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The Songs of Christmas – Christ

Written by Ben
Monday, 28 December 2009 15:00
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seward_-_mary__baby_jesus1This week we conclude the season of Advent by focusing on Christ.  Our 2009 Advent theme has been “The Songs of Christmas,” and each week we’ve been looking at a song from the gospel of Luke surrounding the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.  Our final song this week comes from Luke 3:4-6.  Luke takes this prophetic psalm which was delivered originally through the prophet Isaiah and applies is to the life of John the Baptist.  This is John’s song:

4 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.

5 Every ravine will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be brought low; the crooked will become straight, and the rough roads smooth;

6 And all flesh will see the salvation of God.’

This week we reflect on Christ himself.  For thousands of years, man had been waiting for the Messiah, the Christ.  In fact, man had been waiting since the day Adam and all of humanity with him fell into sin.  It was on that day God gave the first glimmer of hope, the first gospel.  As God was cursing Satan who was in the form of a serpent, God said to him in Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”  Now the time was at hand.  Jesus, the seed of Eve, was soon to crush Satan’s head!

But Jesus was to have forerunner.  Someone to proclaim that the Messiah—the Christ—was at hand.  That person was John the Baptist.  He was the voice of the one crying in the wilderness, begging all man to repent of their sin and turn to God.  He was preparing the way for Jesus.  You see, it was customary for an ancient near eastern king to send a herald before him in a journey to clear away obstacles, make causeways over valleys, and level hills.  Spiritually, that’s what John was doing.  His duty was to bring back the people to obedience to the law and to remove all self-confidence, pride in national privileges, hypocrisy, and irreligion, so that they should be ready for King Jesus’ coming.

The purpose was so that “all flesh will see the salvation of God.”  And John did just that!  He pointed us brilliantly to Jesus the Messiah Christ.  Friends, God has revealed in Jesus to all mankind that there is hope for forgiveness and reconciliation with God.  Jesus is our salvation.  But He’s not only our salvation.  He’s the only savior of the entire world.  If anybody is to be forgiven of their sin and saved, it will be by grace through faith in Jesus.

God has wonderfully shown us the hope of salvation in Jesus.  Now may we experience the gift of salvation in Jesus.  Joy to the world, the Lord has come; let earth receive her King!

 

The Songs of Christmas – Love

Written by Ben
Thursday, 24 December 2009 08:29
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simeon_and_jesusThis week we continue the season of Advent by focusing on love.  Our 2009 Advent theme is “The Songs of Christmas,” and each week we’ll be looking at a song from the gospel of Luke surrounding the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.  Our song this week comes from Luke 2:29-32.  This is Simeon’s song, which he sang the day he held baby Jesus in his arms in the temple:

29    “Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, according to Your word;

30    For my eyes have seen Your salvation,

31    Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

32    A Light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.”

This week we focus on the love of Christ.  Simeon was most likely elderly.  He had served the Lord well over the years.  In fact, the Bible calls him righteous and devout.  He seems to have been a simple man, and in his later years, he had single-mindedness that drove him on.  You see, the Holy Spirit was heavy upon him and had revealed to Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Christ.  You can bet that with each passing day, Simeon grew more and more excited because he knew that his own life was getting shorter.  Therefore, the sight of the Messiah had to be right around the corner.

As was the custom, Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the temple eight days after he was born to be circumcised and named.  That same day, Simeon came into the temple in the Spirit of the Lord, and behold, there indeed was the Messiah.  Who knows what Simeon had expected to see?  Was he surprised when he saw that the Messiah was only a baby at this point?  Maybe, but he didn’t pass up the opportunity to take Jesus into his arms—holding him, hugging him, and continuously giving thanks to God.

In his arms was the manifest love of God.  We know from John 3:16 that God displays His love to the world by giving it His only-begotten Son Jesus.  Simeon was holding God’s love!  In Jesus is salvation for the Jew and the Gentile alike, for all who will believe on Him.  It’s not a love that’s here today and gone tomorrow.  For all who will believe on Jesus, it is a love that began before creation, climaxes at the cross, and stretches forever into the future.

As we behold Jesus, may we with Simeon say, “My eyes have seen Your salvation,” and then embrace Jesus.

 

The Songs of Christmas – Joy

Written by Ben
Monday, 14 December 2009 08:00
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shepherds_and_angelsThis week we continue the season of Advent by focusing on joy.  Our 2009 Advent theme is “The Songs of Christmas,” and each week we’ll be looking at a song from the gospel of Luke surrounding the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.  Our song this week comes from Luke 2:13-14.  This is the song the angels sang when they told the shepherds of the birth of Jesus, the Messiah Christ:

13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

This week we focus the joy of Christ.  This song the angels sang came on the heels of our Lord Jesus being born in a lowly stable.  Not too many hours before that evening, Mary—the mother of Jesus—and her fiancé Joseph had arrived in the city of Bethlehem.  They were worn out from their travel from the city of Nazareth, but they could not find a proper place to lie down and rest.  The local inn had no vacancy, so they offered the best they had—a stable.  It wasn’t the Hilton, but it would have to do because soon thereafter, Mary gave birth to the baby Jesus.  I’m sure the lackluster surroundings faded away in the flood of Mary’s joy over her new baby who would also be her Savior.

But Mary and Joseph’s joy was not enough because the birth of Jesus was good news for the entire world.  Therefore, God sent an Angel of the Lord to share the good news with some local shepherds who were keeping watch over their flocks that night.  The angel told the shepherds, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:10-12).  And then it happened.  The single angel gave way to multitude of angels (who knows how many angels!), and they began to sing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”  Oh, what a time for rejoicing!

Friend, the thought of the birth of Christ should still cause us to rejoice.  It’s through Jesus that we gain the joy of forgiveness of sin.  It’s through Jesus that we acquire the joy of new life here on this earth.  It’s through Jesus that we secure the joy of eternity with God the Father in the age to come.  It’s through Jesus that our joy is made complete.  May Jesus Christ be the focus and well-spring of our joy this season and every season!