, a pastor, to come in and find where that sound was coming from, but he didn’t hear anything either. But for her, the sound got louder. She stood up looking around for it, and came to the foot of her sister’s bed, where she stopped, and the sound began to get even louder. It was clear to her now that she was hearing singing, like a choir. She closed her eyes, and when she did, her “eyes” were opened and she saw a host of innumerable angels surrounding her sister’s bed. And it finally became clear the words she was hearing, “Holy....Holy....Holy....” It was so real that she reached out to touch them. She was in the presence of angels. She was given the privilege of seeing what was happening in the heavenly realm as her sister’s life was fading from this reality to the ultimate reality. She got to see just a little glimpse of what her sister was seeing and would soon see for all eternity. I’ve heard a few other amazing stories from very reputable people lately about seeing into the spirit realm. God is at work, but you know, he always has been. Most of the time our spirit eyes are shut, and a few times God will allow them to be open. Let him open your eyes to the depth of this time, of God actually becoming one of us. And coming here with one purpose in mind.
Teresa
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Day 15, The Christmas Story, The Journey to Bethlehem
Good morning. Yesterday we studied Zechariah’s speech being restored and the life of faith that he now exhibited after his time of silence. Today, we are actually getting near the birth of Christ! I’m shocked – because I’m so long winded, that we might actually be having him born before the 25th! Miracle! But as usual, I’ll just keep going and stop where God says stop for the day and who knows what will happen!
Luke 2
1 At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, his wife, who was now obviously pregnant.
This will be one of those days of historical background, but will be necessary to the rest of the story, so bear with me, because the good stuff is soon to come.
A regional census leads Joseph and his betrothed, Mary, to the city of David, better known as Bethlehem. The decree had come from Caesar Augustus, better known as Octavian, who ruled from 27 B.C. to A.D. 14. The administrator of the census was Quirinius, governor of Syria. The census was most likely in order for tax purposes. I would imagine the Roman occupation of their land would have caused the Jews great bitterness toward paying them taxes. Although a lot of scholars argue that Joseph wouldn’t have gone to his ancestral home, it does make sense that the Roman authorities would seek to keep things peaceful and act in accordance with their tribal culture. A journey to the ancestral home would have fit Jewish practice, so that the custom was done in a culturally inoffensive manner (2 Sam 24). This was important, since the tax itself would have been a painful reminder of Israel's position before Rome.
Bethlehem has hot summers and cold winters, sort of like we do here in Tennessee. 70%of their rainfall occurs from December through March. So add cold to wet and rainy, and add traveling in it for three days, and you get chilled to the bone cold.
From Nazareth to Bethlehem was about a ninety mile trip when Samaria was bypassed. Jews generally avoided going through Samaria since they were basically enemies. (That’s a whole different study.!) So, this journey would have taken around three days! The scripture says Mary is “obviously” pregnant. You know, I wondered as I read this, how far along she actually was. If she endured a three-day journey on foot and on the back of a donkey, (traveling 30 miles a day!) it is quite plausible that this would have induced labor, even earlier than she was expecting. Anybody that’s ever had a baby has heard other women tell them to walk around a lot, in hopes of inducing labor. I cannot imagine Mary’s discomfort for these three long days. At the end of pregnancy, your back hurts, you certainly move at a snail’s pace, the baby is pushing up on your ribcage making it more difficult to breath. You have to go potty EVERY 15 minutes. There is NO way I could have ridden on a donkey before I had my last child, because Sarah Beth was so long and big, and I was so short-waisted that I truly believe she hooked her toes around my lower ribs like a monkey would and hung upside down, and occasionally push up on the barbells to stretch - agony. If I did sit, it would have to be bowed backward just to have breathing room! It is a medical fact that your heart is enlarged and working overtime during those last weeks. You are exhausted. Add to that the cold weather and the rainy season, well, that adds up to complete misery for a very pregnant woman.
I find it interesting that the number of days travel would have been three. Three is so interwoven through the Bible and is so significant in so many things. The three of the Trinity, 33 the age of Jesus when he began ministry, three days in the belly of a whale, Jesus was buried and raised again in 3 days, and I could go on and on (again, a whole ‘nother study). Even pregnancy by modern science is now divided into three “trimesters”.
But God had planned it this way, because a prophecy had stated in Micah 5:2 the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, David’s ancestral town.
Micah 5:2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times."
. IEverything is subject to the plan and purpose of God and to his timing and to his Sovereigntyn Proverbs you may remember the verse that says he turns the hearts of kings. Remember the story of how he hardened Pharaoh’s heart? And in this case, it was the Romans, the authorities who sought to subdue and control the Jews. Caesar had made it law that there would be a census taken of all the known world (in this case, the Roman Empire). And during Quirinius’s term as governor, he administered it. But, ironically, the move of the authorities to take this census and tax the people at this particular time in history, orchestrated (even though they didn’t realize it) by God himself, would bring Joseph, Mary and their unborn baby, the Messiah, straight into the town where God had promised so long ago that he would be born. Every last detail does not escape the notice of God. It was in Bethlehem that David had been born, and now the "eternal king" would be born in this very same town. Royalty, a "King of kings", was soon to enter human history. Bethlehem means "house of bread". Do you remember the day we studied Nazareth and how the "Living Water" was sent to be raised in a town so needy of water in its dry, arid region. And today, we can now see that the "Bread of Life" was prophesied to be born in a town that means "house of bread"! I think that is so cool that God has such awesome little details. And sometimes I wonder why Jews can't see it? Why is it not obvious to them that Jesus is truly their Messiah? I guess so their eyes would be blind and we Gentiles would be offered the same salvation that they are!
When God has a plan, there is no struggling on our part to force it to happen. It falls into perfect timing, like pieces in a puzzle, effortlessly because you have the Holy Spirit with you. We have all tried to make things happen, make things be like we thought God would have them. But in our wildest dreams, we can never know the ways of God. His ways are not our ways, his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. And sometimes it may take us on a long, uncomfortable journey to get us to the place that he is ready to fulfill his promise in his time. Remember, He did not even spare this discomfort on Mary or Joseph, the very people chosen to raise his son.
As you journey to the place God is preparing for you, do not assume all is not well if the journey seems difficult at times. He will still prepare the way ahead of you, still bring you to the right place at the right time, with ways beyond our own means, ways that we could never dream of. And out of the long journey will in time come a treasure, as we are soon to see.
Teresa
Luke 2
1 At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, his wife, who was now obviously pregnant.
This will be one of those days of historical background, but will be necessary to the rest of the story, so bear with me, because the good stuff is soon to come.
A regional census leads Joseph and his betrothed, Mary, to the city of David, better known as Bethlehem. The decree had come from Caesar Augustus, better known as Octavian, who ruled from 27 B.C. to A.D. 14. The administrator of the census was Quirinius, governor of Syria. The census was most likely in order for tax purposes. I would imagine the Roman occupation of their land would have caused the Jews great bitterness toward paying them taxes. Although a lot of scholars argue that Joseph wouldn’t have gone to his ancestral home, it does make sense that the Roman authorities would seek to keep things peaceful and act in accordance with their tribal culture. A journey to the ancestral home would have fit Jewish practice, so that the custom was done in a culturally inoffensive manner (2 Sam 24). This was important, since the tax itself would have been a painful reminder of Israel's position before Rome.
Bethlehem has hot summers and cold winters, sort of like we do here in Tennessee. 70%of their rainfall occurs from December through March. So add cold to wet and rainy, and add traveling in it for three days, and you get chilled to the bone cold.
From Nazareth to Bethlehem was about a ninety mile trip when Samaria was bypassed. Jews generally avoided going through Samaria since they were basically enemies. (That’s a whole different study.!) So, this journey would have taken around three days! The scripture says Mary is “obviously” pregnant. You know, I wondered as I read this, how far along she actually was. If she endured a three-day journey on foot and on the back of a donkey, (traveling 30 miles a day!) it is quite plausible that this would have induced labor, even earlier than she was expecting. Anybody that’s ever had a baby has heard other women tell them to walk around a lot, in hopes of inducing labor. I cannot imagine Mary’s discomfort for these three long days. At the end of pregnancy, your back hurts, you certainly move at a snail’s pace, the baby is pushing up on your ribcage making it more difficult to breath. You have to go potty EVERY 15 minutes. There is NO way I could have ridden on a donkey before I had my last child, because Sarah Beth was so long and big, and I was so short-waisted that I truly believe she hooked her toes around my lower ribs like a monkey would and hung upside down, and occasionally push up on the barbells to stretch - agony. If I did sit, it would have to be bowed backward just to have breathing room! It is a medical fact that your heart is enlarged and working overtime during those last weeks. You are exhausted. Add to that the cold weather and the rainy season, well, that adds up to complete misery for a very pregnant woman.
I find it interesting that the number of days travel would have been three. Three is so interwoven through the Bible and is so significant in so many things. The three of the Trinity, 33 the age of Jesus when he began ministry, three days in the belly of a whale, Jesus was buried and raised again in 3 days, and I could go on and on (again, a whole ‘nother study). Even pregnancy by modern science is now divided into three “trimesters”.
But God had planned it this way, because a prophecy had stated in Micah 5:2 the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, David’s ancestral town.
Micah 5:2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times."
. IEverything is subject to the plan and purpose of God and to his timing and to his Sovereigntyn Proverbs you may remember the verse that says he turns the hearts of kings. Remember the story of how he hardened Pharaoh’s heart? And in this case, it was the Romans, the authorities who sought to subdue and control the Jews. Caesar had made it law that there would be a census taken of all the known world (in this case, the Roman Empire). And during Quirinius’s term as governor, he administered it. But, ironically, the move of the authorities to take this census and tax the people at this particular time in history, orchestrated (even though they didn’t realize it) by God himself, would bring Joseph, Mary and their unborn baby, the Messiah, straight into the town where God had promised so long ago that he would be born. Every last detail does not escape the notice of God. It was in Bethlehem that David had been born, and now the "eternal king" would be born in this very same town. Royalty, a "King of kings", was soon to enter human history. Bethlehem means "house of bread". Do you remember the day we studied Nazareth and how the "Living Water" was sent to be raised in a town so needy of water in its dry, arid region. And today, we can now see that the "Bread of Life" was prophesied to be born in a town that means "house of bread"! I think that is so cool that God has such awesome little details. And sometimes I wonder why Jews can't see it? Why is it not obvious to them that Jesus is truly their Messiah? I guess so their eyes would be blind and we Gentiles would be offered the same salvation that they are!
When God has a plan, there is no struggling on our part to force it to happen. It falls into perfect timing, like pieces in a puzzle, effortlessly because you have the Holy Spirit with you. We have all tried to make things happen, make things be like we thought God would have them. But in our wildest dreams, we can never know the ways of God. His ways are not our ways, his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. And sometimes it may take us on a long, uncomfortable journey to get us to the place that he is ready to fulfill his promise in his time. Remember, He did not even spare this discomfort on Mary or Joseph, the very people chosen to raise his son.
As you journey to the place God is preparing for you, do not assume all is not well if the journey seems difficult at times. He will still prepare the way ahead of you, still bring you to the right place at the right time, with ways beyond our own means, ways that we could never dream of. And out of the long journey will in time come a treasure, as we are soon to see.
Teresa
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Day 14, The Christmas Story, A Vision for your Child
Good morning. Yesterday, we learned about the birth of John, and how it was that Zechariah was given his voice and his hearing back at John’s circumcision and naming ceremony. The people around him knew that John must be a special child because of what they had seen God do that day. Upon God restoring his voice, he also filled him with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was already upon Elizabeth and his son John, since before John’s birth. We think of the Holy Spirit only being active after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, but here we have it. He’s always been around and active, and always will be. The verses immediately following that tell us what Zechariah’s focus now was. He immediately had this to say:
67 Then his father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and gave this prophecy: (When we encounter God in a personal way, we will open up our mouths and speak. Our hearts will be full and will overflow and we can’t help but talk about it.
)
68 “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has visited and redeemed his people.
69 He has sent us a mighty Savior
from the royal line of his servant David,
70 just as he promised
through his holy prophets long ago.
71 Now we will be saved from our enemies
and from all who hate us.
72 He has been merciful to our ancestors
by remembering his sacred covenant—
73 the covenant he swore with an oath
to our ancestor Abraham.
74 We have been rescued from our enemies
so we can serve God without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness
for as long as we live.
It sounds like to me the time of quiet had done Zechariah a lot of good. He wasn’t calling his son, John, the savior, but rather was acknowledging that God had indeed done what he told him he would, and that it was all a part of the plan for the Savior’s imminent coming, within six months actually! The same Zechariah that Gabriel had prophesied to and responded with doubt, now prophesies himself over the people around him that day! This day, as Zechariah stared into the face of his one-week old little baby boy, he stared into the physical manifestation of God’s promise to him. It had now come to be. Faith had become sight. The years of waiting for a child had passed, nine months of waiting for the pregnancy had passed, a week of waiting after his birth had passed, and now on this special day, Zechariah saw the fullness of what the Lord was doing. It was almost as if his eyes were fully opened along with his mouth and ears. I’m sure that Zechariah had listened quietly around Mary and Elizabeth as the spent time together talking of what their God had done in their lives and the miracles and the angels, and things that were nothing short of divine. And when we are left in silence as he was, there is a lot of thinking and pondering time.
Join Zechariah at this overwhelmingly precious and tender time as he holds his son and begins to speak this prophecy over his son.
76 “And you, my little son,
will be called the prophet of the Most High,
because you will prepare the way for the Lord.
77 You will tell his people how to find salvation
through forgiveness of their sins.
78 Because of God’s tender mercy,
the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us,
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
and to guide us to the path of peace.”
I think Zechariah’s time of reflection prepared him to be the father John was going to need to be this man God called him to be. John became a strong man, full of purpose, not wavering, very focused, and very different from his peers. That happens when God has a calling on someone’s life, and also when those around him, nurture him in that calling.
80 John grew up and became strong in spirit. And he lived in the wilderness until he began his public ministry to Israel.
If you are a Christian and a parent, what do you see as God’s vision for your child? Do you truly see his truly everlasting eternal vision and purpose for your child and those whose lives he will touch to be soccer on Monday, dance on Tuesday, music lessons on Wednesday, karate on Thursday, football on Friday, tournaments on Sunday, and every other imaginable kind of busyness during any available free times? Do you see it as making sure they get as much as everybody else under the tree this year? Do you see it as making sure they “succeed, achieve, compete, win, get a great job, go to the right school”? Do you see it as making life as busy and performance oriented as possible, and to look out for themselves above everything else? Some of you might. It is, after all, a rampant epidemic in our self-focused, achievement-oriented culture, enslaving our children with a spirit of busyness and self-satisfaction. Or do you let them see you pray on your knees, let them catch you reading your Bible, choosing church over those endless Sunday travel teams, watch you give away what you have instead of hoard it, watch you spend time building relationships, watch you parents loving each other, who sit and play games with them and do puzzles and spend time with them, not a computer screen, not a TV screen, not in shuttling them to the next activity while driving through McDonald’s.
God as our Father is totally about relationship with us. “Be still and know that I am God” is only one of countless verses in the Bible where God stresses quietness and alone time with him, relationship, friendship with him. Are you passing that virtue on to your children? What is it you are speaking over them with every action you take or every word you say to them? As as always, I ask myself the same questions, because once your children are grown as mine are you have a lot of regrets and see what you wish you’d done differently.
How can we pass onto our children wisdom unless we have attained it, lessons learned from life experiences unless we have chosen to learn them, the importance of a close walk with God unless we ourselves have a close walk with God, the vision for their future if we do not have one for them or ourselves, faith to be our provider when our true faith is in our job and our Visa card, hope for eternity if we do not even have hope for making ends meet, true joy in living unless we have found the author of true joy? The answer is we can pass no abundant life, nothing of value onto our children if that virtue doesn’t already reside in us. You cannot give what you do not possess. God allowed Zechariah to grow in virtue so he could raise a virtuous young man. And when he again had his voice, he from that point began a life of speaking over John God’s purpose for his life. His manner of speech changed from doubt to faith and prophecy. And John then as an adult pointed people to Christ everywhere he went. Just like God wants us to. Just like he wants our children to.
The absolute three best gifts you can give your son or daughter this Christmas are first of all, Jesus himself, secondly you can give them you, thirdly you can give them your time.
Take one step today to center your life and the life of your family in the middle of purpose – God’s purpose.
Teresa
67 Then his father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and gave this prophecy: (When we encounter God in a personal way, we will open up our mouths and speak. Our hearts will be full and will overflow and we can’t help but talk about it.
)
68 “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has visited and redeemed his people.
69 He has sent us a mighty Savior
from the royal line of his servant David,
70 just as he promised
through his holy prophets long ago.
71 Now we will be saved from our enemies
and from all who hate us.
72 He has been merciful to our ancestors
by remembering his sacred covenant—
73 the covenant he swore with an oath
to our ancestor Abraham.
74 We have been rescued from our enemies
so we can serve God without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness
for as long as we live.
It sounds like to me the time of quiet had done Zechariah a lot of good. He wasn’t calling his son, John, the savior, but rather was acknowledging that God had indeed done what he told him he would, and that it was all a part of the plan for the Savior’s imminent coming, within six months actually! The same Zechariah that Gabriel had prophesied to and responded with doubt, now prophesies himself over the people around him that day! This day, as Zechariah stared into the face of his one-week old little baby boy, he stared into the physical manifestation of God’s promise to him. It had now come to be. Faith had become sight. The years of waiting for a child had passed, nine months of waiting for the pregnancy had passed, a week of waiting after his birth had passed, and now on this special day, Zechariah saw the fullness of what the Lord was doing. It was almost as if his eyes were fully opened along with his mouth and ears. I’m sure that Zechariah had listened quietly around Mary and Elizabeth as the spent time together talking of what their God had done in their lives and the miracles and the angels, and things that were nothing short of divine. And when we are left in silence as he was, there is a lot of thinking and pondering time.
Join Zechariah at this overwhelmingly precious and tender time as he holds his son and begins to speak this prophecy over his son.
76 “And you, my little son,
will be called the prophet of the Most High,
because you will prepare the way for the Lord.
77 You will tell his people how to find salvation
through forgiveness of their sins.
78 Because of God’s tender mercy,
the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us,
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
and to guide us to the path of peace.”
I think Zechariah’s time of reflection prepared him to be the father John was going to need to be this man God called him to be. John became a strong man, full of purpose, not wavering, very focused, and very different from his peers. That happens when God has a calling on someone’s life, and also when those around him, nurture him in that calling.
80 John grew up and became strong in spirit. And he lived in the wilderness until he began his public ministry to Israel.
If you are a Christian and a parent, what do you see as God’s vision for your child? Do you truly see his truly everlasting eternal vision and purpose for your child and those whose lives he will touch to be soccer on Monday, dance on Tuesday, music lessons on Wednesday, karate on Thursday, football on Friday, tournaments on Sunday, and every other imaginable kind of busyness during any available free times? Do you see it as making sure they get as much as everybody else under the tree this year? Do you see it as making sure they “succeed, achieve, compete, win, get a great job, go to the right school”? Do you see it as making life as busy and performance oriented as possible, and to look out for themselves above everything else? Some of you might. It is, after all, a rampant epidemic in our self-focused, achievement-oriented culture, enslaving our children with a spirit of busyness and self-satisfaction. Or do you let them see you pray on your knees, let them catch you reading your Bible, choosing church over those endless Sunday travel teams, watch you give away what you have instead of hoard it, watch you spend time building relationships, watch you parents loving each other, who sit and play games with them and do puzzles and spend time with them, not a computer screen, not a TV screen, not in shuttling them to the next activity while driving through McDonald’s.
God as our Father is totally about relationship with us. “Be still and know that I am God” is only one of countless verses in the Bible where God stresses quietness and alone time with him, relationship, friendship with him. Are you passing that virtue on to your children? What is it you are speaking over them with every action you take or every word you say to them? As as always, I ask myself the same questions, because once your children are grown as mine are you have a lot of regrets and see what you wish you’d done differently.
How can we pass onto our children wisdom unless we have attained it, lessons learned from life experiences unless we have chosen to learn them, the importance of a close walk with God unless we ourselves have a close walk with God, the vision for their future if we do not have one for them or ourselves, faith to be our provider when our true faith is in our job and our Visa card, hope for eternity if we do not even have hope for making ends meet, true joy in living unless we have found the author of true joy? The answer is we can pass no abundant life, nothing of value onto our children if that virtue doesn’t already reside in us. You cannot give what you do not possess. God allowed Zechariah to grow in virtue so he could raise a virtuous young man. And when he again had his voice, he from that point began a life of speaking over John God’s purpose for his life. His manner of speech changed from doubt to faith and prophecy. And John then as an adult pointed people to Christ everywhere he went. Just like God wants us to. Just like he wants our children to.
The absolute three best gifts you can give your son or daughter this Christmas are first of all, Jesus himself, secondly you can give them you, thirdly you can give them your time.
Take one step today to center your life and the life of your family in the middle of purpose – God’s purpose.
Teresa
Monday, December 14, 2009
Day 12, Joseph - The Christmas Story
Good Monday morning. I trust you had a great weekend. I truly think studying this is helping me not get caught up in the frenzy of the season and that is a great thing! I hope it is that way for you too. Financially, this is a slim year for Christmas for many of us, but I think even that is by design, so as to take our eyes off the material and place them on the spiritual meaning this time holds for us. Let’s look at it as an act of grace. For the past, at least 10, years, I have usually gotten sick at Christmas, and I think it is from the stress of getting caught up in the dizzying activity of the season.
Today, we are going to jump over to Matthew, chapter 1, since Luke did not record the story of Joseph. Matthew wrote about Joseph and what happened to him before Mary gave birth to Jesus.
18This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
The Bible says that Joseph was a righteous man. Joseph was now already in a legally binding contract of betrothal with Mary. And he found that his fiancée was pregnant by some person other than himself! It may have been before she left to see Elizabeth, or after she returned three months later, that she had “the talk” with Joseph. In my mind, I think she probably told him before she left, and that it gave Joseph the time he needed with the Lord to deal with it before she came back home from Elizabeth’s house three months later. Regardless, according to Jewish law, any man who was engaged to a woman who turned out not to be a virgin, was entitled to bring evidence against her and she could be tried publicly and possibly stoned to death (Deut 22:20-21). He could also divorce her, as during the betrothal period they were legally bound together already and the only thing that could break the betrothal was death or divorce. Interestingly, those that keep Jewish law were considered righteous. But God saw a different righteousness in Joseph. HIS kind of righteousness – grace that went beyond the law. Joseph did not want her publicly humiliated, and he certainly did not want to have her stoned to death. So, he decided to quietly divorce her. Just that one act speaks volumes to me of Joseph’s character. His very manhood and ego had been insulted, his fiancée was pregnant, it wasn’t his child, he would be ridiculed by his peers, and probably encouraged by his buddies to “teach her a lesson” and save face! What a humiliating situation for a man to be in! Some of you men reading this can probably imagine the kind of struggle this brought up in Joseph. Trying to be a Godly man, and then this! Why? Why was God doing this to him?? He was a righteous man. But something within Joseph’s spirit, a man in the lineage of David (and Bathsheba), found grace for the situation, and put aside his own ego and reputation, in Mary’s behalf. Divorcing her quietly was an act of mercy on his part. An act that was the very picture of the child he would soon raise.
BUT.....now here comes another angel! Zechariah, Mary and now Joseph. Joseph’s visitation was different in that it was in a dream. However, do not discount the significance, as dreams and visions have carried an incredible amount of weight all through Jewish history. (Look at how big a part dreams played in the other Joseph’s story in the Old Testament, among countless others.) In our day, we can tend to discount dreams and attribute them to the pizza we ate the night before. And some of them are just that! However, I truly believe God is still active in our dream life. I have had many dreams that were definitely God speaking to me. See, when we dream, our logical conscious mind is at rest, and I believe that sometimes, people like me would explain away things in the daytime with our mind, but at night God has full access to my mind. He’s shown me some amazing things at night. And what he showed Joseph that night was an angelic visitation, a night vision, another divine intervention. No doubt, Joseph’s mind was churning and reeling and trying to figure out the best way to handle this situation, and when he finally fell asleep one night after having toiled through an unending torrent of thoughts and solutions all day, his mind became available and quieted so that he could hear the Holy Spirit. And this dream would not be the end of Joseph’s dreaming, as you will see later.
20But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
The angel identified Joseph by his name, but also by his lineage, son of David. By this point in the story, I’m coming to realize that no word spoken by an angel is insignificant! I believe each word carried weight, such as the fact that he greeted him as the son of David. I think later Joseph would recall that phrase, maybe many times throughout his life of raising Jesus, and realize that even though he was not the earthly father of Jesus, that he was in the lineage of David, as was Mary, and that he was also part of the divine design to fulfill the prophecies that David would always have a descendant on the throne, that Jesus was a son of David. He was chosen to be a part of this prophecy just as much as any other person in this story. God himself chose Joseph to be the man he knew would raise his son and love him as his own. He chose Joseph’s hands to place Jesus into to be the man in his life. His financial status didn’t matter – he was just a poor carpenter, a man who created things with wood. But it was his heart that God was after.
Joseph was told not to be afraid to take Mary home as his wife. In the end of the betrothal period, the custom was that the groomsmen would come to the house of the bride and her bridesmaids and bring them through a procession at night, to end up at the house of the groom, and to come into the house to live with him from that point forward. (That’s a whole different study, because there is so much significance in it comparing this Jewish tradition to our bride and groom relationship we have with Jesus.) So the angel was telling him not to be afraid to go ahead with the final traditional act of making Mary his wife, by bringing her into his home. That sort of nixed the divorce idea! But the angel, again graciously, told him why.... “because what is conceived in her is from God himself, she is innocent, she is still a virgin, she is God’s divine instrument chosen to bring a Messiah to Joseph’s people.” I find the next phrase very interesting. The angel told Joseph, “YOU” are to give him the name Jesus. He told Mary the same thing, but he didn’t have to include Joseph in this. He had no physical contribution to this birth. I’m sure he at times must have felt like a total outsider in this divine relationship between God and Mary and Jesus. But God said that Joseph was to name Jesus. God wanted him to be a part of Jesus’ life, not an outsider. As all fathers did in that culture, he was told to name his “son”. God was entrusting Joseph his very own son. God chose Joseph to be the father to his child. Wow!! I believes that speaks volumes of Joseph’s character. It is hard for a man to be a Godly father, to love his family deeply, provide for the family, spend time in relationship with his children and his wife, but it is a great step further to be asked to do the same for a child who is in no way a part of you – a step-child. How appropriate in our time today in our century, when divorce is rampant, yet God in his grace still wants to place children in homes where there is a father figure and a mother, both willing to sacrifice their personal agenda in order to raise a child to know God. What a high calling. It to me echoes the very nature of Jesus and God, in that we are ALL adopted into his family. Every one of us is adopted, and God has chosen to love us as if we were his own birth child!
I have a step-daughter. I know a lot of you reading this have step-children. Step-families are hard. I was not a good step-mother when it all started. I was caught up in all the blended family issues that inevitably occur, and unfortunately in a lot of selfishness on my part. But I can say today that I love Olivia like she is one of my own children. She is a part of me in some way, even though she is not mine by birth. In fact, some of her traits and talents are as much like some of mine as if we were related by blood. She is a blessing in my life, and has provided me with an experience I would not have known apart from her being in my life.
22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."
24When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And HE gave him the name Jesus.
Joseph completed the betrothal at some point before Jesus was born and took Mary into his home as his wife, although he kept her a virgin.
Joseph loved God, but he learned that loving God was about loving the woman he thought was unfaithful, and about being willing to change his own view about what is the right thing to do in life. Not just follow the Law, but follow the higher law of love. Joseph was a righteous man who was opened up to God, God’s love and God’s purposes, even though Joseph probably didn’t understand them fully anymore than we always do. But Joseph was willing to go with God, and that meant going with Mary, and the birth that was about to take place.
Who is it in your life that God has called you to be in relationship with? To love like your own? What is it in your life that sort of stopped your plans and changed the direction of your life? Do you understand that God must see a depth of character in you to have chosen you for the thing he is asking of you? If he can send his own son into the safe-keeping of human hands for your well-being and salvation, can you accept what he wants to send into your life for another’s safe-keeping and well-being and possibly their eternal salvation? Can you accept that your life is about more than just you? Can you do the selfless thing he asks of you when he asks?
It is a hard thing to ponder, but God will ask it of you at some point, if he hasn’t already.
Be blessed. Love beyond your bloodline.
Teresa
Today, we are going to jump over to Matthew, chapter 1, since Luke did not record the story of Joseph. Matthew wrote about Joseph and what happened to him before Mary gave birth to Jesus.
18This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
The Bible says that Joseph was a righteous man. Joseph was now already in a legally binding contract of betrothal with Mary. And he found that his fiancée was pregnant by some person other than himself! It may have been before she left to see Elizabeth, or after she returned three months later, that she had “the talk” with Joseph. In my mind, I think she probably told him before she left, and that it gave Joseph the time he needed with the Lord to deal with it before she came back home from Elizabeth’s house three months later. Regardless, according to Jewish law, any man who was engaged to a woman who turned out not to be a virgin, was entitled to bring evidence against her and she could be tried publicly and possibly stoned to death (Deut 22:20-21). He could also divorce her, as during the betrothal period they were legally bound together already and the only thing that could break the betrothal was death or divorce. Interestingly, those that keep Jewish law were considered righteous. But God saw a different righteousness in Joseph. HIS kind of righteousness – grace that went beyond the law. Joseph did not want her publicly humiliated, and he certainly did not want to have her stoned to death. So, he decided to quietly divorce her. Just that one act speaks volumes to me of Joseph’s character. His very manhood and ego had been insulted, his fiancée was pregnant, it wasn’t his child, he would be ridiculed by his peers, and probably encouraged by his buddies to “teach her a lesson” and save face! What a humiliating situation for a man to be in! Some of you men reading this can probably imagine the kind of struggle this brought up in Joseph. Trying to be a Godly man, and then this! Why? Why was God doing this to him?? He was a righteous man. But something within Joseph’s spirit, a man in the lineage of David (and Bathsheba), found grace for the situation, and put aside his own ego and reputation, in Mary’s behalf. Divorcing her quietly was an act of mercy on his part. An act that was the very picture of the child he would soon raise.
BUT.....now here comes another angel! Zechariah, Mary and now Joseph. Joseph’s visitation was different in that it was in a dream. However, do not discount the significance, as dreams and visions have carried an incredible amount of weight all through Jewish history. (Look at how big a part dreams played in the other Joseph’s story in the Old Testament, among countless others.) In our day, we can tend to discount dreams and attribute them to the pizza we ate the night before. And some of them are just that! However, I truly believe God is still active in our dream life. I have had many dreams that were definitely God speaking to me. See, when we dream, our logical conscious mind is at rest, and I believe that sometimes, people like me would explain away things in the daytime with our mind, but at night God has full access to my mind. He’s shown me some amazing things at night. And what he showed Joseph that night was an angelic visitation, a night vision, another divine intervention. No doubt, Joseph’s mind was churning and reeling and trying to figure out the best way to handle this situation, and when he finally fell asleep one night after having toiled through an unending torrent of thoughts and solutions all day, his mind became available and quieted so that he could hear the Holy Spirit. And this dream would not be the end of Joseph’s dreaming, as you will see later.
20But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
The angel identified Joseph by his name, but also by his lineage, son of David. By this point in the story, I’m coming to realize that no word spoken by an angel is insignificant! I believe each word carried weight, such as the fact that he greeted him as the son of David. I think later Joseph would recall that phrase, maybe many times throughout his life of raising Jesus, and realize that even though he was not the earthly father of Jesus, that he was in the lineage of David, as was Mary, and that he was also part of the divine design to fulfill the prophecies that David would always have a descendant on the throne, that Jesus was a son of David. He was chosen to be a part of this prophecy just as much as any other person in this story. God himself chose Joseph to be the man he knew would raise his son and love him as his own. He chose Joseph’s hands to place Jesus into to be the man in his life. His financial status didn’t matter – he was just a poor carpenter, a man who created things with wood. But it was his heart that God was after.
Joseph was told not to be afraid to take Mary home as his wife. In the end of the betrothal period, the custom was that the groomsmen would come to the house of the bride and her bridesmaids and bring them through a procession at night, to end up at the house of the groom, and to come into the house to live with him from that point forward. (That’s a whole different study, because there is so much significance in it comparing this Jewish tradition to our bride and groom relationship we have with Jesus.) So the angel was telling him not to be afraid to go ahead with the final traditional act of making Mary his wife, by bringing her into his home. That sort of nixed the divorce idea! But the angel, again graciously, told him why.... “because what is conceived in her is from God himself, she is innocent, she is still a virgin, she is God’s divine instrument chosen to bring a Messiah to Joseph’s people.” I find the next phrase very interesting. The angel told Joseph, “YOU” are to give him the name Jesus. He told Mary the same thing, but he didn’t have to include Joseph in this. He had no physical contribution to this birth. I’m sure he at times must have felt like a total outsider in this divine relationship between God and Mary and Jesus. But God said that Joseph was to name Jesus. God wanted him to be a part of Jesus’ life, not an outsider. As all fathers did in that culture, he was told to name his “son”. God was entrusting Joseph his very own son. God chose Joseph to be the father to his child. Wow!! I believes that speaks volumes of Joseph’s character. It is hard for a man to be a Godly father, to love his family deeply, provide for the family, spend time in relationship with his children and his wife, but it is a great step further to be asked to do the same for a child who is in no way a part of you – a step-child. How appropriate in our time today in our century, when divorce is rampant, yet God in his grace still wants to place children in homes where there is a father figure and a mother, both willing to sacrifice their personal agenda in order to raise a child to know God. What a high calling. It to me echoes the very nature of Jesus and God, in that we are ALL adopted into his family. Every one of us is adopted, and God has chosen to love us as if we were his own birth child!
I have a step-daughter. I know a lot of you reading this have step-children. Step-families are hard. I was not a good step-mother when it all started. I was caught up in all the blended family issues that inevitably occur, and unfortunately in a lot of selfishness on my part. But I can say today that I love Olivia like she is one of my own children. She is a part of me in some way, even though she is not mine by birth. In fact, some of her traits and talents are as much like some of mine as if we were related by blood. She is a blessing in my life, and has provided me with an experience I would not have known apart from her being in my life.
22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."
24When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And HE gave him the name Jesus.
Joseph completed the betrothal at some point before Jesus was born and took Mary into his home as his wife, although he kept her a virgin.
Joseph loved God, but he learned that loving God was about loving the woman he thought was unfaithful, and about being willing to change his own view about what is the right thing to do in life. Not just follow the Law, but follow the higher law of love. Joseph was a righteous man who was opened up to God, God’s love and God’s purposes, even though Joseph probably didn’t understand them fully anymore than we always do. But Joseph was willing to go with God, and that meant going with Mary, and the birth that was about to take place.
Who is it in your life that God has called you to be in relationship with? To love like your own? What is it in your life that sort of stopped your plans and changed the direction of your life? Do you understand that God must see a depth of character in you to have chosen you for the thing he is asking of you? If he can send his own son into the safe-keeping of human hands for your well-being and salvation, can you accept what he wants to send into your life for another’s safe-keeping and well-being and possibly their eternal salvation? Can you accept that your life is about more than just you? Can you do the selfless thing he asks of you when he asks?
It is a hard thing to ponder, but God will ask it of you at some point, if he hasn’t already.
Be blessed. Love beyond your bloodline.
Teresa
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Day 9, The Christmas Story, Logic or Faith
Good morning. It is Thursday, December 10. I hope you had time yesterday to place your hand on the scripture and remind yourself that your name is written in the palm of God’s hand and that he calls us by name. We continue with Mary’s visit with Gabriel today...
30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
I find the pattern here interesting, because it is so very much like Gabriel’s encounter with Zechariah. Gabriel shows up, the person is startled and even afraid. Gabriel calls them by name and tells them not to be afraid. He then proceeds to tell what God is going to do, and even the details to follow. He tells Mary that she will have a baby, a boy, and tells her what to name him (Jesus, meaning “The Lord Saves”), that he will be given the throne of his ancestor, David, he will reign over Israel forever, etc. (A fulfillment of the prophecy in 2 Samuel 7:16) A mind-boggling string of announcements, enough to cause one to stagger. And what does she do? Exactly what Zechariah did. She heard the first thing he said and probably was in shock over it and couldn’t move past it yet to get the full effect of the rest of the announcement.
34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”
Just as had happened to Zechariah, her finite mind stopped at the point she heard “you are going to conceive and give birth to a son”. Which would be the obvious place it would screech to a halt for any human, since she was a virgin. She may have been young and naive, but she was smart enough to know virgins don’t have babies! And the old friend Logic showed up and asked, How can this happen? Zechariah asked “how can I KNOW this will happen”, but Mary only asked “how can this happen”. Zechariah, a priest, a man up in years, a man who was a leader, who ministered in the temple, wanted proof that he could know it would happen. Mary, young and naive, was not asking for proof. I believe she was innocently wondering how you could have a baby if you are a virgin. So Gabriel proceeded to explain it to her.
35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.
Remember, in the last verse, Gabriel said Jesus would be called the “Son of the Most High”. Here, he reiterates that phrase by explaining to her that the “power of the Most High” would overshadow her. Gabriel explains that the reason she will have a baby in a humanly impossible way is that the power of the Most High will overshadow her. The child will be holy. Her son will be called the Son of God. (Among others, Peter’s pronouncement comes to mind from Matthew 16:16, when he said “You are the Messiah, the son of the Living God.”) So, Gabriel took the care to explain to Mary further. Then he gives another announcement to Mary...
36 What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she’s now in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God.”
I believe he was fueling her faith. He told her what was going to happen. He then explained it further. Then, he added to his pronouncement the fact that her relative, Elizabeth was pregnant in her old age (Zechariah wasn’t quite so blunt – he said she was “well along in years” – smart man). Not only was she going to have a humanly impossible baby, her relative Elizabeth, who had been wanting a child for years, but was old and barren, was now six months pregnant. There was somebody else out there to talk to, who would believe her story, who could encourage her, who had also experienced a divine intervention that could not have occurred apart from the Most High God.
“FOR NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!”
Do you really believe that? Do you honestly believe that is still a true statement today? Are you truly able in your mind and heart and spirit to look back those few years ago and believe this actually happened? We say yes, we are a Christian, of course we believe it happened just like it is written. We say, yes, we believe that God’s timing was impeccable. After years of praying for a Messiah, we believe God had chosen that time to come to answer the prayers of his people. Yes, we believe Zechariah was in the Holy Place burning incense that day by divine providence. Of course, we believe Mary was a virgin and yes, we believe Gabriel was burning up the highway between heaven and earth. And yes, even though we can’t physically explain it, we believe Jesus was actually God’s son. And yes, we believe God delights in impossible situations. And yes, we believe old barren Elizabeth had a baby. And yes, we believe the impossible situation is really the truest way for Him and Him alone to receive glory. And yes, he uses finite, frail, logical humans, so his power can be show-cased in our weakness. We believe he used that pattern over and over and over in the stories we read in the Bible. Maybe, by now, you even say you believe that God calls you, personally, by name and writes your name in the palm of his hand.
We say we believe, but ... we worry over the smallest, most insignificant things. Things that, in the end, make absolutely no difference in eternity. Things that won’t matter by next week or next year. Things that are material and temporal. We believe our situation is beyond help, beyond saving. Let me just tell you, you can’t believe both ways. And, believe me, I’m preaching to myself too! One is going to win out, no matter what you profess. The one that wins out will be the one you truly believe, and it will be the one you base your life and actions on. It will be the one everybody sees when they watch you. Only one belief is true. Whether it is 0 A.D. or 2009 A.D.,did God change? Does he still have a perfect timetable? How would we, in our culture, today, accept these events? With skepticism? With doubt? Asking for proof? How do you accept the own impossibilities in your life? What would your answer be to Gabriel if he showed up while you were reading this email and told you God wanted to do something unexplainable and miraculous in your life? Would you rely on logic? Would your first reaction be to doubt? If you are like me, you fit the above description. I don’t like that, but I must admit that is how I often live and act.
Today let God convict you in the dark corners of your heart that harbor unbelief in his ways, his timing, his miracles, his provision, his answers. And tomorrow, we will see what Mary’s response was to Gabriel.
Isaiah 41: (9) "I have called you back from the ends of the earth so you can serve me. For I have chosen you and will not throw you away. (10) Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. (13) "I am holding you by your right hand - I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, 'Do not be afraid. I am here to help you." (20) Everyone will see this miracle and understand that it is the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, who did it."
Praying that God helps us all in our personal areas of worry and doubt and unbelief before we go any further in this story...
Teresa
30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
I find the pattern here interesting, because it is so very much like Gabriel’s encounter with Zechariah. Gabriel shows up, the person is startled and even afraid. Gabriel calls them by name and tells them not to be afraid. He then proceeds to tell what God is going to do, and even the details to follow. He tells Mary that she will have a baby, a boy, and tells her what to name him (Jesus, meaning “The Lord Saves”), that he will be given the throne of his ancestor, David, he will reign over Israel forever, etc. (A fulfillment of the prophecy in 2 Samuel 7:16) A mind-boggling string of announcements, enough to cause one to stagger. And what does she do? Exactly what Zechariah did. She heard the first thing he said and probably was in shock over it and couldn’t move past it yet to get the full effect of the rest of the announcement.
34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”
Just as had happened to Zechariah, her finite mind stopped at the point she heard “you are going to conceive and give birth to a son”. Which would be the obvious place it would screech to a halt for any human, since she was a virgin. She may have been young and naive, but she was smart enough to know virgins don’t have babies! And the old friend Logic showed up and asked, How can this happen? Zechariah asked “how can I KNOW this will happen”, but Mary only asked “how can this happen”. Zechariah, a priest, a man up in years, a man who was a leader, who ministered in the temple, wanted proof that he could know it would happen. Mary, young and naive, was not asking for proof. I believe she was innocently wondering how you could have a baby if you are a virgin. So Gabriel proceeded to explain it to her.
35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.
Remember, in the last verse, Gabriel said Jesus would be called the “Son of the Most High”. Here, he reiterates that phrase by explaining to her that the “power of the Most High” would overshadow her. Gabriel explains that the reason she will have a baby in a humanly impossible way is that the power of the Most High will overshadow her. The child will be holy. Her son will be called the Son of God. (Among others, Peter’s pronouncement comes to mind from Matthew 16:16, when he said “You are the Messiah, the son of the Living God.”) So, Gabriel took the care to explain to Mary further. Then he gives another announcement to Mary...
36 What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she’s now in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God.”
I believe he was fueling her faith. He told her what was going to happen. He then explained it further. Then, he added to his pronouncement the fact that her relative, Elizabeth was pregnant in her old age (Zechariah wasn’t quite so blunt – he said she was “well along in years” – smart man). Not only was she going to have a humanly impossible baby, her relative Elizabeth, who had been wanting a child for years, but was old and barren, was now six months pregnant. There was somebody else out there to talk to, who would believe her story, who could encourage her, who had also experienced a divine intervention that could not have occurred apart from the Most High God.
“FOR NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!”
Do you really believe that? Do you honestly believe that is still a true statement today? Are you truly able in your mind and heart and spirit to look back those few years ago and believe this actually happened? We say yes, we are a Christian, of course we believe it happened just like it is written. We say, yes, we believe that God’s timing was impeccable. After years of praying for a Messiah, we believe God had chosen that time to come to answer the prayers of his people. Yes, we believe Zechariah was in the Holy Place burning incense that day by divine providence. Of course, we believe Mary was a virgin and yes, we believe Gabriel was burning up the highway between heaven and earth. And yes, even though we can’t physically explain it, we believe Jesus was actually God’s son. And yes, we believe God delights in impossible situations. And yes, we believe old barren Elizabeth had a baby. And yes, we believe the impossible situation is really the truest way for Him and Him alone to receive glory. And yes, he uses finite, frail, logical humans, so his power can be show-cased in our weakness. We believe he used that pattern over and over and over in the stories we read in the Bible. Maybe, by now, you even say you believe that God calls you, personally, by name and writes your name in the palm of his hand.
We say we believe, but ... we worry over the smallest, most insignificant things. Things that, in the end, make absolutely no difference in eternity. Things that won’t matter by next week or next year. Things that are material and temporal. We believe our situation is beyond help, beyond saving. Let me just tell you, you can’t believe both ways. And, believe me, I’m preaching to myself too! One is going to win out, no matter what you profess. The one that wins out will be the one you truly believe, and it will be the one you base your life and actions on. It will be the one everybody sees when they watch you. Only one belief is true. Whether it is 0 A.D. or 2009 A.D.,did God change? Does he still have a perfect timetable? How would we, in our culture, today, accept these events? With skepticism? With doubt? Asking for proof? How do you accept the own impossibilities in your life? What would your answer be to Gabriel if he showed up while you were reading this email and told you God wanted to do something unexplainable and miraculous in your life? Would you rely on logic? Would your first reaction be to doubt? If you are like me, you fit the above description. I don’t like that, but I must admit that is how I often live and act.
Today let God convict you in the dark corners of your heart that harbor unbelief in his ways, his timing, his miracles, his provision, his answers. And tomorrow, we will see what Mary’s response was to Gabriel.
Isaiah 41: (9) "I have called you back from the ends of the earth so you can serve me. For I have chosen you and will not throw you away. (10) Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. (13) "I am holding you by your right hand - I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, 'Do not be afraid. I am here to help you." (20) Everyone will see this miracle and understand that it is the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, who did it."
Praying that God helps us all in our personal areas of worry and doubt and unbelief before we go any further in this story...
Teresa
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Day 8, The Christmas Story, He Knows My Name
Good morning. It is Wednesday the 9th of December. I must add a disclaimer here. I was sitting on the couch this morning, thinking, hmmm... it’s two weeks till Christmas Eve. Today, we’re just getting to the Annunciation. Will I even get to the birth of Jesus in this study by the 24th, Christmas Eve? See, I don’t know, because every morning when I sit down, I don’t know what I’m going to say or how far in the scripture passage I will go, so hey, who knows? I don’t even know what I am fixing to write below this paragraph. I was thinking “I need to make sure we have Jesus being born on Christmas Eve”, and in my analytical mind thought I might need to count off the scriptures remaining and divide them by days, so the outcome would be just right. BUT God reminded me that this story should be told as HE gives understanding, and not to meet a schedule, and that, as in all things, perfect timing is his. Otherwise, in my own hands of planning and scheduling, I and all of you would just become the victim of another hurried, rushed, meaningless Christmas destroyed in the hands of humans. So, it will be interesting to see what day Jesus is born on in our study this month!
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you![d]”
Yesterday, we pondered Mary, and the day before learned about her hometown, Nazareth. We learned what their engagement/betrothal customs were. And now, we come to the conversation between her and Gabriel.
So in the meanwhile between visiting Zechariah, and at least six months later on this day, Gabriel has been back up at the throne of God. I am wondering during that year if all these occurrences ranked the highest for numbers of angelic visitation in Bible history. I think in this story there are more than 4 angelic visitations, maybe more, at least two of those by Gabriel himself. Once again, Gabriel is sent to earth, this time to Mary. I wonder if he finds out about these things just before the fact? It is my guess he does. You know how God never seems to lay out the whole story to us, just part of it? I wonder if he did that with Gabriel. Nevertheless, Gabriel continues his post at the throne of God, watching for any sign from God that it was time to carry out the next portion of his plan. And six months after visiting Zechariah, he is now sent to earth again, this time to a young, unimportant, unknown teenage girl in a similarly unimportant small village. And the first thing he says to Mary is “Hello, woman who has been given favor, the Lord is with you!”
There is an exclamation point in this verse, as there was when Gabriel spoke to Zechariah. I think he was truly excited and enthused. Remember, he had been in the throne room. He was seeing the God of the universe, his creator and our creator, now setting in motion the events of the Messiah’s coming to earth. Of course he was excited! He, no doubt, had a bigger picture than the humans who he was sent to would have. And he was enthused!
29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. At this point, he’s come to her, excited, calling her favored, saying the Lord is with her. I think it is correct to say that a young girl of her culture would be very confused and disturbed and trying to figure out what was going on. Do you know the thoughts that can run through your mind in a split second after hearing a person speak only a sentence? It is amazing how fast the brain can start analyzing and churning out information and questions.
30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God!
I saw something here I didn’t catch before with Zechariah. In both instances, Gabriel calls them by name and tells them not to be afraid. He was not some obscure entity from another planet sent to deliver a generic message. He was debriefed by the God of the Universe, about Zechariah, and then about Mary, their positions, their lives, about them as people, and their names. He knew the people he was speaking to, and he called them by name. Doubtless, as Gabriel stood in front of God himself, God spoke their names. “Mary”... I just love that, because even that one little gesture shows the personal nature of God in his relationship with us individually. He calls us by name. And the angel who had watched his every move, not only brought a message, but he was bringing relationship. It is one thing to have an angel show up in your room. It is another for them to look you in the eyes and call you by your name and tell you not to be afraid. How loving, how personal, how intimate a picture of God’s desire for relationship with us. And that desire for relationship with us is the crux of this whole story, the reason he would soon send Jesus to us. I just never saw before that hint at relationship.
I know that’s not very far along in the story today, but that’s where I feel led to stop. I feel it is vital today, that you end this segment with the knowledge that God Almighty KNOWS your name and he SPEAKS your name. He knew intricately the players of this story, but just as intricately he knows us. Look at the verses below. And let it sink in, that HE knows YOU. HE designed YOU.
"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.. Before you were born, I set you apart for my holy purpose. Jeremiah 1:5
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Isaiah 43:1-3
See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Isaiah 49:16
Zephaniah 3:17(NIV) The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take GREAT DELIGHT in you, he will QUIET YOU with his love, he will REJOICE OVER YOU with singing.
Your mother, whether your birth mother or your adoptive mother, had a desire to sing over you when you were a baby. It is innate in us as mothers. We hold our babies tenderly and close to our hearts and sing to them. It is a time of bonding, of soothing, of expressing our love, our watch care over the one we have been entrusted to love. Mary would soon hold her child close to her heart, as we still do, and sing over him. But, remember, God said he made us in his image, and this innate desire in us is but a picture of our God, who in the same manner sings over us. It began with him, not with mothers. It is an image of him. He knows you, he made you, he set you apart, he called you by name, claimed you as his. He wrote his name on the palm of your hand. There is something close and intimate about the palm of the hand (remember writing your girlfriend or boyfriend’s name on the palm of your hand as a kid, closing it tightly to keep it close to you?) I used to get on to my middle son for constantly writing on his hands as a kid. Obviously, I might now have rethought that, as this was another trait of God that was passed to us when we were made in his image. He takes great delight in you, he quiets you, and he sings over you. If that is not enough, read Psalms 23 about every benefit he provides YOU.
Today let Him call you by name. I challenge you to do this - When you are near your Bible, do this. Open it up to the passage we studied today in Luke 1. Now open your hand and look at your palm. Be reminded that your name is written on God’s palm. Now close it tightly and feel the complete protection the hand provides over that palm. Lastly, now open your hand, stretch your fingers wide, and press your palm into that passage in the Bible we studied today. Leave it there. Let your alive body touch God’s alive and active words and realize that you are touching truth.
Do you hear what I hear? Listen, and you will hear him call your name.
How wonderful.
Teresa
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you![d]”
Yesterday, we pondered Mary, and the day before learned about her hometown, Nazareth. We learned what their engagement/betrothal customs were. And now, we come to the conversation between her and Gabriel.
So in the meanwhile between visiting Zechariah, and at least six months later on this day, Gabriel has been back up at the throne of God. I am wondering during that year if all these occurrences ranked the highest for numbers of angelic visitation in Bible history. I think in this story there are more than 4 angelic visitations, maybe more, at least two of those by Gabriel himself. Once again, Gabriel is sent to earth, this time to Mary. I wonder if he finds out about these things just before the fact? It is my guess he does. You know how God never seems to lay out the whole story to us, just part of it? I wonder if he did that with Gabriel. Nevertheless, Gabriel continues his post at the throne of God, watching for any sign from God that it was time to carry out the next portion of his plan. And six months after visiting Zechariah, he is now sent to earth again, this time to a young, unimportant, unknown teenage girl in a similarly unimportant small village. And the first thing he says to Mary is “Hello, woman who has been given favor, the Lord is with you!”
There is an exclamation point in this verse, as there was when Gabriel spoke to Zechariah. I think he was truly excited and enthused. Remember, he had been in the throne room. He was seeing the God of the universe, his creator and our creator, now setting in motion the events of the Messiah’s coming to earth. Of course he was excited! He, no doubt, had a bigger picture than the humans who he was sent to would have. And he was enthused!
29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. At this point, he’s come to her, excited, calling her favored, saying the Lord is with her. I think it is correct to say that a young girl of her culture would be very confused and disturbed and trying to figure out what was going on. Do you know the thoughts that can run through your mind in a split second after hearing a person speak only a sentence? It is amazing how fast the brain can start analyzing and churning out information and questions.
30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God!
I saw something here I didn’t catch before with Zechariah. In both instances, Gabriel calls them by name and tells them not to be afraid. He was not some obscure entity from another planet sent to deliver a generic message. He was debriefed by the God of the Universe, about Zechariah, and then about Mary, their positions, their lives, about them as people, and their names. He knew the people he was speaking to, and he called them by name. Doubtless, as Gabriel stood in front of God himself, God spoke their names. “Mary”... I just love that, because even that one little gesture shows the personal nature of God in his relationship with us individually. He calls us by name. And the angel who had watched his every move, not only brought a message, but he was bringing relationship. It is one thing to have an angel show up in your room. It is another for them to look you in the eyes and call you by your name and tell you not to be afraid. How loving, how personal, how intimate a picture of God’s desire for relationship with us. And that desire for relationship with us is the crux of this whole story, the reason he would soon send Jesus to us. I just never saw before that hint at relationship.
I know that’s not very far along in the story today, but that’s where I feel led to stop. I feel it is vital today, that you end this segment with the knowledge that God Almighty KNOWS your name and he SPEAKS your name. He knew intricately the players of this story, but just as intricately he knows us. Look at the verses below. And let it sink in, that HE knows YOU. HE designed YOU.
"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.. Before you were born, I set you apart for my holy purpose. Jeremiah 1:5
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Isaiah 43:1-3
See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Isaiah 49:16
Zephaniah 3:17(NIV) The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take GREAT DELIGHT in you, he will QUIET YOU with his love, he will REJOICE OVER YOU with singing.
Your mother, whether your birth mother or your adoptive mother, had a desire to sing over you when you were a baby. It is innate in us as mothers. We hold our babies tenderly and close to our hearts and sing to them. It is a time of bonding, of soothing, of expressing our love, our watch care over the one we have been entrusted to love. Mary would soon hold her child close to her heart, as we still do, and sing over him. But, remember, God said he made us in his image, and this innate desire in us is but a picture of our God, who in the same manner sings over us. It began with him, not with mothers. It is an image of him. He knows you, he made you, he set you apart, he called you by name, claimed you as his. He wrote his name on the palm of your hand. There is something close and intimate about the palm of the hand (remember writing your girlfriend or boyfriend’s name on the palm of your hand as a kid, closing it tightly to keep it close to you?) I used to get on to my middle son for constantly writing on his hands as a kid. Obviously, I might now have rethought that, as this was another trait of God that was passed to us when we were made in his image. He takes great delight in you, he quiets you, and he sings over you. If that is not enough, read Psalms 23 about every benefit he provides YOU.
Today let Him call you by name. I challenge you to do this - When you are near your Bible, do this. Open it up to the passage we studied today in Luke 1. Now open your hand and look at your palm. Be reminded that your name is written on God’s palm. Now close it tightly and feel the complete protection the hand provides over that palm. Lastly, now open your hand, stretch your fingers wide, and press your palm into that passage in the Bible we studied today. Leave it there. Let your alive body touch God’s alive and active words and realize that you are touching truth.
Do you hear what I hear? Listen, and you will hear him call your name.
How wonderful.
Teresa
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Day 7, The Christmas Story, Humble Women
Good morning:) Yesterday, we learned a lot about Nazareth, Mary and Joseph’s hometown, and the place Jesus would be raised as a boy. Today, we are going to look more at where Mary was in terms of age, position, engagement, etc.
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David.
In Matthew and in Luke, the lineages of Joseph and Mary are given. They are both considered to be from the lineage of David. The engagement of Mary and Joseph is not at all like our Western culture. It is actually a very interesting process. It is, of course, an arranged marriage. The usual age for betrothal (engagement) for a girl was around the age of 15, even as young as 12 or 13!!, and for a young man was around the age of 25. The bride was chosen by the groom’s parents or by a confidential friend. Upon entering into the engagement, a dowry and financial considerations were agreed upon by both sides. Betrothal was much more formal and far more binding than "engagement" is in our culture. It was considered to be the most binding part of the marriage transaction. Mary and Joseph had gone through a ceremony of betrothal, with acceptance before witnesses of the terms of the marriage as contracted for. God's blessing was then solemnly asked on the union, however, the complete union would take place after anywhere from some months to one or two years, completed by a procession where the groom took the bride into his house to live. In Mary’s case it would be in about a year. Mary then went back to her home to live with her family for this year until the groom took her into his house. We don’t know how long they had been engaged when this passage was written. The ceremony had already occurred. Joseph was working on her dowry during this time. She was living at home still with her parents. There were no sexual relations during this time. Their communication was always carried on through a friend of the bridegroom. They lived in separate houses during that time. The year of their betrothal was likely spent for Joseph in service to Mary’s family or in other ways raising money for her dowry, to purchase his wife. However, they were legally in the position of a married couple and any unfaithfulness would have been considered adultery. Unfaithfulness was punishable by death according to Jewish law. And, a groom would have the right to divorce his “wife” before he ever took her into his house, before there was ever a wedding procession.
So, Mary was a very young girl. I know in our culture, we cannot imagine this kind of occurrence in a 14 or 15-year-old girl. She was a virgin and was pure. (That one is unfortunately becoming harder to imagine today too.) And she had been legally bound to a man, Joseph, by a ceremony. She was a “wife” and yet under the authority still of her parents’ home. Mary was the last person to know of her intended marriage. It would have been Joseph’s parents or a trusted friend of the family who chose his wife. Then, they would have talked to Mary’s parents first and gained their approval. Mary would have been the last to know. Women did not have any kind of status in their culture. What is interesting about this is that Luke is careful to include women instrumental to the gospel in this book he wrote. You will find Luke including histories of the women involved in the life of Jesus, as well as the men. From his unique perspective as a non-Jew and a physician, his account is more detailed and recognizes women more than in the other gospels. First, we learn about Elizabeth, and now about Mary.
Remember at the first of Luke how it said that he had interviewed people and gotten first-hand accounts and collected all his data before writing this book? I wonder if he interviewed Mary. I wonder if she sat with him one day as an old woman, and began to recount her story to Luke, as he jotted down every detail she could tell him. Luke, being a doctor, no doubt believed in the validity of Mary’s virginity at the time of Jesus’ conception, or he in his medical profession would not have included it in his writings. I wonder if, looking back all those years, past all the things that had happened in her lifetime being the mother of Jesus, she began to recount for Luke the days when she was just a girl living at home, when she found out one day who her husband was going to be. The day she went to her betrothal ceremony to a man she hardly even knew. The day Gabriel came to her. The day he told her what God asked of her. The day she said yes. The day she felt the first faint flutter of her child moving inside of her. The aloneness she must have felt. The many times she submitted to choices made outside of her own will. Wow, haven’t we as women come so far from what Mary’s environment was? We choose who we date, who and if we marry, we choose our education, our careers, we choose when and if we want to have babies, and unfortunately, we have also been given a legal “right” to choose to terminate the babies that were not in our plans. Yes, when it says “we’ve come a long way, baby”, I wonder in which direction sometimes? One of the things I struggle with as a female is a very strong and independent spirit. Now, I believe God put in me exactly what he intended me to have in terms of my spirit and personality, just as he did all of us. But, I have a hard time not being “in the know”, not being part of any decision making that’s going on, not being considered an equal, deferring to my husband when we disagree and a final decision must be made. I am a daughter of Eve. But when I think of Mary, I think of a purity and an innocence, a submission, an availability, an openness, and a godliness, all wrapped up in the body of a young teenage girl. That in our day alone would be considered a miracle. But I also know that Mary was a strong young woman to be chosen to endure what she would over her lifetime. Just think, the day that Mary’s mother gave birth to her, she was born into this world with a purpose that would change the course of history, less than two decades down the road. Just think, Mary’s own mother was probably only in her 30s!
So, today, women, I especially ask you to consider what it is that causes you to not be in a position of purity and submission before the Lord. Think of the task God placed before Mary by the age of 15, and then think of where you are in your walk with the Lord today, at your age. Is there a place for greater devotion to him? Is there a place of more humility and less “rights”? Is there an openness in our hearts for what he wants to bring about through us, for what he wants to use us for, for what he wants to birth in us? What do you think he would have done in you and through you by now were you totally submitted and devoted to him and to his purposes? It is a hard question for me. But these women are placed throughout the story of Jesus birth for us to learn from. We will later study the last chapter of Proverbs, chapter 31, the virtuous woman. But for today, think about the virtue of the women we have met so far in this story. And remember, humility is not an absence of strength, but rather it is “strength under the control of God”.
Teresa
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David.
In Matthew and in Luke, the lineages of Joseph and Mary are given. They are both considered to be from the lineage of David. The engagement of Mary and Joseph is not at all like our Western culture. It is actually a very interesting process. It is, of course, an arranged marriage. The usual age for betrothal (engagement) for a girl was around the age of 15, even as young as 12 or 13!!, and for a young man was around the age of 25. The bride was chosen by the groom’s parents or by a confidential friend. Upon entering into the engagement, a dowry and financial considerations were agreed upon by both sides. Betrothal was much more formal and far more binding than "engagement" is in our culture. It was considered to be the most binding part of the marriage transaction. Mary and Joseph had gone through a ceremony of betrothal, with acceptance before witnesses of the terms of the marriage as contracted for. God's blessing was then solemnly asked on the union, however, the complete union would take place after anywhere from some months to one or two years, completed by a procession where the groom took the bride into his house to live. In Mary’s case it would be in about a year. Mary then went back to her home to live with her family for this year until the groom took her into his house. We don’t know how long they had been engaged when this passage was written. The ceremony had already occurred. Joseph was working on her dowry during this time. She was living at home still with her parents. There were no sexual relations during this time. Their communication was always carried on through a friend of the bridegroom. They lived in separate houses during that time. The year of their betrothal was likely spent for Joseph in service to Mary’s family or in other ways raising money for her dowry, to purchase his wife. However, they were legally in the position of a married couple and any unfaithfulness would have been considered adultery. Unfaithfulness was punishable by death according to Jewish law. And, a groom would have the right to divorce his “wife” before he ever took her into his house, before there was ever a wedding procession.
So, Mary was a very young girl. I know in our culture, we cannot imagine this kind of occurrence in a 14 or 15-year-old girl. She was a virgin and was pure. (That one is unfortunately becoming harder to imagine today too.) And she had been legally bound to a man, Joseph, by a ceremony. She was a “wife” and yet under the authority still of her parents’ home. Mary was the last person to know of her intended marriage. It would have been Joseph’s parents or a trusted friend of the family who chose his wife. Then, they would have talked to Mary’s parents first and gained their approval. Mary would have been the last to know. Women did not have any kind of status in their culture. What is interesting about this is that Luke is careful to include women instrumental to the gospel in this book he wrote. You will find Luke including histories of the women involved in the life of Jesus, as well as the men. From his unique perspective as a non-Jew and a physician, his account is more detailed and recognizes women more than in the other gospels. First, we learn about Elizabeth, and now about Mary.
Remember at the first of Luke how it said that he had interviewed people and gotten first-hand accounts and collected all his data before writing this book? I wonder if he interviewed Mary. I wonder if she sat with him one day as an old woman, and began to recount her story to Luke, as he jotted down every detail she could tell him. Luke, being a doctor, no doubt believed in the validity of Mary’s virginity at the time of Jesus’ conception, or he in his medical profession would not have included it in his writings. I wonder if, looking back all those years, past all the things that had happened in her lifetime being the mother of Jesus, she began to recount for Luke the days when she was just a girl living at home, when she found out one day who her husband was going to be. The day she went to her betrothal ceremony to a man she hardly even knew. The day Gabriel came to her. The day he told her what God asked of her. The day she said yes. The day she felt the first faint flutter of her child moving inside of her. The aloneness she must have felt. The many times she submitted to choices made outside of her own will. Wow, haven’t we as women come so far from what Mary’s environment was? We choose who we date, who and if we marry, we choose our education, our careers, we choose when and if we want to have babies, and unfortunately, we have also been given a legal “right” to choose to terminate the babies that were not in our plans. Yes, when it says “we’ve come a long way, baby”, I wonder in which direction sometimes? One of the things I struggle with as a female is a very strong and independent spirit. Now, I believe God put in me exactly what he intended me to have in terms of my spirit and personality, just as he did all of us. But, I have a hard time not being “in the know”, not being part of any decision making that’s going on, not being considered an equal, deferring to my husband when we disagree and a final decision must be made. I am a daughter of Eve. But when I think of Mary, I think of a purity and an innocence, a submission, an availability, an openness, and a godliness, all wrapped up in the body of a young teenage girl. That in our day alone would be considered a miracle. But I also know that Mary was a strong young woman to be chosen to endure what she would over her lifetime. Just think, the day that Mary’s mother gave birth to her, she was born into this world with a purpose that would change the course of history, less than two decades down the road. Just think, Mary’s own mother was probably only in her 30s!
So, today, women, I especially ask you to consider what it is that causes you to not be in a position of purity and submission before the Lord. Think of the task God placed before Mary by the age of 15, and then think of where you are in your walk with the Lord today, at your age. Is there a place for greater devotion to him? Is there a place of more humility and less “rights”? Is there an openness in our hearts for what he wants to bring about through us, for what he wants to use us for, for what he wants to birth in us? What do you think he would have done in you and through you by now were you totally submitted and devoted to him and to his purposes? It is a hard question for me. But these women are placed throughout the story of Jesus birth for us to learn from. We will later study the last chapter of Proverbs, chapter 31, the virtuous woman. But for today, think about the virtue of the women we have met so far in this story. And remember, humility is not an absence of strength, but rather it is “strength under the control of God”.
Teresa
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Day 5 of the Christmas Story, Elizabeth
Hello to everyone. I hope you are enjoying your Saturday!
23 When Zechariah’s week of service in the Temple was over, he returned home.
That is where we left off yesterday. Zechariah returning home from his week of service in the Temple, struck deaf and mute by Gabriel, to a confused wife (well beyond her years). Elizabeth and Zechariah were devout and righteous people, and they had been married to each other for a long time. Elizabeth surely knew when Zechariah began to try to explain, that he was not making this up. It was obvious that her husband had experienced something life altering. As he wrote down as best he could what had happened, I would suppose he had to have someone come to the house to read it for her. Remember, in those days, women were not taught to read and write. If that is the case, this was going to be a long period of silence in their house and very little privacy if they wanted to communicate! He couldn’t hear what she was asking him, she couldn’t read or write, and he couldn’t speak to answer any of her questions. I’m sure of you men out there are wondering why the wife wasn’t struck mute for 9 months instead of the man! I wonder if she even comprehended the prophecy the angel had given that day to Zechariah. And to add to that, if she had to have someone read what he wrote, you know that talk soon went around the village of Judea, where they lived. In true small town fashion, everybody knew Zechariah’s and Elizabeth’s business!
24 Soon afterward his wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months. 25 “How kind the Lord is!” she exclaimed. “He has taken away my disgrace of having no children.”
Do you think Elizabeth during that 5 months was reminded of the prophet Isaiah’s words in chapter 40, verse 27-31?
27 O Jacob, how can you say the LORD does not see your troubles?
O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?
28 Have you never heard?
Have you never understood?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
29 He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
30 Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
31 But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.
Elizabeth had waited a lifetime, had waited upon the Lord, and at times grew tired and weary and hopeless, but now she didn’t have to wait much longer, for it says that soon afterward she became pregnant. She had waited on the Lord and it was her time to soar with the eagles now! And, oddly enough, it says she “soared” in seclusion for five months. Maybe when she did become pregnant, she went into seclusion because she needed the time alone, the time out of the spotlight. She must have taken the time to reflect deep within her heart every little detail she was able to piece together from Zechariah, time to think what all the words meant that Gabriel said, time to realize that she would be the mother of a man who had been prophesied to prepare the way for the Savior of her people. If she were able to grasp what was taking place and how it all tied into prophecy, that would be a huge thing to wrap your head around. And no doubt, as we see above, her heart was filled with worship and Thanksgiving to her Lord. It is daunting enough to think about raising a child when you are expecting a baby for the first time, especially given her older age. But to think of raising a child like John might have been a tad overwhelming. (Now, hopefully, during this time it hadn’t yet dawned on her that somebody who never cuts their hair and beard, probably rarely bathes, lives out in the wilderness alone, eats locusts, and behaves like a prophet – well, that is going to be a strange man! Prophets usually were on the strange side!)
After all the years of feeling disgraced and shamed over being barren, walking around the market seeing all the young women expecting babies, women her age already having grandchildren, her heart must have broken every time she encountered the situation, every time she went to another woman’s home to help with a birth or with a new baby. I have heard that barrenness is a very painful and lonely thing to endure, as you are faced with it everywhere you turn, every celebration, every holiday, every time you are with friends, or around nieces and nephews. But now, none of that would ever taunt her again. She had been chosen, favored, so much so that God sent Gabriel to her husband after God had arranged for him to be alone burning incense that day! He had taken note of her and the waiting was over. It was not just any child, it was the forerunner of the Savior, the Messiah, a little boy given the name “John” (meaning “the Lord is gracious”) by God himself.
Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news of peace and salvation. Her son, John, would be one of those spoken of in Isaiah, whose beautiful feet would come out of his life in the wilderness to bring the good news that their people had been waiting to hear, to prepare them for the salvation that was in the flesh, living among them. Indeed, his name was appropriate. God truly had been gracious.
Elizabeth, like most of us, was another unlikely candidate in this story of stories. She was old, she was barren, and she was female. There wasn’t much going for her, especially in her Jewish culture, except that she was righteous in God’s eyes. But isn’t that really all that matters when God decides to use someone? She was the perfect choice in God’s eyes – another person at the end of themselves, knowing that if something happens, it would totally have to be a God thing. Knowing there is no way they could ever claim to have humanly had anything to do with being chosen by God to carry John.
We are all unlikely candidates today, in this month of December, in the year of 2009. But remember, that is the way our Father likes it. I know that for me I say, I’m 47, I’m not highly educated, and I’m a female (which can all be limiting). But nevertheless, I have a passion inside of me for the Word of God and for sharing it with others. Can He use me? I’m pretty unlikely, but yes, He can. What are the things in you that you think make you the unlikely candidate? Can He use you? You can be absolutely sure that he can and he will, if only you are available.
Ponder how unlikely we really are today. And that will just point even more toward God’s handiwork in each of our lives.
In Him,
the unlikeliest of candidates,
Teresa
23 When Zechariah’s week of service in the Temple was over, he returned home.
That is where we left off yesterday. Zechariah returning home from his week of service in the Temple, struck deaf and mute by Gabriel, to a confused wife (well beyond her years). Elizabeth and Zechariah were devout and righteous people, and they had been married to each other for a long time. Elizabeth surely knew when Zechariah began to try to explain, that he was not making this up. It was obvious that her husband had experienced something life altering. As he wrote down as best he could what had happened, I would suppose he had to have someone come to the house to read it for her. Remember, in those days, women were not taught to read and write. If that is the case, this was going to be a long period of silence in their house and very little privacy if they wanted to communicate! He couldn’t hear what she was asking him, she couldn’t read or write, and he couldn’t speak to answer any of her questions. I’m sure of you men out there are wondering why the wife wasn’t struck mute for 9 months instead of the man! I wonder if she even comprehended the prophecy the angel had given that day to Zechariah. And to add to that, if she had to have someone read what he wrote, you know that talk soon went around the village of Judea, where they lived. In true small town fashion, everybody knew Zechariah’s and Elizabeth’s business!
24 Soon afterward his wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months. 25 “How kind the Lord is!” she exclaimed. “He has taken away my disgrace of having no children.”
Do you think Elizabeth during that 5 months was reminded of the prophet Isaiah’s words in chapter 40, verse 27-31?
27 O Jacob, how can you say the LORD does not see your troubles?
O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?
28 Have you never heard?
Have you never understood?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
29 He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
30 Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
31 But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.
Elizabeth had waited a lifetime, had waited upon the Lord, and at times grew tired and weary and hopeless, but now she didn’t have to wait much longer, for it says that soon afterward she became pregnant. She had waited on the Lord and it was her time to soar with the eagles now! And, oddly enough, it says she “soared” in seclusion for five months. Maybe when she did become pregnant, she went into seclusion because she needed the time alone, the time out of the spotlight. She must have taken the time to reflect deep within her heart every little detail she was able to piece together from Zechariah, time to think what all the words meant that Gabriel said, time to realize that she would be the mother of a man who had been prophesied to prepare the way for the Savior of her people. If she were able to grasp what was taking place and how it all tied into prophecy, that would be a huge thing to wrap your head around. And no doubt, as we see above, her heart was filled with worship and Thanksgiving to her Lord. It is daunting enough to think about raising a child when you are expecting a baby for the first time, especially given her older age. But to think of raising a child like John might have been a tad overwhelming. (Now, hopefully, during this time it hadn’t yet dawned on her that somebody who never cuts their hair and beard, probably rarely bathes, lives out in the wilderness alone, eats locusts, and behaves like a prophet – well, that is going to be a strange man! Prophets usually were on the strange side!)
After all the years of feeling disgraced and shamed over being barren, walking around the market seeing all the young women expecting babies, women her age already having grandchildren, her heart must have broken every time she encountered the situation, every time she went to another woman’s home to help with a birth or with a new baby. I have heard that barrenness is a very painful and lonely thing to endure, as you are faced with it everywhere you turn, every celebration, every holiday, every time you are with friends, or around nieces and nephews. But now, none of that would ever taunt her again. She had been chosen, favored, so much so that God sent Gabriel to her husband after God had arranged for him to be alone burning incense that day! He had taken note of her and the waiting was over. It was not just any child, it was the forerunner of the Savior, the Messiah, a little boy given the name “John” (meaning “the Lord is gracious”) by God himself.
Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news of peace and salvation. Her son, John, would be one of those spoken of in Isaiah, whose beautiful feet would come out of his life in the wilderness to bring the good news that their people had been waiting to hear, to prepare them for the salvation that was in the flesh, living among them. Indeed, his name was appropriate. God truly had been gracious.
Elizabeth, like most of us, was another unlikely candidate in this story of stories. She was old, she was barren, and she was female. There wasn’t much going for her, especially in her Jewish culture, except that she was righteous in God’s eyes. But isn’t that really all that matters when God decides to use someone? She was the perfect choice in God’s eyes – another person at the end of themselves, knowing that if something happens, it would totally have to be a God thing. Knowing there is no way they could ever claim to have humanly had anything to do with being chosen by God to carry John.
We are all unlikely candidates today, in this month of December, in the year of 2009. But remember, that is the way our Father likes it. I know that for me I say, I’m 47, I’m not highly educated, and I’m a female (which can all be limiting). But nevertheless, I have a passion inside of me for the Word of God and for sharing it with others. Can He use me? I’m pretty unlikely, but yes, He can. What are the things in you that you think make you the unlikely candidate? Can He use you? You can be absolutely sure that he can and he will, if only you are available.
Ponder how unlikely we really are today. And that will just point even more toward God’s handiwork in each of our lives.
In Him,
the unlikeliest of candidates,
Teresa
Friday, December 4, 2009
Day 4 of the Christmas Story, Surrounded by Awe
Good morning. Christmas is only three weeks away, and we have a lot of ground to cover in the story before that time. Yesterday, Zechariah was struck dumb/mute and deaf by the angel, Gabriel, because of his unbelief. And Zechariah would remain this way until his son was born. It’s a good thing for Zechariah that it wasn’t going to be years down the road until John was born! He would be silent for the better part of a year, however.
21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah to come out of the sanctuary, wondering why he was taking so long.
So, the people outside the temple that had been praying were still waiting for him to come out. They were, at this point, likely becoming impatient. It was Zechariah’s job that day after the burning of the incense, to come out and bless the people, as a sign that God had heard their prayers. This blessing is found in Numbers 6:24-26 and reads, “May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.” So, the people were outside that day, waiting for the customary blessing, so they could leave and go back to their business for the day. It was a ritual they were familiar with, probably so familiar that it could have lacked meaning for them a lot of days, as rituals can tend to do. (Sort of like the bulletin you’re given before the church service. It is in ink, on paper, how the service is supposed to progress, song by song, offering, sermon, and benediction, and we get impatient and uneasy when God decides to show up, break out of the box we placed him in, and nullify our plans and our programs.)
22 When he finally did come out, he couldn’t speak to them. Then they realized from his gestures and his silence that he must have seen a vision in the sanctuary.
So Zechariah finally comes out, probably pale and disheveled. I wonder if he had tried to make sure he couldn’t talk before he came out. If he did, and realized that the angel actually had struck him mute, and that not even a whisper could come from his mouth, the next thing to strike him was “I’m supposed to go out and bless these people – verbally”. What am I going to do now? But, again, that was the way God wanted it. God wanted him speechless. God wanted the people to see that this day was not the ordinary burn-the-incense, go pray at the Temple, get blessed and go back to work day. Just a few feet away from them God was intersecting time to bring to pass the prayers of these people and their ancestors before them. Today was the day when God himself would bless the people, saying “May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace!” Today, God burned the bulletin! This day, the blessing quoted from ages past had actually come to pass, pronounced by the very One who had given it to Aaron so many years ago. When Zechariah walked out, there was obviously something wrong. He looked like he had seen a ghost! His eyes were wide! His mouth was moving but nothing was coming out. He was making wild gestures. Something happened in there! What happened? Human words would not have been enough for this day. God took his doubting words from him and instead gave the people a glimpse that something fantastic, unusual, and obviously overwhelming had taken place while Zechariah was in the Holy Place by himself, burning the incense. God that day, in intersecting time and tradition, silenced the ancient Priesthood of Aaron, silenced the customary blessing, silenced the voice of doubt, the voice of the frail human in us all, set aside ritual and tradition, because there was something He wanted to say, and human words had to be silenced before him. It was a rift in the timeline of our universe. In the presence of God, we become silent, undone, unable to speak. There is an awe that attends his presence. And I believe that awe came to surround Zechariah as he walked outside to the people. There was something visible through the eyes of the spirit that words did not have to convey that day.
23 When Zechariah’s week of service in the Temple was over, he returned home.
Zechariah returned home and what a time he must have had trying to explain the events of his week at the Temple to his wife, Elizabeth. It would have been more than enough for him to get to run home to tell her of his being chosen to burn the incense in the Holy Place, to represent the people and pray for them, and to bless the people. But there was more, so much more, and he couldn’t even talk to tell it to her. He couldn’t hear her questions. He was in total silence. Lucky for him, he did know how to write, and thus began a time of quietness and solitude in their personal lives and in their marriage. God was providing a way and a time for them to pour into Him more, to reflect on the things that were coming to pass, the significance of them, to prepare them to be John’s parents, the parents of a child set apart for service to God from before his birth.
Have you ever been so immersed in God himself that the presence of God overwhelms you and there is a sense of awe that overtakes you? You don’t want to speak. You don’t want to rush home to your favorite TV show. You sit silent because the moment is too precious to interrupt with the slightest movement, much less words. There is an awe almost tangible around you. There is something going on outside the realm of the mind and the eyes, something deeper and bigger. And to interrupt it with words would be unthinkable.
In these passages, the awe of God touched many lives that day and those following weeks. How much would we say for Christ if we said nothing at all? If just our actions showed we had been in his presence, our lives were lived in awe, and all we could do was quietly ponder him over and over in our hearts? When we, like Elizabeth and Zechariah, are barren and empty, at the end of any hope for new life within us, at the end of our physical selves and abilities, that is when the presence of God comes in and the awe takes over and we are speechless in his presence. And this is how it should be...and this is how it will be for you when that time comes.
I pray his awe surrounds you today.
Teresa
21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah to come out of the sanctuary, wondering why he was taking so long.
So, the people outside the temple that had been praying were still waiting for him to come out. They were, at this point, likely becoming impatient. It was Zechariah’s job that day after the burning of the incense, to come out and bless the people, as a sign that God had heard their prayers. This blessing is found in Numbers 6:24-26 and reads, “May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.” So, the people were outside that day, waiting for the customary blessing, so they could leave and go back to their business for the day. It was a ritual they were familiar with, probably so familiar that it could have lacked meaning for them a lot of days, as rituals can tend to do. (Sort of like the bulletin you’re given before the church service. It is in ink, on paper, how the service is supposed to progress, song by song, offering, sermon, and benediction, and we get impatient and uneasy when God decides to show up, break out of the box we placed him in, and nullify our plans and our programs.)
22 When he finally did come out, he couldn’t speak to them. Then they realized from his gestures and his silence that he must have seen a vision in the sanctuary.
So Zechariah finally comes out, probably pale and disheveled. I wonder if he had tried to make sure he couldn’t talk before he came out. If he did, and realized that the angel actually had struck him mute, and that not even a whisper could come from his mouth, the next thing to strike him was “I’m supposed to go out and bless these people – verbally”. What am I going to do now? But, again, that was the way God wanted it. God wanted him speechless. God wanted the people to see that this day was not the ordinary burn-the-incense, go pray at the Temple, get blessed and go back to work day. Just a few feet away from them God was intersecting time to bring to pass the prayers of these people and their ancestors before them. Today was the day when God himself would bless the people, saying “May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace!” Today, God burned the bulletin! This day, the blessing quoted from ages past had actually come to pass, pronounced by the very One who had given it to Aaron so many years ago. When Zechariah walked out, there was obviously something wrong. He looked like he had seen a ghost! His eyes were wide! His mouth was moving but nothing was coming out. He was making wild gestures. Something happened in there! What happened? Human words would not have been enough for this day. God took his doubting words from him and instead gave the people a glimpse that something fantastic, unusual, and obviously overwhelming had taken place while Zechariah was in the Holy Place by himself, burning the incense. God that day, in intersecting time and tradition, silenced the ancient Priesthood of Aaron, silenced the customary blessing, silenced the voice of doubt, the voice of the frail human in us all, set aside ritual and tradition, because there was something He wanted to say, and human words had to be silenced before him. It was a rift in the timeline of our universe. In the presence of God, we become silent, undone, unable to speak. There is an awe that attends his presence. And I believe that awe came to surround Zechariah as he walked outside to the people. There was something visible through the eyes of the spirit that words did not have to convey that day.
23 When Zechariah’s week of service in the Temple was over, he returned home.
Zechariah returned home and what a time he must have had trying to explain the events of his week at the Temple to his wife, Elizabeth. It would have been more than enough for him to get to run home to tell her of his being chosen to burn the incense in the Holy Place, to represent the people and pray for them, and to bless the people. But there was more, so much more, and he couldn’t even talk to tell it to her. He couldn’t hear her questions. He was in total silence. Lucky for him, he did know how to write, and thus began a time of quietness and solitude in their personal lives and in their marriage. God was providing a way and a time for them to pour into Him more, to reflect on the things that were coming to pass, the significance of them, to prepare them to be John’s parents, the parents of a child set apart for service to God from before his birth.
Have you ever been so immersed in God himself that the presence of God overwhelms you and there is a sense of awe that overtakes you? You don’t want to speak. You don’t want to rush home to your favorite TV show. You sit silent because the moment is too precious to interrupt with the slightest movement, much less words. There is an awe almost tangible around you. There is something going on outside the realm of the mind and the eyes, something deeper and bigger. And to interrupt it with words would be unthinkable.
In these passages, the awe of God touched many lives that day and those following weeks. How much would we say for Christ if we said nothing at all? If just our actions showed we had been in his presence, our lives were lived in awe, and all we could do was quietly ponder him over and over in our hearts? When we, like Elizabeth and Zechariah, are barren and empty, at the end of any hope for new life within us, at the end of our physical selves and abilities, that is when the presence of God comes in and the awe takes over and we are speechless in his presence. And this is how it should be...and this is how it will be for you when that time comes.
I pray his awe surrounds you today.
Teresa
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Day 3 of the Christmas Story, Shut My Mouth
Good morning. I hope you are getting into this story as much as I am. I feel like I’m reading a novel and when you stop reading for the day, the character is just hanging in limbo until you return to read more. So, we left Zechariah in limbo yesterday, noodle legged and woozy from the appearance of an angel, telling him his prayer had been answered, telling him the Messiah was on his way, telling him his own son would be the one to point to him. Did he say “his own son”? Slow down....This is all too much to take in....
18 Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.”
I could be wrong, but I’m thinking Zechariah got stuck somewhere at the point of being scared and realizing there was an angel in the room, because it almost seems like all the details he just gave him flew over his head and all he heard was “we’re gonna have a baby after all these years”. He must have been in a daze from that point forward. Did anything ever shock you enough that you couldn’t get past the initial shock of the first bit of information you just heard, to process what all was said after that? I think Zechariah was still “processing” and “sorting through” in his mind the very first thing the angel said. And, like we as humans always do, our little friend called “Logic” stepped in and started giving his spin and interpretation on the situation. Logic told him, immediately, in that split second of thought, “wait, how can this be, how can I be sure, I’m old, Elizabeth’s old (well along in years, as he put it, smart man not to say “old”). This is not making any sense, this could not logically happen. Yeah, okay, it’s an angel, but there’s got to be some logical explanation for this. Let me just clarify this for you.”
Did Zechariah realize what the angel just said? Remember, Zechariah was a priest. It is certain that he knew the prophecies of Isaiah better than the average person, and could quote the verses from memory! Did the prophecy of Isaiah 40:3 come to his mind at all? (He is a voice shouting in the wilderness: Prepare a pathway for the Lord’s coming! Make a straight road for him!) Did he realize the one that was going to be shouting from the wilderness was his own soon-to-be-conceived, born-miraculously-late-in-life, part-of-prophecy, Holy-Spirit-filled, locust-eating, Elijah-like wilderness man, offspring, that the angel had just told him to name John? He had heard the prophecy, no doubt, all his life, but to connect the fact of the prophet Isaiah’s words, and actually connect it into his own physical life and offspring being a part of it, that was probably too much to even comprehend at the moment! The two were probably not connecting at this point. It may not have been clicking at that moment. It was all happening so fast! So much information. What did he say? We’re going to have a child? How can this be? I’m old, Elizabeth is “well along in years” (she’s old). So, dumbfounded and shaking as he must have been, he and his friend Logic found the strength to blurt this very question out to the angel, who as of yet, was unnamed.
19 Then the angel said, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was He who sent me to bring you this good news! 20 But now, since you didn’t believe what I said, you will be silent and unable to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly be fulfilled at the proper time.”
Ooops! I think at that moment, reality finally caught up with him. Gabriel seems very stern and direct in his answer to Zechariah. “Do you have the slightest idea who I am!!??? I am Gabriel. Remember the angel that spoke to Daniel and revealed the prophecy up until the end of time? Do you know I stand in the very presence of God? I wait for his words to send me to my post, to my assigned place. Do you know I don’t just show up all the time for some light announcement? Zechariah, get a grip on the gravity of this moment! I am the same guy that showed up and Daniel fell out cold! I came to him when God’s people were in bondage. Zechariah, they are still in bondage, and I am coming to tell you that bondage is about to end!!! And then, he pronounced it – a judgment upon Zechariah’s unbelief - - he was struck mute! He would be unable to speak until the time his son, John, was born. In fact, some translations of the word indicate he was deaf AND dumb and could neither hear nor speak. Talk about being cast into utter silence. What’s the first thing you’re gonna want to do as soon as this is over? Run out and tell somebody!
My husband and I were talking about this and asking why was he struck mute? And I think there are a lot of possibilities. One, when God is up to something big and he has set about to fulfill his plans, he does not want any talk of negativity or unbelief. It has no place in the work of God. It must be silenced. Later in Jesus ministry on earth, scripture said he didn’t do many miracles in his hometown because of the people’s unbelief. It certainly wasn’t because he couldn’t. It is because God shows up in an environment and an atmosphere of belief! Unbelief stifles the power and the work of God. How many times did Jesus tell a person their faith and their belief was instrumental in the miracle they received? Unbelief stifles the movement of God, and it still does today. If you have a dire situation and you want Christians praying, which ones are you going to surround yourself with? The negative, the unbelieving, the doubtful, those who can logically tell you your disease will kill you, or your child might never repent, or you will probably lose everything you have, or those who believe that God is faithful, God has a plan, God’s promises are trustworthy, that God can do more than we could even hope or imagine, and whatever God says he will do, HE WILL DO! Same thing here, there is no room for unbelief in the presence of God. Zechariah was standing right next to the holiest place of the Temple, the only thing on the earth at that time higher being the Holy of Holies, which he nor anybody else would never see. Only the high priest would enter that room, and only on one day a year, the Day of Atonement. Nobody had direct access to God! This is as close as you could ever get. And yet, he was about to get a direct message straight from the throne room. I wonder if later he would see the overwhelming picture! He was as close as he would ever get, and in that moment, the very messenger of God, who actually stood in his very presence day and night, in the most Holy of Holies, the actual dwelling place of God in heaven, was sent to him, that day, to reveal to Zechariah, an announcement that would shake the very foundations of the world until the end of time, that would change the course of life as they had known it.
Maybe God struck him dumb, so he would be alone with his thoughts for the next 9 months. Maybe God struck him dumb, so Elizabeth would also be inclined to pull away into deep thought and prayer.
Who knows, but you can be sure Gabriel was more than a little put off by this man’s unbelief. I would be too, had I come straight from the presence of God, to do his bidding. But you know, Zechariah is just like all of us. God sends his presence daily into an unbelieving world. This whole story is about him sending Jesus. Sending him to a world of “educated” Logical Thinkers, a world that cannot seem to believe, cannot seem to trust, cannot seem to understand there is more than the human eye can see, cannot acknowledge our need for Him, and always must understand and analyze. So don’t judge Zechariah too harshly. We might have done the same thing!
Today, realize that any area of unbelief in your life is an area that God will have trouble gaining access to. What is it he is trying to tell you? What is it in your time alone with God that he has said and you have swept under the rug? And what has your logical reaction and explanation been up to this point? Do you actually think your mind is infinite enough to begin to comprehend God’s ways? What is he wanting to do that you have questioned and not believed because it just didn’t make logical sense? One thing you will see throughout this month is a set of unlikely characters, all human in their own feeble ways, being found face to face with divinity, with an unstoppable plan, in the middle of an impossible situation, with God’s timing coming to fruition, with things they could not even begin to analyze enough to ever understand, and a picture that they probably wouldn’t begin to comprehend until maybe years down the road, maybe not even in their human lifetime. And that, my friend, is exactly how God likes it! Then.... and now. I think Zechariah’s muteness forced him to the end of himself.
I pray to God, shut our mouths when we cannot speak truth, when we cannot believe, when we cannot say “your will be done”, when our actions and words would interfere with the very work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, the lives of our family, and possibly the lives of the world. Shut our mouths God.
In quietness.
Teresa
18 Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.”
I could be wrong, but I’m thinking Zechariah got stuck somewhere at the point of being scared and realizing there was an angel in the room, because it almost seems like all the details he just gave him flew over his head and all he heard was “we’re gonna have a baby after all these years”. He must have been in a daze from that point forward. Did anything ever shock you enough that you couldn’t get past the initial shock of the first bit of information you just heard, to process what all was said after that? I think Zechariah was still “processing” and “sorting through” in his mind the very first thing the angel said. And, like we as humans always do, our little friend called “Logic” stepped in and started giving his spin and interpretation on the situation. Logic told him, immediately, in that split second of thought, “wait, how can this be, how can I be sure, I’m old, Elizabeth’s old (well along in years, as he put it, smart man not to say “old”). This is not making any sense, this could not logically happen. Yeah, okay, it’s an angel, but there’s got to be some logical explanation for this. Let me just clarify this for you.”
Did Zechariah realize what the angel just said? Remember, Zechariah was a priest. It is certain that he knew the prophecies of Isaiah better than the average person, and could quote the verses from memory! Did the prophecy of Isaiah 40:3 come to his mind at all? (He is a voice shouting in the wilderness: Prepare a pathway for the Lord’s coming! Make a straight road for him!) Did he realize the one that was going to be shouting from the wilderness was his own soon-to-be-conceived, born-miraculously-late-in-life, part-of-prophecy, Holy-Spirit-filled, locust-eating, Elijah-like wilderness man, offspring, that the angel had just told him to name John? He had heard the prophecy, no doubt, all his life, but to connect the fact of the prophet Isaiah’s words, and actually connect it into his own physical life and offspring being a part of it, that was probably too much to even comprehend at the moment! The two were probably not connecting at this point. It may not have been clicking at that moment. It was all happening so fast! So much information. What did he say? We’re going to have a child? How can this be? I’m old, Elizabeth is “well along in years” (she’s old). So, dumbfounded and shaking as he must have been, he and his friend Logic found the strength to blurt this very question out to the angel, who as of yet, was unnamed.
19 Then the angel said, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was He who sent me to bring you this good news! 20 But now, since you didn’t believe what I said, you will be silent and unable to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly be fulfilled at the proper time.”
Ooops! I think at that moment, reality finally caught up with him. Gabriel seems very stern and direct in his answer to Zechariah. “Do you have the slightest idea who I am!!??? I am Gabriel. Remember the angel that spoke to Daniel and revealed the prophecy up until the end of time? Do you know I stand in the very presence of God? I wait for his words to send me to my post, to my assigned place. Do you know I don’t just show up all the time for some light announcement? Zechariah, get a grip on the gravity of this moment! I am the same guy that showed up and Daniel fell out cold! I came to him when God’s people were in bondage. Zechariah, they are still in bondage, and I am coming to tell you that bondage is about to end!!! And then, he pronounced it – a judgment upon Zechariah’s unbelief - - he was struck mute! He would be unable to speak until the time his son, John, was born. In fact, some translations of the word indicate he was deaf AND dumb and could neither hear nor speak. Talk about being cast into utter silence. What’s the first thing you’re gonna want to do as soon as this is over? Run out and tell somebody!
My husband and I were talking about this and asking why was he struck mute? And I think there are a lot of possibilities. One, when God is up to something big and he has set about to fulfill his plans, he does not want any talk of negativity or unbelief. It has no place in the work of God. It must be silenced. Later in Jesus ministry on earth, scripture said he didn’t do many miracles in his hometown because of the people’s unbelief. It certainly wasn’t because he couldn’t. It is because God shows up in an environment and an atmosphere of belief! Unbelief stifles the power and the work of God. How many times did Jesus tell a person their faith and their belief was instrumental in the miracle they received? Unbelief stifles the movement of God, and it still does today. If you have a dire situation and you want Christians praying, which ones are you going to surround yourself with? The negative, the unbelieving, the doubtful, those who can logically tell you your disease will kill you, or your child might never repent, or you will probably lose everything you have, or those who believe that God is faithful, God has a plan, God’s promises are trustworthy, that God can do more than we could even hope or imagine, and whatever God says he will do, HE WILL DO! Same thing here, there is no room for unbelief in the presence of God. Zechariah was standing right next to the holiest place of the Temple, the only thing on the earth at that time higher being the Holy of Holies, which he nor anybody else would never see. Only the high priest would enter that room, and only on one day a year, the Day of Atonement. Nobody had direct access to God! This is as close as you could ever get. And yet, he was about to get a direct message straight from the throne room. I wonder if later he would see the overwhelming picture! He was as close as he would ever get, and in that moment, the very messenger of God, who actually stood in his very presence day and night, in the most Holy of Holies, the actual dwelling place of God in heaven, was sent to him, that day, to reveal to Zechariah, an announcement that would shake the very foundations of the world until the end of time, that would change the course of life as they had known it.
Maybe God struck him dumb, so he would be alone with his thoughts for the next 9 months. Maybe God struck him dumb, so Elizabeth would also be inclined to pull away into deep thought and prayer.
Who knows, but you can be sure Gabriel was more than a little put off by this man’s unbelief. I would be too, had I come straight from the presence of God, to do his bidding. But you know, Zechariah is just like all of us. God sends his presence daily into an unbelieving world. This whole story is about him sending Jesus. Sending him to a world of “educated” Logical Thinkers, a world that cannot seem to believe, cannot seem to trust, cannot seem to understand there is more than the human eye can see, cannot acknowledge our need for Him, and always must understand and analyze. So don’t judge Zechariah too harshly. We might have done the same thing!
Today, realize that any area of unbelief in your life is an area that God will have trouble gaining access to. What is it he is trying to tell you? What is it in your time alone with God that he has said and you have swept under the rug? And what has your logical reaction and explanation been up to this point? Do you actually think your mind is infinite enough to begin to comprehend God’s ways? What is he wanting to do that you have questioned and not believed because it just didn’t make logical sense? One thing you will see throughout this month is a set of unlikely characters, all human in their own feeble ways, being found face to face with divinity, with an unstoppable plan, in the middle of an impossible situation, with God’s timing coming to fruition, with things they could not even begin to analyze enough to ever understand, and a picture that they probably wouldn’t begin to comprehend until maybe years down the road, maybe not even in their human lifetime. And that, my friend, is exactly how God likes it! Then.... and now. I think Zechariah’s muteness forced him to the end of himself.
I pray to God, shut our mouths when we cannot speak truth, when we cannot believe, when we cannot say “your will be done”, when our actions and words would interfere with the very work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, the lives of our family, and possibly the lives of the world. Shut our mouths God.
In quietness.
Teresa
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Day 1 of the Christmas Story
A few years ago, I felt impressed to study the events surrounding and leading up to the birth of Jesus. I wanted to have in my heart and mind every day of December what this season is truly about. We are so far removed from the significance of this time, even as Christians, so a few years ago, I devoted every day in December to study just a small piece of the Christmas story, and of the depth of what Jesus’ birth means to us. These blogs are a result of that. So, if you are up for it, I hope you will join me each day, and by the time the 25th arrives, who knows, this may have helped you in some way enjoy the season in a way you haven't been able to before. So, if you're ready, let's get started on day one...
Luke 1
1 Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. 2 They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples. 3 Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write a careful account for you, most honorable Theophilus, 4 so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught.
We start the book of Luke with the first few verses laying out Luke’s purpose for writing this book. Each of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) were written to a specific group of people. Luke wrote his gospel to Gentiles (those not of Jewish descent). Luke was a doctor. He himself was a Gentile Christian, a Greek. He is the only known Gentile author in the whole New Testament. He was a traveling companion and friend of Paul. If you have ever studied the basic temperaments, Luke would be the “beaver” or the “melancholy”. Just the facts, ma’m. That personality type values accuracy and detail. As a medical doctor he was very thorough in his research, observation and analysis, dotting all the “I’s” and crossing all the “T’s”. Luke wanted to be sure everybody knew he had talked to first hand witnesses and the disciples, and he had carefully investigated each story. That done, he decided to write a “careful” summary, to reinforce and back up the truth to all the people he was writing to. I am thankful that Luke was led to write this account, because the story of Christ’s birth is very detailed and accurate and gives us some insight into the events surrounding his first coming, and does so from the perspective of a Gentile, one of us.
5 When Herod was king of Judea, there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah. He was a member of the priestly order of Abijah, and his wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron. 6 Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations. 7 They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive, and they were both very old.
Herod the Great was confirmed by the Roman Senate as “king of the Jews”. (I bet he liked that title.) Herod himself was only half Jewish and was very eager to make a good impression on his Roman superiors. If he did anything to help Jews, you could be assured it was only for political purposes. He even did extensive work on the Temple, enlarging and beautifying it, BUT he placed a Roman eagle over the entrance! He became a great persecutor of the Jews, as you will see later.8 One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, for his order was on duty that week. 9 As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense. 10 While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside, praying.
Now Zechariah was a priest and his wife, Elizabeth, was also from a priestly line. It seems that during this time there were over 20,000 priests throughout the country! Of course, they couldn’t all minister in the temple at one time. King David, during his reign years back, had divided the priests into 24 groups of about 1000 each. Usually each group was called up twice a year to minister in the Temple and manage its upkeep. Zechariah was in the eighth group, the division of Abijah, and their week had arrived to be in the Temple. Now, every day, one priest would enter the Holy Place in the Temple and burn incense. The one chosen to go in was chosen by “sacred lot”. Sort of like drawing straws, and they depended on God to allow the correct straw to be drawn by the divinely designated person. Remember the Proverb that says “We can throw the dice, but God determines how they will fall”? (Proverbs 16:33) Same principle here. Now what is really cool and one of the first Godly interventions you will see throughout this story is this: This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance for a priest to go into the Holy Place, if a priest ever got to go in at all! Zechariah was there that week, chosen that day by sacred lot, and as divine providence planned, out of hundreds of other priests there with him, it was Zechariah’s red letter day! And boy, he had no idea what was about to happen!
Interestingly, Zechariah’s name means “Yahweh remembers”. Interesting, I say, because Zechariah and Elizabeth were old, and barren, having never had children. It must have seemed that God had forgotten him. To be childless was considered a curse in this culture for many reasons, so much so that the sound of Zechariah’s very own name must have mocked him many times throughout the later years of his life, asking himself over and over why it seemed ironically that Yahweh indeed did NOT remember him, enough to even give him a child to carry on his name. Yet it says in the verse above that he was righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all the Lord’s commands and regulations, as was his wife Elizabeth, who had longed for a child her whole life. They remained faithful, even though he and Elizabeth had not been able to have a child.
Needless to say, I cannot imagine the excitement Zechariah must have felt as he pulled the sacred lot that cast him into the Holy Place that day. I’m sure in his mind he was playing each event moment by moment, so as to remember it for the rest of his life. We all have those “red letter days in our life at some point”. I’m sure he couldn’t wait to tell Elizabeth about it as soon as he got home, and since he couldn’t call her on the cell phone or text her, or email her, he would have to wait a few days. Today was his day to stand where very few would ever stand, to represent and pray on behalf of his people, to burn the incense to call the people outside to prayer. At the time the smoke from the incense began to rise every day, the people outside prayed. The incense represented their prayers going up to God as a sweet smelling aroma, a sacrifice, and you will find mention of that type of picture throughout the Bible.
As he began to burn the incense, no doubt Zechariah must have prayed, as all devout Jews did, for the Messiah to please come soon. The responsibility of his particular position that day must have been heavy upon him. I am sure he was thanking God for that opportunity and was overwhelmed at being chosen that day to represent his people. And no doubt, either, that Zechariah, with a special opportunity this day to be in the Holy Place and feel especially close to God, would ask God maybe just once more that he and Elizabeth could have a son.
So, as we end here for today, we have a man, a priest, one of thousands, called into the Holy Place that day. He didn’t do anything special that day, it was God’s divine guidance that placed him there at that strategic time, and tomorrow you will see why.
Just remember, God has a purpose and a plan for each of us. We may be the Zechariah for the day, or we may be the person in the crowd outside praying for the day. No matter where God directs us today, let us remember it is by his divine guidance, and that there is a purpose to fulfill wherever we find ourselves this day, to join God in what he is doing. We are all called priests. Remember that your prayers to God are like a sweet and pleasing aroma, pictured by the incense that was burned on the altar of the Holy Place that day. Is there something you quit praying about long ago because you thought God just forgot and you quit asking? Are you in a situation where you are called to be God’s representative in some form? Is He calling you to his Holy Place to burn the incense of prayer before Him, to lift up your family, your friends, your nation, your church in prayer? When you sense a call to pray, do you stop and do it? Do you realize that every day you have an opportunity to be in the right place at the right time, by God’s divine providence?
1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
· Psalm 141:2
May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
· Revelation 5:8
May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
· Luke 11:9
“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.
Join us tomorrow as Zechariah says “ ____ !!!!”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)