Prepare

 

“A voice of one calling: ‘In the desert prepare the way for the Lord;’”

—Isaiah 40:3

Christmas preparations seem to begin earlier every year. If you’re like me, you would rather have a more leisurely time to get ready than become swept up in a last minute rush. After all, the point of the trappings, gifts, decorations, baking, and carol singing is to create an enjoyable anticipation, right?

We prepare for Christmas by shopping and gift buying, putting up the tree, baking all those special cookies and treats that our families love, and gathering with friends to sing carols. The day itself, for which we have so carefully prepared, comes and goes before we know it. But, the warm glow of the anticipation of it seems to last much longer.

If we think in spiritual terms, the holiday that celebrates the birth of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, also requires a careful preparation. We consider Advent as that time of anticipation and readiness for both the celebration of Christ’s incarnation and also for His ultimate return. We sing hymns that reflect a poverty of spirit and humble consideration of how desperate we are without the new life that Christ came to give us.

One image that often gives me pause is that of the desert. We prepare for the Lord while we wander “in the desert.” We can think of this in terms of our dry, lifeless hearts coming in expectation to God. We can also reflect on the “desert places” of our circumstances. Perhaps the year has brought distress and sadness through grief or sickness or loss. God asks us to make this “desert” a prepared place for Christ to come to us.

John the Baptist was sent to prepare the people for Jesus’ first coming. John lived in the desert and preached repentance of heart to those who so long had anticipated the coming of the Messiah. The scriptures tell us in Luke 3:2-3:

…the word of God came to John, son of Zechariah in the desert. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

So, how should we prepare our hearts for Christmas? Contemplation, repentance of sin, viewing our trials as a place for God to come and do new work in us, and considering with thanksgiving all He has done in sending Jesus to be our Savior, Lord, and King. In the words of Psalm 50:23:

He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.

As we prepare for the celebration of Christ’s birth and spend time making our homes welcoming places for family and friends, we would do well to remember to do the same in our hearts. Let us truly make a welcoming place in our hearts for our Savior. Let us, indeed, “Prepare the way of the Lord!”

—Posted: Monday, December 27, 2021

 

 

O Little Town of Bethlehem

 

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.

—Micah 5:2

At any time in history, most little towns would be considered insignificant. I know this first hand because I grew up in a little town of approximately 2,000 people. In my personal experience, this place ranked as a very significant town. As I judge significance, neither New York city, nor Houston, Texas, nor any other large city can compare to the importance of my little hometown.

In His scheme of things, through the prophet Micah, God declared the superior significance of little Bethlehem. From that insignificant little town would come the One toward whom history had marched for millions of years, and the One to whom every knee will one day bow, in heaven and on earth.

In our modern culture, we seem to think that the significance of size matters a great deal. We like the big box stores, the big SUVs, big city life, and even mega-churches. In my study of the Book of Revelation, I learned in Revelation 3:8 that, in His message to the church of Philadelphia, God said:

“I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”

What a commendation! This small church was less influential and seemingly more insignificant than others, but God spoke to them in order to encourage them and promise them a future of blessing because they had endured and persevered.

When we consider our small churches, the ones that stay faithful to the truth of the Scriptures and, year after year, humbly minister to their people and the communities around them, we know that God does not overlook them. He sees the small churches and He often uses them to nurture great families, who see their sons and daughters do mighty things for Him.

When we think of the Christmas events and the people who witnessed the birth of the Savior, we find that among them were small, unremarkable men and women, whom God used to spread the glorious news of Jesus’ birth. Yes, the Magi came and presented great gifts, but the lowly shepherds also came and then went out to spread the word of Jesus’ birth wherever they went. Mary and Joseph themselves, so poor that they had to bring pigeons instead of lambs to the temple, had been especially called by God for a most significant responsibility.

When we look at ourselves, or our little towns, or our struggling churches, we must remember that God does not make the same assumptions of greatness that our culture does. He sees ways in which He can most often use the small to carry out His work in the most startling of ways.

 

 

Best of Times, Worst of Times

 

But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

—Galatians 4:4

Charles Dickens described the days of the French Revolution in his novel, A Tale of Two Cities: ¹

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

That sentiment prevails whenever we consider other periods of history, as well.

In the days of Jesus’ birth, the Roman Empire ruled most of the then-known world. In the capital city of Rome, the society was secure, prosperous, and luxurious. However, hiding beneath the surface, the entire fabric of society and culture was in imminent danger from hopeless and hidden perversion.

The Greek language was spoken in the entire Empire, unifying it like the world had never seen before. Only the resistance of the Jews kept the Roman Empire from a total allegiance to the ruling authorities. According to Jewish scholar, Alfred Edersheim, the city of Rome: ²

… in one short reign was transformed from brick into marble, … side by side, the most abject misery and almost boundless luxury.

The religious life of the Roman Empire suffered from superstition and from the deification of the Emperor. As Edersheim describes it: ³

Might was right. The social relations exhibited, if possible, even deeper corruption. The sanctity of marriage had ceased. Female dissipation and the general dissoluteness led at last to an almost entire cessation of marriage. Abortion, and the exposure and murder of newly-born children, were common and tolerated.

Edersheim goes on to point out the vile, cunning, evil reign over the Jewish territory of the various monarchs in the Herodian Dynasty, who ruled from 47 BC to 72 AD. This explanation gives us an idea of the way in which God prepared the perfect coming of His Son, Jesus Christ, in the middle of this extremely vile reign of the Herods.

When we read in Scripture about the “Light coming into the darkness,” we begin to understand how bad life must have been for the Jews in those days, and how the most devoted of them waited longingly for the coming of the Messiah. The Lord Jesus Christ came in the fullness of bad times, when history brought all the ripened powers and circumstances together.

As you read the description of the Roman Empire at the time of Jesus’ birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection, we should consider these questions:

• Do we see a parallel between those ancient days and our own times?
  
  
• Can we relate to the “darkness of the hour” in our present age?
  
  
• Do we cry out for a new coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?
  
  
• Does He have for our day a time of spiritual renewal and hope?
  
  
• Or, will we experience the Second Advent of our Savior, when He will come again in the clouds of heaven?
  
  

As we consider these questions, the answers should move us to consider the longing that ought to reside in our hearts. In any case, we need to watch, pray, and stand ready to see what God will do in our time!

______________________

1 Dickens, Charles, and Harvey Dunn. A Tale of Two Cities. New York, NY: Cosmopolitan Book Corporation, 1921. Book 1. Chapter 1

2 Edersheim, Alfred The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLC, 1993. Pp. 177-179.

3 Ibid.

 

 

What Did Malachi Know?

 

“See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

—Malachi 3:1

We hear the Prophet Isaiah’s words so often during Advent because he vividly foresees the birth of Christ. For example, in Isaiah 40:3, we read:

A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.”

That word “prepare” is often associated with both the first and the second Advent of the Messiah.

In the New Testament, at the birth of John the Baptist—the man who would become the immediate forerunner of Jesus—his father Zechariah said, as recorded in Luke 1:76:

“You my child will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him.”

John the Baptist called the people who waited for the Messiah to prepare themselves because the Messiah was beginning His ministry among them. He preached repentance and sought to have the people purified, so that they might serve Christ.

Malachi’s entire prophecy, which happened some 400 years before Christ came to earth, called the people to prepare by purifying their worship, purifying their priestly line (the Tribe of Levi), purifying their marriages, and purifying their priorities in handling their money.

I love the section from which our opening verse is taken. Malachi 3:2-4 goes on to state these words of God speaking through the Prophet Malachi:

But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

This prophecy of Malachi refers to the Levites, or those who served in the Temple. I like to think that we, as New Testament saints, are as much Levites, for we serve in Christ’s church, as the Levites served in the Temple.

Yes, our full-time ministers and priests spend time as servants in the church, but so do the church musicians, the Christian Education teachers, those who prepare the holy ornaments of worship, the individuals who set up the Communion Table and prepare the elements of Holy Communion, those people who clean the church, and those who lead the spiritual and business matters of the church. All these people serve God in the church, following the example of the Levitical service in the Temple.

We see clearly that Malachi stresses the purity of those who would serve Christ. What can we expect from the Messiah as we wait for Him during this Season of Advent?

In Joel 2:28-30, this Prophet speaks of the kind of repentance that John the Baptist called for among the people of God. He promises a new day:

I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke.

Even God, speaking through the lips of the Prophet Malachi, as recorded in Malachi 3:10b agrees:

“See if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

So, in this passage, we see that Malachi saw the coming Messiah clearly. And, Malachi warned God’s people to Prepare, to Purify themselves and to expect God to Pour Out His blessing on them.

Certainly, in the first Advent, with the coming of Jesus to earth in the manager of Bethlehem, God began His revelation to all the people of His eternal plan to bring the people He had chosen to belong to Himself out of their sin and into the wonderful relationship with Him through His Son.

As we wait for His second coming, can we see how these admonitions fit us perfectly now? We, too, wait for the Promised One to come again. We need to prepare, to purify ourselves and wait for the pouring out of God’s blessing!