Advent: Suddenly

“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 among those with whom he is pleased!’” (Luke 2:11–14).
 
God wanted to make sure the world knew that his son had arrived. The long anticipated saviour of the world was heralded by a multitude of heavenly host who could not help but praise God and point the gaze of all to do the same. Jesus came to display the Glory of God. The angels declare this truth and announce peace on earth to those who belong to God.
 
All things exist to give glory to God – so when the new era in salvation history began – it was to be God who would be acknowledged, thanked and glorified.
 
As you approach Christmas consider how your life could be used for God’s glory and pleasure and your own incredible joy in such a way that even those around you give glory to God. Maybe your life is not only about you but in fact about the glory of God and his renown. Invite God to get the glory in all of your life and see where He leads you. 

Advent: The coming Shepherd.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Psalm 23:1-3

Sheep are known for their simplicity and weakness in the face of danger. Being a shepherd was not considered a good profession – it was for those people who did not make it in any other area of life. Yet Jesus chooses to be called a shepherd – one who will look after a flock and tend to it gently.

Christmas means that the sheep who were once wandering aimlessly and in danger are now instead given all they want, allowed to lie down in a field of lush green grass with still waters nearby. In such a place of rest and plenty they are restored and made strong. God’s people are led in right paths not just so that they receive the comfort and rest but so that God’s name might be glorified. When we throw off our independence, striving and boasting in our own abilities or strengths and instead trust in a gentle Shepherd to provide our needs – we declare to the world whose we are. The Good Shepherd is a gift to His people – not a burden. He lifts the burdens of the flock and their resounding peace, security and joy in his protection gives glory to the name of God.

This Christmas know what it means to belong to the great Shepherd King, who not only knows your every need, but provides for you and protects you in every trial and danger. Be led beside still waters and know the joy of resting under his watchful gaze.

Advent: God’s Little People

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.(Luke 2:1–5)

Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that God ordained beforehand that the Messiah be born in Bethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 5:2 shows); and that he so ordained things that when the time came, the Messiah’s mother and legal father were living not in Bethlehem but in Nazareth; and that in order to fulfil his word and bring two unheard-of, insignificant, little people to Bethlehem that first Christmas, God put it in the heart of Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be enrolled each in his own town? A decree for the entire world in order to move two people seventy miles!

Have you ever felt, like me, little and insignificant in a world of seven billion people, where all the news is about big political and economic and social movements and outstanding people with global significance and lots of power and prestige?

If you have, don’t let that make you disheartened or unhappy. For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mammoth political forces and all the giant industrial complexes, without their even knowing it, are being guided by God, not for their own sake, but for the sake of God’s little people — the little Mary and the little Joseph who have to be got from Nazareth to Bethlehem. God wields an empire to fulfil his word and bless his children.

Do not think, because you experience adversity in your little world of experience, that the hand of the Lord is shortened. It is not our prosperity or our fame but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart. And to that end, he rules the whole world. As Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.” And he is always turning it for his saving and sanctifying and eternal purposes among his people.

He is a big God for little people, and we have great cause to rejoice that, unbeknownst to them, all the kings and presidents and premiers and chancellors and chiefs of the world follow the sovereign decrees of our Father in heaven, that we, the children, might be conformed to the image of his Son, Jesus Christ — and then enter his eternal glory.

From www.desiringgod.org/messages/a-big-god-for-little-people

Advent: Beginnings

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:1-5

That all things were made through him is an awesome thing. That everything we know and see was brought about by the one who came to save is just as incredible. He came and brings with him a piercing light that shines in the darkness and shows everything for what it really is in the brilliance of his absolute and glorious truth.

This Christmas know that our King overcomes all evil, as great and invincible as it seems. He comes to bring truth and to begin to set all things right. Look to the light that does not change with seasons, governments, or anything else that might shake our world. Come to the light of the world.

Advent: Behold

They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and l they will reign forever and ever. Revelation 22: 4-5

Behold, lift up your eyes, your redemption draws near! One day you will see clearly and be able to gaze into the face of your great shepherd king. There will be no need of moon or star by night or sun to shine by day – for God will be our light. We will be with him forever and ever... and every pain, tear or danger faced in this life will seem like a breath – so fleeting.

Christmas means that the promise has drawn nearer. God’s gift of salvation is knocking at the door. His waterfall of grace is about to break over your life.

C.S. Lewis described the wonder of the new earth in the book, ‘The last Battle’:

“And as He spoke, He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

Have a wonderful Christmas. Enjoy precious time with family, and rejoice in the truth that God has done it all.

Advent: Amazement

Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” John 6:32-35
 
We often worry about the coming year and how we will provide for ourselves and our families practically. One consequence of Jesus coming to save his people – is that He takes on the role of ultimate provider. He wants us to know in our hearts that when we put our trust in him – he will come through for us. Yet that is not the end of the matter. He wants us to see beyond the bread that he will provide and to look into his face and enjoy his presence. Yes he came to give us our daily bread – but he came mainly to be bread. He wants us to go to him and rest in his finished work of salvation – he is the bread of life.
 
This Christmas – be more amazed at the giver than any of his wonderful and jaw-dropping gifts. He is the bread of life.

Advent: Stars

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. Matthew 2:1-4
 
When Jesus appears on the scene – even the stars declare he has arrived. Wise men, who probably know nothing of who Jesus is, travel from the distant east to come and see and worship him. The great city of Jerusalem is turned upside down with rumours of another king. Yet God chooses not a great city or a palace as the place of the birth of Jesus, but a tiny village called Bethlehem. He is born not in pomp and power, but out of sight in a farm shed.
 
This Christmas, though you may be distant from God like the wise men, draw near to worship the Saviour of the world. Don’t be so busy listening to the rumours, clamour and noise going on about the seemingly important issues of the day. Maybe go out from all the noise and drama and find time to once again fall in love with the one who gave himself for you. We were made to worship him and only really find true joy when we do just that. All other pursuits have a hollowness about them and their glow very soon fades. 

Advent: My People

They shall be my people, and I will be their God. Jeremiah 32:38

One of the most quoted phrases in the bible – and one that God wants his people throughout all of salvation history to know and be absolutely sure and assured of. We belong to God, we are his and he is ours.

Christmas is the beginning of the ultimate fulfilment of that great statement. Let the truth that you are not alone, flood your heart and mind.

Advent: The New Covenant

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbour and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jeremiah 31:31-34

Christmas means that a new Covenant is effective and established, unbreakable and firm underneath us. The rock solid guarantee of Almighty God that he will perform the impossible – change our hearts to desire him and know him. Instead of trying our best, hoping for the best, whistling in the wind, or trying to earn his love, God loves us with an everlasting and unbreakable love – just because he loves us and we are his. 

We can be forgiven. The mercy of God is revealed to our hearts and we can with confidence approach the very throne of God – because God does not bring our sin to mind. Instead we have the righteousness of Christ. What greater truth do you have this Christmas but that you are in the hands of God for now and into eternity, safe, forgiven, purchased, set free to be all that God has for you. Let the joy of this mind-blowing truth sink deep into your heart. He has made an unbreakable covenant of peace. He is the always faithful husband who gives his life for his people, who he loves.

Advent: Gifts and Giving

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. Matthew 2:10-11

God does not need anything from us, nor did he need the gifts from the magi. So what were these three items for?

They did not come to bribe God, or to get something from him. No, they were an expression of an overflow of their joy in God.

When we give anything to God, or fast or pray it is not to earn his favour – we are already dearly loved – but more an expression that to us, from our heart, our deepest and most true desires – we love him and treasure him.

To give up something and lay hold of something far greater – someone of infinite worth is not a trivial transaction. When you lay down things and embrace the Saviour – those things have no say in your life anymore. You declare who your treasure is. Those magi were so full of joy at the coming king that they gladly laid down their wealth and gifts just to be with and see the wonder of God’s great salvation plan.

Let Christmas not be about what you get, or what you have given others to try to earn their love or to prove your love, no – let it be an expression of your joy in the completed work of God. Seek his face and rejoice in him as you fall down in worship before the only reality that matters for all eternity.

Advent: Wonderful Promises

“You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” Exodus 19:4-6

There are echoes of the New Covenant throughout the Old Testament. One of these is the deliverance of the nation of Israel through dramatic scenes with God humiliating the false gods of ancient Egypt along with Pharaoh who considered himself to be a god. This is mirrored by the once-and-for-all deliverance of Christ on the cross of all who call on his name and bank on his saving grace. 

Back then, God wanted the people of Israel to know that he had born their burdens and brought the nation not just out of slavery but ultimately and most significantly – to himself. They were to be his most treasured possession. Elsewhere he calls them ‘the apple of his eye’. God’s great plan was always to bring forth a treasured people to be his own and for them to all become priests and a holy nation. It was God’s plan, his strength that carried them and he was to be the final destination.

This Christmas consider the wonderful promises which form the foundation of the grace which so abundantly floods the lives of those who are Christ’s. Consider the wonderful news that you are God’s treasured possession, if you are ‘In Christ’. The price God paid for you was Jesus. There is no greater price that could possibly be paid. If you are still considering and thinking about the claims and teachings of Jesus, may you encounter God this Christmas.