A COMING PERFECT FATHER

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

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.

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...Everlasting Father.

Isaiah 9:6

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Through the prophets, God revealed much about the Son He that would be born from a virgin and be named Immanuel which means God with us.

This coming Son would be a King, the King of all kings.

This coming Son would be a Light that would bring people out of darkness.

This coming Son would carry authority to rule over all creation for the government would be on His shoulders.

This coming Son would be a wonderful Counselor, someone that any person could go to for perfect guidance and direction.

And all this would be possible because this coming Son would be one with His Father (John 10:30), the One who sent Him to bring salvation to all mankind. Jesus was Almighty God in the flesh who walked the earth among the people He longed to save from their sinful, fallen nature.

It’s this truth, that Jesus was one with God the Father, that serves as a lead in to today’s message, the third in this four part series from Isaiah 9:6 as the prophet labels Jesus with four names that define who He would be. As a reminder, Isaiah shared these words from God Himself:

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.

When I think about the characteristics of proper fatherhood, I am drawn to my own experience as a father. I was blessed by God to raise up two of His children, two daughters who are well into adulthood now at 41 and 37 years of age respectively, and I worked hard to be a good dad to them when they were growing up. Here are a few of the things I strived for, things I believe we find in our Heavenly Father as well.

1. I always sought to provide.

Good fathers make sure their children have what they need to not just survive but thrive in life. My children always had a comfortable place to stay, clothing to wear, and food to eat, most of the time matching up with what they liked although any parent will tell you it’s impossible to please your kids 100% of the time.

I wonder if God feels the same way about us sometimes?

Food for thought.

2. I always sought to protect.

When I came to Christ as an adult in my early thirties, my attitude toward parenting changed. I didn’t see my daughters as my own children but of the Lord and this new perspective changed the dynamics of my fathering responsibility.

For God would expect me to do everything in my power to keep His children safe. He had entrusted them to my care and I was accountable to Him if anything happened to them that I could have prevented.

And so providing the utmost security for my girls became a top priority because they truly belonged first and foremost to the God who created them.

3. I always sought to correct them when needed.

Discipline isn’t easy or fun. I think any parent would tell you that.

It’s hard to impose penalties on your children because you know that those penalties will be hard for them as it typically means losing some privilege, something that brings joy to them.

I’ll be honest with you and say I would rather have taken my girls places where we could have fun together (something we did a lot) than impose punishment on them but I knew that the consequences were important when they decided to be disobedient because if I didn’t teach them this principle, who would?

And so my wife and I partnered well together to correct when it was needed, not because we cared for our daughters less but because we cared about them too much to not do it. Good fathers accept the responsibility to discipline and seek the Lord’s guidance in how to properly do it.

4. I always sought to love.

I loved being a father and still do now that my girls are adults and making a life of their own. I love my God for giving me the privilege to love His two daughters and usher them into the place where they could have a personal relationship with Him.

You see, love is central to what we are to be as people as a whole. When asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus offered two. First, we are to love God with every part of who we are, with all out heart and mind and soul and strength. And once we are completely sold out to love God, then we are in a place to love our neighbors, not with our love but with the very love of God that is within us.

As a father, that was the love I wanted my kids to feel. I hoped that when I snuggled them and placed a light kiss on their forehead, they felt as if God was doing it. I prayed that they would sense His presence, the presence of their Heavenly Father, through the love they received from their earthly one.

Constant provision.

Persistent protection.

Appropriate discipline when needed.

Heartfelt love always.

These are all things a child should receive from their father and indeed, all Christian believers, the very children of God, have them lavished on them in abundance in life. The big difference is that God, our Heavenly Father who came down from Heaven to earth incarnate in Jesus, His Son and our Savior, gives all this and so much more perfectly. Where I as a father was flawed in so many ways, despite my best efforts to bring my children up properly, our God has no such imperfection. His ways are always faultless and that goes for how He parents us through our entire lives and forevermore.

And that’s the beauty of having such an amazing, impeccable Father like God. His fatherhood is not just for a season of life but rather eternal. He and He alone is our Everlasting Father in this worldly life and in the glorious future forever life to come.

Today and every day, let us give thanks and rejoice in this truth, that we serve a Mighty God and Everlasting Father who was One with Jesus our Savior so that through belief in Him, we might not perish in His judgment but live for all eternity through His saving grace.

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 TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

A COMING MIGHTY GOD INCARNATE

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

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.

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...Mighty God.

Isaiah 9:6

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Well before Jesus was born in a lowly Bethlehem manger and heralded by a company of the heavenly host to a group of lowly shepherds tending to their flocks that night, God gave advance notice of what was to come through the prophet Isaiah.

The Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and will call him Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

God’s only Son would bear the name Immanuel which simply means “God with us” and this is a perfect lead in to this second of four messages based on other titles attributed to Jesus as found in the sixth verse of Isaiah 9 as he shares the following from his Lord:

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.

In yesterday’s opening message, we looked at Jesus as our Wonderful Counselor, the caring and compassionate Savior who knows our needs and perfectly advises all who seek His guidance.

Today, we move onto Jesus being our Mighty God and as we have already seen through the name God gave His Son, Jesus would be God with us. He would go on to affirm this Himself when He said this in John’s Gospel:

“I and the Father are one.” John 10:30

Mary conceived supernaturally by way of the Holy Spirit and would give birth to a son who at His very essence was God incarnate which simply means God personified or God in the flesh. Through Jesus, God became like any one of us, fully human and yet fully Himself, mighty and unrivaled on earth as He was in Heaven.

As we look at Jesus’ life, we see the mightiness of God on full display. Jesus gave a summation as He spoke to John’s disciples, giving them this to report back to their leader:

“Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” Matthew 11:4-6

Through His three years of ministry, Jesus did things that no ordinary man could. Only one with the very power of God Himself would be able to restore sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and the ability to walk to the lame. And if that wasn’t enough on its own, Jesus cleansed and purified lepers, drove out demons, and resurrected people from the dead.

Indeed, He showed over and over that He was Almighty God in the flesh.

Today, Jesus, who remains Immanuel, reigns and rules in all authority over everything in Heaven and earth, and there is a day yet to come when He will return to earth and display His God-based might by judging all mankind, bringing the saved to dwell with Him forever in the new Jerusalem while casting the unsaved into an eternity in Hell where they can dwell with Satan, the evil one.

Friends, today’s message reminds us of how blessed we are as Christian believers to serve a mighty God through which all things are possible. He is a Lord of powerful miracles who easily makes the seemingly improbable probable, even saving wretched sinners like all of us and promising us eternal glory.

Rejoice and be glad in Him today.

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 TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

A COMING COUNSELOR

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

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.

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.

Isaiah 9:6

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In Old Testament times, God sent word to His people through the prophets about Son who would be born and given to save and deliver them, a King defined by His wisdom, justice, and righteousness (Jeremiah 23:5). This coming Messiah (or Christ) would be a Light that would bring the people out of darkness (Isaiah 9:2) and He would “stand as a banner for the peoples” as all nations rallied to Him (Isaiah 7:14). All government would be on His shoulders and that governance would be grounded in a greatness and peace that would endure forever (Isaiah 9:7).

This is what we have learned so far about the run up to Jesus’ coming. It’s clear that He didn’t come by surprise but rather to fulfill what God, His Father, had promised.

When we look at the scriptures in whole and what they tell us about Jesus, the Savior of the world and Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29), we find approximately 200 different names He was known by, names that when taken in whole define His divine identity and character. Over the next four messages, we will look at a quartet of these names grouped together within the sixth verse of Isaiah 9, a verse that is usually very familiar to most Christians. Here’s what God tells His people about His coming Son:

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.

Today, we look at Jesus as our Wonderful Counselor and there isn’t a single human who has lived or is living today that doesn’t need counsel. No one knows everything in regard to how to handle every single situation that life brings to us. We all need guidance and help.

As we look at the documented life of Jesus in the Gospels, we find Him fulfilling this title, Wonderful Counselor, over and over and over again. One of those times is found in the Book of John as Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.

Now He had to go through Samaria. So He came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as He was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give Me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

“I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe Me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us.”

Then Jesus declared, “I, the One speaking to you—I am He.” John 4:4-26

Here we find Jesus and the Samaritan woman meeting in Sychar, a town in Samaria where the well of Jacob was located, a well that had been providing life sustaining water to the community from the time it was dug. For at least the woman, the encounter felt a bit awkward and uncomfortable because of the cultural schism that existed between the Jews and Samaritans.

To find the genesis of this schism, you would have to go back in Old Testament history when the northern kingdom of Israel was attacked and devastated by the marauding, conquering Assyrians. There was a remnant of Israelites who survived the onslaught and many intermarried with the Assyrians, their offspring forming a new population that would be known as the Samaritans. The Jews viewed them as half-breeds and there was a deep resentment and hatred between the two people groups.

This is why we find the Samaritan woman surprised when Jesus asks her for a drink. It would not have been customary for a Jew to want to even be in company with a Samaritan, let alone one that was a woman, but Jesus’ purpose at the well went far beyond any man-made biases. He was living up to His role as a Wonderful Counselor.

In their exchange about physical water, we find Jesus skillfully pivot the talk about salvation as He speaks about a “living water” that would remove thirsting from anyone who receives it, water that would well up from the inside “to eternal life”. In other words, Jesus was talking about the woman’s need for salvation but she wasn’t quite grasping the counseling she was receiving.

We know this because the Samaritan woman continues to see the “living water” Jesus discussed as some super water that would eternally satisfy a person’s physical need for drink.

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

It’s at that moment that Jesus changes the conversation and gets very personal with the woman, asking her to call her husband and then return. Note that the woman still believes Jesus is just an ordinary Jew. She had no clue about His holy nature and supernatural abilities when she tells Him she had no husband and I can’t imagine the shock and surprise within her heart and soul when she realized how much Jesus knew about her.

For we find Him replying:

“You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

The Samaritan woman before Jesus had experienced brokenness in her life many times over. Broken relationship after broken relationship had to have left her feeling wondering whether she could ever find a love that wouldn’t leave. She would only be married to find herself single again, thirsting for someone else to spend life with while hoping they wouldn’t leave like the one before. Further, her sense of self worth and shame would have grown with each failed marriage and yet here she was before Jesus, living with a man out of wedlock.

And now she knew that He could peer deep into her heart, mind, and soul. She might have been able to hide her past experiences and feelings from others but not from the Jewish man she was with at the well, a man she still didn’t quite understand outside of knowing He was a special messenger from God. Look at her words here:

“Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

There is no question that the woman sees Jesus as a man sent from God to counsel her. We sense a guilt that she hasn’t worshiped the same God of her ancestors, the God who sent Him, because she believed that the only appropriate, designated place to worship was at the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus assures her that this isn’t a barrier to finding her salvation as He advises:

“Woman, believe Me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Note here that Jesus brings wonderful counsel and good news to the Samaritan woman, telling her that a new time had come, a time when it wouldn’t matter where a person worshiped God as long as they worshiped Him “in Spirit and in truth”. This privilege to worship God anywhere at any time wasn’t restricted to just the Jews, although “salvation was from the Jews”. Those who would be considered “true worshipers”, those who placed their belief in Jesus as Savior and gained the “living water” that would well up into eternal life, could come from any nation or tribe, Jew or Gentile.

It was at this point that the Samaritan woman shared her belief in the coming Messiah, a belief and hope Jesus would have also already known before He engaged with her in conversation. She knew that when the Messiah came, He would be able to “explain everything to us”, a statement that meant she trusted in the Messiah having the ability to dispel confusion and bring understanding.

Jesus, the Wonderful Counselor, had skillfully processed the woman’s life struggles and deepest spiritual yearnings through a special, divine conversation and we find Him concluding the session with the declaration that He was indeed the One she had been waiting and longing for. The encounter changed her forever as she believed in Jesus and gained her “living water” and an assurance of eternal life.  

Now, this story would have been fantastic in its own right if it had just stopped there but there was still more to come. For the Samaritan woman ran into her town and started to share her testimony with others, the sheer power of which led to others to believe without ever having encountered Jesus in person themselves. Some of the others in town went to Jesus and invited Him to stay with them, which the scriptures tell us He did for two days. During that time, “many more became believers” because of “His words” (John 4:39-41) which continued to bring living water to all who would hear. Those who found salvation proclaimed to the Samaritan woman:

“We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” John 4:42

Since those days in Sychar, millions upon millions of people have read the scriptures and had their own personal encounters with Jesus, encountering Him at the well of life as their own personal Wonderful Counselor while receiving His living water that has quenched their spiritual thirst for all eternity, a living water that welled up from their soul to eternal life.

My prayer today is that you, like the Samaritan woman, have had the blessing of meeting Jesus wherever you were or are in life, ready to gladfully receive His wisdom and guidance. For in Him, we know we will always do what is right and righteous when we are obedient to His wonderful counsel.

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 TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

A COMING GOVERNMENT

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

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.

For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders.

Of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end.

Isaiah 9:6a, 7

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I really dislike politics.

Okay. There, I said it.

Whether it’s here in the United States or elsewhere in the world, it seems we see the worst that we can be within the ranks of those who are elected and/or appointed to lead and make critical decisions in regard to the people.

We see people refusing to cooperate and/or compromise with one another.

We see stubborn division within political parties and frankly dysfunction and chaos erupt from it.

We witness a constant volleying of attacks grounded in insults and venomous language that serves to tear others down instead of building them up.

And we have a media mechanism in place that not only participates but fuels all this bad behavior.

Frankly, it’s embarrassing and sickening.

This is why I love today’s scripture verse from the prophet Isaiah for it has always brought me peace and assurance, no matter how ridiculous the administration of government may get. Look at these words again here:

For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders.

Of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end.  Isaiah 9:6a,7

There seemed to be a constant upheaval of reigning and ruling nations in biblical times.

The Egyptians gave way to the Assyrians who gave way to the Babylonians. Then the Persians conquered Babylon only to be defeated by the Greeks who were overcome by the Romans. The truth is that no empire on earth has ever sustained power. All have risen only to fall. Nations of the world today who seem to exceedingly strive to be a superpower and dominate should take notice of this.

And then there was Israel who, despite being fractured in its own governance (i.e. the divided kingdom and seventy year exile, for example), maintained and sustained their nation and it still remains today, a testimony to God’s perfect keeping of every covenant He has ever made.

We know that the very child Isaiah is speaking of, Jesus - the very Son of God Himself who would be born of a virgin and named Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14), was the advent of a new covenant with His people as well as the Gentiles. Freely given by God out of love to save anyone who would believe in Him as Savior, Jesus came to rescue and deliver all mankind from the bondage of sin, liberating them to enter into an eternal hope of glory. This is at the heart of what we know as the Gospel.

But note from the prophetic words of Isaiah that Jesus wasn’t just coming to save. He was coming to rule and reign. All government would be on His shoulders and continue to be for all time and it was (and is) the greatest governance ever, a governance of the highest authority (Matthew 28:18) that is perfectly just and true.

Don’t you find your soul yearning for this kind of governance as we witness how man has turned it into such a circus?

My prayer is that you, like me, will find peace and comfort in knowing who really is in charge of things, no matter what nation you live in. For people may put human leaders in charge of things but they are all subordinate to Jesus, the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords, the One who has the government on His mighty shoulders.

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 TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

A COMING LIGHT

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

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.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

Isaiah 9:2

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Imagine losing everything except your life itself.

Your community, destroyed.

Your home, plundered of all valuables and then leveled.

Your freedom, gone as you are exiled to a foreign land with a completely alien culture and language.

How would you feel in those circumstances, circumstances that would last seventy years?

There’s little doubt that they would be the darkest times of your life.

This was a reality for the people of the southern kingdom of Jerusalem as God rained down His judgment upon them through the marauding Babylonian empire and its mighty conquering military forces. And it was into this matter that we find their God speaking works of future hope through His prophet Isaiah:

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

Yes, the Judeans suffered through punishment that they deserved based on their sinful disobedience and worshiping of other gods and idols, a direct violation of God’s commandments. But the God they wronged was as much a God of forgiveness, mercy, and redemption as He was one of judgment.

Better days were ahead for His people and those days would be ushered in by the coming of His Son Jesus, the great Light who would come to overcome the darkness.

Moving to the New Testament, we find Jesus Himself confirming that He was indeed the One God was speaking about through Isaiah. Here’s what He said in Matthew’s Gospel:

When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He withdrew to Galilee.

Leaving Nazareth, He went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali—to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:

“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”

From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  Matthew 4:12-17

Jesus was the Light of the world, another identity He declared in John’s Gospel:

"I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

Here we learn that anyone who believes and follows Jesus will serve as His Light carriers, shining His light on others who may be living in darkness. Jesus expounds on this and exhorts His disciples to let His light shine as we return to Matthew:

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16

Christians are to live out their faith in Jesus, making Him and His light evident to everyone who they encounter. Further, this commitment to be in the light and Jesus is leads to a special fellowship between believers who share a common Savior and salvation promise. We find John affirm this in his first letter as he writes:

If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:6-8

We can’t possibly be living in darkness if we are truly in a relationship with Jesus. Our fellowship with Him keeps us in the Light and then that Light is shared as Christian believers relate to one another, reveling in the truth that the very blood of Jesus has cleansed and purified us from all unrighteousness and assured our future will be grounded in eternal life.

Friends, Jesus is Light and in Him is no darkness at all. In a world that is becoming increasingly dark and evil, what a comfort it is to know that we will always be in the Light because we believe in the One who is Light, now and forever more.

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 TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

A COMING SIGN

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

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.

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Isaiah 7:14

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Jesus’ birth wasn’t an event that came unannounced. God never intended it to be a surprise for anyone.

We know this from the scriptures and how Old Testament prophets were given messages by God to share with His people regarding a future Messiah who would come as their great Rescuer and Redeemer.

In yesterday’s first message to kick off the Advent season, we looked at words from the prophets Jeremiah (23:11) and Isaiah (11:1,10), telling of a “righteous Branch” that would emerge from “the stump of Jesse”, a King who would “reign wisely”, “bear fruit”, and do what was “just and right” while “standing as a banner for the peoples”. Indeed, Jesus came and fulfilled this prophecy through the way He lived before He went to His glorious “resting place”.

Today, we go back to the Book of Isaiah and another prophecy, this one containing a special coming sign that would serve to indicate that the Messiah had arrived. Look again at the prophet’s words here:

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

Here we find four critical takeaways. They include:

1. Jesus’ coming was all God’s plan.

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign.

God wanted His people to know that when the event to come happened, a virgin conceiving and giving birth to a son, He was the One responsible. It was He who so loved the world and the peoples in it that He would send His only Son into the world later to be sacrificed to atone for the sins of all mankind so that whoever believed in that Son would not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

No one else could claim credit for the redemption plan that God designed.

2. The mother of the coming Messiah would be a virgin when she conceived.

The virgin will conceive and give birth.

Now, on the surface this might not seem to be much of a revelation. Jewish law required that all women remain celibate until they marry and then could only engage in sexual relations with their husband after the marriage was consummated. So a virgin becoming pregnant and bearing a son wasn’t in and of itself unique. It could easily happen once the virgin had married and first had sex with their husband.

It wouldn’t become evident just how unique a situation Isaiah was pronouncing until the event actually happened and the virgin Mary conceived, not by way of any conventional means but rather through the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. The subsequent birth, the sign from God, would be far from normal for it would be the coming of Heaven to earth as God came incarnate in the form of a baby boy and walked amongst His people.

3. A son would be born.

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son.

We know that Jeremiah’s prophecy told of a coming King and this meant that the Messiah would need to be a male and because the baby boy was conceived by the Holy Spirit, He was God’s Son who was one with His Father (John 10:30).

4. The baby boy born of the virgin would bear the name Immanuel.

The virgin...will call him Immanuel.

Immanuel was a Hebrew name that meant “God with us”

The son born of the virgin, the One who was the offspring of God Himself and perfectly one with His Father, would live among the Israelites and Gentiles in their midst. Jesus, the coming sign, would be God incarnate and therefore, God, in Jesus, was soon to literally be with His people in the flesh.

Before any of this happened, the people of Israel would experience the dark times of God’s judgment. The northern kingdom of Israel would be overrun by the Assyrians while the southern kingdom of Judah would be destroyed and the people exiled to Babylon for seventy years.

In those times of trouble and hardship, hope would be needed and the words of the prophets would bring that hope. For a coming righteous Branch from Jesse’s stump and a special sign from God Himself would be given.

Better days would be ahead for the punished people of Israel and Judah and we’ll continue to look closer at that hope that would be Jesus in the next eight messages as we further look at the words of the prophets.

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 TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

A COMING RIGHTEOUS BRANCH

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

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.

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.

Jeremiah 23:5

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

In that day, the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to Him, and His resting place will be glorious.

Isaiah 11:1, 10

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Today, I am starting a month of special holiday messages, first for Advent as we approach the celebration of Jesus’ birth and then the aftermath of His arrival up to ushering in the new year.

Over the first 10 messages in this series, we will see how the coming of Christ was foretold in the Old Testament scriptures. We begin by looking at verses from the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah. Look again at their words here:

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. Jeremiah 23:5

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

In that day, the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to Him, and His resting place will be glorious. Isaiah 11:1, 10

In genealogy terms, a “root” would refer to someone who was the progenitor, which simply means the source from someone is descended. Jesse was the father of King David and looking at the family tree of Jesus, we see that He is a descendant from the line of Jesse and his son David (Matthew 1:6-16, Luke 3:23-32). Further, you will remember that Joseph and Mary departed Nazareth and journeyed to Bethlehem to comply with Caesar’s ordered census because Joseph was in the line of David (Luke 2:4).

Now, David was the king of Judah and following that kingdom’s history after his death shows a steady descent into utter destruction at the hands of God’s judgment. Indeed, the cumulative sin and disobedient of the Judeans was so severe that God punished them through a seventy year exile, the nation destroyed and the people dragged off to Babylon.

The beautiful thriving family tree of Judah was reduced to a stump but all was not hopeless and the Lord made this clear through His prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah. For God would soon create a shoot that would rise up from Jesse’s stump. New life through a new King was coming, a “righteous Branch” who would “bear fruit”, “reign wisely, do what was “right and just in the land”, and “stand as a banner for all peoples as nations rallied to Him. Note here that the reach of the righteous Branch would extend far beyond Judah and indeed, Jesus came to bring a new covenant with salvation accessible to all, whether Jew or Gentile.

Finally, this coming Messiah would end up in a “resting place” that would be “glorious” after His work on earth was through.

God’s judgment was ahead for His chosen people but beyond that lie His amazing plan of redemption and salvation for mankind, a plan that would absolve sin through a righteous Branch named Jesus, descended from Jesse and David to become the Savior of the world while fulfilling this promise of Samuel:

“‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord Himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish His kingdom. He is the One who will build a house for My Name, and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever. I will be His Father, and He will be My Son.’”

“’Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before Me; your throne will be established forever.’” 2 Samuel 11b-14a, 16

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 TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.