Max Lucado Daily: HE SEEMED ANYTHING BUT A KING
In Bethlehem, the human being who best understood who God was and what he was doing, was a teenage girl in a smelly stable. As Mary looked into the face of the baby, her son, her Lord, his majesty— she couldn’t take her eyes off him. Somehow Mary knew she was holding God. So this is he. And she remembered the words of the angel when he said, “His kingdom will never end!” He looked like anything but a King. His cry, though strong and healthy, was still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby.
Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a carpenter. God came near! And Luke 1:33 says, “His kingdom will never end!” May you be a part of it.
No Wonder They Call Him Savior: Experiencing the Truth of the Cross
1 Chronicles 16 The Message (MSG)
They brought the Chest of God and placed it right in the center of the tent that David had pitched for it; then they worshiped by presenting burnt offerings and peace offerings to God. When David had completed the offerings of worship, he blessed the people in the name of God. Then he passed around to every one there, men and women alike, a loaf of bread, a slice of barbecue, and a raisin cake.
4-6 Then David assigned some of the Levites to the Chest of God to lead worship—to intercede, give thanks, and praise the God of Israel. Asaph was in charge; under him were Zechariah, Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel, who played the musical instruments. Asaph was on percussion. The priests Benaiah and Jahaziel blew the trumpets before the Chest of the Covenant of God at set times through the day.
7 That was the day that David inaugurated regular worship of praise to God, led by Asaph and his company.
8-19 Thank God! Call out his Name!
Tell the whole world who he is and what he’s done!
Sing to him! Play songs for him!
Broadcast all his wonders!
Revel in his holy Name,
God-seekers, be jubilant!
Study God and his strength,
seek his presence day and night;
Remember all the wonders he performed,
the miracles and judgments that came out of his mouth.
Seed of Israel his servant!
Children of Jacob, his first choice!
He is God, our God;
wherever you go you come on his judgments and decisions.
He keeps his commitments across thousands
of generations, the covenant he commanded,
The same one he made with Abraham,
the very one he swore to Isaac;
He posted it in big block letters to Jacob,
this eternal covenant with Israel:
“I give you the land of Canaan,
this is your inheritance;
Even though you’re not much to look at,
a few straggling strangers.”
20-22 They wandered from country to country,
camped out in one kingdom after another;
But he didn’t let anyone push them around,
he stood up for them against bully-kings:
“Don’t you dare touch my anointed ones,
don’t lay a hand on my prophets.”
23-27 Sing to God, everyone and everything!
Get out his salvation news every day!
Publish his glory among the godless nations,
his wonders to all races and religions.
And why? Because God is great—well worth praising!
No god or goddess comes close in honor.
All the popular gods are stuff and nonsense,
but God made the cosmos!
Splendor and majesty flow out of him,
strength and joy fill his place.
28-29 Shout Bravo! to God, families of the peoples,
in awe of the Glory, in awe of the Strength: Bravo!
Shout Bravo! to his famous Name,
lift high an offering and enter his presence!
Stand resplendent in his robes of holiness!
30-33 God is serious business, take him seriously;
he’s put the earth in place and it’s not moving.
So let Heaven rejoice, let Earth be jubilant,
and pass the word among the nations, “God reigns!”
Let Ocean, all teeming with life, bellow,
let Field and all its creatures shake the rafters;
Then the trees in the forest will add their applause
to all who are pleased and present before God
—he’s on his way to set things right!
34-36 Give thanks to God—he is good
and his love never quits.
Say, “Save us, Savior God,
round us up and get us out of these godless places,
So we can give thanks to your holy Name,
and bask in your life of praise.”
Blessed be God, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Then everybody said, “Yes! Amen!” and “Praise God!”
37-42 David left Asaph and his coworkers with the Chest of the Covenant of God and in charge of the work of worship; they were responsible for the needs of worship around the clock. He also assigned Obed-Edom and his sixty-eight relatives to help them. Obed-Edom son of Jeduthun and Hosah were in charge of the security guards. The priest Zadok and his family of priests were assigned to the Tent of God at the sacred mound at Gibeon to make sure that the services of morning and evening worship were conducted daily, complete with Whole-Burnt-Offerings offered on the Altar of Burnt Offering, as ordered in the Law of God, which was the norm for Israel. With them were Heman, Jeduthun, and others specifically named, with the job description: “Give thanks to God, for his love never quits!” Heman and Jeduthun were also well equipped with trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments for accompanying sacred songs. The sons of Jeduthun formed the security guard.
43 Arrangements completed, the people all left for home. And David went home to bless his family.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Luke 2:25–33
Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout.k He was waiting for the consolation of Israel,l and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required,m 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,n
you may now dismissd your servant in peace.o
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,p
31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.”q
33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him.
Insight
Simeon (Greek, Simon) is a common name among the Jews and means “listen” or “he has heard.” Eleven men with this name are mentioned in the New Testament (Matthew 4:18; 10:4; 13:55; 26:6; 27:32; Luke 2:25; Luke 7:40; John 6:71; Acts 8:9; 9:43; 13:1).
Nothing more is known of the Simeon in Luke 2 except what is told in this passage. Simeon, Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth (the parents of John the Baptist; Luke 1:5–7), and Anna (an elderly prophetess; 2:36) constituted the righteous remnant of Jews who were “eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel” (v. 25 nlt). Luke says that “the Holy Spirit was on [Simeon]” (v. 25), a description that’s used of Old Testament prophets speaking for God (Numbers 11:25; 1 Samuel 10:6, 10; 19:20, 23). Since Anna was a prophetess and was in the temple “at that very moment” (Luke 2:36–38), scholars believe that Simeon was also a prophet.
A Christmas Visitor
Sovereign Lord, . . . you may now dismiss your servant in peace. Luke 2:29
On Christmas Eve 1944, a man known as “Old Brinker” lay dying in a prison hospital, waiting for the makeshift Christmas service led by fellow prisoners. “When does the music start?” he asked William McDougall, who was imprisoned with him in Muntok Prison in Sumatra. “Soon,” replied McDougall. “Good,” replied the dying man. “Then I’ll be able to compare them with the angels.”
Although decades earlier Brinker had moved away from his faith in God, in his dying days he confessed his sins and found peace with Him. Instead of greeting others with a sour look, he would smile, which “was quite a transformation,” said McDougall.
Brinker died peacefully after the choir of eleven emaciated prisoners sang his request, “Silent Night.” Knowing that Brinker once again followed Jesus and would be united with God in heaven, McDougall observed, “Perhaps Death had been a welcome Christmas visitor to old Brinker.”
How Brinker anticipated his death reminds me of Simeon, a holy man to whom the Holy Spirit revealed that “he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah” (Luke 2:26). When Simeon saw Jesus in the temple, he exclaimed, “You may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation” (vv. 29–30).
As with Brinker, the greatest Christmas gift we can receive or share is that of saving faith in Jesus. By: Amy Boucher Pye
Reflect & Pray
Why do you think McDougall saw death as a welcome visitor for Brinker? How does Jesus bring you joy and change you?
Jesus, thank You for ushering in peace through Your death and resurrection. Help me to share Your gift of salvation with someone I know or meet.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
The Hidden Life
…your life is hidden with Christ in God. —Colossians 3:3
The Spirit of God testifies to and confirms the simple, but almighty, security of the life that “is hidden with Christ in God.” Paul continually brought this out in his New Testament letters. We talk as if living a sanctified life were the most uncertain and insecure thing we could do. Yet it is the most secure thing possible, because it has Almighty God in and behind it. The most dangerous and unsure thing is to try to live without God. For one who is born again, it is easier to live in a right-standing relationship with God than it is to go wrong, provided we heed God’s warnings and “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7).
When we think of being delivered from sin, being “filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), and “walk[ing] in the light,” we picture the peak of a great mountain. We see it as very high and wonderful, but we say, “Oh, I could never live up there!” However, when we do get there through God’s grace, we find it is not a mountain peak at all, but a plateau with plenty of room to live and to grow. “You enlarged my path under me, so my feet did not slip” (Psalm 18:36).
When you really see Jesus, I defy you to doubt Him. If you see Him when He says, “Let not your heart be troubled…” (John 14:27), I defy you to worry. It is virtually impossible to doubt when He is there. Every time you are in personal contact with Jesus, His words are real to you. “My peace I give to you…” (John 14:27)— a peace which brings an unconstrained confidence and covers you completely, from the top of your head to the soles of your feet. “…your life is hidden with Christ in God,” and the peace of Jesus Christ that cannot be disturbed has been imparted to you.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ is always unyielding to my claim to my right to myself. The one essential element in all our Lord’s teaching about discipleship is abandon, no calculation, no trace of self-interest.
Disciples Indeed
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
What Linus and I Missed in the Manger - #8597
Every year, about this time, Linus comes marching on stage with his trusty blanket. And he uses a passage from the Bible to help poor ol' Charlie Brown understand "what Christmas is really all about." ..."And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in the manger." Until recently, I had no idea how loaded those words were.
Meanwhile, an angel roars in over shepherds watching their sheep and announces, "I bring you good tidings of great joy ... Today in the town of David (that's Bethlehem) a Savior has been born to you ... this will be a sign to you: you will find a babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger."
I doubt that Linus - or certainly not the guy saying it right now - had a clue about the bombshell in the manger. A stunning revelation that, for all my years going over the Christmas story, I had totally missed. Now, my discovery has made this "most wonderful time of the year" even wonderfuler!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today from the Word of God about "What Linas and I Missed in the Manger."
Bethlehem was only about five miles from Jerusalem, where the great temple of God was. Where, for centuries, people would bring a spotless lamb as a sacrifice for their sin. It is widely believed that the Christmas shepherds were raising temple sheep, destined to be the blood sacrifice for the sin of the bringer.
Here's what I'm just learning after all these years. When a lamb was born, the temple shepherds would carefully examine him to see if he had any blemishes. If that lamb was without spot, they would wrap him in cloth strips called swaddling and lay Him in a stone manger filled with straw.
Suddenly, heaven announces that the newborn Messiah would be found "wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." Imagine what that may have said to them. The newborn Messiah was, in a sense, a lamb. A spotless lamb to be sacrificed.
In the northern corner of the "little town of Bethlehem," there stood a tower called in Micah 4:8, the "watchtower of the flock" - or Migdal Eder in Hebrew. It is thought to be that when a ewe of the temple flock was ready to give birth, the shepherds would carry her to the cave beneath the tower. And there, the sacred temple lambs were born.
This is where I fasten my seat belt. The angel told the shepherds that the sign by which to identify the newborn Messiah would be a swaddled baby in a manger. I've always pictured those poor herders sort of playing Christmas hide-and-seek, looking for a baby that fit that description. Wrong! The Messiah would be wrapped and mangered - just like those spotless lambs, destined for sacrifice. It's likely they went as fast as their sandals could go to Migdal Eder. To the cave where it's believed that the sacrificial lambs were born! That baby in the hay was, indeed, the Lamb. God's Lamb.
When John the Baptist introduced Jesus to the world, he didn't say, "Look! The King of kings" or "the Son of God." Here's our word for today from the Word of God in John 1:29. He said, "Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."
This is the breathtaking plan that had been in God's mind since before the world began - down to the swaddling clothes and the manger. Lambs sacrificed to graphically tell us that sin carries a penalty that can only be paid by death. Preparing the way for God's Lamb, who came to do all the dying for all the sinning of every one of us. For me. I can hardly write those words.
Listen, our website, ANewStory.com, is there at a point like this to help you know how you can experience the forgiveness and the love of this Jesus for yourself beginning today. In this Christmas season I hope you'll get there.
The Bible tells us that one day we who belong to this Jesus will join 100 million angels who are worshiping Him in heaven. And who are singing the an
them of heaven, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!" Heaven can't get over the price God's Lamb paid for us rebels against Him, and neither can I.