The Shepherds -Luke 2:8-20

This will be my last Christmas post...the one before was technically my Christmas Eve post, but by the time I had posted it was Christmas day...

"Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. “And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them."

The promise given to the shepherds of Christ's birth.

I really like the last verse, as we see how all the glory and praise went back to God. Wouldn't it have been amazing to have been one of the Shepherds that night?

Merry Christmas...Christ is Born!!! -Luke 2:1-7

Merry Christmas!!!! This is the account in Luke of Christ's Birth.

"And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn."

I'm encouraged to see this, as we see clearly proclaimed Christ's birth. All of the prophecies leading up to Christ's birth were fulfilled in Christ.


We can rest in this Christ.

Bethlehem of Judah -Matthew 2:1-6

I sorta already posted this promise (on my "Born in Bethlehem" post), but these are some new verses, where we have the prophecy from Micah 5 actually referenced in Matthew.

"Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him." When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.'"

Now why does this matter? Is it really important that Jesus was born in Bethlehem?

I find it encouraging because this is a reminder that we can trust God to fulfill what He has promised. He promised years before Christ was born that He would be born in Bethlehem of Judea, and here we see the fulfillment of that prophecy.

A Great Light has Shined -Isaiah 9:2

"The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined."

The Prophet of the Highest -Luke 1:76-79

Today I thought I'd finish the prophecy of Zacharias. This next part is spoken to John, his son.

"And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace."

This section I found encouraging as it describes, first off, that Jesus the Messiah came to earth to save us from our sins. It also talks about the mercy of God, that Jesus would come to earth. Lastly, we see that He came "to give light to those who sit in darkness", and to guide us into "the way of peace."

And John the Baptist had the privilege of being able to come before Christ, to announce His coming.

God Remembers -Luke 1:68-75

Today I thought I'd go to Luke, right to when God releases Zacharias from his temporary dumbness and He speaks for the first time. Here is the first part of what he said.

"Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people, And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of His servant David, As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, Who have been since the world began, That we should be saved from our enemies And from the hand of all who hate us, To perform the mercy promised to our fathers And to remember His holy covenant, The oath which He swore to our father Abraham: To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life."

In the passage we really see fulfillment. Zacharias clearly proclaims in this passage how God has kept His promise, and will truly redeem His people.

We can take encouragement knowing that God does remembers what He has promised, and that He will fulfill His promises...period.

Seeing Christ -Luke 2:25-32

Today I thought I'd share the story of Simeon...

"And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.”"

God promised Simeon that He would not die until He has seen Christ...and here we see God keeping His promise to Simeon. This can be an encouragement to us, as we can know that God does keep His word...He doesn't lie.

Do not be Afraid -Matthew 1:20-23

Today's promise brings us to Joseph in the book of Matthew.

"But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us.""

I found this section encouraging, not only because it showed the fulfillment of the prophecy, (which we looked at that prophecy in an earlier post), but I also found it encouraging that the angel told Joseph that Jesus would "...save His people from their sins."

That is hope for the Christian to live by.

How Can This Be? -John 1:34-37

This a continuation of the last blog post....and this promise really is a good reminder of how God really is in control of everything.

"Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?" And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible."

There are a lot of things that stand out to me in this passage that I found encouraging. First off, I liked the part where it says "the power of the Highest will overshadow you", just remembering that as Christians, God's power overshadows us. I also noticed how this passage also brought up a name for Jesus...it says that the "Holy One who is to born will be called the Son of God." Another thing I noticed is how the angel brought up the fact that Elizabeth had conceived a son. I think that was really to show Mary the power of God.

And lastly I saw the promise that through God, nothing is impossible. We as Christians should not doubt God and His Word...if He says it will happen, He will bring it to pass.


When we our going through hard spots, and have doubts, let our response to God be like Mary's response to the angel Gabriel, as she says in verse 38, "Let it be to me according to your word."

We can trust God, for with God, nothing is impossible.

Favor With God -Luke 1:30-31

This doesn't have anything to do with today's post, but I wanted to remind people to be praying for those affected by the shootings in CT...and specifically, pray that this horrible tragedy will draw people closer to Christ, and that people would put their hope in Him.

I realized that although I had already done the verses following the two I'm sharing today, I thought I would go ahead and do the two before...as this is where the Angel announces the promise of the birth of Jesus.

"Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.""

The promise of Jesus coming to earth is really the promise of Good news. That our Savior would come to earth, humbling Himself as He took on the form of a servant, is truly amazing.


Another promise from this chapter tomorrow...

What Jesus Will Do...Micah 5:4-5

I'm actually on time for this post! That's thanks to the fact that I'm going to see the Hobbit tonight with some of my family, and since it's a 10:20 showing, I didn't want to have to come and post afterwards. :)

This is a continuation of an earlier prophecy I did for Micah 5:2....and thought I would share another part of it.

"And He shall stand and feed His flock In the strength of the Lord, In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God; And they shall abide, For now He shall be great To the ends of the earth; And this One shall be peace."

I'm encouraged seeing the promise that He will feed His people through His strength, and through the glory of the name of God. I'm also encouraged with the promise that Jesus will bring peace....which His death on the cross did provide.

Peace with God.

A Star -Numbers 24:17-19

Some of my family and I went out to see the meteorite shower this evening. It was amazing. And because of that, I thought I would do a promise about Christ's birth that references the Star.

"I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, And batter the brow of Moab, And destroy all the sons of tumult. And Edom shall be a possession; Seir also, his enemies, shall be a possession, While Israel does valiantly. Out of Jacob One shall have dominion, And destroy the remains of the city."

I think some of this has to do with Christ's second return, but I find it interesting, (once again), the names given to Jesus. He is referred to as a Star and as a Scepter, and I believe that each name denotes one of Christ's times here on earth. The first time He came as a Star, to bring light to a darkened world.


But He will come again, and when He does, it will be as a ruler.

A Branch -Isaiah 11:1-5

Wow, really late today guys....so I'm just going to post the verses...

"There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. 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 of the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears; But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist."

Grace and Truth -John 1:16-17

This is a continuation of the last blog post....the next two verses in John 1. I saw these verses and thought they were really good...

"And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."

The grace and truth that we have received through salvation and God's Word is from Jesus.

...and the Word Became Flesh -John 1:14-15

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'"

I think maybe this should have been the first passage I did for promises regarding Christ's birth. Here in God's Word we see a clear statement that 'The Word', Jesus, became flesh and lived with us. Not only was this book written by an eyewitness, but this passage also mentions how John the Baptist "vouched" for the validity of Jesus Christ.

This promise can be an encouragement to us, knowing that Christ did indeed come to earth...it's not just a nice story.

This section also really gets me thinking, "what would it have been like to have lived when Christ was on the earth?" The thought of being to be able to "behold His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" gets me excited!

But then again we are able to get a glimpse of His glory in His Word, which is something that they didn't entirely have back then. We get a more complete picture.

His Kingdom Will Have No End -Luke 1:32-33

These verses are part of what the Angel said to Mary when she first heard the news.

"He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end."

One thing I have found really interesting looking at all the promises/prophecies about Christ is that they often include a name that He will be called. These verses say that He will be called the Son of the Highest.

I feel like this verse is a promise of the power of Jesus...the passages says that "He will be great, He will be called the Son of the Highest, He will receive the throne of His father David, He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will never end.

Wow. From reading this we get a clear picture of God's Power. Christians can gain encouragement from this passage knowing that this powerful God is in control. Those who aren't Christians need to be afraid for the exact same reason.


I wonder how Mary felt, hearing the news of this birth.

What was running through her head when she heard these words spoken to her by an angel?

A Branch of Righteousness...Jeremiah 23:5-6

"Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."

This is one of those promises that I believe has not been completely fulfilled. (If you think otherwise, please leave a comment!) This verse is definitely talking about Jesus, but I believe that this also refers to His second coming.

I like how the name given at the end is, "The Lord OUR righteousness", not The Lord of Righteousness...even though both are accurate, the fact that He is Our Righteousness....is another encouragement for the believer.

This verse is one of those "stop and get perspective" moments. God will come again, and when He does He will come as a King, coming to rule. However, this verse also promises peace to Judah and Israel, which, given the context, I believe means all believers....the true "spiritual" descendants of Abraham...


...and when He returns, the only thing we will be doing is worshiping THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Number 40! And Off to Egypt....not me personally. Hosea 11:1

...I've officially posted 40 times...wow. I can't believe it's already been 40 days...

Today's post again is following the Christmas season, and we find ourselves today in the book of Hosea.

"When Israel was a child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son."

 Now, if your reaction was anything like mine, you might be like, "Hey! That's talking about the Children of Israel, not Jesus!"

While this was indeed talking about the Children of Israel, God also used it as a prophecy through the prophet Hosea. Matthew recognized this, and references Hosea in chapter 2:14-15...when Joseph and Mary flee with Jesus to Egypt.

"When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt I called My Son.""

This prophecy/promise is an encouragement to us because we can know through this, and other prophecies fulfilled, that Jesus was in fact the Messiah.

Born in Bethlehem -Micah 5:2 and Matthew 2:1

"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting."

This prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus. Matthew 2:1 Clearly says Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

"...Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king..."

We can take the prophecies of Christ's birth and be encouraged, knowing that if God fulfilled His Word back then, He will be faithful to continue to fulfill His Word.

A Virgin Shall Conceive ...Isaiah 7:14

...I had my first clementine of the season!

Now what does that have to do with today's promise? Absolutely nothing. I'm not going to even try to make up a corny analogy to explain how it fits in.

Sorry.


However, the promise foretold about Jesus that I'm sharing today is amazing.

"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel."

Not only does this verse give the promise of the birth of Christ, but I find a profound promise in the name given to Jesus: Immanuel.

Immanuel literally means, "God with us." We as Christians can take encouragement from this verse in two ways:

1) That Jesus would come down to earth, and become man, to eventually die on the cross for our sins.  Wow. We serve an amazing God.
2) As Christians, we need to remember that although Jesus is not on earth the way He was before, God is still with us. No matter the trials or blessings we are going through, God is with us. And He is coming again! --though that's a promise for another day :)


God-with-us.