Advent: Immanuel

"But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,

'Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife,

because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, 

because he will save his people from their sins.'

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:  

'The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son,

and they will call him Immanuel'--which means, 'God with us.'"

Matthew 1:20-23

For the last day of advent, I chose my favorite title for Jesus: Immanuel, God with us. The Isaiah passage I have written about on previous days is quite broad in its scope as the context of the passage is Messiah coming in triumph and restoring his people. But this term, Immanuel, is so beautifully intimate. God in a man, coming down to be with us physically. Such a thing is almost too breathtaking to attempt any meaningful statement. This truth gives me hope and joy and excitement and comfort and strength. Jesus walked among us, God here, a human, sharing our strengths and burdens. He made plain the love and justice and grace and mercy of our God. He submitted himself to the worst of deaths to tackle our root problem: sin. He triumphed and brought us hope that we can be more than the sinful leanings of our heart, that we can be redeemed and brought back to God. How can I adequately express what this means to me? How deep my heart beats with these truths?

And then to make his coming more profound--he is Immanuel even now. He said he is with us always. We are not orphans. He speaks to us through the Spirit. He walks with us step by step. We are guided by what he has said and done in his Word. Every day of my life he is available to me. He is here right now, right beside me. What hope and joy in this!

Remember today that your Immanuel is with you. He came and walked physically among us and he walks still in our lives. He is available to all who call on him, who submit to his heart and his will. Praise the Lord, Our Savior, for the child born who is God with Us!

Advent: Prince of Peace

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, 

and the government will be on his shoulders. 

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, 

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6

 

The last title applied to the child born for us in Isaiah 9 is usually translated "Prince of Peace." This title is the most interesting to me because it has the most depth. To say "Prince of Peace" is so simple in English; the Hebrew meaning is far richer. The Hebrew term translated as "prince" in English is actually much broader, meaning someone who rules or is in charge of something. It is not limited to royalty. The term for "peace" is one most people know: shalom. Shalom, though it contains the idea of peace, means far more. It includes the ideas of prosperity, harmony, well-being, security, completeness. Thus a better translation might be "ruler in charge of shalom."

How does this deeper meaning affect my view of Christ? When I've heard the phrase "Prince of Peace" before, I've thought more along the lines of Christ being passive--that he is peace because one of his attributes is peace. And that is true to an extent. But the idea of him being in charge of peace makes him an active participant in peace. He is not just peace in himself; he controls peace and makes peace happen. He is the ruler over my prosperity, harmony, well-being, security and completeness. I look to him as the source of shalom. This phrase fixes my eyes on the one who holds shalom in his grasp and is able to work it in my life. It reminds me that I am dependent on my Savior.

This Christmas, remember to look to your "Prince of Peace." Pray to him and thank him and petition him, for he is both the embodiment and the manager of peace in your life. Without the child born to us, peace is but a fleeting vision and temporary illusion. With him, peace has come to reign in our world and our hearts.

Advent: Everlasting Father

"For to us a child is born, 

to us a son is given, 

and the government will be on his shoulders. 

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, 

Mighty God, Everlasting Father..."

Isaiah 9:6

The child born for us, the wonderful counselor and mighty God, is also everlasting father. Everlasting is eternal, continuous, for all time and before. He has always existed and will continue to exist. I am also reminded of Hebrews 13:8: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." What assurance there is in the reminder that our savior is forever utterly trustworthy and reliable.

"Everlasting" describes the next term: Father. Such a beautiful word to apply to Jesus. God is described as father all throughout the Old and New Testaments. God as father guides and protects and loves. He is faithful to his children. Thus the phrase "Everlasting Father" holds a double sense of loyalty. The everlasting son is always existent, completely reliable, a faithful father. The Everlasting Father is complete assurance of never being abandoned.

Whatever you are facing, whatever this season holds, you are not set adrift. The child born for you is always present. He will not leave you or forsake you. He cares for you as a loving father, protecting and guiding. Remember no matter what that you will always matter to him and he will always care for you.

Advent: Mighty God

"For to us a child is born, 

to us a son is given, 

and the government will be on his shoulders. 

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, 

Mighty God..."

Isaiah 9:6

 

Mighty God. The term used for God here is el. El is a general term for God and is derived from a root that means "strength." The second name in Isaiah 9:6 then is one of power--the mighty strong one, the strong God. Mighty can also refer to a warrior. The son born will be a warrior, God in strength and power. The context of Isaiah 9 reveals the reason for this warrior, that he will "break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor" (Isaiah 9:4). This reminds me of when Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah, proclaiming of himself, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor" (Luke 4:18-19).

This miraculous child, the one sent to guide us, is also our warrior and our God. He has come to remove our burdens and defeat the rod of our oppressor. There is already a fulfillment in Isaiah in that God planned to rescue Israel physically, but Jesus himself proclaimed Isaiah fulfilled in some way during his first time on earth. Jesus declared he had been sent to set the oppressed free. What did he free us from when he first came? He did battle with sin and won: "So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:21-25).

 

At this time of year, let us remember that this son born for us came not only to guide us, but to break the slavery of sin in our lives. He is a warrior, come to do battle for his bride and claim her as his own. He has broken the rod of our oppressor and we are free. Such a profound truth, a humble babe in a manger born our warrior, God coming in might, the only one who could defeat the darkness of sin entangling our lives. Praise be to our Mighty God!

Advent: Wonderful Counselor

"For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor..."

Isaiah 9:6

 

Are you overwhelmed this season? Are you caught in the busyness of life, the holidays seemingly rushing by? I don't know about you, but at this time of year I always feel my schedule is packed and I am hard-pressed to catch my breath. Perhaps our expectations cause us to rush this time of year or maybe even good intentions of friends and family as we find ourselves invited to multiple events. How many of us think at the end of the season, "Did I even remember why we do all this?"

This month I am going to be posting five advent meditations, thoughts on the child born to us, who he for us even now. It's a way for me to focus on him in the midst of the crazy, to take a step back and gaze  squarely at the one this time is all about. I pray that as I focus myself, these posts may also help others pause to regain perspective.

Today I look to my wonderful counselor. Wonderful. The Hebrew word means something extraordinary, something miraculous, something hard to comprehend. It describes a work of God that causes us to stand in awe. In Jesus, God inserted himself into our world as a human--a miracle to be sure, something beyond expectations and yes, hard to understand. God in a man? And this is not a story or a myth; this is God truly being born a child, a son with authority. It is hard to wrap our minds around such a profound truth. And then the phrase goes farther...

Maybe we can deal with God become man, born a child. Maybe we have enough faith in miracles of God to go with such a happening. But then...Counselor. One who gives advice and counsel. In wonderful, we see God's hand and action doing something beyond us. Counselor links this wonder to us. This miracle event is meant to touch us intimately. This child born will not remain above us, but will interact with us. He will be our adviser and counselor. He will speak words to guide us and lead us. We will so recognize his authority that he will be the foundation and center of our lives. This child of wonder has profound impact on me personally. Am I listening to him?

In the midst of the season, remember he who is a miracle born to show you the master plan of life. Turn to him, fix your eyes on him, recall especially now that he is your focus and foundation. Enter again into the miracle, setting aside distraction. For you he came, to you he speaks. He is your Wonderful Counselor.

O Eternal and Most Gracious God...

Prayer Before Meal, 1660

Jan Steen

A Prayer, John Donne

O ETERNAL and most gracious God, who, though thou have reserved thy treasure of perfect joy and perfect glory to be given by thine own hands then, when, by seeing thee as thou art in thyself, and knowing thee as we are known, we shall possess in an instant, and possess for ever, all that can any way conduce to our happiness, yet here also, in this world, givest us such earnests of that full payment, as by the value of the earnest we may give some estimate of the treasure, humbly and thankfully I acknowledge, that thy blessed Spirit instructs me to make a difference of thy blessings in this world, by that difference of the instruments by which it hath pleased thee to derive them unto me.

As we see thee here in a glass, so we receive from thee here by reflection and by instruments. Even casual things come from thee; and that which we call fortune here hath another name above. Nature reaches out her hand and gives us corn, and wine, and oil, and milk; but thou fillest her hand before, and thou openest her hand that she may rain down her showers upon us. Industry reaches out her hand to us and gives us fruits of our labour for ourselves and our posterity; but thy hand guides that hand when it sows and when it waters, and the increase is from thee. Friends reach out their hands and prefer us; but thy hand supports that hand that supports us. Of all these thy instruments have I received thy blessing, O God; but bless thy name most for the greatest; that, as a member of the public, and as a partaker of private favours too, by thy right hand, thy powerful hand set over us, I have had my portion not only in the hearing, but in the preaching of thy Gospel.

Humbly beseeching thee, that as thou continuest thy wonted goodness upon the whole world by the wonted means and instruments, the same sun and moon, the same nature and industry, so to continue the same blessings upon this state and this church by the same hand, so long as that thy Son, when he comes in the clouds, may find him, or his son, or his son’s sons ready to give an account and able to stand in that judgment, for their faithful stewardship and dispensation of thy talents so abundantly committed to them; and be to him, O God, in all distempers of his body, in all anxieties of spirit, in all holy sadnesses of soul, such a physician in thy proportion, who are the greatest in heaven, as he hath been in soul and body to me, in his proportion, who is the greatest upon earth.

Happy Reformation Day!

Sola Scriptura

"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, 

because you know those from whom you learned it 

 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures,

which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus."

2 Timothy 3:14-15

Sola Fide

"For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. 

Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too?

Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God,

who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith."

Romans 3:28-30

Sola Gratia

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—

and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 

not by works, so that no one can boast."

Ephesians 2:8-9

Solus Christus

"Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me."

John 14:6

Soli Deo Gloria

"If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God.

If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides,

so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.

To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen."

1 Peter 4:11