Tag Archives: Christmas

The Savior of the World Is Here

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Over 2,000 years ago, Gaius Octavian became the Caesar of the Roman Empire. According to Stephen Davey, “for the first time in the four hundred year old kingdom of Rome, the Roman senate voted to give Caesar Octavian the title of Augustus. Augustus meant ‘revered or holy,’ and, until this time, it had been a title reserved exclusively for the gods.” One inscription referred to him as “the savior of the world.”

But during his time on earth, another baby was born to whom that title rightly belonged.

Which of the two would the world believe to be the real Savior? By birth, wealth, fame, and position, most people would have gone with Augustus. How could an unknown baby born to poor parents in Bethlehem claim that title?

But John wrote, “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14).

Many books could be written and verses shared about how Jesus is the true Son of God and Savior. He claimed those positions for Himself, they were foretold by numerous prophets, His Father testified to them as well as many others.

But though He died to save the world, only those who believe on Him come to know Him as Savior for themselves.

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God (John 3:14-18).

If you don’t know Jesus as your own personal Savior, I pray you will believe on Him today.

I wish you all a wonderful, meaningful, joyful Christmas.

I have never heard this song sung at Christmas, but it could be!

I cannot tell why He, whom angels worship,
Should set His love upon the sons of men,
Or why, as Shepherd, He should seek the wand’rers,
To bring them back, they know not how or when.
But this I know, that He was born of Mary,
When Bethl’hem’s manger was His only home,
And that He lived at Nazareth and labored,
And so the Savior, Savior of the world, is come.

I cannot tell how silently He suffered,
As with His peace He graced this place of tears,
Or how His heart upon the Cross was broken,
The crown of pain to three and thirty years.
But this I know, He heals the broken-hearted,
And stays our sin, and calms our lurking fear,
And lifts the burden from the heavy laden,
For yet the Savior, Savior of the world, is here.

I cannot tell how He will win the nations,
How He will claim His earthly heritage,
How satisfy the needs and aspirations
Of east and west, of sinner and of sage.
But this I know, all flesh shall see His glory,
And He shall reap the harvest He has sown,
And some glad day His sun shall shine in splendor
When He the Savior, Savior of the world, is known.

I cannot tell how all the lands shall worship,
When, at His bidding, every storm is stilled,
Or who can say how great the jubilation
When all the hearts of men with love are filled.
But this I know, the skies will thrill with rapture,
And myriad, myriad human voices sing,
And earth to heaven, and heaven to earth, will answer:
At last the Savior, Savior of the world, is King.

–W. Y. Fullerton, 1920

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Thanks to Stephen Davey for inspiring these thoughts in his radio message from December 15, The Inside Story.

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Why Did Jesus Come as a Baby?

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“Often in the account of salvation history, the future of God’s plan rests with a baby or a child.” (1).

“In Bible history, very often the birth of a baby has made the difference between defeat and victory for God’s people” (2)

In one sense, every baby born represents a new beginning with potential and hope for the future. But sometimes a baby was a major turning point in Bible history.

The first child born on earth, Cain, killed his brother, Able. Cain was exiled, but God sent Adam and Eve another son, Seth.

God had made a historic covenant with Abraham that his descendants would be as many as the dust of the earth (Genesis 13:14-17) or the stars in the sky (Genesis 15:5). In him all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3). But Abraham had no child with Sarah, his wife, for about 25 years after the promise was made. Finally Isaac, the child of promise, was born.

When God’s people were captive in Egypt, Pharaoh demanded that all the Jewish baby boys be killed. But “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict” (Hebrews 11:23). Moses grew up to be the deliverer of his people: God used him to bear witness to Egypt through the plagues, to lead Israel out of Egypt and to the promised land, and to give them God’s law.

In another low point in Israel’s history, when injustice was running rampant, one desperate woman prayed for a child that she promised she would give back to the Lord. God gave her Samuel, who was the pivot between the time of the judges and the kings and who called his people back to worship and serve the one true God.

A bitter woman named Naomi had lost her husband and both sons. Now she was alone with her daughter-in-law, Ruth. But God raised up a godly man to marry Ruth and give Naomi a grandson—a grandson whose grandson would be David, the great king of Israel, a man after God’s own heart.

God had promised that the Messiah would come through David’s line. But wicked queen Athaliah killed all the king’s sons—she thought. Jehosheba, the aunt of little Joash, hid him away with a nurse until he could be made king and carry on the Davidic line.

Malachi ends the Old Testament with a promise that God would “send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers” (4:5-6). Then there were 400 years of silence. And suddenly one day, an old, childless priest was startled by an angel’s visit announcing that he and his aged wife, after many long years of now-abandoned prayers, would have a baby who would “turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared” (Luke 1:16-17).

And then, in yet another low point in the history of God’s people, when they were under the Rome’s rule, “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5).

Why did God send His Son to earth as a baby? I don’t know all the reasons. But here are a few:

To be the Son of Man But he took on our flesh that he might be Son of Man as well as the Son of God.

To defeat death. “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (Hebrews 2:14-15).

To be made like His brethren (Hebrews 2:17a).

To become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God (Hebrews 2:17b).

To make propitiation for the sins of the people (Hebrews 2:17c), To take our sin and punishment on Himself to atone for our sins.

To help those who are being tempted “because he himself has suffered when tempted” (Hebrews 2:18).

Those things explain why He took on flesh. But why as a baby? Partly so that He could live a whole righteous life in our place. But perhaps Charles Spurgeon is on to another reason when he says, “We might tremble to approach a throne, but we cannot fear to approach a manger. Never could there be a more approachable being than Christ.” (3)

“The greatest forces in the world are not the earthquakes and the thunderbolts. The greatest forces in the world are babies” (4). Especially this baby.

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1. Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Distinct (2 Kings & 2 Chronicles): Standing Firmly Against the World’s Tides, p. 224.

2. Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Basic (Genesis 1-11): Believing the Simple Truth of God’s Word, p. 94.

3. Charles Spurgeon, Joy to the World: Daily Readings for Advent.

4. Dr. E. T. Sullivan as quoted in Warren Wiersbe, Be Compassionate (Luke 1-13): Let the World Know That Jesus Cares, p. 26.

Thanks to Dr. Wiersbe for emphasizing God’s use of babies in so many of his commentaries and whose thoughts inspired mine.

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

God Does Not Forget Prayers or Promises

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400 years of silence.

That’s what Israel experienced after the last words of the Old Testament in Malachi. They had the law of Moses, their history, the poetry and wisdom of the psalms and Solomon’s writings, and the prophetical books.

But they had heard no new word from the Lord in 400 years.

So we can understand Zechariah’s being startled when suddenly an angel appeared before him.

After so long a time of silence, the first message God sends through an angel is, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard.”

Though I’ve read this passage many times, I was focused on the larger context of how it fit in the birth story of Jesus. I must have glossed over the part about answered prayer. Which prayer? Well, from the angel’s continued message, the prayer about a child.

“Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.”

We can forgive Zechariah for being stunned. He replied, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”

Zechariah had probably long ago given up on those prayers and counted God’s answer as a resounding “No.” And now—at this time, at their ages, they were going to have a baby?

As He so often does, God didn’t answer Zechariah’s “How?” He answered with “Who?”

“I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.”

God had sent this good news.

And the news wasn’t just good for Zechariah and Elizabeth. This baby would later become known as John the Baptist.

And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared (Luke 1:14-17).

Gabriel told Zechariah that because the latter did not believe, he would be mute until the promise was fulfilled.

Hannah Anderson suggests that “perhaps God’s reproof was not a punishment for Zechariah so much as an invitation to experience his strength in a way that only happened in weakness. Perhaps God’s ‘now listen’ was not silencing Zechariah so much as quieting him, quieting him long enough to restore his hope” (Heaven and Nature Sing, p. 33).

When Elizabeth did give birth, and neighbors clamored to know the baby’s name, she said “John.” The people were astonished because no one else in their family was known by this name. They appealed to Zechariah, who confirmed by writing, “His name is John,” as the angel had instructed. John, meaning “God is gracious.”

“And immediately [Zechariah’s] mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God” Luke 1:64).

He acknowledged this child would not just bring joy to his and Elizabeth’s life, but he was a part in God’s grand plan of salvation, put in place before the beginning of the world.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
    for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
    in the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
    whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
    to guide our feet into the way of peace (Luke 1:76-79).

Though God sometimes seems silent, He hears and He cares. And though He answers the immediate concern, He has the larger, longer picture in mind. Besides praying for a child, Zechariah had probably also been praying for the coming of the Messiah. Now their child would have a part in God’s grand plan of redemption. It was John the Baptist who said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) and prepared the way of the Lord.

God had not forgotten His promises then, and He still hasn’t now. He might say “No” or “Not now” when those answers are best. Sometimes the answer to our prayer request is connected to God’s overarching purpose for others as well. When the time is right, He will answer.

(Top photo courtesy of http://www.LumoProject.com.)

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Laudable Linkage

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I am way behind on my blog reading. But here are a few posts that ministered to me this week:

Your Spouse is God’s Creation: Celebrating Differences in Marriage, HT to Challies. “God created every aspect of your spouse’s personhood. He administrated every choice of hardwiring, tone of voice, innate personality, natural gifts, and whether he or she is mechanical, analytical, or relational. Neither you nor your spouse chose any of these qualities.”

Gradual Emancipation: A Parent’s Sacrifice. “Parenting is the long goodbye. It is a gradual emancipation, because chicks were never created to stay in the nest. Everything about their growing years is preparing them for the day they will leave the nest. But as parents we have a choice. We can allow our fears to create a cage for our children.”

A Workaday Faith, HT to Challies. “How do we deal with the fact that most of us will live our lives and then go to our reward without anything impressive to be rewarded for?”

Money Problems? “I firmly believe the ‘labourer is worthy of his hire’ (Luke 10:7, KJV). You and I earn our wages. There is no entitlement or handout. If I represent a weak project, it won’t sell; and I won’t be paid. If you write a weak project, it won’t sell either. The problem comes when money, usually a lack thereof, becomes a distraction.”

President Lincoln’s Proclamation Appointing a National Fast Day. Part of this was referred to in the post above about money. I looked up the rest. These lines in particular stood out to me:

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!

It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Laudable Linkage

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Blog reading was hit-or-miss over the holidays while family was here. I’ve been catching up this week and almost have my Feedly account worked down. But this week’s list of noteworthy links might be a little longer than usual. Perhaps you’ll find an item of two of interest to you.

A Real Christmas, HT to Challies. I don’t think we’re too far from Christmas to contemplate this. “We gloss over the harsh, cruel parts of the story because they don’t fit the narrative we want. But aren’t those parts the point of it all? Jesus came because we needed him – need him still, as evil rages around the globe and even in our own backyards.”

End of the Year Journaling Prompts. There are some for the new year as well. Some would work as blog post ideas.

You Don’t Have to Read the Whole Bible This Year. “Reading the Bible is a glorious privilege; it is entirely worthwhile; it is revealing and convicting and strengthening and encouraging in ways we can barely imagine beforehand. But in the Bible itself we do not find any prescription for the amount we must read each day or year.”

We Should Trust God—But for What? HT to Challies. “I cannot trust God to answer every prayer exactly how I want them answered. I cannot trust him to orchestrate my life so there is no suffering, toil, or disappointment. I cannot trust him to give me everything I want. I cannot trust him to stick to the timeline I had planned for my life.”

How Are We to Live in What Feels Like Unprecedented Times? “Yet all these likely end-of-the-world scenarios have come and gone. G. K. Chesterton wrote, ‘With every step of our lives we enter into the middle of some story which we are certain to misunderstand.’ Our perspective is limited. We’re not God, we don’t hold the universe in the palm of our hands, and we just don’t know what lies ahead of us.”

Did the Pandemic Wreck the Church? Good news here.

Father In Every Way but One, HT to Challies. Beautiful writing here.

Let Us Rediscover the Power of Forgiveness, HT to Challies. “Is this Jesus so dangerous that a young woman finds in Him the power to want good for her father’s killer? Even that she might one day be able to tell him about Jesus?”

In the Darkest Night: Draw Near, Hold Fast, Consider Others, HT to Challies. “In the darkest season of my life, I was lifted decisively out of the pit by a passage in the book of Hebrews. The three simple commands embedded in it made all the difference.”

A Tale of Two Dogs, HT to Challies. This illustrates an excellent point.

Old Spiritual Journals—Keep or Destroy? HT to Linda. This article also shares another side of the issue: Why I Burned 90 Journals . . . And Still Journal Daily. The short answer: it partly depends on why you’re writing in the first place.

This is courtesy of Denny Burk’s Top Ten You Tube video list for 2021, HT to Challies. What a testimony—to play that song in the aftermath of such a storm.

Happy Saturday!

Happy Christmas!

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Matthew 1:21, Christmas, Jesus our Savior

I wish all of you a wonderful Christmas resting in the greatest gift of all,
the Savior who provided for our salvation.

“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus,
for he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
    and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us).

Matthew 1:21-23

Merry Christmas! Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery

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I wish for you and yours a special time of wonder remembering God’s love for us and showing His love to each other.

Come behold the wondrous mystery
In the dawning of the King
He the theme of heaven’s praises
Robed in frail humanity

In our longing, in our darkness
Now the light of life has come
Look to Christ, who condescended
Took on flesh to ransom us

From “Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery” by Matt Papa, Matt Boswell, Michael Bleecker

Laudable Linkage

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I’m waaaay behind on my blog reading. But I wanted to go ahead and share the ones concerning Christmas before it was all over.

We Need a Little Christmas! I love both meanings of this post by Lesley.

This Is Not How I Thought My Story Would Go, HT to Diane Heeney. Good applications drawn from Mary’s life.

We Wait in Darkness: Some Thoughts for Advent. “In Advent, we wait in the darkness. But we do not, I am convinced, wait hopelessly. For while we wait, we can tend the flame. The stories each of our homes are telling can be ones that lend flesh to truth, goodness, and beauty, so that the waiting we do can tend the flame of the Gospel flickering inside our hearts.”

Goodnight Till Then. Those of you who know Tim Challies know that his college-age son died suddenly and unexpectedly a few weeks ago. Also from Tim: When All Seems to Be Gain, Plan for Loss.

Do You Ever Wonder? Lessons Learned from Rebecca. Both Rebekah and Sarah manipulated events instead of trusting God’s promises. We all leave a string of failures in our wake, but thank God He redeems them.

Looking for Joy? Abide. “In addressing His disciples hours before His arrest, Jesus tells them over and over to abide, to remain, to dwell in Him. He knows that they’re worried about what life will look like without Him, so He gives them these instructions for a specific reason: “that [their] joy may be full” (John 15:11).”

On Benedictions, Part 1: He Who Is Able. “This passage doesn’t promise that we’ll never stumble into sin. But it does promise that God’s grace can enable us to persevere to the end—to stand before his throne still blameless, still washed by the blood of Christ, still cleansed from the sin in which we all too readily engaged.”

Assurance in an Age of Cancel Culture, HT to Challies. These days of being so easily “cancelled” when the culture at large doesn’t like what we say can make us fearful of speaking out. “This article is an outpouring of my inner war with ‘cancel culture’ and fear of man. These Biblical truths are weapons of warfare for me in the middle of my fight with ‘cancel culture.’”

Meatloaf Ministry. If you’ve ever been part of a church food ministry or any behind-the-scenes ministry, this will bless you.

Social Justice in Our Divided Age. Not everyone means the same thing by that term, which causes confusion and even hard feelings at times. I thought this was a good explanation.

Happy Saturday!

Laudable Linkage

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A collection of good reading online

Here are some great reads found this week, the first few Christmas-related.

Christmas Is for Dark Times, HT to Challies. “For many, 2020 has been a dark year – physically, emotionally, mentally, financially. People have lost their loved ones, their jobs, their security and their health. Does this mean Christmas should be cancelled? No. The real Christmas happens in the darkness.”

3 Ways to Have Less Stress at Christmas. We can all use less stress, especially this time of year. I love Stacey’s tips.

An Advent Mindset: Mary’s Prayer. Sarah brought out some aspects of Mary’s prayer that I had not considered before.

A Simple Strategy for Meditating in God’s Word, HT to Challies. “God speaks to you directly through His Word. He directs your heart as you read it and meditate on it. Here is a simple strategy that can help you to feed on God’s Word directly.”

Can a Difficult Marriage Change? Sarah shares from 20 years of experience.

The Biggest Threat Faced by the Church, HT to Challies. “What is the biggest threat faced by the church today? Many in the U.S. seem to think the answer is government tyranny. Tyranny is always a danger, but tyranny is not the biggest threat faced by the church in the U.S. or any other nation.”

All Moms Need to Do Is Remain, HT to the Story Warren. “But moms already have so much work to do, and our relationship with God is often put on the backburner. Well-meaning friends, family, and podcast hosts may tell you that it’s okay, busy moms just don’t have time to meet with God. People think they are letting you off the hook, but it makes remaining with God seem impossible (or at least improbable).”

Are Masks a Conscience Issue? HT to Challies. “I’m not qualified to offer a defining medical word on masks, but I want to offer some thoughts on the implications for Christians who refuse to wear a mask because they say it violates their conscience.”

And finally, a fun look at different kinds of Christmas shoppers, HT to Steve Laube:

Happy Saturday!

Laudable Linkage

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Are you enjoying the last few days of visiting with family, as we are? Or chasing end-of-year sales or gearing up to go back to work on Monday? If you have some leisure, these recent online finds have much good to share. Maybe one or two will pique your interest.

A few related to Christmas:

Handel’s—and Jennens’s—“Messiah“, HT to Challies. I didn’t know that Handel only wrote the music, not the words to his famous oratorio, “The Messiah.” Here’s a look at the man who wrote the libretto and why he did.

An Idaho boy married the girl he sent an Operation Christmas Child Shoebox to, HT to Laura. Sweet story!

Competing with Christmas? I like this idea of leveraging the “fun” aspects of the season rather than seeing them as a competition for the spiritual side.

Wise Men: Gentiles Who Sought the Savior. I enjoyed this look at the Magi, the reminder that salvation has always been available to Gentiles, and the contrast between the reaction of Jews and Gentiles at Christ’s birth. I was particularly intrigued by the “bookends” Chris pointed out in the gospels. For instance, myrrh was a gift brought to Jesus at His birth and ointment was poured on Him not long before His death; He was called the King of the Jews by the wise men but not called that again until the crucifixion. I had known those as separate facts but never thought of them as bookends.

When Love Is Hard to Give, and Harder to Receive.

A Weary Mom Rejoices. When the world seems too much, it’s good to rest in the only One who can do anything about it.

That Might Preach, But…it might be not accurate, or the main message of the text. HT to Challies. “In our desire to make Scripture ‘preachable’ we import uncertain meanings into the text, while ignoring glorious truths that are actually there.”

A Fragrant Offering, HT to Challies. “It is through our willingness to bear the sufferings of others that people will see Christ. As we do, we become a pleasing aroma to God and the ones we love. The prevailing aroma of Christ pours forth in and through us.”

Still Looking for That Better Country, HT to Challies. Really interesting perspective from a missionary living in a country she’s not a citizen of, comparing that to our living in the world yet being a citizen of heaven, warning herself against the settling-down that can take place as she comes to her own country.

To Serve God in Heaven Will Be a Great Reward, HT to Challies. I’ve often wondered about that phrase concerning serving God in heaven. “Service is a reward, not a punishment. This idea is foreign to people who dislike their work and only put up with it until retirement. We think that faithful work should be rewarded by a vacation for the rest of our lives. But God offers us something very different…”

‘Advertising breaks your spirit’: the French cities trying to ban public adverts, HT once again to Challies. Yes! I can’t condone public vandalism in the name of stopping advertisements, but I agree with pushing back against being assaulted by advertising in every nook and cranny.

And finally, interesting footage of a seagull who stole someone’s GoPro. I’m amazed the owner got it back!

Happy Saturday!