2023-12-25
Isaiah 9:6 TLB
Jack Hayford writes: “Who is this Babe of Bethlehem… who became flesh… who called forth songs of angels… this Christ of Christmas? …the answer comes back with ringing authority… He is the Redeemer – ‘in whom we have redemption’ (Colossians 1:14 NKJV). We who believe on His name have been ‘qualified’ (v. 12 NKJV), ‘delivered’ and ‘conveyed’ (v. 13 NKJV) into a new… kingdom, by… a price once-paid to secure our freedom, potential, and fellowship.
He is the Revealer – ‘the image of the invisible God’ (v. 15 NKJV). The veil of mystery is removed… no one need wonder what He is like – His Son Jesus has come to disclose His heart, His nature, His ways, His very being. Christ reveals all of the Father we could ever want to understand (See John 14:9).
He is the Creator – ‘by Him all things were created’ (Colossians 1:16 NKJV). All things – in heaven and earth – were made… for His use, pleasure, and glory. He is the Sustainer – ‘in him all things consist’ (v. 17 NKJV). He, the Word, spoke all things into existence (See John 1:3)… and ‘upholds all things by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3 NAS). Just as He creates (See Hebrews 11:3), so He keeps.
He is the Leader – ‘the head of the body, the church’ (Colossians 1:18 KJV). He gained this position by reason of His proven power and authority demonstrated in His resurrection. He who created all beings and powers (See v. 16) confined Himself within His own creation and voluntarily submitted to death (See Philippians 2:6-9). But to the dismay of hell, He rose from the dead, gave birth to the Church, and is now Lord over all.”
Soul food: Isaiah 9:1-7; Luke 2:1-20; Micah 5:2-5a
2023-12-24
Johannes 1:14 NLV
Toe die engel vir Maria besoek het, het hy gesê: ‘Moenie bang wees nie, Maria… want God het besluit om jou te seën!’ (Lukas 1:30 NLV). Tog, wanneer dit daarby kom om God direk te nader, word baie godsdienste deur vrees geregeer.
Philip Yancey sê: ‘Die Jode het verseker vrees met aanbidding geassosieer. ‘n Persoon wat met ‘n direkte ontmoeting met God ‘geseën’ is, het verwag om verskroei, gloeiend of dalk half kreupel soos Jakob daaruit te kom. Onder mense wat ‘n aparte heiligdom vir God in die tempel afgebaken het en nie sy naam wou uitspreek of spel nie, het God ‘n verrassende verskyning as baba in ‘n stal gemaak. In Jesus het God ‘n manier gevind om met mense in ‘n verhouding wat nie vrees behels nie, te staan. ‘n Nuwe Verbond wat nie die kloof tussen God en die mensdom sou beklemtoon nie, maar dit eerder sou oorbrug.
Ek het van vleeswording geleer toe ek ‘n soutwater-akwarium aangehou het. Jy sou dink, in die lig van al die energie wat ek op hulle bestee het, dat my visse darem dankbaar sou wees. Dit was egter nie die geval nie. Elke keer as my skaduwee bo die tenk opgedoem het, het hulle vinnig weggeswem om skuiling te soek. Om hul persepsie te verander sou ek ‘n vis moes word en met hulle in ‘n taal wat hulle kon verstaan, moes ‘praat’. ‘n Mens wat ‘n vis word, is niks in vergelyking met God wat ‘n baba geword het nie. Tog is dit wat in Bethlehem gebeur het. God het ‘n storie, deur regte karakters te gebruik, op die bladsye van die regte geskiedenis, geskryf. Die Woord het vlees geword.’
Sielskos: Jes 11:1-10; Luk 1:39-56
John 1:14 NKJV
When the angel visited Mary, he said, “Don’t be frightened… God has decided to… bless you!” (Luke 1:30 TLB). Yet when it comes to approaching God directly, many religions are ruled by fear.
Philip Yancey says: “Certainly the Jews associated fear with worship… A person ‘blessed’ with a direct encounter with God expected to come away scorched or glowing or maybe half-crippled like Jacob… Among people who walled off a separate sanctum for God in the temple and shrank from pronouncing or spelling out the name, God made a surprise appearance as a baby in a manger. In Jesus, God found a way of relating to human beings that did not involve fear… A New Covenant… that would not emphasize the… gulf between God and humanity but instead would span it… I learned about incarnation when I kept a saltwater aquarium… You would think, in view of all the energy expended on their behalf, that my fish would at least be grateful. Not so. Every time my shadow loomed above the tank they dove for cover… to [them] I was deity… too large for them, my actions too incomprehensible. My acts of mercy they saw as cruelty; my attempts at healing… as destruction. To change their perceptions… I would have to become a fish and ‘speak’ to them in a language they could understand. A human being becoming a fish is nothing compared to God becoming a baby. Yet… that is what happened at Bethlehem. The God who created matter took shape within it, as an artist might become a spot on a painting or a playwright a character within his own play. God wrote a story, only using real characters, on the pages of real history. The Word became flesh.”
Soul food: Isaiah 11:1-10; Luke 1:39-56
2023-12-23
Lukas 1:31 NLV
Ons sing die woorde van hierdie Kerslied al van kindsbeen af. Die woorde van die lied kom egter nie uit die Skrif nie. ‘Stille Nag’ is ‘n gedig wat deur ‘n Oostenrykse priester in 1816 geskryf is. Die woorde roep ‘n rustige prentjie met die gelukkige paartjie wat hul pasgebore baba dophou, op.
Dit is egter onwaarskynlik dat daar stilte was. Na ‘n uitputtende reis op ‘n donkie, het Josef en die hoogswanger Maria nie by die grootste kamer van die Bethlehem Grand Hotel ingeboek nie. Hulle het gesmeek dat hulle die stal, kompleet met die gekletter en geure van staldiere kon gebruik – wat alles behalwe stil was! Vra enige ma uit oor geboorte. Selfs met die hulp van moderne pynstillers en gesteriliseerde omgewings bly die dapperste vrou selde stil terwyl sy geboorte skenk. Dit was kwalik ‘n stille nag vir Maria, Josef en Jesus!
Heilige nag: Van al die nagte in die geskiedenis, was hierdie die heiligste. God het sy ewige plan om aarde toe te kom as die Verlosser van verlore mense in werking gestel. ‘Die boodskap van versoening bestaan daarin dat God deur Christus die wêreld met Homself versoen het en nie die mense se oortredings teen hulle hou nie…’ (2 Korintiërs 5:19 NLV). Jesus het gekom om die sondes van die verdoemde mensdom op Homself te neem, sodat ons: ‘…op grond van ons eenheid met Christus, deur God vrygespreek kan word’ (vers 21 NLV).
Op hierdie heiligste nag is ons geestelike en morele donkerte vir ewig deur Jesus, die Lig van die wêreld, verdryf. Ons vrese as verlore sondaars is deur die vrede en vreugdevolle versekering dat ons sy ewige vergewe volk is, vervang.
Sielskos: 2 Tim 1-4; Joh 19:31-42; Ps 128; Spr 31:10-13
Luke 1:31 NIV
We have sung the words of that Christmas carol since infancy. But those words actually do not come from Scripture. “Silent Night” was a poem written by an Austrian priest in 1816. The words conjure up a serene picture with the happy couple watching their newborn baby. It’s not likely, however, that there was silence. After an exhausting journey on a donkey, Joseph and the very pregnant Mary didn’t check into the master suite of the Bethlehem Grand Hotel. They begged the use of an animal shelter, complete with the clatter and scents of barnyard animals – anything but silent! Ask any mother about giving birth. Even with the help of modern pain-reducing medicines and sterilized environments, the bravest woman rarely remains silent while giving birth. For Mary, Joseph, and Jesus – this was hardly a silent night!
“Oh, Holy night”: Of all the nights in history, this was the most holy. God set in motion His eternal plan to come to earth as the Redeemer of lost people. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them” (2 Corinthians 5:19 NKJV). Jesus came to take on Himself the sins of doomed humanity, so “that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (v. 21 NKJV). It doesn’t get any holier than that!
“All is calm, all is bright”: On that holiest of nights, our spiritual and moral darkness was forever dispelled by Jesus, the Light of the World. And our fears as lost sinners were replaced by the peace and joyful assurance that we are His eternally forgiven people.
Soul food: 2 Tim 1-4; John 19:31-42; Ps 128; Prov 31:10-13
