“Get Up and Get Going”

Scripture: Matthew 2:13-23

In case you haven’t noticed, life isn’t always fair! One minute, you are on top of the world, and in the next, you discover that you have become someone’s door mat. Your job is going great, but then you get a new manager, and everything changes for the worse. You are in line for a promotion, and when the award is announced, it’s the Vice President’s son who gets the nod, not you. That old illusive “fairness” always seems to bless someone else.
Remember Elijah and his battle of faith with the priests of Baal? (1 Kings 18:20-19:18) In one moment, God, through the faith of his one prophet, can do things that 450 prophets of Baal can only dream about. God succeeds, Baal fails; Elijah knows victory, but the 450 – only death. The king of Israel, King Ahab, flees from Elijah’s presence, but then, life begins to sour. The threats that Queen Jezebel flings at him instill fear in his heart, and he is on the run. Now it is evil that has the upper hand in the prophet’s life, and he doesn’t stop running until he reaches the mountain, where the Lord will once again restore his faith.
Fear can trump “fair” nearly every time.

The author Teri Worten writes:
Life can deliver some rough blows. However, we do not have the luxury of staying “down,” we must get up, straighten up and wise up for our own sakes and for the sake of our children ...

“Get up, and do not be afraid” (Matthew 17:1-13). After a marriage or relationship ends, the first emotion to hit us is usually fear. Fear can actually paralyze us and hinder us from moving forward with our lives. If we are imprisoned by fear, we won’t take the risks that will propel us to our future blessings. God hasn’t given us this spirit, but he has equipped us with love, power and a strong, sound mind. So, don’t let fear keep you down. Get up and don’t be afraid!
—Teri Worten, “Get up, single mom,” Christian-mommies Web Site, Christian-mommies.com. Retrieved August 13, 2004.

And what got Elijah back on his feet? What happened that conquered his “fear”? 1 Kings 19:9, 11 – “Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ … He said “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’”
Get up, go out, and wait for me! And the prophet did.

Read Matthew 2:13-15

Joseph and Mary had just come through the most incredible experience of their lives. The Incarnate God had come to rest in their arms and to depend on their care; shepherds had come to witness to his majesty; wealthy and wise men from the East had sought their child out, to bring him gifts that were fit for a king, for a priest, for a prophet. These new parents were reeling from the glory that had come into their lives, and nothing could dampen their spirit of overwhelming joy. Well, almost nothing!

“Get up, go out, and wait for me there.” And Joseph did.

There’s something about faith that lets us trust God so completely that no matter what he tells us, we know that it is absolutely the perfect word, and that we cannot delay in carrying it out. And that divine word has filled the world for many, many years, and faithful responses have followed in spite of the implausibility of God’s commands.
Remember Abraham’s response when the Lord told him to take his only son Isaac to the mountain and sacrifice him? Genesis 22:1-19 tells us that early the next morning, Abraham began making preparations, and when he was ready, he set out on the most horrendous of all tasks.
Remember Moses as he stood in front of the bush that was engulfed with fire, but didn’t burn up? (Exodus 3:1-4:17) He hesitated, certainly, and had any number of questions about his suitability for the job that God laid out for him, but once the Lord answered every fear that his servant could raise up, he immediately began to prepare for his return to the very place he had been thrown out of.
Remember the faithful disciples who waited with Jesus before his assentation? (Acts 1:1-10) First they are told to wait until the Holy Spirit comes to them, and then they are asked why they still stand there gawking at the sight! They waited joyfully for ten days, and then all heaven broke out on Pentecost.

And the memories continue throughout scripture, reminding us that when the Lord speaks to us, the only sane thing to do is to listen and respond. Whether we are to get moving immediately, or if, in our doubt, we need to receive further reassurance from the Almighty, or if he tells us to wait for a little while because something amazing is going to happen, it is all the same. The faithful response is never to ignore the call, to never reject the call, but to let the Lord’s plan begin working in our lives immediately.

I will always remember a particular weekend in my own life. I was in prison as part of a Kairos team when, without going into a lot of detail, I knew that God was affirming his call to me for pastoral ministry. When I returned home, I contacted my District Superintendent to begin the process, and everything began falling into place. At one point, I didn’t think that I was doubting his word, but apparently there was something going on in my life, because the Lord, on two successive days, reaffirmed the call in extremely unusual ways, and I could only respond “Yes, Lord – I get it!”

Get up, go out, and stick close!

Read Matthew 2:16-18

Joseph and Mary would come to understand that the urgency of God’s warning was absolutely perfect; their faithful and hurried departure to Egypt was the only thing that could save the Christ Child, but many babies and their families in Bethlehem would suffer because of Herod’s great wrath, which was probably founded in his own fear of the prophecy surrounding this new and glorious King.
Sometimes God’s call on our lives is about ministry, sometimes it is about a message that must be delivered to another person, and sometimes it is a life or death matter. Regardless, God never wastes words on chit-chat! When he speaks to us, it is important! Sometimes he speaks in a nighttime dream; sometimes in a daytime vision; sometimes in a word that is repeated over and over in our hearts; sometimes it is through an everyday event that is unmistakably God. But there is always a word, there is always a purpose, and there is always a mission attached.

Read Matthew 2:19-23

The time had come to return home, and how did the Lord let the family know? “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel …” Even their return to Nazareth was engineered by the Lord! Nothing was going to interfere with the revealing of God’s plan for the people of earth. Prophets, nomads, fishermen, shepherds, intellectuals, engineers, laborers, priests, the common and the not so common person – God is prepared to use us all, if we will just listen and open our hearts and lives to him.

What is the Lord saying to you? Is he saying “go”? Or “don’t go”? Is he saying “now” or “very soon”?

But Godly desires and plans seldom make any sense to us. Do you think that Mary and Joseph were completely on board with the angelic message? “This is God’s Son, and I want you to raise him and love him.” They both must have thought that this was one big mistake, but they never hesitated – they trusted Jehovah and went all the way with him just the same.

“Moses, I want you to go back to Egypt where you are wanted for murder, and I want you to bring my people out of slavery and lead them through the desert to this land I have promised to them.”
“Amos, I know that you are content to be a Judean shepherd, but I want you to go to the leadership of Israel and tell them in no uncertain terms that I am very displeased with their idol worship.”
“Nicodemus, you must be born again.”
“Zacchaeus, I know that you have gotten rich by cheating my people on their taxes and that you are a gross sinner, but I want you to come down from that tree so we can have dinner together at your house.”
“Peter, I know that you think the Gentiles are worthless, but I want you to minister to their needs, just the same.”

Not one of these calls on the lives of God’s faithful made a bit of sense, and to respond to some of them would border on being suicidal. But the call was there, and the response was, too.

Are you willing to put it all on the line for Jesus? He’s calling you – right now, this very moment. He has a place for you in his grand plan, and the time for your part to begin is very near. Will you be a Samuel and say “Here I am; you called me.” Will you be an Isaiah, who, when the Lord asked “Who will go for us?”, replied “Send me.” Will you be a Jeremiah, who even though he thought that his youthful understanding would be insufficient to serve his Lord, received the word of God and went just the same?

He has a great plan, and it includes this church, and it includes its people, and our involvement only requires faith and trust and the willingness to get up, and go out, and to follow closely in the Lord’s footsteps. Will you? Today? Great things are waiting for you!

“The Day Has Come”

Scripture: Luke 2:1-20

I think that for every child, and for every child that is hiding within every adult (!), Christmas can be both a day of great anticipation and a day of disappointment. When I was growing up, my brothers and I had our Christmas list together a month in advance, and we hoped that Mom and Dad would actually refer to it when they went shopping for our gifts. We never listed socks and underwear though, but we always seemed to get them; and we always had one gift on our list that was beyond the resources available to purchase it. But regardless of what we received, Christmas always seemed to be a magical day.
I tried to remember what gifts I wanted desperately over those early years but didn’t get, but not a single one came to mind. Many came to mind that I did get, though – there were lots of books that I usually had devoured before bed time came, a bicycle that served me well for many years, a toy missile launcher that my brother and I aimed so well that from the opposite end of the room, we put a missile directly through a Christmas ornament that was hanging on the tree, and, of course, there was always the obligatory package of socks and underwear and mittens.

But the one “gift” that always came, but was never considered a gift, was the worship service that began at 11:00 on Christmas Eve. (Aren’t you glad it’s earlier now?) And even though I heard the message proclaimed every year, it would be many more years before I would come to appreciate the fullness of Christmas. The promise of the day has been with us since the earliest days of creation, but how many of us tend to live from one Christmas to the next, instead of from one end of eternity to the other?

But maybe we need to be reminded of the need for Christmas – of the story that goes back to the earliest days of Genesis, and what God has had to do about it.

The created man Adam had been told that he was responsible for everything in the Garden, and that it all was for his good, but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was off limits – and if he ever ate it’s fruit, he would die. (Genesis 2:15-18, 20-22) Then the woman Eve is brought into the picture, and shortly thereafter, the Satan appears. He quickly deceives the woman into thinking that the fruit was forbidden only because God didn’t what them to have knowledge like he has, and both the man and the woman eat some, and the deed is done.
And even though they try to hide from God - something that they have never done before - they are found out. The man blames the woman, and she blames Satan – and no one takes any responsibility for the downfall. Then the Lord speaks to them all:

Read Genesis 3:14-19

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers;”. This means that they will have hatred and antagonism for each other for the rest of this time. But God knows that the woman’s hatred for the evil one can only go so far in setting all things right, and that the man can never work off his debt, so some definitive measure must be taken by God to allow humanity – the woman and her offspring – to get back in the good graces of the Almighty. And so the Lord continues in proclaiming his curse on Satan: “he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
He – a singular offspring of the woman – will be Satan’s demise. Note that this particular “offspring” isn’t from the created man – it is only the woman who will bring this Divine Condemnation into play. Satan and his minions will antagonize the people of earth, and will, at some point, cause a minor wound to the singular Avenger. But in the end, this Righter of Wrong, the One who would bring retaliation on the cause and source of all death, will put all things right.

Does the story sound familiar? It should – it hasn’t changed a bit in these last several thousands of years! But the retribution against Satan is yet to come, and one day, it will come. But in the meantime, the woman’s great pain in childbirth will continue, and her domination by men will continue, and the man’s unreasonable toil will also have to continue. None of these curses existed prior to the sin – Childbirth would have been pure joy, the man and woman would have lived as equals, and toil? Not in the Holy Garden! All would have been provided by God. And there is nothing that humanity can do about our “curse”, except to live with it until Christ comes to deal, once and for all, with the unholy Accuser.

But didn’t the One already come? Didn’t the Offspring who will crush Satan come, and then, tragically, die as a common human thief on a Roman cross? Yes, but that wasn’t the end – there is still so much more to come! Christ would rise from the grave, and his resurrection would be the death toll for Satan – but he is only staggering for now, and is in the process of being counted out, and he will continue to show his hatred for humanity until his last moment of existence. But his final day will, most assuredly, come.
And us? What about the woman’s offspring? We still have time left to serve on our sentence, but the day of our release is drawing closer every day. Easter announced Satan’s impending demise, but what about us? What about Christmas?

Christmas is the day when the angelic announcement proclaimed that the sentence of eternal toil will soon be lifted, that the pain of childbirth will be soothed into blessed joy, that the struggle in subjugation will be no more, and that the gates of God’s Garden will once again be thrown wide open for all who will turn to the Holy Offspring for hope. The promise had been made almost as soon as the sin was committed, but the message has had to be repeated over and over for eons by God’s faithful.
Isaiah was given word upon word, sign upon sign to share with the people of earth, but how many believed them? Micah would offer the age old hope in his prophecy, but how many would listen? John the Baptist would clarify the word in John 3:36 , when he said “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on [them].” The promise of relief is sure and certain, and assurance of its truth has come to us over and over. But do we listen? Do we believe? Do we really live as Christmas people?

What do you believe about Christmas?

Do you see it in the light of John 3:16-17? Listen to the words! Jesus’ humble birth in that stable out behind the Bethlehem hotel was the offer of salvation for all of humanity. But it is only an offer, only an invitation - it is not guaranteed until you have accepted it. We need to be Christmas people!

Do you see Christmas in the light of Romans 8:1-4? Listen to the words! There is no hope in doing good – not even in following God’s Law perfectly! The only hope we have is in the One and Perfect Son – the Offspring, the Avenger, the Destroyer of sin. We need to be Christmas people!

Do you see Christmas in the light of Matthew 7:21-22? Listen to the words! It isn’t enough to say the name of Jesus, it isn’t enough to come to church and do all of the religious things of faith. It isn’t enough to say that we are Christians! We need to do God’s will and be Christmas people!

Do you see Christmas in the light of Zechariah 3:1-9? Listen to the words! There isn’t a single thing that Joshua, or we for that matter, can do to merit God’s mercy. Only the command of Jesus can do that. There isn’t a single thing that we can do to break Satan’s hold on our lives. Only Jesus can rebuke him. We can do nothing to cleanse ourselves of the condemnation of sin – only Jesus can forgive it and destroy it. And he will remove the blight of sin from all who are Christmas people!

Are you truly a Christmas person? Nothing else about your life matters any more – not your religiosity, not your good works, not your spoken words, not your age, not your ancestors, not your church membership (don’t let the Bishop know I said that, though!) – the only thing that matters anymore is whether you have claimed the Child of Christmas for your Savior, and have committed your life to following him. The Birth in the Christmas stable changed everything, and in that, everything has been made new through the Holy Child.

Is it any wonder that the angels proclaimed “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” God’s favor rests on those who live as Christmas people. The day of decision has arrived, my friends. Are you ready to decide?

“Immanuel: Healer for the New Day!”

Scripture: Isaiah 7:1-6, 9-17

As we have been journeying through Advent with the prophet Isaiah, we have discovered that he has been pointing Israel’s way toward Christmas. It would be hundreds of years before Christ would establish his earthly presence, but God never waits until the last day – he gives us plenty of warnings, and those warnings come through many of his servants.

Winston Churchill had planned his funeral, which took place in Saint Paul's Cathedral. He included many of the great hymns of the church and used the eloquent Anglican liturgy. At his direction, a bugler, positioned high in the dome of Saint Paul's, intoned, after the benediction, the sound of 'Taps,' the universal signal that says the day is over.

But then came the most dramatic turn: As Churchill had instructed, as soon as 'Taps' was finished, another bugler, placed on the other side of the great dome, played the notes of 'Reveille' - 'It's time to get up. It's time to get up. It's time to get up in the morning.' That was Churchill's testimony that at the end of history, the last note will not be 'Taps,' it will be 'Reveille.'
-John R. Claypool, The Worst and the Last, St. Luke's Episcopal Church,
Birmingham, Alabama.

The last note of human history is not going to be a mournful note – it will be one of resurrection, one of incredible joy! But what will we discover when we awake to that new day? Will we be welcomed into glory, or will we be excluded from it?

Read Isaiah 7:1-7a; 9b

The Lord has a plan that is unstoppable, except when he steps back to allow human plans to unfold. Israel and Aram were plotting against Judah, and God is warning the nation, through the prophet Isaiah, of the devastation that is coming. Remember that Judah is a very small nation, and Israel is much larger, and with their alliance with Aram, they would be quite powerful. But God says “it will not happen”, but he also adds “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.”

These words are specifically offered for King Ahaz of Judah, but they could have been just as pertinent if given to Israel. But the Northern Kingdom was already too far gone – too deeply immersed in their own sinful ways, and no prophetic word was going to change their course. God’s final word in this passage – without faith, you will be unable to withstand anything – is a word that the world has continued to need for the last few thousand years! And yet, even as it has been offered time and time again, many have still preferred to align themselves with the world. Faith means very little to them, and at best, it is seen as an impediment to their life.

Why can’t people accept God’s truth, his warnings, his word for their lives? He tells us “This is what is in the works, and it won’t be pleasant! But everything can turn around, if you would put your trust in me! If you will have faith in my word, just a little faith, victory can be yours! But if your misplaced faith continues as it has been, I won’t be able to help.”

But why can’t God help, even if our faith fails? After all, isn’t he all powerful? Can’t he do everything? True, but God is self-limiting because of that old "curse" that we know as “free will”. Over and over again, God gives the people warning upon warning, chance after chance, prophet after prophet, word after word, and only a very few people ever listen. Remember that Jesus’ power was limited, simply because the people didn’t believe. (Matthew 13:54-58) It wasn’t that he didn’t want to heal them, to forgive them, to renew them – he couldn’t, because they wouldn’t receive him.
We get to choose whether we receive life or death, victory or defeat, grace or condemnation. And the Lord knows full well that many will choose poorly.

Read Isaiah 7:10-17

Jehovah tells Ahaz “If you don’t believe the word I give you, then ask for a miraculous sign – do something, do anything, if it will help you to believe!”
And the king says no – he won’t test the Lord! He won’t test the Lord? You’ve got to be kidding! God gives him permission to ask for a sign, and the king of Judah declines the offer? The only conclusion that we can draw from this is that he doesn’t want to believe! He has heard Isaiah encourage him with “Be careful, keep calm, and don’t be afraid.” He hears the Lord tell him that if he stands firm in faith, victory will be his. The Lord even tells him to ask for a proving sign, and the only firm stand he takes is to ignore his Jehovah God?

But the Lord doesn’t take his reluctance to ask for a sign as a final answer, and he gives the kingdom of Judah both a word and a sign of victory. If the king won’t ask for it, Jehovah will offer it to the entire nation. But will they listen? Will they understand? Will they receive it?

The interesting thing about verses 14 to 17 is that the context is mixed. Isaiah offers the promise of Jesus as a sign to the nation, but this won’t come to be for another 700 years or so. But he also prophesies about the coming of Assyria, who would conquer both the Northern Kingdom and Aram in only 10 or 15 years! Is the prophet confused? Is the message misunderstood?
Think of it this way - God is giving Judah two signs for the price of one. The first is that even though God has been with you throughout the centuries, he is on his way to be with you in a whole new and unexpected form. So watch for him! Don’t miss him! This first sign is a word of hope.
But the second sign is one that contains a dire warning – that the power house known as Assyria is also on its way - not as a savior, but as a means of destruction of Israel. So watch for this one, too, and don’t miss it, because when it comes, it will be proof that the first sign is also true.

How many signs – how many warnings – is God willing to send before he gives up on us? The answer is that there is no limit to his grace or his patience! (Matthew 18:21-22) He will continue to try to win us back to his way until our time has run out and it is too late. And even then, the signs will continue to come for those who still have time! And not only will they keep coming, but the signs will continue to be more and more unavoidable as time goes on and the Day of Glory approaches.

And I believe that Jesus’ first coming was the ultimate sign for the world and its people. After all, how much more unmistakable can the prophecy be than to have God Himself come into the world, to live and teach as one in his created order, to set his throne aside for many years of human existence, and to allow himself to become the sacrifice for humanity’s sinful ways. How could the Almighty provide a sign that is any greater than that? He can’t, and there aren’t!

Even though humanity refuses to seek the Lord’s goodness, he sent the ultimate invitation to us just the same. Imagine – Immortal God being born to mortal flesh, coming in person to share the desires of Divine Hope with the masses of hopelessness - to teach, to heal, to love, to sacrifice, until all of his human breath was taken from him, and then to offer one last glorious sign, that of resurrection into new life and ascension into glory.
These signs aren’t given for nothing, you know! They are offered as God’s one last great attempt to convince this hurting world that there is more to life than what we know. Jesus didn’t leave earth and return to heaven just to get away from the likes of us! He went as an example for us, to prepare the way for us, to show the way to us, to let us know that his coming was a Godly way of saying “I came to experience your life, so that you can come and experience mine!”

Is it any wonder that the angels were rejoicing on that night out in the fields? They knew that Jesus would be the perfect sign for the world, the perfect invitation for us to join him in eternity, the perfect means to ensure the worthiness of worthless people. And all that we would have to do is to accept the invitation. How much easier could it be? God’s plan for his created was perfect, and all that the people have to do is to choose glory over desolation, light over darkness, truth over lies, righteousness over sinfulness, healing over infirmity, life over death.

But would they? Will they? Will they choose before their time runs out? Will they choose Jesus, or will they opt for themselves? Will they choose the Holy Way of heaven, or the one that leads to a dead end? Only time will tell.

“New Life in the New Day”

Scripture: Isaiah 35:1-10

A man goes to a fortuneteller who looks into a crystal ball and tells him, “You will be poor and unhappy until you are 48 years old.”
“Then what will happen?” asks the man.
The fortune teller replies: “Then you'll get used to it.”
- Homiletics Online

A rather dire prediction, wouldn’t you say? No hope of improvement for your life, only the realization that this is as good as it gets, and the expectation that you will, eventually, learn that this is what life is really all about! But for the Christian, God has promised a totally different opportunity – one that leads to a way that gets better and better all the time. Oh, our financial outlook may not improve, the condition of our health may not improve, even our most prized relationships may still come and go, but we also will come to know that the truest form and purpose of life is ours in Christ, and that it can never be held back by the trials of this world.

Read Isaiah 35:1-2

Have you ever felt as though you were spiritually and emotionally “parched”? Thirsting for some relief from your struggles? Fully aware that unless you find a source of refreshment very soon, that you will be beyond hope? Praying that a rescuer will come along to give you that drink?
This passage is about the relief that you are praying for. It is about rescue – about renewal – about new life – about redemption. The analogy of the wasteland being renewed is one that those who live in or near arid areas are familiar with. After the desert receives one of its rare and generally skimpy rainfalls, life springs up almost immediately. The grasses blossom, the cacti flower, wildlife emerges from their burrows, and a radical transformation occurs in the land. And as long as the moisture lasts, so does the new life. But for the Christian, the “moisture” is always present, always renewing, always refreshing. It is known as The Living Water, and it will never fail. With that Water, life returns, joy returns, glory returns to the parched life, and renewal can begin to grow and bless once more. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote:

In the child of Bethlehem, the life of the world that is to come, has come into the life of the world that is.
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer

That new life is the glory of God in Christ Jesus.

Read Isaiah 35:3-7

It is about not only a new life, but rather a whole new way of life. Consider some of these new “strengths” that the prophet describes.
Fragile hands will be made stronger, and shaky knees will become steady again. Some commentaries imply that these references refer to our ignorance and lack of understanding, and not just physical limitations. If that is so, this could be just about the worst thing that a “spiritual wilderness” experience can bring into our lives. Could anything be as debilitating as “weakness and infirmity” in faith? There is no power, no growth, no trust, no hope! But when our life is placed in the promise of Christ, ignorance flees and understanding blossoms, our lives are empowered, we become spirit filled and awakened to the glory of God.
And fearful hearts are just as bad as shaky knees. If we are to be in service with our Lord, we can’t be hobbled by fear. But if our heart is turned, we doubt and hesitate and fail at every turn in the road, and our walk with Christ becomes a crawl at best, and in all probability, will be condemned to stagnate. Isaiah tells us that we need a strong heart if we are to be Christ’s, and that with his “divine retribution”, we will be saved from failure.
But retribution? Against whom? Against us because of our weak hearts?
No! His vengeance will be targeted against that which has sapped our strength, against that which has caused us to be afflicted with fear, against all that has devastated our spirit. And he will save and refresh and renew our lives.

The prophet also speaks about blind eyes and deaf ears, about lameness and mute tongues, and how each one will be healed. The analogies are quite obvious, so we really shouldn’t have to spend much time on them. But just to make the point, blindness and deafness keep us from discovering the glory of God, and lameness and the inability to speak keep us from celebrating the Lord’s goodness with the people of earth. And these maladies will also be refreshed and renewed in the glory of the Lord, and the redeemed will once again be freed to serve, and to be served, in faith.

Read Isaiah 35:8-10

What is there about a highway, especially one that is Holy? Remember the days when “highways” were few and far between? When it was narrow 2 lane roads that took you wherever you needed to go? They were slow, they took you through the stop signs and traffic lights of both small towns and large cities, and you needed to plan your trip carefully to avoid excessive delays.
But now, 4 and 6 lane highways are nearly everywhere – or at least within a fairly short drive of any place you may live. They speed up our trip, make travel somewhat safer (believe it or not!), and get us to our destination with less frustration and exhaustion.
And the Holy Way is even better - it is direct and true and safe, and takes us away from the ways that we have to map out on our own, which, incidentally, will NEVER take us to glory! But this Way is unique, in that it has a special limited accessibility – only those who are in the Lord can journey on it.
The “unclean” and “wicked” will be barred from it – they will never be allowed on the Holy Way. If they want to try to make their own way, more power to them, but their way will always fail. Those things that cause spiritual death and destruction will also be denied entrance, because the Holy Way is all about Life, and death can have no place on it.
Only the “redeemed” and the “ransomed” may walk this way – only those who have been bought back from slavery, those who have been freed from a burdening and devastating debt that can never be repaid, those who have had their sentence repealed through the sacrifice of another – this is a divine freedom, and those who have been freed will find their way to the Holy Highway. But those who are still held in the grasp of sin, those who still have an unresolved debt to God, those who are still imprisoned have no place on the Holy Way.
The Way of Holiness will be covered with the singing of a new song and with basking in a new glory. The prophet tells us that “Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” Does this sound like a whole new day to you? You had better believe it is!

As we have been walking through this season of Advent, we have seen promise after promise, sign after sign, and all have pointed toward this new day. But this newness is nothing that we can create and nothing that we can even adequately describe, except to say that it is the gift of God’s grace and mercy, and is designed exclusively for those who will put their whole trust in him. And when God makes a new day, it means that all things have been made new! Our old perceptions, our former understanding, our previous ways
cannot exist in this new day, and if we think that they can, then we are sadly mistaken. In our way, redemption and ransom will never be ours; death will continue to haunt us; our song will be a forlorn funeral lament; and the parched wilderness that we call life will never blossom.

This New Day is the hope that is found in Jesus Christ, and without him, there is no new day. He is the beauty of life, he is the promise of eternity, he is the destruction of death, he is the author of hope. Christmas is the day when we celebrate his setting glory aside for 33 years so that he could offer that same marvelous glory to each of us; it is the day when he began his journey toward the one and only sacrifice that could satisfy our debt; it is the day when he began his Passion that was necessary if we were ever to be redeemed and justified as worthy.

Christmas can never be just another day to celebrate. Remember the words of the angels? “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people! Today … a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. … Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace” (Luke 2:10-14)
Jesus is the Good News;
Jesus is the Holy Way;
Jesus is redemption;
Jesus is glory –
and he is all these things just for us. And this isn’t even the half of it - there is so more to come. Praise God.

"The Sign of the New Day”

Scripture: Isaiah 11:1-10

Before there was GPS, we relied totally on maps and road signs. Remember those days? Some signs were helpful for our trip, such as road names and route markers, others were informative in more general ways such as billboard ads, while others were both advertisements AND entertaining. Remember Burma Shave?

- His cheek was rough - His chick vamoosed - And now she won't - Come home to roost. Burma Shave!
- When Super-shaved - Remember, pard - You'll still get slapped - But not so hard. Burma Shave!

And of course, there were many more like these, and no matter where we went, my brothers and I were always on the lookout for the Burma Shave signs. But think about the actual purpose of the signs – were they to entertain the kids when they were on their way to Grandma’s? No! They were to sell more shaving cream! They were for the male adults, not the rest of the family! But as all good marketers know, before you can sell, you need to catch the attention of your intended audience. And these signs always did.
But entertainment without the information is rather hollow and short lived – very much like coming to worship on Sunday, but not hearing any scripture or any message! Signs are important for our lives, but only if we gain something of significance that helps us.

So it is with God’s word.

Read Isaiah 11:1-5

These are the signs that God offers to the world regarding the coming of Messiah – there is no entertainment value in these, but there is a wealth of information in each and every word. And note that the Lord doesn’t give just one sign – he gives many. It would seem that Messiah’s arrival is far too important to trust to just one word.

But I think that there is generally some confusion with this passage. Is it about Jesus’ first coming, or his second? Is it about the Virgin Birth, or about his Return for the Day of Judgment? If you are looking to me for an answer, then the only valid one must be a resounding “Yes!” Whether first or second, they are inexplicably linked to each other. The Second Coming, with its resulting judgment that leads to new life, must be based on the First. And without the Second, the First one falls flat and has no purpose.
These 5 verses reflect the righteousness of God, revealed in Christ Jesus. They establish both his human lineage and his Divine Character, and taken together, they can never define any other person in all of human history.

So what are these signs?
First, he will be a descendent of Jesse, or more specifically, he will be of the same lineage as King David.
Second, he will be blessed with God’s Spirit, and this attribute shapes his entire character. And these items aren’t normal human traits in any conceivable way!

Wisdom and understanding are vitally important for any ruler or administrator, but our humanness limits their quality and effectiveness. The Spirit’s Wisdom, on the other hand, is perfect and it understands all things.
Counsel – the ability to lead in times of peace - and power – a necessity in times of conflict - are important for everyone who governs and leads others. But human power is unreliable and will fail us at the worst possible time. And our counsel? Imperfect, at best. But Spiritual power is infinite and its Counsel is flawless, and neither will fail.
And I believe that “knowledge” and “fear of the Lord” are put together for a specific reason. They are not intended to be two separate and distinct issues, but rather one and the same. Human knowledge will, one day, fail us and our love of God is iffy, at best, but when these are combined in the Spirit, they imply a perfect and total understanding, not just of the things of earth, but of the Lord God Almighty, and as such, will always be trustworthy and absolute. And in the Spirit, these gifts, as well as the ones that follow in verses 4 & 5, will never be used for personal gain, but rather for the benefit and gain of others.

And his judging of what is righteous and just, and his use of counsel and power, and his knowledge and love of God, won’t come through the normal avenues of human perception – they won’t be based on what is observed or heard or touched or smelled. Humans depend on their 5 senses to gain understanding and to convey justice. But this Branch of Jesse will use none of these. So what will be used?

This Fruitful Branch will gain his understanding and wisdom and power and might from the Holy Spirit. His life and instruction will be righteous and just, his advice and power will be a blessing to all, his knowledge and love of God will inspire and teach – and they won’t be given for just a select few, but for all, and in particular, for the poor and needy who seldom receive justice or honor or righteous advice.

This Branch will be anything but limited by his human nature. He will never be self-serving, he will never misuse his authority, and he will teach the world how to love and honor God. And for those who refuse to learn, who refuse to submit to this perfect authority and Spirit led voice? They will suffer the consequences.

There’s a story about a physician who was driving between hospital calls one evening, exceeding the speed limit rather shamelessly in an attempt to make up for lost time. Suddenly a police car pulled up behind him and turned on the lights. Having some considerable experience in both speeding and getting caught, the doctor picked up his stethoscope and held it up for the policeman to see in hopes of communicating that he was on a medical emergency.
Yet the police officer continued in pursuit with no regard to the physician's signals. Once more the doctor waved his stethoscope in the air, this time more dramatically, in hopes of conveying the importance of his mission. But when the physician looked into his rear-view mirror to see whether the police officer got the message, he saw a smiling officer waving his own symbol of authority in the air -- his revolver.
- Source Unknown

You may think that you have and are the perfect authority, but the real signs always seem to point to another who has even more.

Read Isaiah 11:6-9

And as with any sign, any prophecy, any proclamation, it has to show, or at least promise, that there is a true benefit to our following and believing that sign. The Fruitful Branch of Jesse is, in and of himself, that very promise.
And what is that promise? It is one of perfect peace – peace from fear, peace from hatred, peace from mistrust, peace from need. Consider the relationships that are depicted by the joining together of the wolf and the lamb, the leopard and the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling and the child – none of these are normal in our world. These relationship are truly Spirit filled and are the proof of the "signs".
That is what the word “Shalom” means in its fullest context – it implies a transformation by the Spirit – it is a rest, a freedom, from all that the world can throw at us, and a restoration to the things of God. It is one that we can only imagine, one that we can only anticipate, but one that is promised and sure.
“They will neither harm nor destroy … for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord.” Here is that Spirit given knowledge again – all of earth’s creation will know of the Almighty. No longer will humanity have to depend on the mercy of inexact human judgment, or a misplaced trust in human counsel, or a limited view of the love of God. Life will finally be Spirit led, and with this, we have now moved from Christ’s characteristics in his first coming to the results of his return in the second. And the extent of glory has only been touched upon in this passage.

In 1968, at the Ecumenical Council of Churches Meeting at Uppsala, Sweden, one of the delegates, Metropolitan Ignatios, [offered] these words:

“Without the Holy Spirit, God is far away - Christ stays in the past; the gospel is a dead letter; the church is simply an organization; authority, a matter of domination; mission, a matter of propaganda; the liturgy, no more than an evocation; Christian living, a slave morality.
But in the Holy Spirit: The cosmos is resurrected and groans with the birth pangs of the kingdom; the risen Christ is there; the gospel is the power of life; the Church shows forth life of the Trinity; authority is a liberating service; mission is a Pentecost; the liturgy is both memorial and anticipation; human action is deified.”
--Leon Joseph Cardinal Suenens, A New Pentecost? (New York: Seabury Press, 1974), 19-20.
That is a true Spiritual transformation, and it awaits all who will follow the sign of Jesus!

Read Isaiah 11:10

And the signs all point to that glorious day when Jesus will be our banner, when Jesus will be the focus of every person on earth, when Jesus will be our perfect peace and rest.
All the signs are there – see them for yourself, and then help others to know them, too.

“A New Day Is On the Way!”

Scripture: Isaiah 2:1-5

We’ve all heard the expression “Tomorrow is a new day.” It’s a great thought, but it’s usually offered in a situation that is anything but encouraging. Your business loses out on a new and very lucrative contract, and someone always says those words. Your engagement to the love of your life has just broken off, and your friend tells you those exact words. You have just lost the competition that you have been training for over the last 4 years, and your coach repeats those words.

And they don’t help. The truth is that everyone wants today to be that new day – a day filled with all kinds of good possibilities, a day that fulfills our dreams, a day that is truly new and wonderful. Of course, this saying goes right along with the other one – “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence!” And that doesn’t bring much encouragement, either!

We want to think that this day is the best one of our life, and that tomorrow will be even better. But that seldom happens. We want today to be the new and best day, and that means that we want it to be the ideal and perfect day now, and it never seems to come.

It’s a matter of relativeness. We know that the illusive new day is coming, but we also have to know that we will never experience it in this life – that this life will never be perfect, but the day of the Lord will be exactly that – perfect and glorious and new in every way.

Read Isaiah 2:1-4

Think about the “new day” that the prophet is describing – quite something, isn’t it! This is the day that we want now, because the word is a prophecy of perfection.

Verse 2 begins with “In the last days”. It doesn’t say “On” the last day. It is plural, it is a range of days. I believe that these words refer to the millennial reign of Jesus. So let’s consider the words themselves – there are 4 of them.
First – the mountain of the temple (Mount Zion) will be raised up so that it is above all others.
Second – All nations will be drawn to that new mountain.
Third – The God of Jacob, Yahweh Himself, will teach from that place, and the people will learn his ways
Fourth – There will be peace.

Let’s take each of these individually.
First, Mount Zion was seen as the home of God, and for that reason, the temple was built there. It is not currently the highest in that area, but apparently, the Lord will see to it that one day it will rise above all the rest, and not only above the ones surrounding Jerusalem, but above every hill and every mountain on earth.
And you are wondering why God would do that! Because God is supreme, and if it is true that Jesus will be returning to earth at Temple Mount, the physical properties of the place must reflect the majesty and grandeur of the Lord.

Second, “all” nations, all people, all nationalities, will come to this place, for the express purpose of worshiping the one true God of heaven and earth. After all, if you heard that Almighty God, your Redeemer and Savior, had established himself someplace on earth, wouldn’t you drop everything, leave everything behind, and head out to see him? Of course you would, and so will everyone else.

Third, the great and glorious Lord will become our teacher again, just as Jesus was during his first time with us. But for Israel, the priests had been their teachers in ancient times, and subsequently, the rabbi’s had assumed that role, along with the Pharisees during Jesus’ first days. But IN THE LAST DAYS, Almighty God in Jesus Christ will become our immediate authority, and no one will have to speak on behalf of him.
He will be the judge who settles every dispute and will judge every wrong – no more human intervention to interpret the meaning of the law, to decide both punishment and vindication. He will speak his holy laws, and there will be no question as to what they mean.

And fourth, there will be true peace – a peace that convinces the nations to destroy all their weapons of war and hatred, and the people will be able to get on with everyday life without any fear of what may be coming tomorrow. There will be no more national pride, no more national aggression, no more offense, no more defense, no more misunderstanding, no more terror! It will be a time of peace unlike any other time in the annals of history.

Read Isaiah 2:5

“Let us walk in the Light of the Lord.” Notice that the previous 4 verses are written in the future tense – “The Mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established”; “it will be raised above”; “He will teach us his ways”; “The law will go out”; “They will beat their swords into plowshares” – These are the things that will happen “in the last days”.
But when we read verse 5, it is in the present tense – “let us walk”, not we will walk. Come, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.

This is what Advent is about – not just anticipating the Lord’s arrival, not just celebrating his coming as an infant, not just celebrating the fact that “one day” there will be peace. It is about walking in his light – his peace - today. Israel still waits for Messiah’s arrival, but Christians wait for Jesus’ return!
Jesus has already been here, and his glory has already established his supremacy above all others, and he has already taught us his truth and his law, and in his grace, we already have his peace in our hearts. And if we have all of those things in our life, we can, with the utmost confidence, walk in his light.

Remember that grand song – “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine”?
“Hide it under a bushel, NO! I’m gonna let it shine.”
“Everywhere I go, I’m gonna let it shine.”
“All around the world, I’m gonna let it shine.”
“Don’t let Satan blow it out, I’m gonna let it shine.”

The New Day of Christ is on its way, but until that glorious day arrives, we’re going to walk in the Light of the Lord, and we’re going to carry that glorious light wherever we go! Amen?
The Light of Advent is our witness to the world that a new day is coming, and that this New Day’s name is Jesus. Don’t let his light go out.