Can I pray for you in any way?
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of
The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
“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 nations, by the Way of
the Sea, beyond the Jordan—The people walking in darkness have seen a great
light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”
Isaiah 9:1-2
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks
be to God.
Today is the second of a four part series of devotions
highlighting predictions of Jesus’ coming from the Old Testament as we continue
to reflect and wait with eager anticipation through the Advent season.
Yesterday, we read that God was going to send a sign for
His people and that sign would be a virgin who would conceive and give birth to
a son named Immanuel which simply means God with us. We know this prediction
came to be some 700 years later when Mary, a virgin who the scriptures tell us
was highly favored by God, conceived by the Holy Spirit and bore God’s only
Son, Jesus, who came to be the hope for all nations and their people.
This lends itself to our second prediction also from the
Book of Isaiah. Look at these opening verses from Chapter 9:
“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 nations, by the Way
of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—The people walking in darkness have seen a great
light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” Isaiah
9:1-2
Gloom and distress came upon the land of Zebulun and
Naphtali in Old Testament times. Both were in the northern kingdom of Israel
and were humbled by God through judgment He imposed on them after they had
adopted worship pagan worship practices, giving their devotions to false gods
and idols. God sent attacking forces from Assyria against the two lands and the
people were taken away into exile.
Indeed, those were dark times for the Israelites but as
we see in today’s scripture passage, those days were not going to endure
forever. For sometime in the future, honor would replace disgrace as Jesus
would come and spend a good part of His earthly ministry time in Galilee where
He would put His power on full display, a power that would bring hope to a nation
in need of it. And in witnessing Jesus, the people of God who had walked in
darkness would see a great light, the Light of the world who had come from
heaven to earth to save them.
And Jesus has never stopped since then.
Yes, we often look at the world we live in and can feel
like we are walking in darkness today. We see so much evil, so much affliction,
so much terrorism and conflict and threats of war, so much hardship and
difficulty. The truth of the matter is that we need Jesus more than ever before
to shine His light on our lives and break through the darkness, granting us the
hope that can only be found in Him, a hope that is not just temporary but
eternal. For a day is coming for all who place their faith and trust in Jesus
where they will live with Him and God the Father in nothing but light because they
will be residing in their newly created kingdom where no darkness will abide. They’ll
only live in their light and love and peace forever.
As we approach Christmas, I pray you will be counted in
that number and receive renewed encouragement from this second prediction from
the prophet Isaiah.
Tomorrow, we’ll look at prediction number 3.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment