Grace and Truth Through Christ-Advent 23, 2021

Making the nations prove the righteousness of God (which will in turn reveal and display the wonders of His love to those believed in His Name) … well, it is a task that has been long in coming and proving as hard as the hearts which will be forced to kneel before Him.

Some will never repent. They’ll do down on bended knee only begrudgingly and forced under the sheer tremendous power of God removing every last vestige of trust in anything else. And we wonder why the world seems to be falling apart. We’re witnessing the power of God crushing evil and a defeated enemy—the devil—lashing out and thrashing in his death throes, looking to take as many victims to hell as it can.

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

Consider what a revolutionary statement that is. In the birth of Christ, this is what we have: Revelation of God’s glory. God dwelling among us. Jesus, Son of Man, Son of God, the fullness of Deity in bodily form, Who took on flesh and clothed Himself with humanity, taking the form of a servant. He is the foremost and last…the Alpha and Omega of revolutionaries because He does it with grace and truth … which, along with love and wisdom, are God’s power commodities.

Not the kind of grace many in today’s world would welcome. In their arrogance of humanity, they don’t understand it. Not the kind of truth they want to hear. In their arrogance, they are gods of their own little lives and try to play god in the lives of others. For them, it’s all about ruling other people and never about serving them.

Jesus bringing Grace and Truth is their death knell. No wonder there’s a war on Christmas which celebrates His birth.

Questions for further study:

What tells me that we’re seeing the death throes of evil in this world? It’s a simultaneous global uprising against the tyranny of man. How else do you explain it, all around the world, all at once? Lockdowns timed for Christmas and Easter.

Do you see it? It’s everywhere from Berlin, Brisbane, and Brussels to Paris, Poland, and Peru. It’s A-to-Z as Argentina to Zagreb and everywhere in between. Is the news you’re watching even covering it? If the news you’re watching isn’t showing you the global uprising against man’s tyranny, but covering it up, what side does that tell you that your news source is on?

Do modern intellectuals embrace the Virgin birth or reject it? Why? I can’t emphasize this enough. There’s a reason why the Virgin birth is more than ridiculed. It’s despised. It’s because of Who was born.

What about so-called intellectuals believing that Jesus dwelled among us? Do they believe He was “God with us”? What about Jesus being simultaneously the Son of Man and the Son of God? Or His being God in bodily form? Or do they dismiss Him as just another man? What does “Science” have to say about that? I’m all for science, but science is no god. Pray about your role in this war on Christmas and whose word you will follow, the Word before all time or something else?

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Advent 2021 began Sunday, November 28th and continues to Friday, December 24th as we explore the multi-faceted Interlude between the promise of a Deliverer and the birth of our Messiah and King. By signing up on the sidebar of my Home Page you can receive these daily “Interlude” devotionals. Or they will be reposted on SeminaryGal’s Facebook page as well.

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Last year’s Advent Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times. Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence. His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology. They began November 29, 2015.
Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols. You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives. They began November 30, 2014.
The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John. It began December 1, 2013.
The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story. It began December 1, 2012.