All we like sheep have gone astray…

Isaiah 53:6

If you’ve ever met a sheep up-close and personal, you’ll soon learn something about them. Sheep are stupid. Sheep are weak. They are a delicate animal. They need a good deal of care in order to be healthy. When I first learned this from my ‘country-girl’ friend, it took me a bit by surprise that God, in His Word, has referred to us time and again, as sheep. On one hand, I was a bit offended…to think that God would liken me to a ‘stupid’ animal. But as I thought about it a bit, one of the Father’s little “Life Lessons” hit my heart with a Truth that I hope to remember for all my days on earth.

We are stupid! Like a sheep who will follow another sheep off a cliff to his death, sometimes we do the same thing, spiritually speaking. Poor choices run rampant in the world and God knows that we’ve made some pretty sad decisions in our lives. While we still lived in continual sin, some of the things we did might have led to a physical death, but worse than that, our choosing of a wrong road would have resulted in spiritual separation from God for all eternity.

Like sheep, we are also weak. Temptation comes to each individual in a way that appeals to the weakness in us. Sin has a way of taking us to that very place where we have a tough time resisting. As sinners we fed on spiritual ‘junk food’….diets of things that could offer no nutrition in a spiritual sense. Feeding our weakness caused us to seek more of the same, because that’s how it is with ‘junk food’. It puts a craving into your mind, and you can’t get enough. It never satisfies, and yet, we continued to seek it, or at least, yield to it, because we are weak.

We might not have known it yet, but the Lord did! He had a plan. He knew we were in need of a guide and a guardian, so He prepared a Shepherd. This Shepherd would come, to care for the flock, to tend to the sheep, and to provide all that we would ever need. He would come to be our protection against the wolves that surround us, seeking to destroy. He would lead us on safe paths and guide us to still waters, soothing us in times of fear and anxiety. He would keep us from following others down a road to death. If we wandered off, the Shepherd would be there to coax us back…to pull us from the briars of life and to gather us into the green pastures where we could live in good health and safety.

Yes, God had a plan…a magnificent, wonderful, Holy plan. These days when I hear the Father liken us to sheep, I know that I am, on my own, stupid and weak, I am grateful that when I was so weary and I couldn’t take another step, I called out to Him, He heard me and I was rescued. He pulled me off the path of death and set me on a new road of life. I have great need of this Shepherd! I want to stay close to the Him, in His protective care. hearing His voice, following His lead. Would I ever want to stray? Would I ever want to be on my own again, making my own decisions with no guidance? NO! I choose to be surrounded by the boundaries that He has placed. I know that if I step outside of them, temptation and trouble awaits and perhaps, even death! I’ve been there before. I don’t want to ever leave the safety and loving care I have come to know. There is a Shepherd of Love, of safety and salvation, and I need Him.

I will leave you with this verse of a hymn I learned years ago.

“Savior, like a shepherd lead us.
Much we need Thy tender care.
In Thy pleasant pastures feed us.
For Thy use our folds prepare.
Blessed Jesus, Blessed Jesus,
Thou hast bought us, Thine we are.”
AMEN

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews 12:1-3

I have a friend who has lived a very difficult life.  A mother of several children and the wife of a drug addict, she has seen and known times the likes of which most of us will never experience.  She has watched some of her children follow the path of their afflicted father, powerless to convince them to climb out of the downward spiral of drug addiction and depravity.  She has taken her children to church on her own.  She has sung in the choir, taught children about the love of Her Savior in Bible studies, and returned home from a crowded worship service to the emptiness and loneliness of a broken home. She has worked tirelessly at her job to provide the basics of life for her children, while watching her hard-earned money drain from her bank account at the exploits of a selfish husband and father.  She eventually ended up losing her marriage, her house, her job, and many of her dreams to the consequences of her husband’s sin.

On my most difficult days,  I often thought of her and knew that regardless of how discouraged I felt by my circumstances, I had absolutely nothing to complain about in comparison with her.  There is always someone worse off than we are!  And I guess the thing that stands out to me more than anything else about my friend and the saga she has lived is the fact that she responded to her trials with such grace.  She always had a smile on her face, always! Despite the inner turmoil she faced day in and day out, she was always quick to lend a hand to others and to serve her Lord.  To this day I still am inspired by her example of hope and joy in the face of such heartache.

Hebrews 12 reminds us that there is Another who endured a lot, considerably more than my friend or you and I will ever have to endure.  He suffered the cross.  He endured the ridicule and shame and rejection of those He came to love and save.  He persevered through the beatings and injustice and murder with tenderness, compassion, and incomparable selfless-ness.   Jesus gave up the safety of heaven for the joy of dying for you, so that you can one day enjoy the comfort of heaven eternally with Him.

The next time you are tempted to be defeated or discouraged by your circumstances, remember what Jesus endured for you.  Let that motivate you to lay aside every weight, every incumberance, every temptation to sin, so that you can run with patience and perseverance the rest of the journey that lies before you.  Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith, our Deliverer.   He came and did absolutely everything necessary to win and obtain your eternal freedom, regardless of how your present situation may appear or feel.  You are delivered through the death and resurrection of Jesus!  You are free.

Even in His dying breath, Jesus looked at those who were watching Him hanging on that cross and He had compassion on them.  He delivered them as well as you and I.  He said, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing.” His heart of love defies comprehension.

We who have been delivered must help others see and accept their delivery as well.  Jesus came to save us all and He doesn’t want anyone to perish.  May we all cherish our Deliverer and all He did for us.  May His utter grace be reflected in our lives as well.  May we not grow weary. May we look to Jesus and take heart!

Joseph took his wife and child and they went to Africa
To escape the rage of a deadly king
There along the banks of the Nile Jesus listened to the song
That the captive children used to sing… they were singing
My Deliverer is coming… My Deliverer is standing by

My Deliverer Is Coming
Rich Mullins

I’ve been amazed by the words and the imagery of this song ever since I first heard it so many years ago.

Jesus entered a world that was full of expectation, especially among the Jews. Centuries of political domination had not quenched the belief that they were God’s chosen people, but it had created a situation of desperation. God’s had faithfully acted on his promises in the past: promises to Abraham and Sarah, promises to Moses and the nation, promises to David and his royal line. What about now?

Many awaited a strong-armed deliverer who would rip Palestine from the grip of Rome. Their expectation for the Messiah was someone in the pattern of David, a warrior, a military genius. Many hoped for God’s presence in the restored (though not in full grandeur) temple – something missed since the time of Ezekiel. They longed for God’s voice to be heard through the prophets. Many just longed for the necessities of life, food, shelter and peace to go about daily business – and this was never guaranteed in Jesus’ day. They longed for a Messiah who would provide for the needs of all.

The gospels record that Jesus was taken to Egypt for his own safety (Matthew 2). There he was, hearing the songs of hope from the children around him. My Deliverer is coming. The cry of the Hebrews under Egyptian slavery. The longing of the Jews who fled to Egypt when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians. The song of a people displaced, longing for restoration.

For that is deliverance. Not just freedom from oppression, the ability to conduct one’s business without hindrance. No, the people longed to be God’s special possession again. For generations, they had treated this gift as something of little value. Now they longed for it. They did not understood all that was coming, all that God would do on their behalf. But they expected God to do something. And he did, with Jesus immersed in the experience of his people.

In what way is Jesus a deliverer? Do you still think of him as your deliverer, or is that just something in the past?

Jesus, thank you for coming to restore my relationship with You. And thank you for giving us you spirit, that we might overcome the power of sin and live holy lives that please you. Father, thank you for so many gifts that are freely given from your hand.

This is a lot to think about, but every Old Testament prophecy that was ever made about a coming Messiah was fulfilled in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Furthermore, and even more mind-blowing is the truth that, as far as God is concerned, Calvary has always existed. From His perspective, Golgotha came before Creation, the Flood, the Exodus, and even before you.  You see, as surely as there has never been a time when God did not exist, so there was never a time when it wasn’t the intent and delight of our munificent God to bestow upon us the gift of His Son!  Colossians 1:17 says, “He is before all things, and in him (meaning Jesus) all things hold together.”

The birth, life, death, and resurrection of our Savior is God’s once-and-for-all act of glorious liberation for the human race.  In Jesus, we are free from all of our sin, humanity is once again reconciled to God. The Messiah, the Redeemer has come.   There is nothing more that needs to be done than has already been done.  As God gave His Son to the world, to redeem us from our sins and unworthiness, everything that needed to be done to restore our fellowship with Almighty God was done.  There is nothing more that God needed to do.

All we need to do is accept that Jesus is the Messiah and believe that He was and is the fulfillment of prophecy and of God’s plan to bring about our personal salvation and our reconciliation to God.  Those who were alive when Jesus was walking the earth and preaching in the synagogues were confronted with a call to believe as well:

He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Luke 4:15-30 (NIV)

Can you imagine the scene?  A crowd has gathered for a regular weekly worship gathering and when it comes time for the reading of the Scripture, someone hands the day’s speaker a copy of Scripture and He opens it to the book of Isaiah and begins reading a prophecy about the coming Messiah.  And then, after reading the verses about a coming Messiah to the captivated audience, He begins His sermon by saying, “You are eye-witnesses to the fact that this Scripture came true today, right now, here in your presence, at this very moment!!”  What an incredible scene!  People must have been turning to one another and asking, “Did He just say what I think He said?”  “Did that man just imply that he is the Messiah?”  There must have been gasps echoing throughout the crowd.

Luke continues to account what happened that day, and how the crowd eventually turned violent and homicidal toward Jesus, furious that He would make such claims to be the fulfillment of prophecy.  When confronted with the choice as to who Jesus was, they discounted Him as the Savior and moved to throw Him off a cliff rather than take Him into their hearts.

All of us must deal with the claim that Jesus made, that as He was the fulfillment of prophecy that day, He still is the fulfillment of it today!  Jesus remains the central figure of the universe, the gift of God to the world, and the completion of God’s plan of reconciling us to Himself.  This Christmas, as you consider the baby born in the manger, recognize that baby, not as a last-ditch effort on God’s part to fix a problem that man started in the Garden, but as the fulfillment of an eternal promise that He’d provide a way for you to be forgiven and spend forever with Him.  Jesus is not just the fulfillment of prophecy, but also the fulfillment and full expression of God’s complete and total love for you.

Just as the Father sent the Son to us – a precious gift, the Son gives us the Father. Jesus showed us what the Father was like. Everything he did pointed out God’s character and faithfulness. And he purposefully lived among us so that he could restore us to right relationship with the Father.

We all have fathers. Some of them we don’t know very well. This could be because they left this earth before we could really know them, or they failed under pressure and abandoned their role as father. Often we have mixed images of our fathers: memories of love and selfless action on our behalf, and also memories of their failures. Their are some common “themes”, images of fathers: the doting father, who spoils his children. The disciplinarian, harsh and uncompassionate to failure and the learning process. Or how about the aloof father, who cannot be bothered with “childish” things, always too busy or disinterested. And who hasn’t heard of the father with high expectations that can never be met with pleasure or satisfaction?

Each of these is a breakdown of the way a father should be, the way our heavenly Father truly is. But unfortunately, without correction, our view of God can become twisted because of our experience with our own fathers, and today, the images of fathers we find in the media and on TV. So what kind of image does Jesus present of the Father?

Jesus presents God the Father as someone who knows how to give good gifts – to meet the needs of his children. But God is not Santa Claus. He gives with the expectation that we will use what he gives according to his purposes (think “the parable of the talents”). And God doesn’t promise easy street for his children. His gift-giving provides for real needs and lasting satisfaction, not just momentary pleasure and self-involved distraction (Matthew 6). And his gifts help develop the relationship. They are not meant to keep the kids at bay, keep them occupied.

The Father is not harsh. He loved us enough to send the Son! He does discipline his children, but because of the work of the Son we experience his great patience, forgiveness and mercy. He is not naive, either, thinking his children little angels when they deceive, plot and work all manner of wickedness out of selfish will. The discipline we experience in our lives is aimed at rooting out sin so that we can be in vibrant relationship with him and other believers. It is not vindictive or done out of evil motive. But it is piercing.

God is not aloof or unapproachable. Jesus talked to the Father as “Abba”. And while this is not quite the “Daddy” that has been popularized, it does point out an intimate and honored relationship, one of trust and respect. Jesus presents a life of close commitment and connection with God, not just a servile relationship (Matthew 22:37-40). And this is a stepping stone to producing this same kind of love and connection in all our relationships. The Father loves connection and harmony, good relations and peace. God wants us to come to him and talk, not as a means of boasting about our position before God, but as a means of becoming like him and sharing that relationship with those who are outsiders.

The Father loves his children, and finds great pleasure in them. He does have high standards and expectations (Matthew 25), but he is can and is pleased by us! God promises great reward for simple things. Meeting the needs of widows, orphans, the thirsty and the hungry – the Father sees and is pleased. But we cannot remove the fact that there is an element of obedience required. God is not pleased by a warm fuzzy feeling of connection with him, however strongly stated. They may refer to me as “Lord,” but they still won’t enter the Kingdom of heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven. (Matthew 7)

Hopefully this has sparked your thinking about God as our father. How do you picture God as Father – which images or analogies stand out to you? In what good/bad ways has your physical father affected your view of God the Father? If you have any thoughts, leave a comment here. God may want to use your thoughts to help someone see how truly awesome our God is – loving us, protecting us, and going after us even as sometimes play the part of runaway.

Isaiah prophesied (40:3) of the coming of one who would come as a voice crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, and make straight the highway in a desert. What would that mean for those who had been waiting for so long for the coming of a Messiah? Did anyone believe when they heard Isaiah’s words?

Did they take heed, or did they ignore the message?

Malachai (3:1) prophesied the same, These foretold of the coming of John the Baptist, who would become an evangelist, telling people about Christ,preaching repentance, turning hearts toward Him, and baptizing them in the name of the Lord. Did anyone look forward to the coming of one who would come before the Messiah to teach of him? Did they prepare themselves, in heart and mind?

In Luke we are told of the angel of the Lord, Gabriel, who told Zacharias that his wife, Elizabeth, would bear a son, in their advanced age, and that they should call “John”. Zacharias, a priest and man of God, could not embrace such a thought, was fearful, and was struck dumb for his unbelief.

Elizabeth was visited by the angel Gabriel, as well, and she accepted his message as a blessing from God. For about three quarters of the year, Zacharias could not speak. His son was born, and as was the Jewish custom, the family gathered for the celebration of the baby’s circumcision. They asked what the child would be named, expecting that he might be named for his father. Zacharias wrote on his tablet that his name should be John. This act proved that he’d come to believe the angel’s message. His mouth was opened, he praised God! He was filled with the Spirit of God. Zacharias then addressed his son, saying, “And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways.”

The prophesies had been fulfilled. John had arrived, and would be raised by parents who found favor with God. He would go forth in a ministry, living in the wilderness, dressed in hides and skins, feeding on locusts and honey. He would, indeed, become the voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord. He would speak of one who would become the Savior of all humanity.

Do we hear John’s message this Christmas? As we prepare for our Christmas celebrations, are we preparing our hearts for the arrival of Jesus? Do we hear the Voice asking us to prepare the way of the Lord? Are we giving those words of life to those who are lost in the wilderness of sin? This year, may we all become like John the Baptist, inviting others to meet the Lord Jesus and to enter into a newness of life in Him.

“Prepare ye the way of the Lord.”

What would God do? Would he be faithful?

Yes!

This throne represents many things. First, it is a statement of God’s authority over his people. Unlike the nations and kings that surrounded Israel, the Davidic king was no “sovereign”, capable of doing whatever he liked. He was intended more as a regent, representing God’s role as the true king, and operating within the framework of God’s law, God’s commands.

The Davidic throne is also a reminder of God’s promises, of his steadfast love in the face of our sin. David was no perfect saint. He was a deeply flawed human being, just like you and I. But he proved by his action that he was malleable, responsive to God’s voice, responsive to God’s correction through the words of the prophets.

And the Davidic king that experienced God’s blessing was a source of joy for the whole nation:

My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.
You are the most excellent of men and your lips have been anointed with grace, since God has blessed you forever.
Gird your sword upon your side, O mighty one; clothe yourself with splendor and majesty.
In your majesty ride forth victoriously in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness; let your right hand display awesome deeds.
Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s enemies; let the nations fall beneath your feet.
Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.

Psalm 45:1-7 (NIV) [bold mine]

In Hebrews 1, the author quotes verses 6-7 and identifies them as coming from God, and referring to Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate king from David’s line. His throne is eternal. It will not be taken from him. In Jesus, God’s throne is firmly established. No more fear of a king who fails to live by God’s command, outside of God’s will. Jesus is a perfect reflection of the will of God. No more fear of the nation under the thumb of some foreign power.

In this season we are reminded that the coming of the long expected king was missed by all but a few shepherds and astrologers. Rather than entering the world in splendor and majesty, he entered in the rough and tumble confines of a stable. He didn’t enter the world with a silver spoon in his mouth. He gave up honor and glory, above that experienced by any ruler ever. In heaven, he had experienced the glory-song of the cherubim. On earth, he heard the cries of sheep.

God was faithful, keeping his word to David by restoring the throne. In fact, God’s promise to David already recognized that Jesus would come to restore the nation. God was not just promising something that he had to make sure to keep up with in the future. He promised, knowing he intended to offer Jesus as his “anointed one” – the Messiah (in Hebrew) or the Christ (in Greek) – the king. We too can take God’s promises to heart. What he has said, he will do. He will be with us as we serve him and share his message before all people. His Spirit will live inside those who call on his name, creating a new heart within that is more and more responsive to his voice.

What comes to mind when you think of Jesus as king? Is this an image that brings you comfort, or fear?

In what way(s) will you worship Jesus today?

“You are the most excellent of men and your lips have been anointed with grace, since God has blessed you forever…”

]]> http://devotionals.themountchurch.com/2009/12/17/your-throne-o-god/feed/ 0 http://devotionals.themountchurch.com/2009/12/16/patterns/ http://devotionals.themountchurch.com/2009/12/16/patterns/#comments Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:00:39 +0000 George http://devotionals.themountchurch.com/?p=993

This is what the Lord says: “A cry of anguish is heard in Ramah – mourning and weeping unrestrained. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted – for her children are dead.”

But now the Lord says, “Do not weep any longer, for I will reward you…”

Jeremiah 31:15-16a

As good students of God’s word, we need to be careful when we look at prophecy. It is easy to look for every similarity in the Old and New Testament and call it a “fulfillment” of prophecy, when that is not the actual intent. Jesus has fulfilled a remarkable amount of predictive material in scripture. But even more, Jesus extended and brought to life the patterns of the Old Testament as he brought the New into focus.

Such is the case with this passage here. It is not “predictive” prophecy. When Jeremiah wrote these words, he did so to highlight the current conditions of Israel, to bring God’s words into clear perspective as he reminded them of the future rewards of serving him when he restored their fortunes, restoring them to their homes and his land. The passage likely reminded the Israelites of not only their current condition, but of the past – when Pharoah killed the Israelite babies in his attempt to control and maintain power. Scholars have noted no evidence that Jews of Jesus’ time expected an event to occur in order to “fulfill” this statement in verse 31:15.

There is a distinction here that must be made clear, and it is important to much of our reading of the Old Testament, and our understanding of its use in the New. Jeremiah was not trying to make a prediction about what would happen when the Messiah came. Now understand me, I am not trying to suggest that Jesus did not “fulfill” this particular passage. But we need to be clear that this was not what Jeremiah was saying. The Old Testament is not just a jumble of statements, to be pulled out of context and applied to Christ and our condition haphazardly. The writers of the New Testament did not use it that way! What they did do is learn from Jesus himself (Luke 24:25-27) how he was the overwhelming fulfillment of the rich array of both predictive prophecy and types – patterns – in the Old Testament.

After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get ujp and flee to Egypt with the child and his mother…That night, Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”

Herod was furious when he learned…He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under…Herod’s brutal action fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah: “A cry of anguish in Ramah – weeping and mourning unrestrained. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted – for they are dead.”

Matthew 2:13-18

Jesus birth was the culmination of this pattern. The weeping of the Israelite mothers – who experienced the devastation of the nation under Assyrian and Babylonian invasion – would be a pointer to the tears of the mothers who were crushed by the desperate and fearful rage of Herod, who clung to power at great human cost.

And the types, the fulfillment of patterns, does not end there. I called my son out of Egypt, is reminder of Isreal’s repeated travel and stay in Egypt. It reminds the reader of Moses’ actions, identifying Jesus with Moses in a startling way. It reminds the readers of the nation of Israel; a large group from Israel, rather than going into Babylonian exile, and refusing to follow God’s will and remain in Israel under Babylonian rule, fled to Egypt. Jeremiah followed this group into Egypt, continuing to prophecy as God gave him words. And what we see here is Jeremiah, too, as a type for Jesus, a pattern Jesus used to demonstrate who he was. Beyond just the repeated reference to Egypt and the sojourn there, Jeremiah is known as “the suffering prophet”. God’s commands to him, and his use of his personal life as a graphic image of what God was doing have made for some of the most amazing portions in the Old Testament. Jesus would fulfill and extend this pattern, not only suffering to bring God’s message to his people, but dying to bear their sin and carry God’s love to them.

Recognizing the difference between prediction and patterns is not an effort to belittle Jesus or God’s word. Instead, it is an attempt to properly understand how the Old and New Testaments interact. So much about Jesus and his mission was not “predicted”, but was no less “fulfilled”. It was patterns – throughout the law, the prophets, the Psalms, the experience of the Patriarchs, the experience of the Israelites as they left Egypt and as they entered Canaan, and the experience of a people, judged for their sin but eventually restored by the loving and powerful Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. These patterns spoke in rich and imaginative ways, and God used them to teach his people and help them see that they were not just random happenings, but a well-designed history meant to point to the Son.

Wow.

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah.  Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past.  The people of Israel will be abandoned to the their enemies until the woman in labor gives birth.  then at last his fellow countrymen will return from exile to their own land.  and he will stand to lead his flock with the LORD’s strength, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.  The his people will live there undisturbed, for he will be highly honored around the world.  and he will be the source of peace.

Micah 5:2-5

Jesus is very unique among all the people in the history of the world because He IS the fulfillment of centuries of prophecies!  The Old Testament is replete with what we call “Messianic Prophecies,” which are prophecies that tell of the Messiah, the “Anointed One,” or “Chosen One.”  Hundreds of prophecies detailing the place of the Messiah’s birth, His life, His mission, His nature, His death, and His resurrection were fulfilled in Him.  Hundreds!!  In fact, some scholars estimate that there are some 300 Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament that refer to Jesus.  And remember, all of these prophecies were written centuries before Jesus was born.

Many people mistakenly consider prophecies to be predictions about the future.  That is an inaccurate way to look at them.  Instead of predictions (as if there were any margin for error), these prophecies were promises from God Himself!  Where a prediction is a guess, these prophecies were more than a guess, they were each a divine revelation from God about a future certainty!

In 2 Samuel 7:16 you can read the prophecy of how the line of kings descending from David would endure forever.  Jesus, when He was born in earthly form, was born into the lineage of David, thus fulfilling that prophecy! In Isaiah 49:6, it states that Christ’s salvation would be taken to the ends of the earth.  The gospel of Jesus has been evangelized to people all over the world!  In fact, two ladies from our church are taking the Good News of Jesus to a remote compound in Kenya, Africa even as you read this!  Another prophecy fulfilled through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  Micah 5:2, the verses you read above, foretell of the Messiah being born in the town of Bethlehem, which Jesus was.  Though He grew up in Nazareth, He was born in Bethlehem.  Even the location of His arrival on earth was a fulfillment of prophecy!

Isaiah 53 prophecies of how the Messiah would be rejected, and the list goes on and on.  And we’ve only looked at a few Old Testament prophecies here.  There are many, many more.  And then there’s the New Testament also, where Jesus would share prophecies Himself about His death and resurrection.

There is no question that our Messiah came to us in the form of that baby so long ago.  Prophecy foretold His arrival, and He fulfilled every single one of them. What a humble way for the Hope of the World to come!  Our Savior, God’s Gift to us all, came, not wrapped in fancy paper and ribbons and bows, but in swaddling clothes while shepherds and animals attended.

Wait for the Lord. Be strong, and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord.

Psalm 27:14

From a very early age, we learn about waiting. We may have to wait for a diaper change as a busy mother makes her way home from a grocery store with dinner supplies. As we get older, we have to wait until we’re old enough to have a two-wheel bicycle like our older cousin has, and then we have to wait until we’re old enough to drive, and wait until we get our first job. It seemed then, that we were always waiting with anticipation, for something which we thought would be good.

My Mom has always said, “Anything worth having is worth waiting for.” With waiting comes a lesson in patience. Quickly we learn that Time cannot be rushed. It has it’s own schedule. No matter what we do, we cannot grow older merely because we might want to. We cannot make tomorrow come sooner than it will.

Sometimes, the Lord may make us wait to see Him act. We pray for something, and often we expect to see an answer come quickly. It doesn’t always happen that way. After a time, may lose hope that God even heard our prayers because we see no evidence of His answering. We may try to take matters into our own hands and do something to speed things up or to work things out the way we want them to go. But, that usually turns out to be an exercise in frustration and futility. God sees the situation, He has heard our cries, and He has the best answer for us! We may just need to wait and have patience to see how God responds to our call.

I learned that lesson in 1997, well into my Christian walk. My mother had been in a serious car accident and she was on life support. I prayed incessantly that the Lord would heal her. I wanted to see all the tubes and machines taken away so that my Mom could speak to me with her voice, rather than spelling words out on an alphabet board to spell out words. Though I rejoiced in the fact that Mom had not had any head trauma, and was able to think clearly, I wanted to know that her punctured lung would not give out. I wanted her eight broken ribs and her fractured pelvis and broken hip to be knit together. I wanted her torn kidney to seal. I knew there wasn’t one thing I could do to ‘fix’ anything, as is my natural inclination. I knew God could, but I didn’t know if He would. I wanted to know, to see, that the Great Physician was working. One day, while I was praying hard, I told the Lord that I was afraid of losing her. He told me that He neither slumbers nor sleeps. (Psalm 121:4) He impressed upon me that no matter what I saw front and center on the stage before me, He was working behind the scenes, directing the performance. He was in control of it all. I’ve never forgotten that little image. God is the Director. The show isn’t over until the final curtain comes down. In the meanwhile, He is working to perfect the show. As I clung to that lesson, God was healing Mom. Today she is a very healthy almost eighty-four year old! Thanks be to God!

The Father hears our cries. As in the days of Adam, of Noah, of Moses, The Lord speaks and leads. He works things, as He will. When we listen and obey, we wait and trust. When we exercise our patience, we can rest our hearts in peace, knowing that He is working,even when we can’t see, to accomplish His desire for our lives, in His time. Isaiah 55:8 says, ‘Your thoughts are not my thoughts, and your ways are not my ways” declares the Lord.’ Neither is our time schedule His time table.

And so, we wait. As Noah waited for the rain to stop and the Ark to hit dry land, as the Israelites waited for the Promised Land, as so many Biblical patriarchs waited for God’s fulfillment of promises, we wait. We wait for our God to work. We wait to see our prayers answered, and with anticipation, for our Lord to return! We know that He will do these things, because His Word tells us so, and God cannot lie. His promises are always fulfilled in His time.