Dear friends,
I trust your Thanksgiving was a time of gathering with family and friends. I have heard that many people spell fellowship, f-o-o-d. There was plenty of that in our family this year.
After Thanksgiving, we begin the season of Advent in the Christian calendar. These next four or five weeks are spent in anticipation of the birth of the Savior. The nation Israel looked forward to the coming of their Messiah, as had been foretold by their prophets for hundreds of years.
In Isaiah we read, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Later in Isaiah we read: 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 Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6).
Micah, some 700 years before the birth of Christ wrote, “But from you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who rules over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times. (Micah 5:2).
In the last book of the Old Testament, the prophet Malachi wrote the words of the Lord: “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).
Four hundred years later, a baby was born in a manger in Bethlehem, who was the Messiah whom Israel had longed for. Pagan kings we call the Magi, came from the east and inquired, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”
When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed. He called all the chief priests and teachers of the law and asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written” (Matthew 2:1-5). They had the answer, but didn’t bother to go and check it out.
As we look forward to the Christmas season, let’s not miss His coming. He is the greatest gift!
In Him,
Pastor Jerry
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