His Name Shall Be Called...

 

“And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

—Isaiah 9:6

In this season of Christmas, let us worship our Lord, recalling some of the names given to Him in Scripture. By what names do you relate to Him in your life?

Jesus Emmanuel the Christ Son of God Son of Man the Word Teacher Master Savior the Lion of Judah the Lamb King of the Jews King of Kings Lord of Lords Mediator a Branch. the Bridegroom our High Priest The Way The Truth The Life the Light of the World the Bread of Life the Living Water the Door the Rock

the Good Shepherd the Dayspring from on High Man of Sorrows the Resurrection and the Life Rose of Sharon the Altogether Lovely One the Power of God the Wisdom of God the Alpha and Omega the Vine our Advocate with the Father the Second Adam King of Righteousness. King Eternal a Man Approved of God the Consolation of Israel Redeemer Intercessor the Root of Jesse the Cornerstone of the Church Chosen of God and Precious the Root of David the Offspring of David the great I AM. The image of the Invisible God

 

 

By No Means Least

 

“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 be the shepherd of my people Israel.”

—Micah  5:2 and Matthew 2:6

People in the days of Jesus would not have named Bethlehem a “destination city.” It lay small and insignificant, a few miles from Jerusalem, which served as the towering, celebrated city among all of Israel. Yet, God chose this little town for the greatest miracle in history.

You might also say, “Mary, you are by no means least among the young women of Israel,” although, at the time, everyone would have considered her pretty commonplace and poor. Yet, God chose this humble maiden as the mother for His Son, Jesus, and honored her above all women.

And, to the shepherds, we could say, “Herdsmen, you are by no means least among the men of Israel,” even though everyone at that time would have looked at them: smelly, uneducated, poor, and hardly capable of the call to spread abroad the news of the Savior’s birth. Yet the angels announced the greatest news in history to them and urged them to spread the news.

So many times in Scripture, God rebukes those who would overlook those considered “least.” Sometimes, we see ourselves in this light, and God rebukes our faulty thinking. He has chosen us to carry His Holy Spirit within us, elevating us far beyond what the culture would. And, more often, we pick and choose among the people we meet, or merely see, and overlook those who seem plain, common, or poor.

We should take time during this busy season, to see those around us in a different light, to wonder if God has chosen them for something special, to invite them into conversations and to urge them to occupy honored places. Remember what Jesus said, recorded in Luke 9:48:

“For he who is least among you all—he is the greatest.”

Let us allow the lowly shepherds, the humble, ordinary Mary, and the little town of Bethlehem to remind us that God often chooses those things we tend to overlook. We must allow Him to show us His power to elevate and use whomever and whatever He wishes to use for His glory. Amen!

 

 

Lo, He Comes!

 

“Look, he is coming with the clouds; everyone shall see him, including those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the world will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.”

—Revelation 1:7

Jesus comes! Prepare! These words came early in the Biblical story. God promised a Messiah—God with us—to the Jews through the Old Testament prophets and then through John the Baptist. We look at these prophecies as Advent texts. And, we rejoice that God has a plan through His Son who came as a helpless babe. He grew into a man, lived, died in our place on the cross of Calvary, and ascended back to His Father in heaven.

If we only observe the first coming of our Lord at Christmas, we lose the complete story of Advent. Just as we can read the text of many hymns in two ways—concerning the first coming and the second coming of Christ—we can sing about the second coming as the next Advent of our Lord.

The hymn, “Lo! He Comes, With Clouds Descending,” expresses the Christian’s hope for Christ’s return to earth. Here’s the first verse.¹

Lo! He comes, with clouds descending,
Once for favored sinners slain;
Thousand, thousand saints attending
Swell the triumph of His train;
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
God appears on earth to reign,
God appears on earth to reign.

You may hear a beautiful rendition of this hymn by clicking on the video button below.

The hymn appears to have been a collaboration between five individuals: a land surveyor from England turned Moravian preacher, hymn-writer Charles Wesley, two of his followers—one a cobbler—and then a man who loved to add Hallelujahs to Wesley texts. One author says it this way:²

As we await the coming of our Lord, about which this hymn is written, God’s Kingdom continues to grow just as this hymn once grew. Preachers, cobblers, land surveyors and those who embellish with hallelujahs build on one another’s efforts for the glory of God. They are just a few of the “thousand, thousand saints attending.”

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1 Wesley, Charles; Cennick, John; Madan, Martin. “Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending.” Hymn in the Public Domain.

2 Peterson, William J. and Peterson, Randy. The One Year Book of Hymns. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1995. Entry for August 8th.

 

 

Magnify

 

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

—Luke 1:46-47

Mary spoke the above statement upon learning that God had chosen her to bear the Son of God. This stirring tribute to her Lord, called “The Magnificat,” comes from the Latin root word from which our word “magnify” derives. This same verb appears in the first sentence of Mary’s declaration.

When we use the word “magnify,” we think of making something appear bigger so that we can see it better. At a ballgame, we might watch the game from the stands on a jumbo screen so that we can see facial expressions and the intricate details of each play. In the laboratory, we magnify tiny creatures so that we can see them better with the human eye. In neither case do we actually make the objects bigger. We just make them appear bigger so that our eyes can see them.

What did Mary mean when she said that she “magnified” the Lord? She looked at His character, His might, His blessing, His holiness, His mercy, and His gifts. Then, she spoke of them in such poetic ways and desired to make them bigger so that she and others could see Him better. It was as though she had practiced this art throughout her short life. God had obviously carefully prepared her for this moment.

Psalm 34:3 records David’s desire to give the same kind of glory to God. He wrote:

Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!

When we get together with other Christians and relate what we know of our God, we also magnify Him. We do not make Him any bigger or greater than He’s ever been. But instead, through our expressions of worship, we show others the bigness of our Lord. We allow them to see and understand Him in ways they may have never seen Him before.

During this Advent season, like Mary, we need to consider our great God, and magnify His character in such a way that others can better see Him, heed Him, and know Him for themselves. He is certainly worthy of this exaltation!

 

 

O Come, Emmanuel

 

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel” (which means: God with us).

—Matthew 1:23

Like the happy family in the photograph above, why do so many people love having a dog? Most of all, I think they love the companionship. Life can often seem like a lonely venture. Children, around whom life has centered, go off to college leaving an “empty nest.” Parents, siblings, and friends, who were once always there, move away, or die, and leave a large hole in our lives.

God purposefully sent His Son, Jesus, to us. He did so for many reasons. But, one of those reasons was to fill a void in our lives that only He could fill.

One of the many special names that God gave Jesus was the name “Emmanuel.” God chose to give this unique name to specifically remind us that, in and through His Son, God is with us.

In other Scriptures (Deuteronomy 31:6, Psalm 94:14, and Hebrews 13:5), we hear that those who have come to know Jesus as Emmanuel have a God who will never leave us or forsake us.

Many at this time of year greatly miss the people who once filled their lives. It is very good that they can know the One who will never leave them. As followers of the Great King Jesus, God has given Him to us as our personal “God with Us.”

Here’s how Michael Card puts it:²

Incredible… are the times we know He is with us in the midst of our daily, routine lives. In the middle of cleaning the house or driving somewhere in the pick-up, He stops us… in our tracks and makes His presence known. Often it’s in the middle of the most mundane task that He lets us know He is there with us. We realize, then, that there can be no “ordinary” moments for people who live their lives with Jesus.

From the very beginning of Jesus’ life, God wanted us to know that He had been sent to be our constant, loving, ever-present, and ever-faithful companion. Knowing that God had this plan for us, we should sing anew this season and cry out in supplication as Israel once did:²

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel.
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

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1 Card, Michael. Immanuel. Cited in Lucado, Max. The Devotional Bible. Nashville, TN:Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2003. Pp.1231-1232.

2 O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Latin hymn from 12th century Latin Antiphons, Public Domain.