Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video with from The Martins poignantly singing about … Heaven’s Child … about how God interrupted history with HIS STORY and His plan to fulfill the Old Covenant with the New Covenant Babe in a manger.
=============
Highlight Verse[s]: Luke 2:11-12 [NLT] … 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 Angels declare to the shepherds what has transpired in a manger … that the long awaited Messiah had been born.
==============
Highlight Passage [context]: Luke Chapters 1 and 2 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Reading Chapters 1-2 from Luke reminds us of the excitement and the monumental happening in a manger over 2000 years ago.
=============
Reference Passage : … Isaiah 9:6-7 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Prophesied over 700 years prior to his birth.
Reference Passage : … Philippians 2:6-11 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… And that’s how far God was (and is) willing to go to bring His Bride home to be with Him.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Philip Yancey, reminds us of the coming of the Messiah after centuries of waiting for the Old Covenant to be realized. The ODB author wrote: At the end of the Old Testament, God seems to be in hiding. For four centuries, the Jews wait and wonder. God seems passive, unconcerned, and deaf to their prayers. Only one hope remains: the ancient promise of a Messiah. On that promise the Jews stake everything. And then something momentous happens. The birth of a baby is announced.
You can catch the excitement just by reading the reactions of people in Luke. Events surrounding Jesus’s birth resemble a joy-filled musical. Characters crowd into the scene: a white-haired great uncle (Luke 1:5–25), an astonished virgin (1:26–38), the old prophetess Anna (2:36). Mary herself lets loose with a beautiful hymn (1:46–55). Even Jesus’s unborn cousin kicks for joy inside his mother’s womb (1:41).
Over 700 years prior to the coming of The Messiah in a manger in Bethlehem, Isiah prophesied His coming to save His people [see Isaiah 9:6-7]. But after all that time, only the prophetic few would see that the little babe which came in that manger (see photo) would be, as the Martins sing, “Heaven’s Child.”
And so there’s a reason for all the confusion and excitement that Luke wrote about in the first two chapters of his story about Jesus’ coming. And you know, … it’s been over 2000 years since our Savior, born in that manger to a blessed virgin and the One Who died on a cross (again, see photo), would become the One Who promised that He would come again to take His Bride to be with Him in eternity. And like the shepherds on that breakthrough day, we, here and now, wait for Him to come (AGAIN).
And as we try to look past all the worldly hustle/bustle of the Advent Season, perhaps we can stop for a moment in silence and just celebrate our Lord’s incarnation, His resurrection, and His promise that He is coming again.
Who knows?! … Maybe today!
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Precious Spirit … O Come soon, Lord, to take us home! … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
No comments:
Post a Comment