December 12 - Mary - Part 1

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Luke 1:26-38 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.For with God nothing shall be impossible.And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

God could have sent His Son to Earth in an infinite number of ways, but He chose to do so by causing a virgin to conceive. In His wisdom, out of all of the honorable young women of Israel, He chose Mary. When the angel said she was highly favored of God and that she was blessed above all women, it was simply a statement of fact. She was not favored by God because of what she had done or because she had never sinned - She was favored by God and blessed above all women because she had been chosen by God for the privilege of carrying His son within her womb.
I'm sure there are many considerations that went into that choice - she was virgin betrothed to a godly man of good character who would have to means to provide a decent living and upbringing for Jesus. But, I have to wonder if there weren't many more who fulfilled that criteria? Ultimately it boils down to the fact that Mary was blessed because God chose her bear His son and that choice was what provided God's favor and blessings.

December 11 - Zacharias

Luke 1:5-25 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years. So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. hen an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also 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. He will also 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 a people prepared for the Lord." And Zacharias said to the angel, "How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years." And the angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time." And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless. And so it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house. Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying, "Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people."

God chose to break 400 years of silence by letting Zacharias know that his barren wife was going to have a son. That son would would grow up to be John the Baptist who would prepare the way for the Messiah. For some reason, God seems to have a thing for miraculous births - Isaac, Samuel and Samson also come time mind. I guess a birth is one of those things in life that has to be from Him and those births were precursors of the truly miraculous birth to come. I love this story because I see so much of myself in Zacharias. The angel gives him this wonderful news and instead of taking it and running home to his dear wife, he asks the angel how he can know this for sure. "Hello? - the dude is an angel and you're asking him for proof?!?" is our twenty first century reaction, but how many of us wouldn't just blurt our something similarly inane like: "Get out of town" or "Am I being punked?!?" And when you look at the situation, Zacharias is blessed that all that happened was he lost his voice for a little while. Thank God, he doesn't do that much when we doubt Him.

So how does this tie in with the advent? I see it two ways - first and most obvious, John the Baptist was sent to herald the coming of the Messiah. Second, the story of Zacharias shows us that in spite of Israel's doubt, God still sent His Son at His chosen time. One final thing to consider - for those looking to "experience God" or for some "new anointing from God", please keep Zacharias in mind. God had not spoken to His people for over four hundred years and the first guy that encountered Him was struck dumb.

December 10 - Bethlehem

Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Of all the prophesies concerning the birth of Jesus, the location of his birth was one of the most clearly spelled out. When the wisemen came to see Herod, his advisors told him that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. However instead of using the information to find and worship the Son of God, Herod attempted to use the prophecy to protect his throne and kill Jesus. It's clear he didn't believe the prophecy, but he feared that his subjects did, so he killed all of the babies of about the same age as Jesus. As tragic as this massacre was, it too was foretold in scripture and further vindicated Jesus as the foretold Messiah.

Jerimiah 31:15 Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.

December 9 - The Stumbling Stone

Isaiah 8:14-15 He will be as a sanctuary,But a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense To both the houses of Israel, As a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble; They shall fall and be broken, Be snared and be taken

Psalm 118:22-23 The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD's doing.

Isaiah prophesized that Jesus would be a stumbling stone, something that would cause many of the Jews to not believe in Him as Messiah. During the time of Jesus' earthly life and ministry, the Jews were under a Roman occupation and were looking for a military leader to throw off the yoke of Roman oppression. Jesus was an offense to them - He was of a "common birth" in a stable, He was considered illegitimate and His death on the cross was the ultimate offensive because He didn't deliver the victory over Rome that the Jews wanted.

In the mid 1930's, two young Jewish men, Jerome Siegel and Joseph Shuster, created a new comic book character: Superman. The 1930's were a time of anti-Semitism in this country and abroad - the pogroms of Hitler were underway and Siegel and Shuster wanted to create a character that would be both a hero doing good for its own sake, but a hero who was also supernatural and other worldly. The character of Superman is both similar to and different from Jesus. Superman was sent by his father from another world to Earth. His name, Kal-El means something like "all that God is" signifying that the son embodied all of his father, Jor-El. The trailer for the movie "Superman Returns" indicated that Jor-El sent Kal-El to earth because the people of earth were good. His otherworldly nature gave him supernatural powers to do good and fight evil.

I believe this image of Superman approximates what the Jews were expecting from the Messiah.But that "messiah" is not the one that came. Jesus didn't come to earth in a blaze of glory aboard a rocket ship - instead he came quietly in a stable to a poor working class couple. His birth wasn't announced to the kings of the world, but to shepherds. And Jesus didn't fight evil through his own strength. He resisted temptation and used evil to further God's purpose through God's strength by his death and resurrection. And Israel didn't need Christmas and the Savior that came because they were good - just the opposite from the sick Jesus came to heal (Matt 2:12, Mark 2:17, Luke 5:31). They and we need a Savior because of our depravity and inability to save ourselves. As much as I like Superman, I'm thankful that God sent Jesus instead. It's important to remember that this was part of God's plan, but what we have come look upon as "the Christmas Story" (no, not that movie) was not what the Jews were expecting. The "Silent Night / Away in A Manager" thing was part of the offense that the Jews would have with Christ and eventually lead to His chosen people crucifying him. Even now, we have to worship the Christ of Christmas as He is and not how we might wish him to be.

Job - Part 2

"Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." Job 13:15

Suffering and why it is allowed is a thread woven through out the bible. In the first verse of the book, we’re told that Job is a good man who feared God and shunned evil. How fair was it that God allowed all of that calamity to fall upon him.

In John 9, we see the story of Jesus and the man who had been blind since birth. The disciples asked Jesus whether the blind man’s or his parent’s sin had caused the blindness. Then as now, it was common to think that handicaps, calamity or illness was caused by sin. But Jesus told them that sin wasn’t the root cause of this man’s blindness, but that “that the works of God should be revealed in him.” Does that seem fair – that God would use a person’s lifelong blindness in order to show His glory?
During the spread of the gospel, the disciples died martyrs’ deaths except for John. Paul and James were beheaded, Peter was crucified upside down – was that fair? Take it one step further. Jesus, the sinless Son of God was beaten, spit upon, humiliated and crucified for our sins – was that fair?

Romans 8:28-30 says:
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

God’s purpose for us is to conform us to the image of Christ and eventually glorify us and that process can hurt and even kill us – consider a lump of clay on a potter’s wheel. After being smashed and turned and remolded in order to make it into what the potter wants, I don’t think the clay believes the potter is very fair.

Job is a picture of the suffering that was to befall Christ and an example of the suffering that comes to believers in an effort to conform us to the image of Christ. In spite of everything, Job still trusted God – compare the attitude of Job 13:15 with Jesus’ word in garden, the night before His crucifixion: “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

Job’s trust in God foreshadowed the trust of the Son for the Father that would lead to our redemption. In Philippians 2, we’re told that Jesus took on the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of a man and began his path of suffering and it all started in a stable in Bethlehem.

December 7 - The Prophets

(I am very sorry about not posting consistently the past few days - I have had ISP issues)

Isaiah 9:6-7 - For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

Just as God used the Law to show us our need for a savior, the Old Testament prophets called the people to repentance and to look forward to the coming Messiah. Also, further evidence that God had planned Christmas long before that night in Bethlehem can be seen through the writings of the Old Testament prophets. His birth in Bethlehem, his rejection by the Jews, and even the exact day he would come riding into Jerusalem on a colt. Even the details of his crucifixion were laid out in Psalm 22. Nothing caught God by surprise - it was all part of his plan.

December 6 - Job - Part 1

(I am very sorry about not posting consistently the past few days - I have had ISP issues)

Job 19:25-26 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

I believe that Job is the picture of an Old Testament saint. It's widely believed that Job lived around the same time as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He did not have the Law or the Prophets, and in spite of his troubles, he had the faith to know that his redeemer lived and that he would one day see God. Even though he may have not known all of the theological terms, the names of the holidays or anything more than his individual need for a mediator between himself and God, Job was looking forward in time to both Christmas and Easter.

December 5 - The Serpent In The Desert

(I am very sorry about not posting consistently the past few days - I have had ISP issues)

And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.Numbers 21:5-9

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:John 3:14

One of the commentaries I looked at compared the struggle a Jew would have had looking at the serpent on the pole for healing to the scandal the Pharisees saw when they looked at Jesus. The message was simple - look and live, but I suspect there were those that refused to look. Could pride, unbelief, anger toward God or being busy trying to draw out the poison on their own have prevented someone from looking at the snake on the pole? And by the conscious act of not looking, they died?

Aren't those same type of things what keeps the world from accepting Christ? And isn't that what keeps people from centering the holiday on Him? This Christmas, look around at people around you and see the things people are using to remove the poison on their own and how they're substituting created things for the Creator - that's what Christmas has become to the world. For many, it's about everything but Jesus, as they look for that once a year high born of shopping, carols and really decadent food. But shouldn't Christmas force someone to choose between "look and live" and coming up with their own solution to the poison in their lives? Sadly, many choose the latter.

December 4 - The Law

Exodus 32:15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.

Galatians 3:21-25
21Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

In Exodus 11, when God sent the final plague against Egypt, the Israelites were instructed to apply the blood of a spotless, perfect lamb to their doorposts. The Angel of Death would see the blood and not kill the first born of that household.Later when God gave His Law to the Israelites, He showed them how He defined sin by giving them the Ten Commandments. He also gave them the ceremonial law to provide a method of coming before God for the forgiveness of their sins. Through the sacrifice of animals, the people would acknowledge the penalty of their sins (death - shown symbolically by the sacrifice) and ask for God's mercy to forgive those sins. Unfortunately, the Israelites soon started thinking that their adherence to the Law made them holy and acceptable to God, not His mercy.
Hebrews 10:4 tells us "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins." and Galatians 3:21-25 explains that the Law was given to show us our sin, our need for a Savior and lead us to Christ. While Adam and Eve sinned and brought death into the world, the Law should have proved to us the impossibility of pleasing God in our own effort and make us cry out for a Savior. Adam and Eve killed us and the Law sealed our fate because no one born of Adam could follow the Law perfectly as God demanded. So God sent us Jesus who was born of a virgin and not a descendant of Adam - Adam's original sin is passed to the children through the father and thus Jesus was not tainted by Adam's sin. In our place, Jesus perfectly obeyed the Law and thus was the spotless, perfect lamb that the Law demanded to take our place and atone for our sins. Even as God was giving His Law to the Israelites, He was providing a way to truly atone for our sins by sending Jesus that first Christmas.

1 Corinthians 15:22 - For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

Romans 5:12-15 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned-- (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.

December 3 - Abraham

Genesis 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Genesis 22:1-19 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." And He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you." So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." Then he said, "Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." So the two of them went together. Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of The LORD it shall be provided." Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: "By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son-- blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

Most of the sermons I've heard on these passages have been about faith. Yes Abraham had great faith and he believed God in spite of the way everything looked. Previously, in Genesis 15, God had promised to bless all of people of the world through Abraham and Abraham trusted God to fulfill those promises some how in spite of the way things looked.But this is about God, too. He made a promise to send someone to defeat the serpent. By saving Noah and his family from the flood, He was keeping that promise. And by saving Isaac from being sacrificed He was doing the same. But He was also providing a glimpse into the rest of the plan when Abraham made his statement of faith, "God will provide a lamb." Abraham didn't know how, but based upon what he knew of God and His promise, Abraham knew the lamb would be there when the time came. Without fully understanding, he was looking forward to Christmas and the cross that was to come.

December 2 - The Expulsion

Genesis 3:9-15 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden was where humanity's need for a savior began and where God gave us the first glimpse of His redemptive plan. Adam and Eve were created in innocence with only one condition placed upon them - God forbid them to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Everything else in Garden was available to them, except the fruit of that one tree. But they allowed Satan to convince them to break the only rule God had placed before them. By doing so, sin and death entered into the world and with it, our need for someone to save us from eternal separation from God. In verse fifteen above, God shows this did not take Him by surprise and that in spite of man's failure, He would provide someone to defeat Satan. By doing so, He set into motion the sequence of events that would lead to Abraham being called out to father the nation of Israel. From Abraham to David, to provide a royal lineage for Jesus and eventually the path lead to a young girl giving birth to the Son of God in a manager in Bethlehem.

December 1 - The Creator

John 1:1-5
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

Acts 17:28
For in him we live, and move, and have our being

Hebrews 1:1-3a
In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

Colossians 1:17
And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Any look at the Advent must start with the beginning of universe. The Apostles made it clear that not only was Jesus God, the Son incarnate, but He was also God, the creator. Jesus has existed since the beginning of time and is the binding force of the entire universe. Only by understanding this can we appreciate the significance and magnitude of the incarnation and the One who came. The Creator entered into the creation in order to save the creature.

A Reformed, Biblical Advent Calendar

Beginning December 1st this blog will become a reformed, biblically based, advent calendar that hopefully will glorify God and share the joy of Jesus’ advent.