Anticipation

Well, tomorrow is the day!  We will be in a new year.  The sun will begin to rise in the west, the moon will be full every day, it will only rain between one and four o’clock (AM of course), diseases will all be cured, cars will all drive on air and Congress will get some work done.  It will be a glorious year!  Really!  Well, really?  That is rather what we all expect in many ways of the new year.  Anticipation is always greater than reality in all of our minds.

We meet the “perfect” girl.  (I am a man writing this, OK.)  Suddenly the sun shines, the flowers burst forth in bloom, the birds sing, the radiance of pure joy envelops us and we know, just positively know, that it will be like this for the rest of our lives.  Then the pastor goes and says something completely unlikely at our wedding.  “For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health til’ death do us part,” he makes us say.  Of course none of those things is likely to happen.  We will always be comfortably well off, have five beautiful blue eyed blond haired babies who each will become a doctor or professor and live on the same block where we live.  Our grandchildren and great grandchildren will all love and honor us until in the fullness and vigor of health we will quietly slip into eternity at age 100. 

That is how so many people embrace the new year and by January 10 are sorely disappointed.  That is also the way too many people embrace the thought of becoming a Christian.  God is the God of big promises so I will never be poor, lonely, sick or sad again until Jesus comes back.  Heretics preach this nonsense from their pulpits and invite people to be born again to health and prosperity.  Then the new life doesn’t turn out just that way and people say that God failed them. 

The Bible gives a different view of the new life in Christ.  Jesus said that if the world hated Him it would hate us.  Jesus said that in this world we would have tribulation,   that is the troubles of life would hit us as well.  Paul said that we are to use the comfort God gives us in our times of trouble to comfort the lost so that they will see a God who really matters in real life.  The true anticipation of new life is in the reality of sins forgiven, a Friend that sticks closer than a brother, comfort in sorrow, hope in despair, rejoicing in hope and eternity with Christ.  These are all promises for the new life that are honest and sure. 

With these is the constant assurance that “Jesus Never Fails”. Arthur Luther wrote this beautiful hymn and we should anticipate its truth for us in the New Year. 

Earthly friends may prove untrue, doubts and fears assail; One still loves and cares for you, One who will not fail.  (Chorus)

Tho’ the sky be dark and drear, fierce and strong the gale, just remember He is near, and He will not fail.  (Chorus)

In life’s dark and bitter hour love will still prevail, trust His everlasting pow’r—Jesus never fails.  (Chorus)

Chorus: Jesus never fails, Jesus never fails; heav’n and earth may pass away, but Jesus never fails. 

You can contact me and find inspiring Christian books at my website: www.davidccraig.net

You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at http://blog.febc.org/

Looking Back Part 2

Looking back certainly has a place in our lives.  It can give us great perspective on the bigger picture than our day to day lives permit.  The year is the forest and the days are the trees.  Sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees.  Perspective is good as long as we don’t get stuck in our backward look.  Solomon warned against this in Ecclesiastes. “Do not say, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.” (7:10) The “good old days” are not to be the focus of the life of the believer.  Looking back is for perspective and not to be a stalemate for our life.

I remember my first big writing opportunity.  I was given a spot in two local newspapers for a weekly column.  That would be the equivalent of a blog today.  I did each article on my old Olivetti and was often frustrated by the way I had to go back and erase and correct typos.  It taught me to be careful.  I truly appreciate the computer where I can correct all I want without messing up my paper.  When the articles were finally finished in a presentable way I had to send them by post to each paper.  Yes, I actually spent 30 cents each week on postage.  That would break me up today as I do a daily blog and postage has gone up.  So I appreciate the send button on my computer.  No postage, no delays and no missed deadlines are great.  Isn’t today a great improvement?  

When I got my first book ready for publication last spring I made sure that each page was “plate” ready for printing.  Then the publisher told me they don’t use plates anymore. It is the digital age, my friend.  I was shocked, but not unhappy.  Plate ready takes a lot more time.  It freed up my writing process and my more recent books have been easier to write and prepare.  I won’t abandon the discipline of the “good old days” but I will enjoy the advantages of today. 

One important thing hasn’t changed, however.  The God who was so great in the “good old days” is still great today.  When we complain we are really complaining in the ears of God who is still alive and active today.  He is still at work on earth and in His Church.  Nations that received missionaries in the “good old days” are now sending them.  New means of communication have enhanced the delivery of the Gospel to so many more people that we must constantly praise God for the advancements made.  As we look back with delight at what God has done, let us look more eagerly forward to what God is going to do tomorrow and on into the future.

As we prepare for the New Year enjoy this nearly forgotten hymn from the “good old days” by Carrie Breck.  “I go to meet another year, with faith no doubt can dim, God reigneth, and I will not fear, but trust my way with Him. Then if that way be bright or dark, let peace unshaken be! And let me, like the soaring lark; sing God is good to me!”

You can contact me and find inspiring Christian books at my website: www.davidccraig.net

You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at http://blog.febc.org/

A Brief Look Back

The world is getting ready to say goodbye to 2013.  Some are happy to see it go; some aren’t.  For me it has been a year of great new beginnings.  This daily devotion first appeared in April.  Since then it has been read daily by people around the world.  I trust you have been blessed by reading it.  Please share it with your friends and church family so they can receive this blessing as well. 

In the fall this devotion was picked up by FEBC, a worldwide missionary board, and added to the blog site on their website.  Since my goal has been to minister to the Church as God provides opportunities, I appreciate this expanded opportunity.  Three times my beloved bride and I tried to go overseas as missionaries and three times God closed the door shut quite tightly against that move.  Now to be able to help reach the world for Christ in this way is a great joy. 

This year also saw the publication of my first three books.  The comments I have received from this ministry to Christ’s Church have been very encouraging.  The books are specifically designed to edify, encourage and exhort God’s people.  I call them collectively “Books from a Pastor’s Heart”.  They have given me a wonderful opportunity to meet more believers and assist them in both their personal and church ministries.  The joy of service this year has been wonderful.  My dear bride and I love the Church and have spent years serving in it.  We look forward to all the expansion God may provide for us in the coming year.  We look forward to you all being an ongoing part of it. 

This wonderful hymn by Charles Gabriel reflects the joys and struggles of the Church past and the great expectations of the Church future. “O Church of God Triumphant”

“O Church of God, triumphant, o’er human doubts and fears, Which in the faith of ages comes marching thro’ the years; Baptized with blood of martyrs, with conflicts dearly won,

Beset with persecutions, yet ever marching on.”

Refrain

O Church of God, triumphant, with conflicts dearly won, beset with persecution,
Yet ever marching on.

“With backward look we see thee, thy scattered members few; We see thee struggling ever their courage to renew; Strong amid tribulation, uprising from each fall, We see thee marching onward triumphant over all.”

The Friday Benediction

Until Monday, my friends, may the good God envelop you with His grace; may you prove the common confession of faith, “I believe in the holy Christian church and in the fellowship of the saints”, and may you be enriched with joy and hope as you exercise that confession this weekend.  Amen

You can contact me and find inspiring Christian books at my website: www.davidccraig.net

You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at http://blog.febc.org/

The Great Exchange

Well, it is the day after Christmas.  The stores are full again.  Some are seeking to buy next year’s gift wrap or a few marked down scented candles.  Many others are at the store to exchange what they didn’t want for what they did.  Many don’t stop to think how much love Grandma put into choosing that sweater.  Many don’t know how long Mom and Dad agonized over just which “right” video game to buy their child.  Many don’t appreciate fruit cakes, and if the store won’t exchange them, send them to me.  I really like fruit cake, but that is a different issue.  The point is that we want what we want and don’t often care how much someone else loved or cared in the selection of what we got.

That is the way with mankind.  We have always wanted what we want. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had it all.  Try to think of one thing they truly lacked.  The list is so short because it doesn’t exist.  But, they wanted to exchange it for something else.  What God in love and grace had provided for them; what He had created for them; what He had known they really needed wasn’t enough.  They traded it for what they wanted and then they ended up discovering that wasn’t such a great exchange after all.  But God, in His immeasurable love, promised them a better Christmas.

God wished to exchange their rags for His riches.  After they had thrown away His riches for their rags that was a lot of love from God to offer.  Romans 5:8 says, “But God showed His own love to us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for our sins.”  Jesus, who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.  He exchanged His riches for our rags so that we could exchange our rags for His riches.  That is what Christmas is all about.  It is the great exchange by God for us.  There is a gift that we can hold dear for all of life and eternity.  When God offers you that gift exchange, will you accept His offer? 

Alongside Adam we did say, let us exchange God’s gift today

And let us choose the way to go, let’s ignore Him who loves us so

And so the gift was given back, exchanged a mansion for a shack

The choice we made was very bad, our life was hard are hearts were sad

But God in love appeared again, to trade His own Son for our sin

The great exchange He freely gave, His own creation so to save

Restored by love through His great grace, if we His great exchange embrace

You can contact me and find inspiring Christian books at my website: www.davidccraig.net

You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at http://blog.febc.org/

Poems of Advent 3

Christ is Born!  Hallelujah!:

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Christ is born!  Hallelujah!  Christ is born! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

On this glad morning Christ is born! 

With trumpets sounding Christ is born!

Christ is born!  Hallelujah! 

Day of Days:

O day of days the earth awakes. Behold! The King has come!

O day of days our hearts awake.  Behold! The King has come!

O joyous hour the angels sing.  Behold!  The King has come!

O blessed night the shepherds watch!  Behold!  The King has come!

Hallelujah and Rejoice:

Christ is born!  Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!

Christ is born!  Christ is born!  Christ is born!  Hallelujah!

Rejoice!  Hallelujah!  Rejoice!  Hallelujah!

Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!

Behold!  Thy King has come!

Rejoice!  Hallelujah!  Rejoice! 

Merry Christmas to you all! 

(From the Cantata: “Hope is Born” by David Craig, © 1975: renewed 2013; from the book “Exclamations of Praise” © 2013) 

You can contact me and find inspiring Christian books at my website: www.davidccraig.net

You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at http://blog.febc.org/

Poems of Advent 2

The Song of Jesus:

He left His throne in paradise to come to earth for me

He left the praise of ten thousand angels to dwell in old Galilee

He left the beauty of golden streets, and He left the right hand of God

And He sacrificed the honor He had known, upon this earth to trod

He left is all, yes, and willingly, in a stable to be born

He set aside for swaddling clothes, the robes that He had worn

He who alone was equal to God cast it all aside for me

And humbled Himself to a lowly birth to my Savior be 

The Promised One:

The earth was filled with dying, and suffering from the fall

But the promised coming Messiah would offer hope to and life to all.

The sign of God was declared; to Isaiah the prophet was given

That a child would be born of a virgin and be the Son of God in heaven

From the fruit of Eden’s fate came the promise God had given

His seed shall surely bruise your heel, but your seed shall crush his head

The sign of God was declared; to Isaiah the prophet was given

That a child would be born of a virgin and be the Son of God in heaven

And now the hope of the faithful, the salvation of Adam’s race

The promised coming Messiah to offer mankind God’s grace

The sign of God was declared; to Isaiah the prophet was given

That a child would be born of a virgin and be the Son of God in heaven

Star Song:

And now the moment had arrived

The hope of all man’s yearning

For high up in the eastern sky

A new bright star was shining

(From the Cantata: “Hope is Born” by David Craig, © 1975: renewed 2013; from the book “Exclamations of Praise” © 

2013)

You can contact me and find inspiring Christian books at my website: www.davidccraig.net

You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at http://blog.febc.org/

Poems of Advent

For the next three days I will be sharing my Advent Poem, “Hope is Born”.  This has been somewhat modified for use here from its full musical form as a cantata.  I have twice had the joy of directing choirs in singing the full cantata.  Please enjoy these joyous psalms of Christmastide. 

Mary’s Dream:

Young Mary the virgin was dreaming, she was dreaming a dream that was fair

She was dreaming of her promised Joseph and the life of love they would share

Yes, young Mary the virgin was dreaming of a future so pleasant and bright

But there was a greater joy than she knew then, for she would bear mankind’s light

Angel’s Song:

An angel stood by and awoke her and then the angel said

“Woman you’ve been chosen of God, chosen of God, chosen of God

Woman you’ve been chosen of God to bear His Son, to bear His Son

Joseph’s Dream:

And you shall name, and you shall name, and you shall name Him Jesus

And He shall save His people, save His people, and free them from their sins

Man’s lament and hope:

Oh what a wretch is man, Oh what a wretch is man, Oh what a wretch is man

He sinned and fell short of God’s glory, He sinned and fell short of God’s glory

But God loved Him and sent His Only Son to be born as a man

To be a savior for all men as a light in the darkness, as a light in the darkness

So came He amongst man 

(From the Cantata: “Hope is Born” by David Craig, © 1975: renewed 2013; from the book “Exclamations of Praise” © 2013

You can contact me and find inspiring Christian books at my website: www.davidccraig.net

You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at http://blog.febc.org/

Precious Advent Names 5

“Jesus is the sweetest Name I know,” says the hymnist, and it is true.  What is the most precious name of Advent?  Jesus!  Mary and Joseph had no problem naming Him.  Many couples spend months agonizing over just the right name.  They want a name not too odd or too familiar, but just unique enough for their dear little one.  Some choose family names to honor or recognize a relative or parent.  Others choose names of great men of their day.  Jesus was named after no relative or great person of His day.  He was named for who He was.  The angel said to Joseph, “You shall call His name Jesus for He will save His people from their sins.” 

This name echoes clearly from the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve had been promised a Deliverer.  It rings from the days of Abraham who had been promised that his Seed would bless the whole world.  It sings down the halls of time from David whose true Son would be the King of Israel and the whole world.  It resounds from the time of the prophets who foretold that the Deliverer and King would be born of a virgin in Bethlehem.  He is Emanuel, God with us, the Deliverer and Savior. 

Jesus birth was not a surprise. It had been promised and anticipated for millennia.  His name reflected all the promises that had been made concerning Him.  Elizabeth told Mary in Luke 1, “Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord."  She recognized the promises made and now being fulfilled by God.  In Mary’s response, the Magnifcat, she declared, “He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud.”  She declared the deliverance to be brought about through her Son.  Then Zacharias stated, “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people.”  He declared the salvation of the Lord which would soon come at the birth of Jesus. 

Each Advent season we remember the joyous news that the Savior has come.  We celebrate the hope and salvation that comes through Him who bore the name Jesus.   Jean Perry wrote “That Beautiful Name”.  Sing it joyfully this Advent season.  “I know of a name, a beautiful name, that angels brought down to earth. They whispered it low, one night long ago, to a maiden of lowly birth.  That beautiful name, that beautiful name, from sin has power to free us!  That beautiful name, that wonderful name, that matchless name is Jesus!”   

 

 

The Friday Benediction

Until Monday, my friends, may the good God envelop you with His grace; may you prove the common confession of faith, “I believe in the holy Christian church and in the fellowship of the saints”, and may you be enriched with joy and hope as you exercise that confession this weekend.  Amen

 

 

You can contact me and find inspiring Christian books at my website: www.davidccraig.net

You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at http://blog.febc.org/

 

Precious Advent Names 4

In a world where others get a lot of attention, do you ever feel obscure?  Do you have siblings who have gained the limelight and you sit in the shadow?  Does your boss seem to know everyone well but you?  Then you will love the name for today.  His name is Nathan, son of David. 

Did you know that King David had a son named Nathan?  He is listed twice in the Old Testament, both in the book of I Chronicles, in those first nine chapters that many people skip because they are mostly just a list of names.  People actually are saved by reading those chapters, so don’t discount the power of the whole word of God.  Anyway, Nathan is listed there.  His more famous brother Solomon got a lot of press.  His famous half brothers Adonijah and Absalom got a lot of press.  But Nathan got mentioned only in a list of names.  That is all the press he received in the New Testament as well.  But it is an important mention. 

Jesus was his direct physical descendant.  Jesus did not descend physically from Solomon.  Luke 3 tells us that the genealogy went from David to Nathan.  The Gospel of Matthew records the kingly line which was cut off because of the sin of Jeconiah (Matt. 1:11). That means that Solomon was not the ancestor of Jesus, but Solomon’s mother Bathsheba was.  She was also the mother of Nathan.  Obscure Nathan, the son of David about whom we know nothing, is the ancestor of the Christ. 

Jesus talked much on this topic.  His disciples were always pressing Him on who would be the greatest.  He put a little child in front of them and said, “Here he is.”  Jesus said that He came to serve and not be served.  Paul said that we should live in “lowliness of mind” and “esteeming others better than ourselves”.  The message is simple.  No matter how obscure our name is on earth, what matters is that our name is written down in glory.  That we are part of the family of Jesus Christ is all that truly matters for now or eternity. 

Christ is worldwide King and we are His. There is full joy and no obscurity in this truth.  Martin Luther records this in his Christmas hymn “Dear Christian People, All Rejoice”.   “The Son came, saying: ‘Cling to Me, thy sorrows now are ending; freely I give Myself to thee, thy life with Mine defending; for I am thine and thou art Mine, and where I am there thou shalt shine, the foe shall never reach us’.”

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.

You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at http://blog.febc.org/

Precious Advent Names 3

Grace, grace, the sound is sweet; through grace we see the mercy seat

Grace, grace, God’s gift so free, inviting all at Calv’ry’s tree

Grace, grace, no outcast there; God’s table now for all to share

In the list of names given in Matthew we find a few surprises.  They are declarations of God’s grace.  Two of those names are people who were not Jews.  How did they get in there?  Grace is how.  God had chosen Abraham and given him great promises.  The greatest was that his seed would bless the whole world.  Salvation was from the Jews, but salvation was not only for the Jews.  All the families of earth would be blessed by that Seed. The extension of God’s grace to all mankind through the Jews is found repeatedly in the Old Testament and seen clearly in the genealogy of Christ.

For their overwhelming wickedness and lack of repentance at the preaching of the patriarchs, God had consigned the Canaanite civilization to destruction.  Their perversity was not to corrupt God’s people and they had to go.  The time for their repentance was past and their judgment day had come.  The same thing will be true for the entire unrepentant and unbelieving world at the second advent of Christ.  But there was one of these doomed Canaanites who did believe.  Her name was Rahab.  Here is her simple testimony, “For the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath.”  With that statement of faith she was saved from Canaan’s destruction.  She married an Israelite man who was in the ancestry of Christ and became the great-great-etc grandmother of Jesus. 

Matthew then records another outsider in Jesus’ ancestry.  Her name was Ruth.  She was of the people of Moab.  They were cousins to the Jews, but not close cousins.  They were idolaters and had treated the Israelites very badly during the Exodus.  There were frequent wars between the nations.  Moabites were banned from temple worship for ten generations.  But there was Ruth.  Ruth had faith.  She said, “Your God will be my God.” She was received into Bethlehem, the future birthplace of Christ, and married a faithful Israelite, Boaz, who is a picture of Christ the kinsman Redeemer.  She became David’s great grandmother.  God in grace both gave her a witness and accepted her faith.  That is the great message of Advent.  God sent His Son into the world to save the lost. 

Grace, grace, beautiful gift, sent by the Father above

Grace, grace, wonderful gift, sent by the Father of Love 

 

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.

You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at http://blog.febc.org/

 

Precious Advent Names 2

From Adam onwards men knew of the promised Savior, but fewer and fewer believed the promise.  A devastating worldwide flood and the subsequent dispersion of man over the face of the earth did little to deter man’s desire to be god.  The promise was again pushed to the back burner of men’s desire and idolatry, with many false saviors, became the norm.  Then God spoke to one man, Abram.  God said to Abram, “Follow Me,” and Abram did.  God also gave Abram a renewal of the promised Savior, but this time He made it more specific.  The promised Savior was to come from Abram’s seed. 

Matthew begins his account of the genealogy with this specific promise in mind.  “Abraham begat Isaac and Isaac begat Jacob.”  Matthew began with Abraham and traced the promises God made to his son Isaac and grandson Jacob as well.  Jesus had a heritage of promise.  It had to come through the bloodline of specific people.  Matthew chronicles those precious names.  From Jacob’s twelve sons the promised ruler was to come through Judah.  Thus salvation was to come from the line of Judah or the Jews.  This is what Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4.  “Salvation is of the Jews”. 

This continuity of promise gives us all the assurance that God is true.  He is able to see the end from the beginning.  He is able to bring life from the dead, as He did with the birth of Isaac from Sarah’s dead womb.  He is able to bring victory from ashes, as He did in restoring Judah to the land after their Babylonian captivity.  He is able to control kings as He did with Caesar who commanded the world to be taxed so that Mary and Joseph had to go to Bethlehem where God said the Savior would be born.   That God is able is the clear message we find in the precious names of Advent.  Over a period of 2000 years against all the forces that Satan and sin could throw against His promise, He was able to complete all that He had said in every detail He had promised.  This is Advent hope.

The faithful children of Israel were still looking and longing for the promise to come and the joy that would attend it.  We, too, should be looking for the completion of the promise of His second advent and the joy that will attend that.  This song by Charles Wesley can be an expression of the hope of both Advents of Christ. 

 “Come, Thou long expected Jesus born to set Thy people free; from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in Thee. Israel’s strength and consolation, hope of all the earth Thou art; dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart.”

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.

You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at http://blog.febc.org/

Precious Advent Names 1

The Christmas season is a time of dreaming and hoping.  As the poet said of the children, “visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.”  It is not only children who hope and dream.  How many engagements take place around Christmas time?  I officially placed the ring on my beloved’s finger on December 20 the day before she was leaving for Christmas break and I had to stay and work.  Ours wasn’t a vision of sugar plums for a day but a life of joy together.  Hopes and dreams can be based on promises like, “I will take you and love you forever.” 

This view Christmas is not new.  It began with the hopes and dreams of man and the promises of God relating to the Advent of His Son.  In the books of Matthew and Luke we find genealogies for Jesus.  This isn’t just a list of people to be passed over in our reading of the Bible.  These were people with hopes and dreams and promises of the Advent of our Savior.  Matthew begins the list in verse 2 with Abraham.  Luke concludes the list in Luke 3 with Adam and God. 

Luke 3 shatters the “Santa Myth”.  That myth states that Santa only rewards the good.  Adam doesn’t exactly fit that mold.  He had direct access to God.  He had a perfect environment.  He had no needs unfulfilled.  He only had one simple rule to obey.  What could possibly go wrong in that scenario?  He sinned anyway.  There goes his merry Christmas, right?  Wrong!  It was in his sin that God gave the great promise of the advent of the Savior.  Instead of giving Adam and Eve coal, He gave them hope.  Instead of saying “Better luck next year”, He gave them precious promises. 

That makes Adam’s name pretty precious on the Advent list.  If God can forgive someone for messing up as badly as Adam did, then the Advent of His Son offers hope to all.  As Jesus said in John 3, “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that world through Him might be saved.”  Thank God for the story of Adam for it gives true hope to us all.  Johannes Falk wrote the wonderful Christmas hymn, “O Thou Joyful!  O Thou Wonderful!”  Its first verse reveals the hope of man and the promise of God fulfilled.  “O thou joyful, O thou wonderful, grace revealing Christmastide!  Jesus came to win us from all sin within us: glorify the holy Child.” 

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.

You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at http://blog.febc.org/

 

 

Advent Adoration

Near the time of Jesus’ birth God had placed a sign in the sky so that the wise men of the East could find the newborn King of the Jews.  They did not initiate that search.  God did.  It was a simple proclamation that His Son was not only the King of the Jews but would be the King of all the earth.  God sent an invitation and the wise men responded.  With the light that God had given them they sought out the Christ.

It was not to be an easy search.  He had been born in a distant land in a time when travel was difficult.  They didn’t care.  He had been born a foreign king.  They didn’t care.  He had been born in a region where the governing power was at an uneasy peace with all the nations from which the wise men probably came.  They didn’t care.  When they got where they thought they were going they still weren’t there.  When they got stonewalled by the locals, they didn’t care.  Finally an answer was given and they finished their search.  In a house in Bethlehem they found the infant Jesus, He who had been born King of the Jews.

What did they do when they found Him?  The answer to that is the profound truth that all men everywhere, saved and lost, must both understand and emulate.  The wise men worshipped Him.  They knelt down at His feet and gave Him due adoration for who He is.  It is hard to picture them going into that house and raising one hand high and saying, “Yo, man, what’s up?”  Today the Church has become quite casual about worshipping Him.  It is as if He has lost His luster as the Divine.  He became a man, but He was still God and so they worshipped Him.  Paul told us in Philippians 2 that someday every knee would bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.  They will all fall at His feet and worship Him.  Whether they are Christians or Jews or Muslims or Buddhists or Hindus or atheists, they will all bow at His feet and worship Him and declare that He is the eternal Son of God. 

This Advent season let us make sure that we have on our “to do list” to worship Him every day.  Let us bring our gifts of praise and thanksgiving and fall down at His feet and adore the Wonderful counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace whose name is Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  “O Come, Let Us Adore Him.

“O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem. Come and behold Him, born the King of angels; O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.” 

Words by John F. Wade

 

 

The Friday Benediction

Until Monday, my friends, may the good God envelop you with His grace; may you prove the common confession of faith, “I believe in the holy Christian church and in the fellowship of the saints”, and may you be enriched with joy and hope as you exercise that confession this weekend.  Amen

 

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.

You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at http://blog.febc.org/

 

 

Advent Peace

I was in college during the great “peace” demonstrations of the late 60’s and early 70’s.  Many of those demonstrations were not very peaceful.  Two significant moments in the age of that movement came first at the Chicago Democratic National Convention and then two years later at Kent State University.  Those events ended up changing American politics and then the American perception of the war.  The tragic violence brought change, but it did not bring peace.

The prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel had head to head confrontations with the false prophets of their day who were proclaiming, “Peace, peace”.  They told the people that those false prophets had not been sent by God.  Anyone coming along and proclaiming that they can bring peace is not telling the truth.  This world is a place of sin and the deeds of the sinful flesh include, “hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambition envy and murders.”  That is just the short list that God made of our nature. We act out what is in the inside of us, and that isn’t a pretty concoction. 

But there is hope!  When the angels came to the shepherds they sang, “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth, good will to men.”  The angels could proclaim peace because the Prince of Peace had been born.  In Zacharias’ prophecy in Luke 1 he says that the way of peace was coming.  Jesus promised His disciples, both them and us, that He would give us peace.  Paul declared in Romans 5 that we now have peace with God and in Philippians 4 that we can have peace that passes understanding.  Someday the heavens will open and Christ will descend and bring true peace on earth. 

All this is wrapped up in the joy of the Advent.  What men wanted and could not produce would be wrought by God.  It is His joy to bring us peace on earth.  Right now that peace comes one person at a time as they accept God’s Advent gift of His Son.  We can rejoice in that present peace and be confident that He will fulfill the entire promise of peace when He sends His Son again.

Wonderful, wonderful promise of peace in the Advent God has declared

Wonderful peace through the gift of His Son in a new life now He’s prepared

Wonderful song that the angels have sung, a song of true joy and true peace

Wonderful promise the Father has wrought, the peace, peace that never will cease 

 

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.

You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at http://blog.febc.org/

Advent Proclamation

When we got home from the store what do you think Princess did?  Did she drag herself into the house and slouch into a chair and sigh?  Did she run to her room to play with her toys?  Did she skip into the house and exclaim, “We got the bird!”  After she spent an hour staring at the bird and poking her finger in the cage and discovering that the bird did absolutely nothing, she went and played, but that wasn’t first. First everyone knew we had a bird.

How long had the angels been waiting to proclaim, “Christ is born?”  When they got their chance they did it up well.  The shepherds got that message loud and clear and went to see the newborn babe.  After they had seen Him they went on their way glorifying God and praising Him.  They didn’t do it in a huddle where no one else knew what was going on.  They made it “widely known”.  The Advent proclamation needed to be made. 

Several months later when Jesus was taken to the temple for His presentation to the Lord, Mary and Joseph met Simeon.  He was a righteous man who had long looked for the coming Messiah and he wasn’t shy about announcing it.  Then they met Anna, an elderly widow, who, when she saw the babe, spoke of Him to all who looked for the redemption of God’s people.  Then there were the wise men that came looking for the King of the Jews and proclaimed His birth even in the king’s palace. 

Unlike the bird, which never ever really did much beside sit and make a mess, Christ did all that He had been sent to do.  When He had finished His work He told His followers to go and proclaim the Good News of His salvation and the full hope that gave to all people.  That proclamation of Christ’s salvation, hope and peace is still needed by all today.  We need to be eager proclaimers of that hope.  “Christ has come!  Hallelujah!” 

Let us sing and obey the great Negro Spiritual, “Go, Tell it on the Mountain”.

    Go, tell it on the mountain,
    Over the hills and everywhere
    Go, tell it on the mountain,
    That Jesus Christ is born.

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.

You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at http://blog.febc.org/

Advent Joy

Yesterday we considered the Advent promise given.  When it was given to Abraham he contrived to “help” God out.  That certainly made a mess of things.  Isaac and Jacob had their own problems with living out the hope of the coming Seed.  In practical terms the promise remained just that, a promise, and not much joy, except in the birth of their own sons, was evidenced regarding it.  But that was all about to change.

That first Christmas night when the angel spoke to the shepherds his message was Joy!  “Fear not,” he said, “for I bring you good tidings of great joy.”  The message resounds in Isaac Watts’ great hymn, “Joy to the World”.  The promise was fulfilled.  When I got my little girl the parakeet the promise was fulfilled.  She was much more joyous at getting the bird than getting the promise.

The promise of God was not a single event, however.  The promise of God in Christ is new every day.  In the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah makes this exclamation, “Because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”  The Advent of the Messiah is a promise fulfilled, but in Him all the promises of God are fulfilled.  Paul put it like this, “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God.”  Therefore we relive the joy of that first Advent day every day of our lives.  We do so because in Him all the mercies and promises of God are renewed to us day by day.  To paraphrase Isaac Watts, “Joy to the world because our Lord is still here.” 

One of the most common commands in the New Testament is to rejoice.  The “good tidings of great joy” have not disappeared.  Christ is alive and well and dwells with His people.  Christians too easily forget the joy of Christmas with the rush of the new year.  But God says, “Don’t forget.  My joy is for you every day.” We need to retain the joy of that first Christmas message and let our lives so shine for Jesus that all may see our joy in Him.

J. Edward Ruark wrote the hymn, “You May Have the Joy Bells”.  This lively hymn reminds us to find God and His joy in our lives every day. 

“You will meet with trials as you journey home; grace sufficient He will give to overcome; though unseen by mortal eye, He is with you ever nigh, and He’ll keep the joy-bells ringing in your heart. (Refrain) Joy-bells ringing in your heart, joy-bells ringing in your heart; take the Savior here below with you ev’rywhere you go; He will keep the joy-bells ringing in your heart.”

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.

You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at http://blog.febc.org/

Advent Promise

Years ago I was at the store with my four year old daughter.  At that time we were in the final stages of going overseas as missionaries.  In the store we went by the pet section and she asked me, “Daddy, can I have a bird?”  Well, I hated to say no to my sweet little girl so I said this instead.  “You know, Princess, that we are moving far away and we can’t take that pretty bird with us.”  She looked downcast for less than a second.  “But what if we didn’t move, Daddy?”  I replied, “Well, then, Princess, you can have a bird.”  That was a promise from a father to his child.

With just two months to go before departure my beloved wife suddenly became very ill.  She was sicker than she had ever been and there was no apparent cause.  As we had no insurance we did not rush to the doctor but we finally had to.  We were going to have another baby – surprise!  Several of the shots required for the country where we were going were potentially fatal to the baby, and so our plans abruptly changed.  (By the way, that baby is now a pastor.) 

Now there was a little matter of a promise of a father to his child.  She was only four and she might have forgotten, but I hadn’t.  Sometimes promises take a while to be fulfilled. Two thousand years before Christ’s birth God had made a promise to Abraham. During those two thousand years many had forgotten about the promise or assumed that God meant something allegorical instead of literal.  But God had not forgotten His promise.  Jesus was born, Paul said, in the fullness of time.  There was neither a delay nor a rush for the promise to be fulfilled.  God had it under control and Jesus was born when and where He should have been according to all the promises made to all the prophets during all of those thousands of years.  (By the way, she got the parakeet.)

During Advent we remember that the promises of God are sure. 

Great promise from the Sovereign God, to Abraham He gave

The “Blessed Seed” from out your loins, I’ll send for all to save

To Isaac and to Jacob, too, the certain word was shared

And prophets down through centuries reminded all God cared

But hearts grew cold and worldly ways had near erased the dream

But God His promises did keep and Abram’s Seed was seen

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.

You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at http://blog.febc.org/

Enough “Fear Nots”

We have spent a month looking at God’s many assurances to “Fear not”.  The actual phrases “not be afraid”, “not afraid”, “not fear” and “fear not” appear over 120 times in the Bible. There are auxiliary phrases that have a similar meaning that also appear frequently. They are handed out liberally to God’s saints in both the Old and New Testaments.  It is the message of God to His people so often repeated that God must really wants us to get the idea firmly fixed in our minds.  It is repeated so often because God knows how often we need to hear it. 

There is another phrase that is often repeated in various forms, “I am with you”.  Jesus used a form of this phrase in John 14.  “Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me.  In My Father’s house are many mansions.  I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”  In this passage we have the assurance, “not be troubled” and the promise of His presence, “come again”, “receive you unto Myself” and “where I am there you will be also”.  In His absence from them physically He then went on to declare that He would not leave them alone but send them another Comforter. 

God accompanies His assurance to “Fear not” with the guarantee of His presence with us so that we need not fear.  His presence with us comes in four powerful fashions, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit and angels to minister to His saints.  With His assurances to “Fear not” and the promises of His presence there are enough total promises to fill one each day of the year with leftovers for special need days. 

How is it that we can keep our minds so secure in His promises?  We can delight in His law.  The psalmist said, “Great peace have they which love Thy Law, and nothing shall offend them.”  The saints of God need to be people of the Book.  Therein we find every promise for every need at every time of every day.  We need to delight in His word and then rest on His promises. 

Lena Sandell wrote the beautiful hymn, “More Secure is No One Ever”. Cherish these promises.  “More secure is no one ever than the loved ones of the Savior, not yon star on high abiding nor the bird in home nest hiding. God His own doth tend and nourish; in His holy courts they flourish. From all evil things He spares them; In His loving arms He bears them.”

 

The Friday Benediction

Until Monday, my friends, may the good God envelop you with His grace; may you prove the common confession of faith, “I believe in the holy Christian church and in the fellowship of the saints”, and may you be enriched with joy and hope as you exercise that confession this weekend.  Amen

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.

You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at http://blog.febc.org/

No Fear of God Before Their Eyes

I once had a student in my class who had no fear of anyone.  He could and would lie most indifferently.  He would cause trouble, even to the point of hurting others in the classroom.  He had been expelled from another school, he defied teachers and administrators at every turn and he did it all with a confident smirk on his face.  There was no fear of God before his eyes.

While the scriptures repeatedly tell the believer to “Fear not” they also speak of those with no fear.  We have seen many saints who had fear at one time or another.  Abraham, Jacob, David, Isaiah, Daniel, the Disciples and Paul were all told at one time or another to be assured of God’s care and fear not.  But there are those who simply fear not because they don’t believe that God is really in charge.  In Romans 3 Paul quotes the psalmist David who said of the wicked, “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”  They walk along life’s road, much to the dismay of the righteous, with no fear of God.  Their wickedness has made them their own god and whatever they desire is right.

In Revelation 9 and 16 John saw a vision of those who were so steeped in their own wickedness that even in the face of God’s awful judgments they refused to repent.  Four times that observation is made of the wicked.  Such wickedness does not just exist in the world today.  It has existed since Cain slew Abel and feared not to sass God.  The righteous have always had to dwell among the wicked and from sorrow of heart, like Lot, to pain of body, like the millions of martyrs, have felt the sting of their wickedness.  But God has always come alongside His children with these two words of comfort, “Fear not”. 

While the wicked may not fear their certain judgment, the righteous can rejoice that their judgment was settled at the cross of Jesus Christ.  While the wicked rely on their own inner god to maintain them, the righteous can rejoice in the presence of the true God to care for them.  While the wicked may prevail for a moment, the righteous will prevail forever.  In a world where the wicked have no fear of God, God calls upon us to fear not because He is God. Take heart, Christian Brother, God cares, God knows and God wins.

Though evil round about us lie, and God in heaven hear us sigh

He is not dead nor does He sleep, His promises He’ll surely keep

Our steadfast hope remains above; Where God keeps watch care with His love

“Fear not,” He says, “when evils rise; I stand forever at your side.”  

 

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.

You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at http://blog.febc.org/