Dec 6

Luke 1: 11-17

Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” 

Poor old Zachariah must have thought his time had come.  He was already expecting trouble and then an angel appears.  He must have been terrified. His worst nightmare - he was about to be struck dead - and he still didn't know why. What would I be thinking if I was suddenly faced by an angel of God.  Would I be able to stand there with my head held high or would I be more than a little terrified?  I know that we are able to approach God through the death and resurrection of Jesus, but I must admit, I still don't feel really bold about it.
The angel gives Zachariah the reassurance he needs but then blows him away with more news!! He is going to be a dad!  That must have been more than a bit of a shock. And his child comes with his future mapped out. A special child to be the messenger. He is given the child's name (saves all that angst of choosing a name for your baby I guess) and also told not to let him drink.  An odd promise to make for a child, but I guess this was a culture where alcohol was a natural way of life, part of every meal.  It would take some instruction to keep John from alcohol.
The responsibility of bringing up a child is bad enough, but having the responsibility of bringing up a child who is fulfilling part of scripture.  Wow.

Dec 5

Luke 1: 5-10

In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zachariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.

Once when Zachariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.  And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. 

In this passage we meet Zachariah and Elizabeth.  they are presented to us as a elderly couple, pillars of the community.  They come from a respected line and can trace their lineage through several generations back to Aaron. A respected priest and his wife, going about their every day business.  They weren't blessed with children, but they had been obedient to God. Israelites believed that if a woman was barren, it was because God was punishing the couple for sin committed by either the husband or the wife.

It may be that there was gossip and whisperings in the Jewish community that Zachariah and Elizabeth were maybe not as good and righteous as they seemed to be.

It was a great honour to burn incense in the temple. There were thousands of priests in Israel so it was likely that a priest was only given this honour once in his life, and many priests were never chosen at all. They were chosen by lots and this time the lot fell to Zachariah.  

When I have been chosen to do carry out a major task or been given an important role, I get really nervous, even if I am well prepared and perfectly capable of doing it.  There is always the fear that it will go wrong and I will be somehow shown up.   Zachariah must have felt something similar as he entered the Holy Place to burn the incense.  All priests naturally experienced the fear of the Lord as they entered. The were being faced by an Awesome and judgemental God and their very should would be open to Him. Zachariah was probably a little worried by the fact that his wife remained barren. If there was a sin which God was judging them for, and which Zachariah was unaware of, entering the Holy Place without having been cleansed of that sin would be a death sentence.

                                                        

And the members of the temple all gathered too and I'm sure some of them were waiting to see what would happen.  It would soon be obvious if Zachariah was as righteous and blameless as he appeared. God was going to provide the answer this day when Zachariah entered the Holy Place. (grace commentary)

We know how their lives are about to be changed beyond recognition in the next few verses.  But at this stage they are clueless. We always just accept this part of the nativity scene, but if you stop and think about it, this was a major event in the Jewish community. 

Dec 4

Jeremiah 33: 14-16

“‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will fulfil the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.
“‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land.
In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteous Saviour.’

The promise of the coming king.  How exciting those words must have been to the Jews.  The promise of a saviour who would come to right the wrongs, and to bring prosperity and happiness to the people of Israel; to bring peace to the land.   
While the Jews are still anticipating the coming of the Messiah, we as Christians believe that this has happened through the birth of Jesus.  We believe this promise has been fulfilled and I am blown away by that thought!
Christmas should revive in us the excitement of the good news of the birth of Jesus.  We should be shouting the news from the roof-tops. 
A short thought, but it has started the shiver of excitement that bring Christmas into my December!  Yay!!

Dec 3

Isaiah 11: 1-10

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
   the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
   the Spirit of counsel and of might,
   the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD—
and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
Righteousness will be his belt  and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. 

What a wonderful picture these verses give us.  One of a world of harmony and peace, where no-one is afraid of anything or anyone, where there is no fear of danger behind every bush or down every dark animals.  Even the natural enemies in the animal kingdom will be at peace and not trying to eat each other.

The Spirit of the Lord with all its blessings will rest on Jesus and, as we accept Him, so will we be blessed with those same blessings.  

What a wonderful thought to be blessed with wisdom, counsel and knowledge from God.  To be able to approach the world and it's problems not only with God's wisdom but also with His delight.  

You know those gorgeous moments when we see the beauty of the world through the eyes of God and just delight in it? Or sometimes even despair in man's destruction of it? We will have that vision not only of the world but of people who live here with us. While it may not be our role to judge others, God provides us with compassion, discretion and discernment in the way we deal with them.  I pray that I might use that spirit of discernment with His wisdom.

Dec. 2

 Isaiah 9: 2-7

 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder.
For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.
Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. 

One of my friends recently had a baby and I went round for the "new baby" cuddle.  He was so tiny and gorgeous and snuggled into my shoulder the way babies do.  I love that.  But looking at that tiny baby and then later at my (HUGE) 7 year old, I was struck by the fact that they have so much to live through, so many responsibilities to face, so much stuff to get through and they have no comprehension at all of the task of living that lies ahead of them.  I don't mean that to be negative, it is just awesome. My baby is going to be a grown up , a husband, a father, an employee, a tax payer. I find it difficult to grasp.

How much more was on the shoulders of the tiny Christ Child, lying as a new born in an animal trough and blinking out at the people coming to worship him.  He had a mighty task ahead of him.  He had REAL stuff in his future.  How helpless Mary must have felt through it all.
And yet God showed us His greatness, His power and His amazing love through that tiny baby. He knew what Jesus would go through and the huge impact that he would have.
How awesome! What an exciting way to anticipate Christmas, knowing that we are celebrating the "Zeal of the Lord Almighty".

Dec 1st - not the first day of Advent, but the first day of the Advent calenders....

John 1: 1-5

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.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

In this crazy month, it is too easy to forget about what I am working so hard to celebrate.  I become obsessed with getting the presents bought, making the perfect Christmas for the boy, getting the house clean (as if!), trying to co-ordinate who is doing what for Christmas.  It is so totally not what December should be about.  Yes, those things are part of celebrating Christmas, but our focus should be on Christ and not on the mass of “things to be done” that can make us lose our focus.

Every year, I fill our Christmas advent calendars with chocolates and hang them to tantalize us every morning.

This year, I have put a verse or picture behind every choccie in the hope of making us stop and think about what we are counting down towards.

I am going to try and have a thought every day for advent and share it on this blog – I hope I manage to work it through.  When I did the Lent blog, I got so much out of it.

I really pray that this year, my Christmas will totally focus on Jesus. After all, that’s what it’s all about.

Heaven vs Hell

Following my blog post a few days ago, about our place in Heaven and Jesus preparing our rooms for us, I have been thinking about heaven and hell.  I came across an article about near death experiences and not always good ones.  Some people talked of being taken into a dark, frightening place where they were deprived of light, love, hope and any emotion except terror.  Essentially, an absence of God.

When I worked in a cardiac intensive care unit in Cape Town, I received a patient back from theatre following his bypass surgery.  One of the things I enjoy about ITU is the unconcious patient!  No backchat, demands, tricky behaviours etc.  But we do eventually have to return them to conciousness and extubate them.  If they are tricky people, we can comfort ourselves with the thought that they are about to be shipped off to the ward soon.  LOL.  Usually, the patients are lovely, grateful their surgery is over and keen to recover.  They trust that we are looking after them and have their best interests at heat.  But this particular gentleman was a horror.  His timid wife was waiting for him to come out of surgery,  She looked like a typical tyrant's wife - mousey and down trodden.  He fought against his ventilator, struggled with his chest drains, pulled out his drips.  Everything.  And he wasn't confused.  He was just unpleasant.  When he was awake, he shouted abuse at us, shouted at his wife, was generally one of the most unpleasant humans I have met.

His children refused to visit him.  He was alone except for his wife, who didn't seem keen to be there either.

He had an arrest in the unit the next day and we spent a while trying to get him back.  We did.  He looked totally shaken, which is unsurprising considering, but he was very quiet.  He sat on his bed weeping.  He asked the curtains to be drawn around his bed while he talked to his wife.  She emerged a while later weeping too.  She made a call and her children arrived to see their father,  There was a lot of weeping, a lot of hugging and a lot of forgiveness.  I don't know the details, he wouldn't share them with anyone but his family, but he did say to me "I don't want to go back there."  Make of it what you will, but I believe that he had been to hell.  I can't say whether he became a christian, or what happened to him.  After he left the hospital, surrounded by his family and happier looking wife, I never saw or heard from him again.

I can't imagine a place without God.  He is so much part of my life.  It would be hell indeed without him.

I have been trying to spend time this week immersed in God.  Letting His love enfold me.  How much more wonderful will heaven be?  I have a lot of life to live still, but I am looking forward to heaven.