When I think of the plan of God, I’m picturing the game of chess. Not that I’ve played much chess or am particularly good at it. But one of the reasons I don’t sleep very much is that my mind is on creative overdrive …all the time. I run on adrenaline and analogy. So, chess–and I ask myself whether the birth of Christ was the victory as the game ending checkmate … or was it just check with Easter being checkmate?

I’d argue Christ’s birth was checkmate because God’s Word is always true. Once the Son of God was incarnate, the victory was already achieved even if our adversary still investigates every possible play knowing fully that it’s “game over.” 

Isaiah 9:6 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.

How is this checkmate? What’s the difference?

Check: “Usually, novice players are expected to announce check when it happens in order to be sure their opponent notices the situation. Among more experienced players, many consider it rude to announce a check, as these players expect to notice the check themselves. If your king is in check, you must find a way to prevent the king from being captured.” There are three ways to accomplish this: (1) move the king, (2) block the check with another piece, or (3) capture the attacker.

Checkmate: If a king is under attack, but none of these methods work to prevent the king’s capture, the result is a checkmate and it ends the game immediately.

So then why do I think this is checkmate and not check?

Well, the birth of the Messiah made the victory as good as done. Because Jesus is God. He’d make it to the Cross and the tomb and be resurrected just as God said, because God’s Word never fails. God never fails.  And Jesus is God. There are no moves Satan could make to sideline or block Christ…and there was no taking Him hostage or out of His divinity.

This is why the angels could pronounce the birth of the Savior, Christ the Lord, as good news of great joy (checkmate) and not just cheering the latest play as clever while Satan finds a real way out to remain as prince of this world.  Once Jesus was born King of kings, Lord of lords, and Savior, it’s “game over.”

Reflect upon the “already but not yet” aspect of the Timeless Victory in Isaiah 9.

In the birth narrative, what is already and what is not yet? Luke 2:10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

What does Satan hope to accomplish in exploring every move even though it’s ultimately defeat?  He has a purpose in mind.

===

Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

Do you ever feel like Charlie Brown, not feeling happy, and wondering if anyone can tell you what Christmas is all about? It’s not easy to keep perspective in a culture that assaults the holy with the secular at every turn. Isaiah says that our response to the light dawning ought to be joy. Not just any joy, but a Timeless joy that’s rooted and grounded in victory. It was prophesied in Isaiah 9:3 You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. 4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. 5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. 6 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.

There is tremendous-even Timeless- joy in victory but there’s a deep, deep sadness at victory denied…or fear that it will be. Like the end of the story will be nothing but a bad ending. That we’ll be forced to live in defeat forever. That mortality and death will have the final say! We can resonate with the Apostle John whose end-times vision is recorded in Revelation 5:1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4 I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.

John wasn’t being a whiner or a poor sport. In some regards it was more like PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) in which the battle had been fought, the hope had been real all these years!  But the victory was nowhere to be seen. Everywhere John looked, it was victory denied. Death and oppression would rule the day… and I guess, that was that. No hope for the consolation of Israel.  No hope for restoration of people to their God.  It’s no surprise that he weeps.

Revelation 5:5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

Here is the Timeless Joy in this victory. The Christ Child whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, the Son given, the Wonderful Counselor and Prince of Peace from Isaiah 9, He is the Lion and the Root and the Lamb whose victory over death gives us Timeless Joy.  Indeed, He is the consolation of Israel and the Savior of those who will receive Him.  All this joy became real in a baby born at Christmas!  Rejoice!

===

Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

Driving back from Florida over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, we encountered 3 different traffic stoppages. Traffic on exit ramps had backed up onto the expressway. It was a total standstill. Why? “Black Friday” shoppers were out in force, waiting in long traffic lines at the malls, on the roads leading to the malls, and on the expressways leading to the roads that led to the malls. Not only was our temporal joy diminished due to the traffic, but I would imagine that at least some among the great throng of consumers were wondering if it was all worth it. Would the latest bargain actually provide a lasting joy…a Timeless joy? Probably not.  It’s a good thing that Timeless joy, real joy, isn’t so easily lost.

I began thinking of the Whos in Whoville and how on Christmas morning, they gathered and held hands and sang with joy in their hearts because of what Christmas is really all about…even minus the Grinch-stolen bargains: the snoozers, the orangutans, and the bamboozles… or whatever they were all called.

Which came first? Materialism or the secularism?

As I continued sitting in traffic trying to get home, I thought of an analogy. It’s like a syringe. When the plunger is removed, the thing of lesser substance gets sucked in to fill the void. Did we remove God from our lives and the Timeless joy His Savior brings… and material stuff simply replaced Him? Or did we focus so much on the temporal joys of what a bargain can bring, that we actually forced Christ out of Christmas?

I suppose it’s pretty fruitless to ask that question even if it did idle away the hours. The answer is simple: we need more of God and the Timeless Joy…the “good news of great joy for all the people” proclaimed by the angels…and less of the Black Friday bargains encroaching on Thanksgiving night and proclaimed by the Thanksgiving Day ad circulars.

Let’s seek after the greater things this Advent. His joy is Timeless!

For reflection, read Luke 2:8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

• What made the joy great?
• What makes it Timeless?
• What was the angels’ response?
• What was the response of the shepherds?

===

Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

The Light Incognito:  The Savior came but no one figured it out. Not the shepherds who were told by angels.  Not even Jesus’ disciples truly caught on until after He’d died and risen from the dead. No one saw the Light and understood this mystery of God’s good news for all mankind. Not His mother Mary. Not Peter. Not even the beloved disciple John. Jesus came incognito.  That’s what Scripture says.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it…9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God– 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Even when Simeon saw the baby Jesus, the Bible tells us this: Luke 2: 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 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, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: 29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all people, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” 33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

Why didn’t Mary get it even after Simeon said “My eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all people, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel? ”  Mary and Joseph marveled, but they didn’t get it.  Why?

Could it be that—like so many of us—we can have the very truth right before our eyes and still not see it? Kind of like that campaign to Start Seeing Motorcycles. It’s not that motorcycles aren’t already on the road. It’s just that when we’re expecting cars, we’re not expecting motorcyclists.  We need to start seeing what’s already there.

It’s Advent and we’re anticipating Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. But don’t be caught up with looking for gifts under the tree when God’s greatest gift was in a manger in Bethlehem. Start seeing that God’s gift, our Savior, came as a baby. Light and love and life…incognito.

For reflection, read the full passage of John 1:1-13 and start seeing the Light Incognito.  Jesus has been there all along.  His birth would fulfill many prophecies.  How does Jesus’ birth fulfill both law and justice?

Isaiah 51:4 “Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: The law will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations.”

===

Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

Enter your home at night and what’s the first thing you do? Turn on the light. When it’s dark, we stumble over things, bump into furniture, and usually something bad happens…we break things or get some really nasty bruises. Or encounter a spider. (I’m not a big fan of spiders.) When it comes to seeing threats in our midst, Light makes all the difference. It overcomes darkness.  Turn it on!

Isaiah 9: 2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.

The prophet Isaiah was talking to and about the Jewish people, but it is a picture that applies to all of us, no matter what age we live in or what age we are.

The Gospel message of Light invading and conquering sin’s darkness is Timeless.

What is God’s answer to gloom of sin’s darkness?

He sends His Son Jesus whose birth we celebrate at Christmas and this reality is what we ought to prepare our hearts for in anticipation during Advent. It’s more important than a shopping list since Santa isn’t real and frankly, we’ve all been naughty. 

Since we’ll end up hurt if we walk around in darkness or the land of the shadow of death (a very sobering picture of man’s mortality on earth), God turns on the Light of Christ.

Reflect today on the way Isaiah 9:2 sets a pattern for John 8:12 and makes the Gospel a message for all time. How it’s Timeless.  John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Read John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it…9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God– 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

• Why doesn’t the darkness (the world) understand life and light?
• Why do people not recognize Him?
• What must we do in response to God’s turning on the Light?
• How do we see what life really is?

Strange, isn’t it, to think that God would plan on sending Jesus to die for human sin even before a single human being had been created? Yet, that’s what the Bible teaches. It should change our attitude from gloom of sin’s darkness to an attitude of Timeless Hope for eternal life.  And it explains why this is such good news as the angels proclaimed to the shepherds at the Savior’s birth.

Luke 2:9 An angel of the Lord appeared to [the shepherds], and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

You see, God knew we’d need Him before we’d ever been born and He’d make a way for us to enjoy His presence even after we’d bring our sin into His world. Revelation 13:8 teaches that the Lamb, Jesus Messiah, “was slain from the creation of the world.” 1 Peter 1:20 teaches that “He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.” For your sake. That you’d have an attitude of Timeless Hope because God knew we needed Him before we ever realized it ourselves.  And He’d meet that enormous need with a baby in a humble manger.  No ordinary infant, however.  He sent His Son.

Here is the grace of God: This Timeless Hope exists even if people never realize it and refuse to avail themselves of this Hope freely offered.

Isaiah 9:1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan—2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.

After the dark … we’ll have the dawn. After humiliation and distress … honor. If only we’ll see the Light.

Reflect today on Philippians 2:5-11 and ponder how darkness is overcome by the dawn and how humiliation comes before honor as our Timeless Hope.   If Jesus modeled this attitude of hope for us even at His birth, in what ways will you overcome darkness by seeing the Light of Christ revealed? Ponder how you can endure humbling now knowing that honor follows in eternity for those who’ve seen the Light.

Philippians 2:5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

===

Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

In our devotional series for 2016, we’ve been examining the Timeless hope present in the Gospel because heaven is where our mortality gets swallowed up with immortality.  Far better than any peace on earth, Christians can have peace with God because Jesus was born and taught us how to live.  And Death won’t have the final say anymore.

In Markus Zusak’s novel The Book Thief, the narrator named Death has quite a few memorable lines:

Death says:

• “I have seen a great many things. I have attended all the world’s worst disasters, and worked for the greatest of villains. And I’ve seen the greatest wonders. But it’s still like I said it was: no one lives forever.
• The human heart is a line, whereas my own is a circle, and I have the endless ability to be in the right place at the right time. The consequence of this is that I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both.
• A small piece of truth: I do not carry a sickle or scythe. I only wear a hooded black robe when it’s cold. And I don’t have those skull-like facial features you seem to enjoy pinning on me from a distance. You want to know what I truly look like? I’ll help you out. Find yourself a mirror while I continue.”

Gee, Barb, thanks for the morbid reminder, you might be thinking. Advent, the season of hope and all that. Yeah. Merry Christmas. Bah humbug.

Ah, but here’s the truth: we must go further back than the manger.

To see the impact of death-of mortality-and how it stands outside of the human realm, like a circle repeating again and again, only taking different captives with every turn.

To see how angry, genuinely angry, God is at death touching His precious creation. To see His beloved image bearers succumb to sin and its consequence: mortality. Indeed our lives are like a line. We have a point of creation and a point at which our mortality stages its final stand.

If any man’s mortality was the end of his story, then Death would be right:

No one lives forever.

Enter the Messiah.  It’s why Jesus is Savior.  Enter Timeless Hope.

When Jesus came the first time to die for human sin, He didn’t do it so we’d play well in groups. He did it because death is the final enemy which will never be conquered by human peace accords, weapons reduction programs, or a borderless world. Death doesn’t care about possessions or borders or brotherhood or sisterhood in a strictly human sense. Brothers and sisters die. So do parents and children. Death doesn’t care if you follow Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, or Christianity. Death happens to rich people and poor people, wise and foolish, dreamers and realists. It even happens to the selfish and the philanthropic. To the wide awake and the sound asleep, the well-fed and hungry. It happened to John Lennon of yesterday’s Imagine. And that’s because mortality is a consequence of sin and all humans are sinners.

Death happens.  Mortality happens.  Because sin happened.

But break the circle. Conquer sin. Conquer mortality. Conquer death.

This, my friends, is the Timeless hope of all mankind. Jesus was born!  The Word made flesh, the Son of God and the Son of Man and He came with a mission: He was born to die.

Reflect today on the victory march which began in the manger at Jesus’ birth and the hope we have because of this.

1 Corinthians 15:50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed– 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

===

Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

When John Lennon wrote the song “ Imagine ” I wonder if he had any idea that the picture of a world with no heaven, no hell, nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too would have far more in common with a body on life support “living for today” comatose…than with utopia as a brotherhood of man. Don’t get me wrong, I actually like the song and find it rather peaceful. But there’s no getting around that if all we have is humanity and our days on earth, then removing humanity’s boundaries along with passions for self or philanthropy, and inherent desires has but one result: suddenly you have meaninglessness on a worldwide scale. Nothingness. Nothing really matters. Nothing greater than oneself to live for. That’s not a world as one, a world at peace. It’s a collective living without purpose or meaning.

Dust to dust with just dust in between.  Imagine that.  Hardly hopeful.

Far beyond Lennon’s Imagine, here’s the heaven Christians hope for:  

Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

Reflect on what had to happen for heaven to exist as a timeless real hope for humanity.

Identify the beautiful aspects of heaven (above) and contrast that vision from Revelation 21 with John Lennon’s dream of perfection:

• Imagine there’s no heaven
• It’s easy if you try
• No hell below us
• Above us only sky
• Imagine all the people living for today
• Imagine there’s no countries
• It isn’t hard to do
• Nothing to kill or die for
• And no religion too
• Imagine all the people living life in peace
• You may say I’m a dreamer
• But I’m not the only one
• I hope some day you’ll join us
• And the world will be as one
• Imagine no possessions
• I wonder if you can
• No need for greed or hunger
• A brotherhood of man
• Imagine all the people sharing all the world
• You may say I’m a dreamer
• But I’m not the only one
• I hope some day you’ll join us
• And the world will be as one

===

Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

“Choosing their own way rather than God’s way, trusting in human glory rather than in God, the nation has plunged itself into darkness.” Some of you might think that is a strange way to start a series of Advent devotionals called Timeless, especially Timeless Hope! (Come on, put the election behind you! Grrrr….)

But wait, those words were written by theologian John N. Oswalt in his commentary on the prophetic book of Isaiah. Isaiah is talking about Israel specifically in this passage:

Isaiah 9:1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan– 2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. 3 You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. 4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. 5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. 6 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. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this

This prophetic hope, made musically popular by Handel’s Messiah, is about the coming of Immanuel (meaning “God with us”). The curtains open with people in gloom and distress but then hope enters! It’s a timeless message of hope: they’ve seen a great light. Oswalt says the nations are “in confusion and darkness, the prey of the very nations they trust in. But that is not where God intends to leave them. In the very areas where the Assyrian conquests began, there God promises that the light will dawn. The people of Israel have done nothing to deserve this; it is nothing but God’s grace.”

Reflect today on the very nature of Timeless Hope and why dawn is such a fitting image.

• How does “God with us” offer “dual significance” as Oswalt calls it?
• Do you agree that we will all encounter God’s presence one way or another, either as distress or hope?  How might that change the way you go about your day, looking to encounter God? 
• In what way does Jesus’ birth present a Timeless Hope?

===

Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent began November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

It’s really rather stunning that in such a tiny book as The Mark of the Christian by Francis A. Schaeffer, there would be so much to be convicted about, if one’s heart is tender toward Christ.  If one’s eyes are open to one’s own condition and if one’s ears are willing to hear the Truth.  God gives us a “final apologetic” according to Schaeffer.  That final apologetic is unity…an acknowledged godly oneness in the Church.

Right now as we continue to experience the aftermath of the election, we’re increasingly hearing calls for healing a divided America.  Healing divisions and coming together as one nation.  Unity.

Again, the temptation is to settle for a 666 of imperfection, a forged and imperfect unity through compromise.  That’s not what God calls the Church to do.  That’s not what godly leaders ought to settle for…if they’re following God.  To that point Schaeffer writes,

“But there is something even more sober.  And to understand it we must look at John 17:21, a verse out of the midst of Christ’s high priestly prayer.  Jesus prays, ‘That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.’  In this, his high priestly prayer, Jesus is praying for the oneness of the church, the oneness that should be found specifically among true Christians.  Jesus is not praying for a humanistic, romantic oneness among men in general.  Verse 9 makes this clear: ‘I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.’  Jesus here makes a very careful distinction between those who have cast themselves upon him in faith and those who still stand in rebellion.”

That final apologetic of unity is this: that the watching world won’t need to believe that the Father sent the Son, that all the claims of Christ are true, that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life unless the world can see some kind of evidence of the reality of the oneness of the Church.  If the Church cannot agree on something so fundamental as our being one in Christ, then everything else we have to say is garbage.

So, Christians who voted for Trump and Christians who voted for Clinton, it’s time to vote for Christ and the final apologetic of unity.  If you’re black first or white first or Asian first or gay first or Democrat first or Republican first, then you’re not focusing on the right thing…if you’re actually a Christian. For Christians, it’s Christ ALONE.

You, my true brothers and sisters in Christ, have distinctions that melt away under the powerful reality of the final apologetic called unity.  If you’re in Christ, then what joins us together is far greater than anything that divides us.

We will never achieve unity in the culture if we can’t first figure out how to do it as Christians who already have clear instruction on unity:

Ephesians 4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit– just as you were called to one hope when you were called– 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Far more important than … what divides Christians … is the One who unites us.  Let’s start there, with unity, and model it for those still in rebellion, okay?