Thursday, November 29, 2012

O Little Town of Bethlehem...



"But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days." ~ Micah 5:2

I love this prophecy from Micah regarding the birth of Christ... and that the name Bethlehem means "house of bread", and Ephrathah means "fruitfulness, life"

Now look at Christ's response in John 6:35 in this light... 'And Jesus replied, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.'

From Bethlehem the One who brings eternal life had come... "the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight"

Joyful on the Journey
Marisa

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Christmas with the Angels

I was thinking today about how even though there are a few more days in November, its never too early to talk about that wonderful night over 2000 years ago - so I dug back in the archives and found this... Be blessed friends :)

As the most beautiful of heavenly creations, the angels played a part in the whole nativity story (foretelling Zechariah and Elizabeth to be the parents of John the Baptist, a few months later appearing to Mary with the news that she too was going to have a son, appearing to Joseph as well telling him of Mary’s pregnancy and reassuring him that it was all part of God’s plan, and then appearing to the shepherds, of course, announcing the Savior’s birth).

But have you thought about the fact that they were actually there at the birth of Christ? The point where heaven and earth actually met and collided?
These angels were created by Christ, they were with Him in His heavenly realm and glory, saw what he was giving up… imagine knowing this God who gave you life, created you to be the bearers of His news throughout creation… now He was giving it all up to go down THERE?!

As his cherubim and seraphim must they have thought that this was absolute madness? Would they have wondered at the sense of the plan? Ever since they had been brought into existence they had watched Him create - the earth, the universe, witnessed Him spinning the cosmos, creating us with such care and love, now they were to witness Him setting aside His glory, His heavenly home, His heavenly robe to put on a flesh robe, a very costly robe, a plan that would end in His pain and death…

When God decreed that He was putting on this flesh – coming as baby no less – needing diapers changed, needing food, being cold, hungry, alone in their eyes because they as His heavenly host, His army if you will, would not be staying with Him in quite the same way as they had before...
And the fact that He would arrive in a dirty stall or cave where animals lay and ate… that gold and frankincense and myrrh could not compare to all the riches
He would be leaving - what must they have thought of this sacrifice?
It would be easy just to say that they would think it crazy – and that may be true – but I think that when they were told of the plan, the cost, the sacrifice, they then must have realized just how precious we were to Him and how immense the sacrifice would be and that they were more than proud, more than humbled, more than blown away by the fact that they would play such a integral part of that night.
Of all the figures and beings hovering and kneeling around the stable at the first Christmas, only the angels knew just how much that Christmas really cost. Not in dollars and cents, of course, but in sacrifice and love. It cost Him everything.

They must have watched the event unfolding with wonder and love for their King… that He would leave their undying worship and love of Him to be with us. I think they thought how much more blessed we were to be receiving such a love, and how their hearts were breaking at the thought of the journey and where it would take Him.


I think those heavenly beings may have even bordered on jealousy for a moment – in my finite mind I can hardly comprehend them not being envious as they looked at the love Mary had for Jesus, the awestruck wonder of the shepherds, heard the earth whisper and rumbled on a deep level that only their ears and hearts could hear... and that the most important event in history was beginning right then and there before their eyes – and it was all for us… not them, but for us… and they realized we would have the choice to love Him and know Him in a way they never could.

Maybe this Christmas when we look at the birth of Christ through the eyes of the angels we can begin to truly see the sacrifice made only for us, and worship Him in a way only we can.

Marisa