Sabbath Sanctuary God Was In Christ: An Advent Reading Of Luke 19

Day 19 Luke Chapter 19

“The whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, shouting: ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’” {vv.37-38 NASB}.

In the third chapter of Luke’s wonderous gospel, we again see people crying out to God. The ten lepers, blind Bartimaeus, cry out in anguish for mercy. Now, the crying rings of anguish have become praise for the miracles they have seen, a stark contrast from the nine who went their own way. One wonders if they were in the crowd that day.

Rejoice Zion! The prophecy is fulfilled in their very presence:

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey” {Zech. 9:9}.

Advent is a season in which we look for the crèche, the babe in the manger, and rightly so. But I think that when we read about Christ’s triumphal entry, we tend to lose the seriousness of what this particular day means. This entry into Jerusalem is definitely revered on Palm Sunday, but do we understand the whole meaning of this day? What are we seeing?

We have become accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God’s coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God’s coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable out of it and forgetting the serious aspect that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us. {Dietrch Bonhoeffer, The Coming of Jesus in our Midst}.

Reflect and prayerfully seek God about what His coming truly means for this world. He is the Light in darkness that was foretold from ages past. He is the blessed King who comes in the name of the Lord, bringing Peace for those enduring this chaotic world—this weary world rejoices…the promised King is here. Yes, He was a babe in a manger, which is what we are celebrating in this hushed season of Advent—don’t let go of that holy hush. Let us also remember that He is our King and is coming again.

 

 

 

 

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God Was In Christ: An Advent Reading Of Luke 11

 Day 11 Luke chapter 11

“And He said to them, When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.’” {Lk. 11: 2-4 NASB}.

Scripture once again leads us back into the subject of prayer. Jesus had a habit of praying. He knew that He needed to commune with Father to strengthen Himself for the work set before Him. How I would love to lay peacefully nearby to listen to Jesus as He spoke with the Father. The disciples had this privilege. They hung on every word that flowed from His mouth. The disciples witnessed His prayer life and how He connected with Father in a beautiful, intimate relationship; they wanted the same. The disciples knew Jesus prayed confidently and faithfully, and He nurtured His prayer life {see Day 5 for earlier writing on the subject}. They asked Him to teach them to pray the same way.

Jesus begins by teaching them to approach the Father with reverence and awe. God is our Father and His Name is to be hallowed. We are to pray that His kingdom comes to the earth and operate as it does in heaven and for His will to be done. He also taught us to ask for daily provision for our needs; He cares about every need we have and by bringing our needs to Him, we are demonstrating our trust in Him. Jesus also charges us to ask for forgiveness for our sins, however, our forgiveness hinges on our ability to freely forgive others. We are also to ask for God to deliver us out of situations that would cause us to sin. We will never be exempt from temptations—but we are strengthened to overcome them with God as our Father, Christ as our intercessor, and the Holy Spirit as our Comforter and Helper. Pray to be delivered from the evil in this world because we are not of this world though we must reside here.

We are God’s children and we have, through Christ, the right to ask God for anything—especially when asking for help to live the way He instructs and to spread the Good News of the Gospel. Jesus taught us that we don’t have the things we need because we have not asked. He reveals through a parable (vv. 5-13) that we must be persistent in our prayers. 

We must ask, seek, and knock. Jesus promises that the Father is good and will give to those who ask of Him when we pray in the manner Jesus taught:

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” (v. 13).

Reach out to the Father. Come to Him in awe and wonder, knowing that He cares for you and will take care of you. Cultivate your relationship with the Father by coming to Him through Jesus Christ. Stand in awe that the Creator of the universe came to love you and set you free and reconcile you so that this wonderful, awesome relationship is possible.

 

~Out of love for humans God became human.

~The reason for God’s love of man or woman lies not in man or woman, but only in God Himself. [1]

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[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Mystery Of Holy Night (New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1996), 33.

The Names of God: Mighty God/El Gibbor

Another holiday season has come and gone. The Christmas-to-NewYear week escaped me; 
I blinked and it was over. As I was resting from the season, I realized I had not finished my posts on the Names of God in Isaiah 9:6.

 

I struggled with continuing to post the rest of the Names because Christmas is over. However, I had a thought; Christmas, too often, becomes just a day on the calendar to celebrate. The Spirit of Christmas should be kept all year. Christ came as a baby in a manger, but He also grew, ministered to this dark world for thirty-three years, died and rose again. He fulfilled every prophecy ever spoken concerning Him and is the essence of every Name given Him in Scripture.

Isaiah speaks concerning the promised Messiah,

“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace” {Isaiah 9:6 NASB}.

I wrote about the Wonderful Counselor a bit ago, so let’s look at His magnificent Name, Mighty God.

Mighty God or God-the-Mighty-One is His Name. Throughout Scripture and in ancient Hebrew thought, much meaning rests in a name. A name does not only serve to identify or distinguish a person, but it expresses the very nature of the one on which the name is bestowed.

Christ Jesus is Mighty God; He is not a hero or some illusive great ruler. He reigns in heaven and is Lord over all creation. He is fully God and fully man—distinguished from the Father, begotten of the Father, {unique and one of a kind} and worthy of our worship. Jesus Christ is the Messiah, “Mighty God” or “el gibbor.” He alone is the True, Living God. 

Jesus, in His first advent, came in meekness, but in His second advent will return in glory and majesty, as Mighty God, the divine Warrior who conquers every foe who dares to come against us for His Name’s sake.

Scripture mentions Mighty God and Almighty God, however, no distinction can be made. Both titles are used for Jesus and Yahweh. In Revelation 1:8 Jesus tells the Revelator that He is the Almighty.

Scripture again affirms the two natures of Christ; He is to come and was from the beginning. The Hebrew prophet uses the exact phrase when referring to Yahweh: He declares in Isaiah 10:21, “A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God” {NASB}. Isaiah is making clear the absolute deity of Jesus; the One born for our salvation would be mighty with the very might of God. He is mighty to save and strong to deliver a world full of His broken, sinful, loved creation. Remember to lift your eyes and watch for His return.

Titus also declares Him to be mighty, “Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” {Titus 2:13 NASB}. He is mighty and full of glory. He came from God as John in his Gospel confirms; He came from God and was God {Jn. 1:1}. John tells us again in the tenth chapter and Paul affirms in his letter to the Philippians, that Jesus did not consider it robbery to make the claim that He is equal with God the Father {Jn. 10:30, Phil. 2:6}.

Though Mighty God clearly applies to God, the Israelites weren’t expecting God to be born and live among them; they could not grasp the incarnation. Israel was looking for an immediate antidote to their physical and political malady. It would be centuries before the time was right for the Messiah to come, but He did come and He will reign for eternity.


John’s Gospel is an amazing book. He reveals to us the prophecies in the Old Covenant fulfilled in the New Covenant. It is in the pages of his gospel that we read the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. The babe who was born in a meek and humble manger bore the qualities foretold concerning His coming; He would not be merely human, but the incarnation of the living God.

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” {Jn. 1:14}.

Luke’s Gospel also avows that Jesus is God; the angel Gabriel directly alludes to this famous prophecy when he visits Mary:

“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end” {Lk. 1:32–33}.

Revisiting the writings of Moses we see that He refers to God as mighty and a Great God {Deut. 10:17}. Nehemiah declares that God is the Great, mighty, and terrible God {Neh. 9:32}. The weeping prophet refers to Him as the Great, the Mighty God {Jer. 32:19}.

Jesus Christ is the One True King. For a king to reign forever, he must live forever, Christ is that Mighty King, the only One who lives and will reign forever.

“Mighty God is the name of this child. The child in the manger is none other than God himself. Nothing greater could be said: God became a child. He lies in the manger, poor like us, wretched and helpless like us, a human of flesh and blood like us, our brother. And yet He is God, yet He is strength. Where is the divinity, where is the strength of this child? In the divine love, in which he became just like us. His poverty in the manger is his strength. In the strength of love he overcomes the chasm between God and humanity.” {Bonhoeffer, The Mystery of Holy Night}

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Merry Christmas

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel {Is. 7:14}.

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this {Is. 9:6-7 NASB}.
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. {Lk. 2: 1-14 KJV}.






                                  

A weary world rejoices......

The promised Redeemer is here

An Advent Poem

The season is upon us Advent is here

I hope for the day that You will appear

You came to earth to dwell among

Immanuel, God with us, Heaven’s Song

Lord we prepare our hearts to receive You

You are the hope of Israel, and our hope too

God our Savior, the promised One from old

The Word from the beginning, arrival foretold

We will go out with joy, and be led forth with peace 

The angels deliver the message, our joy will never cease

The Christ Child has arrived goodwill toward all men

Shout for joy to God, all the earth! Our joy is full amen!

For God so loved the world, He gave His only Son

We were all sinners, lost, gone astray, undone

A stable in Bethlehem received the Holy Child

Not in pomp and circumstance, but meek and mild

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away our sin

The radiance of God's glory and the image of His being, 

The sinless Servant and redeemer wrapped as a baby boy

Glory to God in the highest, it is good news of great joy

in the city of David, born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 

Piper Green © 2016

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