Behold Our God!

 Isaiah 40:9 Go on up to a high mountain,
    O Zion, herald of good news;
lift up your voice with strength,
    O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
    lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
    “Behold your God!”
10 Behold, the Lord God comes with might,
    and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
    and his recompense before him.
11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
    he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
    and gently lead those that are with young.

We were in this chapter earlier this week for the last Sunday of Advent, preparing our hearts for "the glory of the Lord to be revealed."  Yesterday we celebrated His coming.  Today our response should be to shout from the mountaintops how great our God is.  He is the gentle Shepherd of mercy, grace, and love, Who has sent His Son as a love gift.  But the chapter goes on to remind us that He is awesome Creator, All-Wise Judge, and inexhaustible Source of strength to keep us going in life. Indeed, with all He has proven in sending His Son, our Savior, we should shout and sing: "Behold our God!"

God's Zeal for Us

 Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
    there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

On this Christmas day we remember that God knows what we need - what is best for us - and He gives that to us.  We need This Child. We need someone to truly lead. We need the peace that only He can give. Moreover, God has the wherewithal to do this. He has a zeal for us, a jealously for us, which makes Him willing to pull out all the stops.  Stop today and receive His Gift; hold Him in your arms and say "thanks." Realize what a zealous, jealous love God has for you to send His Son.

His Steadfast Promise

 Psalm 89:1 I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever;
    with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
2 For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever;
    in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”
3 You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
    I have sworn to David my servant:
4 ‘I will establish your offspring forever,
    and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah

This is one of the many psalms with Messianic overtones.  It was a promise the people of Israel clung to when they were scattered among the nations, and especially when they were under the harsh rule of powers like Rome. God had promised a King after David.  They anticipated Him, longed for Him. How could they do so after so many generations? God's steadfast love.  As we celebrate Christ's first Advent and await His second, we can also claim and cling to God's steadfast love for His people. This lengthy psalm goes on to recount God's faithfulness, leaving the psalmist and us to proclaim:

52 Blessed be the Lord forever!

Amen and Amen.

Picture Perfect Peace

 No Commentary Needed: What Christ Shall Bring:

Isaiah 11:1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
    and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
    the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and might,
    the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
    or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
    and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
    and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
    and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
    and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
    and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
    their young shall lie down together;
    and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
    and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
9 They shall not hurt or destroy
    in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.
10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

The Mouth of the Lord

 Isaiah 40:1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
    that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord's hand
    double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
    make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
    and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
    and the rough places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
    and all flesh shall see it together,
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

As stated yesterday, Isaiah was used much by God in proclaiming the coming of the Messiah. He also is the one who announced one who would precede Him, calling on the people to prepare the way for His coming. Thus, Luke begins with accounts having to do with the voice coming, John the Baptist. But what He will say and proclaim will come from the same Source as Isaiah: The Mouth of the Lord.  He has spoken. He will keep His promises to send comfort and forgiveness through Christ.

Extra! Extra! Tell All About It!

 Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains
    are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
    who publishes salvation,
    who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
8 The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice;
    together they sing for joy;
for eye to eye they see
    the return of the Lord to Zion.
9 Break forth together into singing,
    you waste places of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted his people;
    he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has bared his holy arm
    before the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth shall see
    the salvation of our God.

The prophet Isaiah is the source in the New Testament for many fulfilled prophecies of the Messiah. When we look at the passage above, we think of the angels on the mountainside singing the Good News to the shepherds and Paul's reminder that the message first came to the Jews, but it was meant for the whole world. May we meditate upon and proclaim this good news message of joy over and over: Christ is born!

Deep to the Core

 Revelation 17:1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” 3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. 5 And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations.” 6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

As John has witnessed judgment after judgment, he is now taken off the beaten track to the home, the capital of wickedness, the hub of immorality and idolatry in the world.  Here is the source of not only the sin of the world, but the persecution of the saints.  At this point John marvels. He has seen much evil, but this astounds him.  From this harlot flow waterways taking wickedness to all the nations of the world. Ultimately in their wickedness the nations and their leaders will turn on the harlot and this "world", deep to the core with sin, will implode. In this midst of all this evil, John is given an encouraging reminder: 14 They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”