And So It Begins.

And So It Begins.

Matthew 14:4-12;Luke 3:19-20; John 1:26-27

“So John was beheaded in prison.'” – Matthew 14:10 NLT

How many times in life does something happen that makes us ask the question, "Can this be God's will?" Usually, it involves an event or situation that appears tragic, unfair, unexplainable or, in our minds, unacceptable. It could be the death of a child or a spouse. Someone innocent who is treated unfairly or accused unjustly. At those times in our lives, it is easy to question God and wonder about His will. Was He in charge? If so, why didn't He do something about the situation? Why didn't He intervene? Doesn't He care? If it was all a part of God's will, how can a loving God allow something so tragic or unjust to happen? Invariably, we begin to measure God based on our understanding of the circumstance, rather than the other way around.

Here in the opening days of Jesus' earthly ministry, we read the tragic story of the death of John the Baptist. John had been arrested by Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, for publicly reprimanding him about having an immoral relationship with the wife of his brother, Phillip. Here was John, the cousin of Jesus, and the one chosen by God to herald the coming of the Messiah, locked in prison for speaking the truth of God. He and his disciples had to be wondering how this could have happened. He had a God-given job to perform. He didn't have time to sit in prison. He had a message of repentance to preach and more people to baptize. But not only was John confined to jail, he was about to be beheaded at the request of Herod's wife, as a party favor for a dance her daughter performed for his friends. John's head would literally be handed over on a silver platter, ending his life and putting an end to his career as God's voice in the wilderness.

But why? How could God allow this to happen? How could this tragic event be a part of His divine will? Those are legitimate and yet difficult questions. And there are no easy answers. But we must not allow ourselves to question the wisdom, righteousness, or justness of God. We must remind ourselves that at no point was God up in heaven shocked by these events, or caught off guard by the outcome. He was fully aware and fully in control – otherwise He would cease to be God as we know and understand Him. As difficult as it is for us to understand the why behind events like these, we must refrain from questioning the Who. God reminds us, "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine" (Isaiah 55:8 NLT). God does not always act in ways that we can understand or comprehend. He does not operate according to a rule book devised by men. There are things happening behind the scenes that we cannot see. There are outcomes we are not aware of. We tend to equate the activity of God with those events we deem good and that produce for us a measure of happiness. A job promotion most certainly be God's will. The birth of a baby must be His will. A bride and groom exchanging vows and rings has to be within the will of God. But should anything seemingly negative or unfair happen in or around our lives, and suddenly we begin to question God and His will. And yet, when Job found himself covered in sores, financially devastated, and having lost all of his children through a tragic event, he told his wife, "Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?" (Job 2:10 NLT).

Yes, John the Baptist died a tragic, undeserved death. From our point of view, it was unnecessary, unfair and far to early in his young life. But God had a reason. There was a purpose behind it all. Does He explain it to us? No. Is He obligated to explain Himself to us? No. But would the death of Jesus be any less tragic, unfair, seemingly unnecessary, and unacceptable to the disciples when it took place just a few years later? No. Would they question the will of God for allowing their Messiah to be murdered at the hands of their own religious leaders? Probably. But God had a purpose. God had a plan. It was necessary for Jesus to suffer and die. And for some reason, it was necessary for John to do the same. Why? I don't know. We can speculate that God needed to remove John from the scene so that there would be no chance of anyone mistaking John for the Messiah, but the Scriptures don't tell us. God doesn't give us His reasoning. But rather than view God through the lens of life's events, we must learn to view life's events through the character of God. We must remind ourselves that He is all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful, sovereign, wise, just, righteous, holy, merciful, gracious, and in complete control of ALL that is happening in the world around us. We see only in part. Our perspective is limited. Our understanding is restricted. So we must learn to trust that God, in His infinite wisdom and love, is doing what He knows to be best, according to His divine, perfect will.

Father, open our eyes and help us to see You. It is so easy to concentrate on what we see happening and not recognize that we have a faithful, loving, all-powerful God working behind the scenes in ways that we cannot see or comprehend. We have such limited perspectives and are quick to call You unjust or unfair without knowing the full outcome. Teach us to continue to trust You even when we don't understand. Amen.

Now What?

Mark 1:2-8; Luke 3:3-18

“The crowds asked, 'What should we do?'” – Luke 3:10 NLT

John came onto the scene preaching a message of repentance. He was calling the people to change their minds about God and their mindset about what it means to be in a right relationship with God. But his was a call to life transformation via behavior modification. While at this early stage of the game John is preaching the Good News, it is as of yet incomplete. His job is to prepare the way for the Messiah. He is getting the hearts of the people ready to receive the Message of salvation through faith alone in Christ alone. To do so, he must call them to repentance. He must make them aware of their need and their inability to live the life God demands of them. To date, they have been saddled with attempting to keep the Law in an effort to please God and have a right relationship with Him. They have been counting on their Jewishness – their standing as descendants of Abraham – to qualify them as children of God. Now when John breaks the bad news to them that "God can create children of Abraham from these very stones" (Luke 3:8 NLT), and "every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown in to the fire" (Luke 3:9 NLT), they are blown away. They ask him, "What should we do?" Look closely to the answer he gives them. "If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry" (Luke 3:11 NLT). He is calling them to a different lifestyle. He is calling them to reconsider how it is they live their life and what they will consider as their priorities for living holy lives. He talks of sharing and sacrifice. He tells the corrupt tax collectors to "collect no more taxes than the government requires" (Luke 3: 13 NLT). In other words, change your behavior. Stop doing what you are doing and act differently. He tells some soldiers, "Don't extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your pay" (Luke 3:14 NLT).

Do you see what John is doing? He is raising the bar. He is making this about life change, not political revolution or religious renewal. After 400 years of silence on God's part, He is picking up His message right where He left off. Listen to the words of God against the people of Israel, given through Malachi the prophet some 400 years earlier. "You have said, 'What's the use of serving God? What have we gained by obeying his commands or by trying to show the Lord of Heaven's Armies that we are sorry for our sins? From now on we will call the arrogant blessed. For those who do evil get rich, and those who dare God to punish them suffer no harm.'" (Milachi 3:14-15 NLT). God goes on to warn them, "Look I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives. His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse" (Malachi 4:5-6 NLT).

That same passage is used by the angel when he tells Zechariah that he and his wife Elizabeth will have a son. Speaking of John the Baptist, the angel says, "He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly" (Luke 1:17 NLT). John's job, like that of any prophet of God, was to call the people to repentance, to convince them to turn back to God. That required them to acknowledge their sin and to come to grips with their shortcomings. They had failed to measure up to God's revealed standard as expressed in the Law. Now he tells them that God was going to require them to live completely different lives than they were currently living. John tells them, "Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God" (Luke 3:8 NLT). God expected not only repentance, but life change. And this call by John was meant to leave the people feeling inadequate and incapable of pulling off what God was calling them to do. And what better way to prepare their hearts for the coming of the Savior. A recognition of our own sinfulness and helplessness must always proceed our acceptance of God's gift of salvation. Our inability to measure up is what drives us to turn to Christ as the solution to our problem. The reality of the judgment of God hovering over all those who fail to live in complete obedience to God should cause us to gratefully and eagerly accept His mercy and grace as expressed through His Son's own death in our place.

I find it interesting how verse 18 explains what John was doing. "And in this way, with many other exhortations, John proclaimed good news to the people" (Luke 3:18 NET). This was all part of the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. John was explaining the problem. He was opening their eyes to the dilemma they faced. After 400 years, God's expectations had not changed. His holy requirements were the same. And the people's ability to meet them remained unchanged as well. Which is why He was sending His Son.

Father, how hard it is to admit our need. Even after experiencing Your gracious gift of salvation, we can easily tend to think we can live this life in our own strength and according to our own set of criteria. But like the Israelites in John's day, we have to come to grips with our need for You and Your Son's sanctifying power. We do not have the capacity to live the lives You've called us to on our own, but thanks for the finished work of Christ and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, we can and should be living transformed lives. Amen.

Repent!

Matthew 3:2-12; John 1:19-28

“I baptize you with water, for repentance, but the one coming after me is more powerful than I am – I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” – Matthew 3:11 ESV

John was a unique character, to say the least. We're told that his "clothes were woven from course camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist" (Matthew 3:4 NLT). His diet consisted of locusts and wild honey. But while his attire and dietary choices may seem a bit odd, his role was out of the ordinary. John, the cousin of Jesus, had been chosen by God for a very important task. He was to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. His job was to preach a message of repentance to a people who had long ago replaced their relationship with Yahweh with a mindless, heartless exercise consisting of rule-keeping and religious rituals. Their God was distant and silent. Their hearts were cold and their faith was weak. So John was given the task of calling them back to God. John was the first prophet of God to speak on behalf of God in over 400 years. And like the prophets of old, John's message was one of repentance. He was calling the people to return to God. The Greek word for repentance literally means to "change one's mind." They needed to change what they believed about virtually everything – from their views about God, sin, righteousness, and religion. As Jews, they had become convinced that being simply being descendants of Abraham was enough to guarantee their relationship with God. But as John warned the religious leaders, "Don't just say to each other, 'We're safe, for we are descendants of Abraham,' That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones" (Matthew 3:9 NLT).

They needed to change their mind about God. They needed to change their mind about obedience. They needed to change their attitude about righteousness. They needed to come back to God in repentance and asking for His forgiveness. He had been silent for 400 years for a reason. They had refused to listen to the prophets. They had refused to live in obedience to His will. And now, if they were going to be able to accept the coming of the Messiah, they would need to repent of their sins and return to God, asking for His forgiveness. And those who did, were baptized by John in the Jordan. But that was simply the first step in the process. John's baptism, while essential, was incomplete. They were still going to recognize and accept Jesus as the Messiah sent from God. Their baptism was an outward sign of their commitment to God. But they were going to need to have their hearts transformed. That would require a different kind of baptism, a baptism of the Holy Spirit. One of the greatest changes of mind they would need to undergo would be their misconception that somehow they could produce their own righteousness – that through self-effort, they could earn favor and acceptance with God. John was calling them to repent of their wrong ideas and false forms of righteousness, and to turn back to God for His help. Holiness could not be achieved with God's help. Righteousness could not be obtained alone. John was preparing the way by restoring the people's dependence on God. Their ability to accept the Messiah would be directly tied to their reliance upon God. They needed to acknowledge their own sinfulness and rebellion, so that they could freely accept God's salvation in the form of His own Son, Jesus Christ.

Father, we too need to change our mind about You and what is required to have a right relationship with You. Too often, we believe that it is our own self-effort that earns us favor with You. We get it into our minds that we can somehow keep You pleased by doing more. We work hard. We do religious things. We attempt to live our lives in ways that will somehow keep You happy. But we fail to recognize that we need You. We need to repent of our self-righteousness and return to You for help. Only You can make us holy. Only You can help us live the lives You've called us to live. And it is all made possible through the gift of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Prepare the Way!

Matthew 3:1; Mark 1:1-4; Luke 3:1-2

“Prepare the way of the Lord,make his paths straight.” – Mark 1:3 ESV

Luke gives us the specifics. "It was now the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius, the Roman emperor. Pontius Pilate was governor over Judea; Herod Antipas was ruler over Galilee; his brother Philip was ruler over Iturea and Traconitis; Lysanias was ruler over Abilene. Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests. At this time a message from God came to John son of Zechariah, who was living in the wilderness." (Luke 3:1-2 NLT). The timing was precise. The long delay was over. The Messiah's arrival was near.

John, the son of Zechariah, later to be nicknamed John the Baptizer, was to set the stage for the entry of Jesus into His public ministry. Interestingly enough, John's commission sent him to the Judean wilderness to begin his proclamation of the Messiah's arrival. Not exactly a prominent assignment or an ideal place to begin his tenure as the Messiah's advance PR team. The Judean wilderness was not exactly user-friendly. It was a harsh and hostile place, far from the political and religious action taking place in Jerusalem. But it was all part of God's divine plan and in fulfillment of the Word of God given to Isaiah hundreds of years earlier. "Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight" (Mark 1:2-3 ESV).

John began his ministry right where he lived – in the wilderness. It was all part of God's elaborate, detailed and predetermined plan. It had been 30 years since Jesus arrived on the scene as a newborn baby in Bethlehem. John, a cousin of Jesus, had been born at roughly the same time. His life had been set aside by God for this very moment. His assignment had been predetermined by God and predicted by an angel 30 years earlier. "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been 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 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 1:13-17 ESV).

The time had come. John was ready. His assignment was clear. The Messiah was near. God was about to do something out of the ordinary, unexpected, unpredictable, unorthodox and unlike anything that had ever happened since the creation of the world.

Father, this story never ceases to amaze me. You could have brought Your Son into the world in so many other ways. Yet You chose this path. You decided to bring it all about under these circumstances and including these obscure individuals. I am reminded of the necessity of John's obedience. He was set apart by You before birth, yet it was essential that he be willing to do what You had called him to do. His parents had kept the requirements given to them by the angel. Mary and Joseph had done their part in the raising of Jesus. And now it was all coming together. Because You had ordained it that way. Your ways are not our ways. "Oh, how great are God's riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!" (Romans 11:33 NLT). Amen.

The Missing Years.

Luke 1:80; 2:39-52

“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men.” – Luke 2:52 NIV

There is about a ten year gap between the time the wise men came to visit Jesus and the story recorded here of His adventure in the Temple. For whatever reason God has chosen to veil those years from us, as well as most of His childhood experiences. We are given only a brief glimpse into the formative years of Jesus' life, and yet, what we see is enough to let us know that Jesus was no ordinary child. As He grew older, He became increasingly aware of His identity and His role.

There have always been those who have desired to know what was going on in Nazareth all those years. The result was a series of false gospels that attempted to put into story form the childhood of Jesus. They came to be known as the "Infancy Gospels" and contained fantastical stories in which Jesus, the boy, performed miracles and slights of hand, much to the amazement of His peers. Jesus is portrayed as a super-human child with miraculous powers that He uses in childish ways to impress His friends. In one account, Jesus slides down a sunbeam. In another He hangs His water pitcher on a sunbeam. In his carpenter shop, when Joseph encountered difficulty fitting two pieces of wood together, Jesus would simply "bless" them into place. There are even stories of Jesus turning other children into goats, simply for refusing to play with Him. He used His powers to wither local bullies, and there is even the story of Jesus striking blind a school teacher who dared to scold Him.

These stories are the creations of men and not the divinely inspired word of God. What we know of Jesus' childhood is limited to these few passages. What we do know is that He was being raised in a traditional Jewish household, where adherence to the law of God was a high priority. As is recorded in this passage, Jesus and His family made the annual trip to Jerusalem for the Passover. They were devout, dedicated Jews. But in this story, we are given a brief glimpse into what was going on in the life of the Messiah. He was growing up. He was increasing in His awareness of unique role and coming responsibilities. He had a maturing sense of His true identity as the Son of God as expressed in His statement to Mary, "Didn't you know that I must be in my Father's house?" (Luke 2:49 NLT).

There would be another 18-year gap before we hear anything more from or about Jesus. All we can assume is that Jesus continued to grow physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. He was obviously raised like any normal Jewish child. He had brothers and sisters. He ate, drank, played, worked, did household chores, studied, attended the Synagogue, and lovingly obeyed Mary and Joseph. Little did anyone know who lived in Nazareth, that this young boy was their very own, long-awaited Messiah. God veiled these days in obscurity, waiting for just the right moment to introduce His Son to the world. And in the meantime, "Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people" (Luke 2:52 NLT). These were years of silence, but God was active. He was preparing His Son and setting the stage for the launch of His earthly ministry. Jesus would prove to be no ordinary boy or man. He was the Son of God, the long-awaited Messiah, and the Savior of the world.

Father, for whatever reason, You have chosen to hide the childhood years of Jesus from our eyes. Obviously, You have good reasons for doing so. His arrival as an infant was critical, because it reminds us of Jesus' manhood. He was the God-man. But it would not be until He became a man, that Jesus' earthly ministry would commence. You prepared Him and revealed Him at just the right time. You were working behind the scenes in ways we will never know, but it reminds us that You are always at work, and never truly silent. Amen.

God's Plan Unfolding.

Matthew 2:1-23

“This fulfilled what the prophet had said.” – Matthew 2:23 NLT

Four different times in this passage we read of events that were in direct fulfillment of prophetic writings recorded hundreds of years earlier. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, not as a result of random chance, but in direct fulfillment of God's divine plan that He had put in place long before the creation of the world. In these 23 verses, we see God's perfect plan unfolding with precision. It is not coincidence that Herod the Great is on the throne, operating as the Roman-appointed king of Israel. He was a tyrant, a ruthless and wicked man who had murdered members of his own family to protect his position as king. Two years after Jesus' birth, Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus are still living in Bethlehem. Wise men from a distant country, arrived in Jerusalem, seeking information regarding the newborn king of the Jews. It seems these men somehow knew that the star that had appeared in the sky was a premonition of something new that was happening. How they linked it to the birth of a new king in Israel, we are not told. But their arrival on the scene in Jerusalem and their questions regarding the birth of the Messiah, deeply concerned King Herod. Unwilling to tolerate a potential threat to his throne, he begins to plot how to discover and eliminate this usurper. Through it all, God is in control. He warns Joseph to take his wife and the child and escape to Egypt. What is amazing is that the funds for this costly trip would have been provided by the gifts of the wise men. The gold, frankincense and myrrh could have easily been liquidated into cash used to pay for their trip and the accommodations they required while living in Egypt. This trip and their time in Egypt were also in direct fulfillment of God's Word. As the children of God had found themselves exiled to the land of Egypt and then rescued by the hand of God, so the Son of God would spend time exiled into this foreign country. But God would bring Him back and restore Him to the land.

Upon hearing that the wise men had refused to return to Jerusalem and give him word regarding the whereabouts of this newborn king, Herod's anger erupted and he unleashed his fury on the innocent children living in Bethlehem. His pogrom of infanticide was also a fulfillment of what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah. Herod, acting as an enemy of God, failed in his attempt to eliminate the Messiah. This would not be the last time that the enemy would attempt to thwart the plan of God in order to prevent the Messiah from fulfilling His role as Savior.

At just the right time, God gave word to Joseph that it was safe to return. But rather than return to Bethlehem, God directed Joseph and his family to Nazareth. This would become Jesus' home town for the next 30 years of His life. He would live there in relative obscurity and anonymity until it was time for His earthly ministry to begin. All in fulfillment of God's meticulously detailed plan. All had happened as God had ordained it. No mistakes, no coincidences, no human intervention or unexpected occurrences. It all was unfolding just as God had planned it. Right down to the smallest detail.

Father, it is amazing to think that this story was written long before mankind even existed, before there was a Jewish people or a Roman nation. You came up with this plan before Abraham was chosen or David was anointed king of Israel. And yet I still worry at times that You are not in control or are incapable of seeing my through my current circumstances. Help me rest in Your sovereignty and power. You are in control, at all times, and over all things. Amen.

The Silence Is Broken.

Luke 2:1-38

“The Savior – yes, the Messiah, the Lord – has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!” – Luke 1:11 NLT

For four hundreds years, the people of Israel had endured a communications blackout from heaven. God had gone silent. There were no prophets speaking, no miraculous manifestations of God taking place around them. It was a dark time. And yet, God while silent, was not absent. He had been working behind the scenes for generations, preparing the way for His solution to mankind's problem. He was orchestrating events in such a way that every detail of His plan came together perfectly – at just the right time and in just the right way. The Jews were living under the heavy-handed rule of Rome. And yet, God was going to use the very Emperor of Rome, Augustus, to decree that a census be taken throughout the Roman Empire. Coincidence? Not hardly. This royal census was going to require every person living in the empire to return to their ancestral home towns in order to register. That included Joseph, who just happened to be a descendant of King David. So he was required to take his wife-to-be, Mary, now well into her pregnancy, carrying the life of the future Messiah in her womb. to Bethlehem.

While there, Mary's due date arrived and she gave birth to Jesus. This earth-shattering event took place in relative obscurity and would have been completely overlooked had it not been for the announcement of His birth by angels. But who did God choose to make this announcement to? Shepherds. Lowly, ordinary, blue collar shepherds. These men were the low of the low in Hebrew culture. They were looked down upon and despised by the average citizen. No one wanted their son to grow up to be a shepherd. And yet, God chose a group of these men to break His 400-year self-imposed silence and reveal the birth of His own Son. The Messiah had arrived. He was here. The one for whom the Jews had long been awaiting had finally come.

Eight days later, at the circumcision of Jesus, two other obscure individuals are used by God to confirm the arrival of the Messiah. Simeon and Anna, both godly, devout Jews, had been waiting anxiously for years for the Messiah to come. They both happened to be at the Temple on the day that Mary and Joseph brought him to be circumcised. And both praised God this remarkable answer to their prayers. "I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!" (Luke 1:30-32 NLT). They recognized that they were looking at the Savior of the world, in the form of a sleeping infant, held tightly in His mother's arms. What a fascinating manner in which to introduce the Messiah. Obscurity, anonymity, infancy, and relative poverty. Apart from the angels, there were no bells or whistles, no pomp and circumstance, no red carpets or media circus that accompanied the arrival of the most significant person to ever be born. And yet, Simeon reminds us, "This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, but he will be a joy to many others. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him" (Luke 1:34-35 NLT).

The Messiah had come. The silence was broken. Salvation was near.

Father, this story never gets old. What a remarkable chain of events. What an amazing reminder of Your sovereign will and Your ability to orchestrate even the plans of the godless to accomplish Your divine plan. This passage reminds us that salvation had an arrival date. The silence and darkness was shattered on a specific day by the singing of angels and the birth of the Light of the World. Thank You for salvation. Thank You for Jesus. Amen.

Born of a Virgin.

Matthew 1:18-25

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.” – Matthew 1:18 NET

The virgin birth. For centuries, men have debated and discussed the validity and necessity of the virgin birth of Jesus. Some have denied it ever happened. Others have argued that it doesn't really matter. At the core of these ongoing debates is the human mind's need to be able to explain and understand everything. A virgin birth is impossible. It is scientifically indefensible. Anyone with a rational mind would refuse to believe something so ridiculous and obviously mythological. But our inability to understand or explain the virgin birth does not make it untrue. Ultimately, this is a matter of faith. It requires belief in the miraculous because it involves the divine, the Holy, all-powerful, inexplicable God. He does not do things man's way. He is not required to operate within our limited sphere of understanding. Yet, whenever man runs into things involving God or His Word that are difficult to explain or understand, he begins to rationalize and reason. His struggle with belief and his need to connect all the dots and explain away all the inconsistencies forces him to reject things like the virgin birth.

But our inability to understand or explain does not eliminate the reality of the event. Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. We don't know how it happened. God's methodology is hidden from us. But His reasoning is clear. Jesus, as the Son of God and the Savior of the world, had to be sinless. And since the sin nature was passed down from Adam through man, it was essential that Jesus not have an earthly father. It's interesting to note that in the genealogy that ends a few verses earlier, Matthew records "Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary" (Matthew 1:16 NLT). In every other line of the genealogy, it lists the man as the father of his son. "Eleazar was the father of Matthan" (Matthew 1:15 NLT). But Joseph was listed as the husband of Mary. He is not recorded as the father of Jesus, because he wasn't. Mary's pregnancy was the result of the Holy Spirit.

A virgin birth. Miraculous? Yes. Difficult to comprehend? You bet. Necessary? Without a doubt. For Jesus to be our sin substitute, He had to be without sin. To be an acceptable sacrifice for the sins of mankind, He had to be sinless. He could not inherit the sin nature of Adam passed down through Joseph. So God did the impossible. He arranged for His Son to be born of a virgin. But is that any less implausible than God taking on human flesh in the first place? If you think about it, the virgin birth is the least difficult thing to believe in this entire story. God becoming man, being born as a baby, living a sinless life and dying a sinner's death on a cross three and a half years later, all in order to save mankind from the penalty of death – now that's hard to understand and impossible to explain. But it is the Good News. It is unbelievable, implausible, inexplicable, and yet, completely acceptable when you factor in the reality of God. This is His story, not ours. He doesn't operate according to our standards. He is not limited by our ability to understand. Everything about this story is outlandish and unbelievable. It requires faith. It requires trust in the reality and reliability of God. The writer of Hebrews reminds us: "Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation. By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen" (Hebrews 11:1-3 NLT). I have no struggle with the reality of the virgin birth. For the God who created the universe out of nothing, that was nothing.

Father, everything about You is inexplicable and unbelievable. You are a great God who does things we can never fully understand. There are things about You that are unknowable to us. Yet in our pride and arrogance we try so hard to explain everything. If we can't, we simply reject it as untrue. But Father, help us to understand that You operate outside the limited boundaries of human understanding. That should bring us comfort, not consternation; peace, not perplexity. You are the God of the impossible. Amen.

In the Fulness of Time.

Luke 1:5-80

“For nothing is impossible with God.” – Luke 1:37 NLT

Galatians 4:4 tells us, "But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children." At just the right time. The imagery here conjures up pictures of a pregnant woman ready to give birth. Her day has come. After months of preparation, the day of delivery finally comes. Something long-awaited and highly anticipated is about to take place. The same is true of the situation in Israel as we read Luke's account of the coming of Jesus. For more than 400 years, the Hebrew people have been waiting anxiously for a word from God. They have been desperately and eagerly waiting for the promised arrival of the Messiah. But unlike a pregnancy, they have no timeline to go by. They have no idea when the Messiah might come. During the period between the close of the Old Testament and the time recorded in the Gospel accounts, God has been silent. He has cut off communication with His people. There have been no prophets and therefore, no word from God. There have been no miraculous manifestations of God's presence. It is a dark period, a virtual blackout, void of God's abiding presence. And it would have been easy for the people of Israel to have lost hope. During those 400 years they had suffered considerably. They had had to endure repeated invasions by various enemies, and it culminated with the taking of Jerusalem by the Romans. By the time Jesus came onto the scene, the Jews were living under Roman rule, subject to Roman laws and Roman taxes. Herod the Great sat on the throne, having been appointed "king" over all of Palestine by the Romans. He was wicked, oppressive and a political schemer who had clawed his way to the top. Things could not have looked worse for the average Jew living in Judea at that time.

But at just the right time, God put His long-awaited plan into action. Luke records it for us. Breaking the long silence, suddenly God begins to speak again. He sends angels to Zechariah and Mary. He begins doing works of power and wonder. An elderly and barren couple miraculously give birth to a son. A young virgin girl becomes pregnant – by the Holy Spirit. Luke records for us the birth of John the Baptist, the conception of Jesus, and the foundational events that would set up the birth of Jesus, the Son of God and the Savior of the World. At just the right time – God acted. When things looked bleak and impossible – God did the impossible. "For nothing is impossible with God" (Luke 1:37 NLT). Mary echoed this sentiment when she sang, "For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me" (Luke 1:49 NLT). "His mighty arm has done tremendous things!" (Luke 1:51 NLT). Zechariah praised God saying, "Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited his people. He has sent us a mighty Savior from the royal line of his servant David" (Luke 1:68-69 NLT). God was fulfilling the promises He had made centuries ago to Abraham and David. He was doing exactly what He said He would do, at just the right moment in time.

Nothing is impossible with God. Circumstances are no match for Him. Wicked kings and powerful nations can't stand in His way. Barrenness and old age are no problem for God. Normal human biological and reproductive requirements don't limit God. Mary's virginity, Elizabeth's barrenness, Zechariah's old age, Herod's wickedness, Rome's dominance, and Israel's weakness were not going to keep God from accomplishing His will and unleashing His redemptive power on the world.

"Because of God's tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace" (Luke 1:78-79 NLT).

Father, nothing is impossible with You. You are limitless in Your power and unstoppable in regards to Your will. Yet I tend to place limits on Your effectiveness and doubt Your ability to handle all that goes on in my life. Forgive me for my fear and floundering faith. Use the story of Your Son's coming to remind me of Your sovereign control over all. Amen.

The Family Tree.

Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-38

“This is the record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham.” – Matthew 1:1 NLT

God took on human flesh. But while it might be easy to assume that Jesus could have come as just anybody, as some nondescript, obscure no-name, it was important that He not only come just when He did, but as who He did. Paul tells us, "But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law" (Galatians 4:4 NLT). Jesus came at a divinely chosen moment in time. This date was picked from before the earth was created. In God's all-knowing, sovereign wisdom, He had marked this date down and He had picked just the right place, time, and people group into which to send His Son.

These two genealogies give us a glimpse into the details of God's plan. It provides a backdrop of unbelievable specificity that shows us that Jesus didn't just pop onto the scene, like some superhero falling from the sky. His arrival was well-planned and meticulously orchestrated by God over centuries of time. You see, Jesus is the fulfillment of a promise made to a man called Abraham. All the way back in the book of beginnings, Genesis, we have recorded God's promise to Abraham: "I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you" (Genesis 12:2-3 NLT). Now, generations later, we read the fulfillment of this promise to Abraham. Matthew records for us that Jesus was a direct descendant of Abraham. He is the means by which "all the families on earth will be blessed." But Luke takes it a step further. His genealogy goes all the way back to Adam. In essence, Luke is reminding us that Jesus is related to all mankind, not just the Jews. He is the Savior of all the world, not just the Hebrew people.

Both of these genealogies, while perhaps boring reads, are significant in their detail. There are names woven throughout that give us a glimpse into God's remarkable plan and how intricately it was worked out over time. They both reveal that Jesus was royalty. He was a direct descendant of David. This was important because it reveals that He was royalty and a legitimate heir to the throne of David, fulfilling a promise God had made to David many, many years before. It would be easy for us to overlook the significance of these genealogies and even refuse to read them. But don't lose sight of the incredible nature of what is being revealed in them. This story is real, not myth. Jesus was a real man, not a made up one. He came into time. He was literally born as a man. And while Joseph was not His biological father, his place in the lineage of David gave Jesus legal rights to the throne of David as the step-father of Jesus. Mary, as the literal mother of Jesus, and as a direct descendant of David, provides Jesus with legitimacy as well. Think of the details behind these names. Think about all that could have gone wrong along the way. Consider the miracle that these two family trees both meet at the same place – at the birth of Jesus. God is indeed amazing. This story is remarkable. And we're just beginning.

Father, You are a God of details. Nothing escapes Your notice. Your plan was perfect and You worked it to perfection. And You still are. So why should we worry, fret, become anxious or let the affairs of this world shake us? You are in control. Thank You for that reminder. Amen.

Emmanuel.

Luke 1:1-4; John 1:1-18

“So the Word become human and made his home among us.” – John 1:14 NLT

As we begin this reading through the four Gospels, it is significant that we start with a solid foundation and a clear understanding of the significance of what we are about to read. This is not some fairy tale devised by men or some religious myth created through someone's fertile imagination. This is the truth regarding the coming of the Christ – the chosen one, promised by God thousands of years ago and sent by God at just the right time in history to accomplish the divine will of God regarding mankind.

This is not just some quaint story reserved for reading at Christmas. These four accounts of the life of Jesus Christ are a window into the the divine rescue plan for a doomed planet and all the people who live on it. These are four men, divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit, writing what they saw and heard, from their own unique perspectives. They are writing to four different audiences and each provides a unique viewpoint, based on their own personalities and aimed at giving a different glimpse of the life of Christ.

But no account of the life of Christ would be complete without the fact that this unique, one-of-a-kind man was more than just a man – He was God. Without that foundational truth, His life becomes meaningless and these four Gospels become nothing more than historical accounts of some obscure Jewish prophet who lived and died. But Jesus was more than just a man – He was the God-man. He was God in human flesh. A difficult truth to comprehend, but no less the truth because of it. What sets this story apart is how it begins. At just the right time in human history, God chose to send His own Son on a rescue mission. And He chose to do it by sending Him in the very form of the ones He was being sent to save. "So the Word became human and made his home among us" (John 1:14 NLT). That's what Emmanuel means, "God with us." God became one of us. How remarkable is that? But wait, there's more. "He came into the very world he created, but the world didn't recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him" (John 1:10-11 NLT). That's the story we are about to read for the next five months. Don't lose sight of it. Don't get lost in all the stories, parables, healings, miracles and messages. God sent His Son in human flesh in order that He might save some. He sent Him to rescue "all who believed him and accepted him," but not took Jesus up on His offer. And there are still those rejecting that offer today.

These four Gospels are just that – the Gospel – the good news of Jesus Christ and His sacrificial, substitutionary death on the cross for sinful man. This is good news about salvation, but also about sanctification. God has provided a way for men to live in harmony with Him that isn't based on our own self-effort. He has taken care of our sin problem by sending His Son and having Him die in our place. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's start at the beginning, but let's not forget the significance of how this story starts. The Word became human. Amazing.

Father, open our eyes to the unbelievable nature of this story. Don't let us read it with the same boring, been-here-before attitude. Make it come alive. Show us things we have never seen before. Bring the miracle of this story to life again for us. Amen.