Sunday, December 20, 2009

A Christmas of Comfort- Christmas in Isaiah 40

Isaiah 40:1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord's hand
double for all her sins.

The peace of Christmas is an end of war. The peace pointed to in Scripture is a 'laying down of arms' - 'a surrender"- Stop fighting the Lord, end the madness of this frantic fraud of a world. May you find comfort and peace in the Son! We were once enemies, but we are now adopted children. Experience the magic of a child, you are God's child- if you submit to Him!

3 A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

This is referenced as John the Baptist. He is a wonderful character in the Christmas story!

6 A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”

All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the Lord blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.

This is one of my favorite verses- more true than ever. This Nativity story is timeless and eternal! I am more convinced that God's Word is a must to make it as we get swept up in a fragmented culture that runs on microwave moments. We need to read it- meditate on it- memorize it- study it. We live in a land that reasons by sight and makes decisions by urges- only God's Word can provide a compass for survival.


9 Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good news;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Behold your God!”

Christmas is about good news! That is what 'gospel' means.........


10 Behold, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.

Christmas is about the tenderness of a babe and the steady care of a shepherd....


28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

Christmas is about renewal and rest......


Lord I pray that your children will experience the beauty and power of Christmas.... even TODAY!

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