Author: missionspaul

Throughout this letter the Pastor will pause from the main subjects to bring a warning to the people. This is the first time in the letter.

“We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. ² For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, ³ how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. ⁴ God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.” (Hebrews 2 v 1-4)

Therefore is ‘there for’ what was spoken previously. Christ is better, greater, superior and supreme therefore don’t drift, don’t slowly move away from the position God has placed you.

The Pastor introduces us to what will be mentioned again later regarding the contrast between the Law and Moses and the new covenant/salvation and the Lord.

With reference to Deuteronomy 33:2 and Moses’ praise declaration that when God came with the Law on Mt. Sinai He did accompanied by ‘myriads of holy ones’ (angels) the Pastor reminds us of the importance of the Law and the consequences of disobeying it.

Therefore, the Pastor is saying if we drifted from the Law then that was serious but how much more if we drifted from the message of salvation which has come to rescue us from the position of being unable to keep the Law.

This message was brought by the Lord (Jesus).

It was given by the first apostles through their writing.

God validated this message through ‘signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit’ that these Spirit-filled believers have experienced.

Basically the Pastor is saying, ‘you know, you know, you know!’

You know the story of Jesus and salvation.

You know and have heard the story written by the original apostles.

You know God has confirmed this salvation message by the active power of the Holy Spirit.

(The trinity right here!)

This salvation is real and can be tested so don’t drift from it.

Don’t dilute this message.

Don’t substitute this gospel with some other gospel.

If you do, where can you go?

If you do, how can you escape?

The word ‘escape’ is there because the rejection of God’s Word is still and will remain real.

A gospel which is not offering an escape is no gospel at all.

The real gospel saves from death and punishment which still need escaping from.

There is no escape if you drift or dilute what was originally brought by the Lord, given by the apostles, confirmed by God through the power of the Holy Spirit and (I add) passed down through the ages (whithout editing) to us in 2024.

The opening chapter is wondrous but why is it so important for us today?

What we know about the rest of this letter is that there are several warnings. The Pastor is concerned that these Christians may either drift from their commitment to Christ or abandon their faith altogether. Here are some examples: 2:1-4 “We must pay more careful attention …”    4:12-13 “Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”    6:4-8 ” It is impossible … if they fall away … they are crucifying the Son of God all over again”    10:26-31 “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”    12:25-29 “If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?” 

The Pastor wrote these things not because their faith wasn’t real but because their suffering and persecution was very real.

For far less reasons people have abandoned their church communities and walked also from God. If their prayers are not answered the way they wanted they have given up. But this persecution was real and painful and there was more to come. It begged the question, was becoming a Christian a mistake? Had they done the right thing? If they hadn’t made their commitment to Christ then they would not be facing this suffering.

2024 is here. And for many around the world they are facing similar problems to the first century believers. Difficult days are here and ahead. Whether in Europe, the Middle East or northern Africa, Christians are struggling for their faith or trying to survive under evil regimes.

2024 is here. And I also think of friends who are battling cancer and other illnesses where miracles are needed. Friends needing breakthroughs. Each one have circumstances that may raise doubts like, ‘was it worth it?’

Hebrews 1 shouts many declarations with a response to that question, “YES it still is!”

The Pastor uses 5 statements that reveal the position and the power of the Son.

He is the heir of all things; through whom also he made the universe; He is the radiance of God’s glory; He is the exact representation of his being; He sustains all things by his powerful word.

The Pastor then uses 2 statements that reveal how the Son left his position to come to earth to walk where we are walking, in suffering and difficulty. The Pastor writes, ’He provided purification for sins’ and yet that humiliation of doing so is then followed by exaltation, ‘He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven’.

For those today who are humiliated in their body of suffering or in their situation that has become a mountain over them here is the pattern of the Son that the Pastor lays out. Because He went this way so will you and YOU will be exalted!

That’s the message.

Oh and one more thing, whether or not you are seeing many examples of angelic worship today (it still exists and if you are not aware then you are certainly seeing false worship), the message is also this: do not allow anyone or anything to distract you from the position and the power of the Son.

The Son is better, greater, superior and He is supreme than whatever you are hearing or seeing.

That is why we read Hebrews 1.

And now let’s move into the next chapter …

Not only the prophets but the angels too!

We have just celebrated Christmas and within that story are 5 appearances of angels. They play a big part not only in the birth story but throughout the Bible where approximately 300 times angels appear or are mentioned.

The Pastor was instructing the people to stand against any teaching that undermines the person of Christ as slightly less than God. We need the message today for the temptation is not to deny Christ but to dethrone Him. The Pastor points to the title ‘the Son’ demonstrating that there is no one more superior than Him especially not the angels, “⁴ So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs”.

The Pastor was quoting Psalm 2:7 and will continue to quote from the prophets to show that the Son is better. Here are 7 important differences:

1. It is the angels that worship Christ the Son (Deut 32:43) “⁵ For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father? Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”? ⁶ And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”
2. The angels are servants but the Son is served, (Psalm 104:4) “⁷ In speaking of the angels he says, “He makes his angels spirits, and his servants flames of fire.” ⁸ But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a sceptre of justice will be the sceptre of your kingdom.”
3. The angels don’t rule but the Son does. Read v8 again.
4. Some angels are bad but Christ is good. (Psalm 45:6-7) Even the good angels are not tempted but Christ who lived as a man was tempted in every way but did not sin, “⁹ You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”
5. The angels were created by Christ the Creator. (Psalm 102:25-27) “¹⁰ He also says, “In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. ¹¹ They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. ¹² You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.”
6. The angels are never invited to sit near the throne but Christ sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. (Psalm 110:1) “¹³ To which of the angels did God ever say, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?
7. Angels are ministerial servants to us the co-heirs of the Heir of all things. “¹⁴ Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”

Let these 7 statements lead you to your knees in worship to a better, greater, superior and Supreme God the Son!

Happy New Year!

Hebrews.

We don’t know who wrote this or to whom it is written or when.  But today I am excited to read this slowly for as long as it takes because it clearly is written by a Pastor or someone with a pastoral heart at least. It is written to a specific group of people that this Pastor knows (13: 22). These people were probably Jewish Christians who knew their Old Testament very well because the Pastor quotes plenty of times from those Scriptures. This group of people probably had Gentile Christians among them who were not only equal to them but were also probably leading them. Though this last part isn’t mine or your context the experience of this letter (some would challenge that because it doesn’t start like a letter) is so valuable to us because it is going to empower us to a) stand firm in our faith despite the circumstance we are going through; b) know that following Jesus will never be a mistake; and c) Jesus is superior to everything and calls us to live our lives Christ-centred.

The first 4 verses are in the original one long sentence. It poured out of the Pastor to the people and even before we get to see the name Jesus we have the supreme title, ‘Son’ spoken of and explained. Our eyes are immediately on Him. It is my prayer and commitment this year to keep my focus unwaveringly on Jesus, the Son. I am sure it is yours too.

So let us begin to read. I am actually focusing on the first 3 verses as the 4^th sets us up for the supremacy over the angels.

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. ³ The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. ⁴ So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. (Hebrews 1 v 1-4)

The Pastor is not demeaning the prophets, he honours them by quoting them so often. The Old Testament is very important to the Pastor and to the people as the whole Bible is to us today. The prophets/the Bible is the foundation of our life but to be formed by Christ, to be focused on Christ and to follow Christ is what the prophets all looked towards and called for.

So let’s begin by meditating on 7 powerful statements about the Son which have wonderful implications for our lives no matter what we are going through.

1. He is the heir of all things. He inherits it all, everything is His! And we share in that inheritance too, so if the world seems to be walking right over you now remember who you belong to, the heir of not just this world but the universe, past, present and future and one day you will as co-heir inherit that too!
2. Through whom also he (God) made the universe. He created out of the chaos, out of the void, out of the darkness and the nothing-ness. So through the Son, through Christ, He can create out of your chaos too. He has done it before and He can do it again. He can turn your darkness into light!
3. He is the radiance of God’s glory. When we see Christ we see God. The invisible God is now visible, through His Son. And as we are Christ-formed then the world sees the Son in us and therefore sees God!
4. He is the exact representation of his being. The DNA of God is in the Son. When we are born again we carry a supernatural DNA that means we were once dead in sin but now alive to God, unrighteous but now made righteous.
5. He sustains all things by His powerful Word. If He sustains all things. If there is nothing that He cannot sustain then it means He can sustain you in any situation of your life.
6. He provided purification for sins. This is an amazing title, the Purifier of sins. There can be no one greater than that. And as this was being read aloud in the assembly the people would think of the sacrificial system that was rooted in their faith and culture. Their thoughts help our thoughts to realise that this great title was achieved by the greatest humiliation of the cross. Flee from selfish ambition.
7. He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. No priest could sit down. They remained standing doing their duty because their work was unfinished. The Son sat down. His work is completed. We work out our salvation now but not for it. He did it. He did it all. We must learn to sit in His authority.

These 7 incredible statements can keep us the whole year. If there was nothing else in Hebrews this is enough. Let’s take at least one of them into our day today. Let it form Christ in us.

I hope these 24 devotions have helped your Advent journey somewhat. Thank you for taking the time to read and engage with them. Wherever you are near or far I pray that you will know the presence of Christ more than ever.

So here is our final devotion and my last blog of 2023.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” (John 1 v 1-4)

John’s gospel was written around 80-100 AD but it was the first fourteen verses that were venerated in the Middle Ages by the Roman Catholic Church where they were worn around the neck to ward off evil spirits. They would read it over the sick and newly baptised. Putting aside such veneration I do want to elevate these powerful verses as we approach and walk through Christmas into a new year. Here is the Prologue:

History tells us that in 500BC the Greeks were asking whether in a changing world there was an abiding principle, a reason for it all. Their conclusion was summed up in one word, ‘WORD’ which is the English translation of the actual word, ‘LOGOS’.

This was later developed by the Stoics who talked of the LOGOS as the world-soul and they began to shape their whole lives around the LOGOS.

At the time of Jesus there was an Alexandrian Jew named Philo who had a Hebrew and Greek background and he took hold of the LOGOS idea and developed it.

But what is LOGOS/WORD? Philo believed:-

1. The LOGOS has no distinct personality, it is described as a rudder to shape man’s course or an instrument to fashion the world.
2. The LOGOS is God’s first-born Son (but not as we know it) and implying a pre-existence.
3. The LOGOS bridges the gap between God and the world.

This was the Greek thought regarding the meaning of life, the LOGOS. John knew this Greek thought when he wrote his gospel but he also knew the Jewish thought found in our Old Testament:-

1. The WORD (LOGOS) had creative powers (Genesis 1; Psalm 33)
2. God offers His care through His WORD (LOGOS) (Psalm 147, 148)
3. God’s LOGOS will accomplish its purpose (Isaiah 55, Psalm 147).
4. Judgment is executed by the LOGOS (Hosea 6).
5. The LOGOS is the means of revelation in the prophets.

Further to this the Jews believe that Dabar, Hebrew for WORD, is the Torah, God’s way of communicating with us.

They believe:-

1. The TORAH was created before the foundation of the world.
2. The TORAH lay on God’s bosom.
3. God created through the first-born and the first-born was the TORAH.
4. The words of the TORAH are life for the world.

Sound familiar?!

WORD, LOGOS and the TORAH, Trying to answer the meaning of life.

John is fully aware of the Greek and Jewish position regarding this meaning of life, the reason for it all, why we are here and what our purpose is. This is how he starts his gospel:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

To the Greek, John says, “this rational principle of the universe that you hold to is a personal being and has become human.”

To the Jew, John says “your thought of pre-existent DABAR is kind of correct but there is so much more and He was never created. HE has personal attributes and HE has been here and I have seen HIM. The TORAH is JESUS CHRIST!

Jesus is not only the reason for the season, He is the reason for life.

Jesus is not only the true meaning behind Christmas, He is the true meaning to everything.

From the springboard of this LOGOS and TORAH, John would go on to record Jesus’ statements that he was the bread, the light, the door, the Shepherd, the Resurrection and Life, the Way, Truth and Life and the vine and he does so with 2 simple words, ‘I AM’ that not even Moses used for God they were so holy.

The Jews reject Jesus as WORD. Our world is indifferent to the WORD but still pursue their LOGOS.

But the WORD said it and John records it.

Jesus is the WORD, the LOGOS and the TORAH, the true meaning of life. There is none other.

This is the crux of the matter. This is the central truth of Christmas. This is why the major religions hate Christianity because of who we say the WORD is. Our LOGOS, our TORAH is Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ is God.

The cults of Christianity may hold the same beliefs yet it is verses like this that they twist to fit their deviances.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses for example have translated the verse:

 “and the Word was with God and the Word was a god.”

They have inserted ‘a god’ signifying Christ’s exalted status but as a creature. This translation helps them argue against the deity of Christ and his equality with the Father. But the ‘a’ is not there to be translated.

But why didn’t John simply write ‘and the Word was the God.’? That would have solved everything, right? NO. If John had used ‘the’ he would have confused the person of the Trinity and supported a heresy at the time (and still exists today) that all of God (the whole Trinity) was Jesus.

John is writing his gospel so “that you may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (20:21). This first verse is crucial to John. He gets it right. He has to. Jesus is Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, the SON, the TORAH, the LOGOS, the WORD and yet He is also God.

God of God, Light of Light,
Lo! he abhors not the Virgin’s womb;
Very God, Begotten not created.

Jesus was there before it all began. He has no beginning. He is outside of time.

Before all time there was the WORD. He is pre-existent before anything was existent.

He enters the beginning. Because of this He will be there at the end.

When the end ends, He will still be there. He has no end.

He has seen it all. He has seen all that you hold dear.

We cannot contain Him to a time and a nation; to a scene; to a manger. We cannot hold onto Him. He is beyond our grasp. We cannot understand all there is to know about Him. He is beyond our capability to think.

Jesus did not begin 2,000 years ago in a manger, no crying he makes. He is before anything ever happened.

We can invite Jesus into our existence. But there is a greater invitation than that. An invitation for us to live our lives in His pre-existence.

You might not know why some things have happened or why they haven’t. But He knows.

God has and will always know what, why, when, where, how things are going in your life.

We need to trust in His pre-existence. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.

You may have many questions about your future. What does it hold? Will I cope?

Being outside of time He is already in your tomorrow, He is there waiting for you and He is here now with you.

This is enormous comfort. You will never be alone.

You will never have to wait for Him to catch you up. He is not following you.

Wherever you are, He is.

Thank you for journeying with me as I share my devotions each day.

I will begin again in 2024.

God bless you.

Paul.

“After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.” (Matthew 2 v 19-23)

It doesn’t matter where you are, God can speak to you – even in Egypt.

Herod is dead. It feels like the whole world is relieved. In his 36 year reign there was hardly a day went by that someone wasn’t sentenced to death. The Roman-Jewish historian, Josephus, wrote of what happened at the time and you can easily access this. When Herod died, there was a fight between his sons on who would be king. In an earlier will, Herod had given the title to Antipas, but then changed the will to Archelaus. It was to be settled in Rome before Caesar who in the end compromised by making Antipas Herod over Galilee and answerable only to Rome, whereas Archelaus was not given the title Herod but ‘Ethnarch’ meaning ‘National leader’ over Samaria and Judea. But whilst all that shenanigans was taking place in Rome, there was uprisings in Jerusalem. Three would-be heroes who all claimed the title ‘king of the jews’ formed guerrilla armies and ransacked towns that were pro-Roman. Though they looked for divine intervention none came and they were all killed. Archelaus made his mark by appointing his own High Priest, Joezer, for the Temple. Jerusalem pilgrims from across the world became involved and protested against this decision and 3,000 were killed on one day.

They are returning home. They were both delighted. This is a breakthrough that God has given them. A window of opportunity to go back and start a life there. Can you imagine the conversation they had on the way back? Where shall we live? ‘Let’s live near Jerusalem where the Temple is’, ‘what about Bethlehem?’ ‘I wonder who will replace Herod? Thank God that He got rid of that evil wicked king!’ It was always going to be Judea, they had spent 2-3 years there already and they knew it well. One place they were not prepared to go was their hometown Nazareth. Facing the stigma of their story was not where they believed they should start their lives out of exile.

But as they near Israel they begin to hear of what has been happening. They hear of what we read from Josephus and more. Joseph is told about this new leader called Archelaus who sounded worse than his father.

Why didn’t God reveal the whole situation back in Egypt? In exile he holds back the successor to Herod and the stories of what was taking place. Sometimes it appears that we are not ready to receive all the information.

God sees things that we do not see. He not only sees the things that happen to us but also the things that could have happened to us. Egypt to Bethlehem was a lot shorter route than Egypt to Nazareth. The long way round is often the hardest way. But I am not thinking in terms of miles and distance but with the circumstances of those moments of the journey.

“Having been warned in a dream …” What was that warning? Was it a warning not to go to Jerusalem or Bethlehem? No. Joseph had already paused the journey afraid to go there. He would not need any warning not to go there. Perhaps it was a warning not to go back to Egypt. There are times when the return looks like a place of comfort, safety and an easier life then continuing forward. Perhaps it was a warning to overcome their fears of Nazareth. Mary’s hometown, the place of conception and the place of stigma. The long way round is often the hardest way.

Let’s remind ourselves that the ultimate reason why Jesus came was His death and resurrection.

But how did Jesus get there? Born in a humble village of Bethlehem, becoming an asylum seeker in Egypt and then raised in a town of Nazareth. Nazarenes were despised people and he would be called one of them.

From infancy to childhood, childhood to boyhood, boyhood to teens, teens to manhood, thirty years of living in Nazareth. What went on in that time, we do not know.

For thirty years, the vast majority of his life on earth, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, under the direct guidance of God the Father, lived amongst the poorest people and in total obscurity.

That is the long way round.

Your name may not be known. You may not have a place, title or position. You may struggle to make ends meet. You may not have what others want you to have. You may not have that perfect job, that perfect spouse, perfect children, you may feel alone, unwanted and unknown.

You may describe your life as being lived the long and hard way.

But can God trust you to remain in relationship with Him in Nazareth? That is the story of this remarkable family.

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi^[a] from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.” (Matthew 2 v 1-12)

Almost 50 years ago a four-year (1972-75) investigation into the Mahd adh Dhahab (Cradle of Gold) mine, located midway between Mecca and Madina in Saudi Arabia, led scientists to believe it was the principle mine for King Solomon’s gold and known as the mysterious place of Ophir (1 Kings 9:28).

Magi carried gold, frankincense and myrrh with them to Jerusalem.

In AD160, Justin Martyr (a Palestinian Christian writer) wrote that the wise men hailed from Arabia. Confirming what Martyr wrote, in what is simply a brilliant book, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, Kenneth E. Bailey writes, “In the 1920s a British scholar, E.F.F. Bishop, visited a Bedouin tribe in Jordan. This Muslim tribe bore the Arabic name al-Kokabani. The word kokab means “planet” and al-Kaokabani means “Those who study/follow the planets.” Bishop asked the elders of the tribe why they called themselves by such a name. They replied that it was because their ancestors followed the planets and travelled west to Palestine to show honour to the great prophet Jesus when he was born.

It might seem more than unexpected that ancestors of Muslims are bowing down to worship the Christ-child but let us be reminded that there is a day coming when Christ will return and “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil 2:10-11) Christian, Jew, Muslim, will bow the knee.

The gospel writers were more than familiar with this prophecy:

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn” (Isaiah 60:1-3)

Who is this ‘you and your’? Is this Jerusalem, the city of God?

^“Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come. Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the Lord.” (Isaiah 60: 5-6)

Midian and Ephah are tribal lands in northern Arabia, Sheba is in southern Arabia and where the Queen of Sheba came to Solomon with her gold.

^“All Kedar’s flocks will be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth will serve you; they will be accepted as offerings on my altar, and I will adorn my glorious temple” (Isaiah 60:7)

Shepherds are now involved. Why? Why are people coming from far away and very near? Who will receive these people?

“Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Though in anger I struck you, in favour I will show you compassion. Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night, so that people may bring you the wealth of the nations—their kings led in triumphal procession.” (Isaiah 60:10-11)

Isaiah is thinking about Jerusalem and the wonderful things that would happen in the future. Yet by the time of the birth of Christ they had not happened. These things had never taken place in Jerusalem. There was no great shining light in the city. Nor did wealthy Arabs come with gold and frankincense. Jerusalem’s gates were never open during the day and night because of security.

So why did Luke tell the shepherds story and Matthew the Magi story?

It is because they saw Isaiah’s prophecy, not speaking of Jerusalem, but the Christ-child.

Around Christ there was a great light and the glory of the Lord came. Shepherds visited the Christ-child.

Arab wise men came on camels bringing gold and frankincense (and myrrh).

The great hopes for Jerusalem were transferred to the Christ-child.

Hopes and expectations are now fulfilled in Jesus.

But it also has a future hope.

It is not the earthly Jerusalem that is of major significance, but the heavenly one that will come down as a gift from God when Christ returns.

The Magi believed in Christ when they had never seen him and probably not read of any of his prophecies. They believed in him when Herod was opposing and deceiving them. They believed in him when the religious leaders were unbelieving. They believed in him when they saw him as a little child and worshipped him as a king. This was the crowning point in their simple faith. No miracles. No healings to convince them. No teaching to persuade them. They didn’t need any of that.

^“On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.” (Matthew 2 v 11-12)

They knew what they had to do. They had brought gifts. They had brought gold for a king. This king would not come by force but with love. He would rule over men’s hearts not from a throne but a cross of wood. They had brought frankincense for a priest. This priest would not use the incense in the Temple to connect man with God. He would open the way to the presence of God not by works or any sacrificial Temple offering of man but by His own sacrifice and Him alone. They had brought myrrh for the Saviour, the one who would die for His people. This Saviour became the perfect sacrifice so that we could at last know forgiveness and be at peace with God. They brought these gifts and most probably they didn’t know the meaning that we over the centuries have given these gifts. They just brought gifts. Expensive ones. For them it seemed the right thing to do. Little did they realise that both Joseph and Mary would need these gifts to sustain them when they became refugees.

They came to the house. Mary and Joseph had moved from the manger scene. Their baby was now a child. This was 1-2 years after the birth. But nativities would last a very long time if the period of time was considered!

They entered in and saw the child. That’s the focal point. For months God had been using a ‘star’ to pull them from their homeland to the feet of Jesus so they could see a miracle.

Their eyes met the eyes of Jesus. The gifts took second place. There was only one thing that they could do and that was to fall down and worship. What we can bring to Jesus is not as important as our hearts of worship.

In 1872, Christina Rosetti, the sister of the artist Dante (and who she posed for in many of his paintings) wrote a poem that has global fame. She had herself a difficult life. A broken engagement and further turning down two offers of marriage around the time of this poem she was diagnosed with Graves’ disease. Today an overactive thyroid is treatable but in the 19^th century it was even more debilitating. Her poem has these words:

What can I give Him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part; Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

It wouldn’t be long after this poem was written that she would develop cancer and die in London in 1894. Her life ended with nothing much that she could give. But He had her heart and that was the most precious gift she could give. It still is.

“There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.” (Luke 2 v 36-38)

Luke never wastes a character, they are included for a reason. So to add to the wonderful occasion of Jesus being presented in the Temple and Simeon taking him in his arms accompanied with the sacrifice of birds that Mary and Joseph had brought to God, here comes Anna.

Luke tells us that she came from the tribe of Asher.

Asher had been one of the 8 northern tribes of Israel, the other 2 were in the southern kingdom where Jerusalem was, Judah and Benjamin.

In the 8^th century the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and then no one knows for sure what happened next to these tribes. But we do know that some made it back to Israel because Anna has traced her lineage.

Luke has successfully shown us that Simeon was a priest in the temple and therefore from the tribe of Levi who though had no land given to them were associated mainly with Jerusalem in the south.

So can you see this picture as Luke describes it?

Here is baby Jesus in the middle of someone from the southern kingdom and someone from the northern kingdom. United at last because of Jesus.

Anna’s ancestry had stories of division and being overcome by the enemy.

Anna’s personal past also contained regret and sorrow over losing her husband and maybe not having children.

But where do we see Anna? And what is she doing?

She is serving continually in the Temple with worship, fasting and prayer focusing on the hope of a coming Redeemer.

That’s it.

Our past, whatever it is, division, defeat, guilt, sorrow does not have to have the last word. We can move forward with the hope found in Jesus our redeemer!

“Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” The child’s father and mother marvelled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” (Luke 2 v 25-35)

He is righteous, he’s a good man to have around, you can count on him, dependable, walked with God, he chose wisely.

He is devout, he’s a devoted to God kind of man, someone who served God, who gave his life to Him and the work of God.

He embraced the suffering of Israel and their desperate need for a Messiah to come and strengthen the people, ‘comfort my people’ would have been his prayer.

Simeon, a good man. What else?

Oh yes!! The Holy Spirit was on him! Such beautiful words. It is all that matters. The Holy Spirit had revealed to him a promise of seeing the Messiah. He was moved by the Spirit.

Pause right there for the 3 important prayers.

Holy Spirit come on me.

Holy Spirit speak to me.

Holy Spirit lead me.

And then he took Jesus in his arms.

Have you held Him in your arms?

Are you a carrier? He will change the way you live, speak, think and act. You will walk differently, live differently, there will be an incredible change in your life as you carry Him.

Then he prays to Sovereign Lord, to God. He now fully realises God’s plan. Salvation through Jesus was not only for the Jews. Jesus was certainly for the comfort of Israel but he was far more than this. This salvation was spilling over from Israel to the whole world, to all peoples of all nations. Simeon was right. Jesus does cause offence. He will cause the falling and rising of many. And Mary will be hurt at the foot of the cross.  

And there in the Temple Luke has brought the whole Godhead together in a very ordinary yet powerful moving picture of an old man and the Trinity.

He is showing the end of a chapter and the start of a new one.

The Sovereign God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit heralding the new season. He still does.

“On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived. When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord’), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: ‘a pair of doves or two young pigeons’.” Luke 2 v 21-24

The traditional Church have a celebration on January 1stcalled, the Feast of the Circumcision. It is a reminder of how Mary and Joseph from the beginning were determined to bring Jesus up in the way of Jehovah. They were not disobedient to the Law of Moses which clearly stated that the boy needed to be circumcised on the 8th day after his birth (Lev 12:3). He was a child of the covenant of Abraham whose blessing was for the nations. They were not disobedient either to the angel who had instructed Mary to name her son Jesus (1:31). Jesus was also for the nations, for all people, the Saviour, Christ the Lord. 

Jesus, name above all names, God incarnate, Saviour to the world … has the foreskin of his penis cut. How can this be in the same verse? How can the holy and the perfect be mentioned in such earthy practices? We are thankful that it is for it shows the humanity of Jesus.

But I want to know about the man who made the cut. Who took the blade and brought the first shedding of the blood of Jesus? In ancient times it would be the father but not by the time of Joseph, he would have taken his son with Mary to a special rabbi, to a Mohel, they still operate today. They would have paid this man to perform this important ceremony.

Mohel’s never make it into the nativity plays even though this man appeared well before the gold, frankincense and myrrh did. But who was he? Did he ever meet the man Jesus? Was he there at the shedding of the blood of Jesus on the cross?

We have to assume the following:

When Mohel cut Jesus, it was one of hundreds maybe thousands that he had done. Jesus was just one of many.

Mohel didn’t see any connection in this procedure and the baby’s death.

Mohel had no idea Jesus was special, that He was the Messiah.

As blood poured from the genital organ of Jesus and as he gave instructions to Mary how to keep it clean so that it would heal quickly and well, Mohel was blind to the sacredness of that moment.

We would not judge Mohel for his blindness. 

Mary and Joseph were not blind to the sacred? 

But there’s more.

After the birth of a child the mother became unclean according to the Jewish custom and couldn’t be permitted to worship at the Temple or even be seen in public.

If the child was a boy this would last for 40 days and for a girl it would be 80 days.

After this time the parents would have to purchase the sacrificial lamb or birds in order to be clean again. The birds were for the poor people’s offering, which Joseph and Mary at that time were.

Can you imagine what was going on in the minds of these parents knowing they could not afford the lamb? That they had to bring a poor man’s sacrifice?

Mary had given birth to the Son of God, the Christ and he deserved a better offering than they could bring.

Joseph and Mary would never have bought a pair of cheap birds for the sacrifice if they could have afforded more. 

However, I see a different picture. I see this couple walking to the temple carrying the Lamb of God in their arms. Their lamb was more superior to all the other lambs. 

You see, if you are carrying His presence then you might not have what others have, but you certainly have all that is needed.

Mary and Joseph were not blind to the sacred for they knew they were carrying the most sacred into the temple that day. And that is a beautiful picture.