Author: emmanuelpcgateshead

MONDAY 28^th

Colossians 1:1-8

NIV (vv4-5) – ‘. . .because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel . . .’

ESV (vv4-5) – ‘. . .since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel . . .’

We return today to continue our look through the Bible and start today from the book of Colossians, Paul’s letter to the Church that gathered in Colossae.

Paul is writing to the Colossian Church along with Timothy (v1) and he says ‘We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you . . .’ he then in our verses for today tells them what he gives thanks for, summed up in three words, their faith (in Christ Jesus), love (you have for all the people), and hope (stored up for you in heaven). Faith, love, and hope. These are the three-pronged aspect of the gospel. Faith in Christ, love for one another and hope in heaven.

We know that faith is the essential ingredient toward salvation, the Hebrew writer reminds us that ‘faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.’ (11:1) By placing our trust in the gospel we are placing our faith in the finished work of Christ which was accomplished at Calvary, faith is believing and accepting that in Christ everything that is necessary and essential for the salvation of fallen and sinful humanity has taken place, he died in our place by taking upon himself our sin, and at the same time bore the punishment for that sin and bore the wrath of God toward that sin so that in its place the righteousness of God might be imputed to us as we believe by faith.

This believing faith then brings to us an eternal hope, we know with assurance in our heart that as we have come to the Cross, we are saved, not only for this life but also for eternity, the hope that we have is not a fanciful hope in which we cross our fingers and hope for the best, not at all, it is a guaranteed hope, it is definite and final, for just as the blood of Jesus has cleansed us from all sin and unrighteousness it has also opened up to us a new and living way which will bring us into the eternal presence of God. Peter writing in his epistle says in chapter 1:13 ‘Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Earlier in verses 3-5  he had written ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.’

Remind yourself today that if you have come by faith and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ you have an eternal hope! This hope cannot be found anywhere else, it is not available through any other means, it is received by faith alone in Christ alone. If you are reading this devotion and you have never put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, then you are without hope, you are lost and heading for an eternity cut off forever from the presence of God and all that he has prepared for those who love him. Consider today, placing your faith and trust in what he has done for you when he went to die on the Cross at Calvary. Tomorrow we will look at this further as we consider Colossians 1:14.

The final word is love, we have redemption because God has loved us with an everlasting love, and because the Son of God loved us and gave himself for us, and that same love which has been shed abroad in our hearts and lives should be demonstrated toward one another within the family of God and displayed towards those who as yet have not believed.

This trio of words faith, hope and love are often found in Scripture together, for example see Romans 5:1-5, 1 Corinthians 13:13, Galatians 5:5-6, Ephesians 1:15,18, Ephesians 4:2-5, 1 Thessalonians 1:3.

SUNDAY 27^th

Matthew 2:1-12

(v11) ‘And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.’

We finish our brief look at the nativity by returning to the same Scripture as yesterday, the verses that remind us that the wise men or the three kings if you prefer it gave gifts to the child Jesus, gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Christmas is a time when we give gifts and are given gifts and I am sure we have appreciated the gifts we have received, but more importantly it is the time when we remember that Jesus was God’s gift to the world, he was wrapped up in swaddling cloth’s while lying in the manger, he ended up being wrapped in grave clothes in the tomb thirty three years later, but it was all a part of God’s plan, for he gave his Son as a gift to the world to be the Saviour, and thus God gave Jesus, Jesus gave himself and as we come to believe on him he gives to us the gift of eternal life. What will you and I give in return?

There is the end of one carol that says,

What can I give him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would give a lamb,

If I were a wise man I would do my part,

Yet what can I give him – give my heart.

Have you given your heart / life to the Lord Jesus Christ yet?

Once we have given our hearts to him we will find ourselves giving to him our praise and worship, the adoration he deserves, the wise men fell down and worshipped him, they hadn’t even known the joy of the new birth experience, what about us who do know the new birth experience? We worship him every day, with all that we are and with all that we have, but there is something particularly special about coming together on a Sunday morning with the family of God to the place of corporate worship, to be gathered together, to lift our hearts and voices together with the mutual and common goal of exalting the Lord Jesus Christ and of our appreciation for his faithfulness toward us, it is also the opportunity when we give out of what he has given us, our tithes and our offerings in acknowledgment that he has faithfully provided for us again, it is the opportunity to do as the psalmist said, to ‘Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!’ (Psalm 95:6)

This week will see a new year dawn, 2021, we hear of so many who make new year resolutions, how about us as the people of God making a resolution that if we are physically able, to make the journey each week, not from the far east as the wise men did, probably taking many days by camel, but from our homes with the relative ease and the means of the modern transport we have, to be found on a Sunday morning in God’s house, bringing our gift of praise and worship. He deserves that at the very least.

O come, let us adore Him

O come, let us adore Him

O come, let us adore Him

Christ the Lord!

For he alone is worthy

For he alone is worthy

For he alone is worthy

Christ the Lord!

We’ll give him all the glory

We’ll give him all the glory

We’ll give him all the glory

Christ the Lord!

SATURDAY 26^th

Matthew 2:1-12

(v11) ‘And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.’

This is our penultimate look at the nativity story, for us, today is Boxing day, it is the day after Christmas, but when we come to the narrative in our text it did not happen the following day. We know this firstly because when the wise men arrived, Jesus was no longer in a stable but in a house, now it is possible that given the circumstances that someone immediately gave up their accommodation for Mary and Joseph and the child, and so the next night was spent in better accommodation, but we also know that it took the wise men a while to get there, they only had camel power not brake horse power,  and it is possible their arrival may have taken up to two years for Scripture says  that Herod decreed that all the baby boys under two years of age were to be killed, according to the time the wise men told him they had seen the start in the east (Matthew 2:16-18)

What I want to suggest today is this, ‘The wise men were late in arriving for the party – but at least they arrived!

They had seen the star, they had realised its significance and its importance, and they did all they could to make the journey to find this child and to present him gifts and to worship him.

When we share the gospel there are those who are quick to want to listen and will readily respond, like the shepherds after hearing the angels, (‘When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger’ Luke 2:15-16) while there are others who although will listen, they are not so quick to respond, they take longer, they want to digest the information over a longer period, checking out the facts, they start on the journey, but take longer to arrive at the party, for it is a party, when one finds Jesus it brings great joy and the angels of heaven rejoice.

The shepherds were the first to arrive, it says that when they returned to the fields, they returned ‘glorifying and praising God’, (Luke 2:20) when the wise men finally arrived it says, ‘they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy and they fell down and worshipped him.’

A few weeks ago, Sandra asked me about the words of a song that I had never heard of before, Heaven invites you to a party, and it does, we of all people who have been washed in the Saviour’s blood should be celebrating and rejoicing, we should be full of joy, the shepherds were, and once they had finally arrived to the party so were the wise men. May the joy of the real meaning of Christ’s advent never leave our hearts, may it daily be our joy, our reason for rejoicing, may everyday be like a day at a party, celebrating the good news that the Saviour is here.

Maybe you haven’t arrived at the party yet, well the invitation is still open, the day of grace is still upon us, you too can join with the shepherds, join with the wise men, join with the redeemed of the Lord and celebrate Jesus.

We three kings of Orient are

Bearing gifts we traverse afar

Field and fountain, moor and mountain

Following yonder star

Oh, star of wonder, star of night

Star with royal beauty bright

Westward leading, still proceeding

Guide us to thy perfect light

Born a king on Bethlehem’s plain

Gold I bring to crown Him again

King forever, ceasing never

Over us all to reign

Myrrh is mine, it’s bitter perfume

Breaths a life of gathering gloom

Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding dying

Sealed in the stone-cold tomb

Star of wonder, star of night

Star with royal beauty bright

Westward leading, still proceeding

Guide us to thy perfect light

FRIDAY 25^th

Luke 2:8-20

(vv10-11) ‘And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.’

Happy Christmas to you all

News of the birth would have soon gotten around the stable and the inn to which the stable belonged, it would have soon trickled out into the rest of the city of Bethlehem, after all how often have you heard of a baby being born in a stable!

But the news was not only for Bethlehem, remember the child was born to be the Saviour of the world, it was good news for everyone, and the news needed to get out. And so the angels have a job to do, they need to herald the good news and they choose to do it by appearing to some shepherds out on the hillside, away from the hustle and bustle, minding their own business while minding their sheep. These verses are some of the most amazing verses of Scripture for the message the angel brings is ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.’

Good news of great joy – which is for all the people! 2020 has been the year when we have all needed good news, but in reality every year is the year when the world needs good news, and thus as we celebrate the first advent it is an opportunity for us who have heard and received the good news to sound it out once again, that a Saviour has been born who is Christ the Lord.

The world might say to us ‘leave us alone, we are quietly minding our own business, we don’t need your religion, we don’t need you to spout your nonsense’ but the truth is this, it is far from nonsense, it isn’t religion, it is something they need to hear, for it is good news of great joy for all people, and unless we sound it out, unless we make it known how will they hear! And thank God for the angels appearing to the shepherds and thank God for every opportunity he gives us to herald out the message, a Saviour has come, and his name is Jesus.

The narrative here ends with the Shepherds going and finding out that it was as the angels had reported, it says that they ‘made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child’ may we also make it known, that others may in turn find out and then themselves become heralds of the good news.

Hark! The herald angels sing,

“Glory to the newborn King!

Peace on earth and mercy mild,

God and sinners reconciled.”

Joyful, all ye nations rise,

Join the triumph of the skies,

With th’angelic host proclaim:

“Christ is born in Bethlehem.”

Hark! The herald angels sing,

“Glory to the newborn King!”

Christ by highest heav’n adored,

Christ the everlasting Lord!

Late in time behold Him come,

Offspring of a Virgin’s womb.

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,

Hail the incarnate Deity,

Pleased as man with man to dwell,

Jesus, our Emmanuel.

Hark! The herald angels sing,

“Glory to the newborn King!”

Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace!

Hail the Son of Righteousness!

Light and life to all He brings,

Ris’n with healing in His wings.

Mild He lays His glory by,

Born that man no more may die,

Born to raise the sons of earth,

Born to give them second birth.

Hark! The herald angels sing,

“Glory to the newborn King!”

THURSDAY 24^th

Luke 2:1-7

(v7) ‘And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.’

Well, today is Christmas eve, the eve before the birth of the child. Mary and Joseph had made the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and we need to remember it wasn’t a nice comfortable journey in a car, suitcases packed and put in the boot, driving along with the radio playing some music and chatting away about their upbringing and the reason why they were having to make the journey in the first place, because of the Roman census.

It was probably a mixture of walking and riding on a donkey, jolting up and down, no heating to keep warm, no radio to listen to, not even easy to hold a conversation. In fact you couldn’t have blamed Mary for thinking ‘What on earth is this all about, why do we have to go to all this bother, why couldn’t we have filled out a census and sent it by post’

But go they did, and it must have been late by the time they arrived as there was no room in the inn, it would have been busy and all booked up, and so they end up in a stable with probably the other travellers donkeys for company.

What a miserable night it was going to be, trying to get comfortable on the itchy straw, and even worse for Mary, pregnant, even more difficult to get comfortable, the smell of the donkey breath, the stench of the donkey pooh, and the noise of all the hustle and bustle, what a night it was going to be for them – and actually what a night it was, for it says, ‘She gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger.’ Wow, no maternity hospital, no comfortable bed, no midwife, but then this was no ordinary birth, it was an extraordinary birth, and although he was born to be King, before that he was born to be the Saviour, so not time yet for the palace, he had come to pick up men and woman from the horrible stench of sin, from the muck and mire of sin, from the smelly breath of the devil, and so he was born in poverty, born in the most lowly of circumstances to signify that he had come for the lowest of the low, he had come for sinners, he had come for you, he had come for me.

And there as he lay in the manger, this child born, who was also the Son given would have cried out like any other baby would have done amongst the mess of the stable, but more importantly the day was going to come when he would cry out once again, not in a stable but on the bloodied mess of a Cross, crying out, ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me’, as he would take upon himself your sin, my sin, to bring us redemption.

Away in a manger

No crib for His bed

The little Lord Jesus

Lay down His sweet head

The stars in the sky

Look down where He lay

The little Lord Jesus

Asleep on the hay

The cattle are lowing

The poor Baby wakes

But little Lord Jesus

No crying He makes

I love Thee, Lord Jesus

Look down from the sky

And stay by my side

‘Til morning is nigh

Be near me, Lord Jesus

I ask Thee to stay

Close by me forever

And love me, I pray

Bless all the dear children

In Thy tender care

And take us to Heaven

To live with Thee there

WEDNESDAY 23^rd

Luke 1:26-31

(v35) ‘And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.’

We come today to the Scripture that records the moment when Mary met with the angel Gabriel. It doesn’t say that it was dream this time, the language of Scripture indicates that Gabriel appeared in the room with her saying ‘Greetings, O favoured one the Lord is with you!

Imagine being in your kitchen or living room and suddenly this angel appears and starts to talk to you! Mary was greatly troubled, but not so much about the appearance of the angel, but more to do with the greeting, what was said. But the angel said to her not to be troubled and then began to tell her the purpose of his visit, which was to tell her that she was the one who was highly favoured, chosen by God to be the one who would be the woman he would use to bring birth to the child who would be called holy – the Son of God.

Mary makes an important statement, ‘How will this be, since I am a virgin?’ In other words from the mouth of Mary we have a statement that confirms that she had never yet had sexual relationship with a man, thus the conception and birth of this child to be born would be nothing other than a miracle. The angel confirms how it would take place, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you: therefore the child to be born will be called holy – the Son of God’ Within these verses we have confirmation of the two prophecies from the Old Testament, Isaiah 7:14 ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel’ and Isaiah 9:6 ‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.’ What an amazing fulfilment of the word of God, but even more amazing, a fulfilment that was essential to enable the one born to be offered up as a sacrifice for the sin of the world.

As I have already said in the devotions the truth and the wonder of the ‘virgin birth’ is essential for the Christian faith, for without it, if the seed of a man had been involved, the baby born would have been no different to any other baby, but it wasn’t, no seed of man, but instead the coming upon by the Holy Spirit and the overshadowing power of the Most High.

There is a verse of scripture that says, ‘Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.’ (1 Timothy 3:16) Even today we confess it is a mystery, we cannot fully understand it, but in the end all we are required to do is to believe by faith, not a fanciful faith but a trusting faith, that God who is Sovereign has worked in miraculous ways to bring about the redemption of mankind. We sing it in the wonderful words of this famous carol, O Come, all ye faithful.

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!

God of God, Light of Light

Lo, He abhors not the Virgin’s womb

Very God

Begotten, not created

O come, let us adore Him

O come, let us adore Him

O come, let us adore Him

Christ the Lord!

Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation

Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!

Glory to God

All glory in the highest

O come, let us adore Him

O come, let us adore Him

O come, let us adore Him

Christ the Lord!

TUESDAY 22^nd

Matthew 1:18-25

(v21)  ‘She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins’

I wonder if you are one of those who dreams a lot, I am, I do not mean daydream, but actually dream while asleep. I often do, and I will wake up wondering if something has happened until I come to my senses and realise it was a dream.

Joseph was in a bit of a predicament, Mary who he was betrothed to was pregnant, and it caused him to be concerned because he had not slept with her, Joseph was a man who lived a just life, he lived as it were by ‘the book’ and so he resolved to divorce her, break off the engagement. In those days, the engagement was a commitment to marriage, it was legally binding.

It was while he was in this dilemma and contemplating his choices, that Joseph had a dream, and what a dream, for firstly the angel Gabriel appeared to him, then Gabriel began to speak to him, and what a message, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’

Joseph woke up and you can imagine him thinking to himself, ‘phew, that’s good news, at least Mary hasn’t been unfaithful, at least I can still marry her, she is the girl of my dreams’. But then the penny really drops, as fantastic as the news of her faithfulness was to him, there was the even greater news as to how she was pregnant (by the Holy Spirit) and why she was pregnant, (to bear a son who would be the Saviour of the world). And Joseph took Mary to be his wife and knew her not (they had no sexual relationship) until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus.

He was in a dilemma, he had a dream, he was directed by the angel, his heart was full of delight and a baby was delivered, Jesus the Saviour of the world and the direction that this child born would take would eventually lead him to the Cross, where he would die to become the Saviour of the world.

Some of my dreams are okay dreams, but there are times when they are not, when it came to Joseph’s dream it was more than a good dream, it was a real dream, it spoke into his present circumstances and required his obedience to follow through the instruction and enlightenment from the angel.

I don’t see any reason why the Lord cannot speak to us in dreams today, in fact on the day of Pentecost Peter echoing the words of Joel said, ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams’ (Acts 2:17) but there are other ways in which God can speak to us, through his Word, through the preaching of his Word, through the prophetic and even by a still small voice within our hearts, what is required of us is to follow Joseph’s example and to act in obedience, for just as the extraordinary was about to happen for Joseph and Mary, so through us, through you and me as we are obedient to the voice of God the extraordinary  can happen today.

Silent night, holy night

All is calm, all is bright

‘Round yon virgin Mother and Child

Holy infant so tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace

Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night, holy night!

Shepherds quake at the sight!

Glories stream from heaven afar;

Heavenly hosts sing Al-le-lu-ia!

Christ the Saviour is born!

Christ the Saviour is born!

Silent night, holy night

Son of God, oh, love’s pure light

Radiant beams from Thy holy face

With the dawn of redeeming grace

Jesus, Lord at Thy birth

Jesus, Lord at Thy birth

MONDAY 21^st

Micah 5:2 – ‘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.’

The Old Testament prophecy before us today is a prophetic utterance that declares the place which was to become the birth place of the Lord Jesus Christ, Bethlehem and it also confirms that the one who would come forth (the child born, the Son given, Isaiah 9) is the one who has been from old, the one who is the ancient of days, that is he is eternal.

We know when we read the New Testament account of the birth of Jesus that a decree went out that everyone should be registered on a census. This required Joseph to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem because ‘he was of the house and lineage of David’. (Luke 2:4) It was while they were there that the time came for Mary to give birth, thus fulfilling this Old Testament Scripture.

This tells us that in regard to the first advent, God was involved in every detail, and as such was also involved in everything regarding the events that were happening to lead up to this event, even the decree that came out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered, it also shows us that God is prefect in his timing, as we have confirmed for us by the apostle Paul in Galatians 4:4 ‘But when the fulness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, . . .’ Nothing happens by chance where and when God is concerned, he knows the minutest details, he knows the exact moments, he knows the places and people that are to be involved, he has it planned and he will perform it.

According to the prophecy in Micah, Bethlehem was too little to be considered among the clans of Judah, but was going to be big in the plan and purpose of God, playing a strategic purpose in the fulfilling of God’s will.  

We can learn from this, we may think we are insignificant in many ways, but God has purpose for us, we may see ourselves as small in comparison to other Churches but that does not matter so long as we remain focused upon what God has planned for us and is wanting to outwork through us. Even in our smallness, we are significant because God is with us, God is blessing us and God still has purpose for us which in his timing he will bring about as we remain obedient to him, the same can be said for each one of us individually, we may compare ourselves with others and feel insignificant, but in God’s eyes we are all significant and of individual value and worth. And just as God was involved in the minutest of details in the first advent, so he still is interested and involved in the minutest of details in your life and mine.

Remember It was in the seemingly insignificant little town that the Christ Child was to be found! It is not the size that is important, what matters is that Emmanuel is there, ‘God is with us’.

O little town of Bethlehem

How still we see thee lie

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep

The silent stars go by

Yet in thy dark streets shineth

The everlasting Light

The hopes and fears of all the years

Are met in thee tonight

For Christ is born of Mary

And gathered all above

While mortals sleep, the angels keep

Their watch of wondering love

O morning stars together

Proclaim the holy birth

And praises sing to God the King

And Peace to men on earth

How silently, how silently

The wondrous gift is given

So God imparts to human hearts

The blessings of His heaven

No ear may hear His coming

But in this world of sin

Where meek souls will receive him still

The dear Christ enters in

O holy Child of Bethlehem

Descend to us, we pray

Cast out our sin and enter in

Be born to us today

We hear the Christmas angels

The great glad tidings tell

O come to us, abide with us

Our Lord Emmanuel

O come to us, abide with us

Our Lord Emmanuel

SUNDAY 20^th

Isaiah 9:6-7 – ‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.’

The one born, was not only going to be the Saviour of the world but also be known as the:

Wonderful Counsellor

Mighty God

Everlasting Father

Prince of Peace

And he also was to rule and reign as King in a kingdom which will never end.

In the KJV the titles Wonderful and Counsellor are two separate titles rather than as one ‘Wonderful Counsellor’ I think that it matters not how we put it for as Wonderful, he would also be a Wonderful Counsellor, and a Wonderful Mighty God, a Wonderful Everlasting Father and a Wonderful Prince of Peace – he is and always will be wonderful in all his ways.

The tiles here mentioned are further proof of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ for they are titles or names that would also be ascribed to God the father.

WONDERFUL COUNSELLOR – In the book of Judges there is an account of the angel of the Lord appearing to Manoah and his wife to tell them that they were going to have a son, who was to be the man Samson, in this story Manoah asks the angel of the Lord what is name was, to which the angel of the Lord replied, ‘Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?’ (Judges 13:18) a few verses later Manoah says to his wife, ‘We shall surely die for we have seen God.’ (v22) They recognised that this angel was no ordinary angel it was God himself, what we call a theophany, appearing in the form of a man. Jesus being God is also Wonderful, and he did wonderful things during his earthly ministry and he is wonderful as a Counsellor. That is, he will always give wise counsel, the Scripture tells us that ‘the child (Jesus) grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favour of God was upon him.’ (Luke 2:40)  and again in the same chapter even by the age of around twelve, it says ‘and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers’ here was not a Wonderful Counsellor in the making, here was a Wonderful Counsellor already at work.

MIGHTY GOD – There is no doubt once we recognise that Jesus was God in the flesh that we see him as the Mighty God, it was clearly demonstrated through the miraculous signs that he did, the miracles over nature, the elements, sickness and of course the power revealed through the Cross and his resurrection from the dead. It was Nicodemus who said to Jesus, ‘No man could do these signs that you do unless God was with him’, well, God was not only with him, he was also himself God in the flesh!

EVERLASTING FATHER – I guess this is the most difficult title to understand in relation to Jesus, for we always refer to God as the father and Jesus as the Son, even Jesus called God his Father and encouraged us to call him our Father as well. ‘Everlasting’ is no problem, for in believing in his deity we readily accept that the Lord Jesus is eternal, he is the first and the last, the alpha and the omega, with no beginning nor end, he existed before he was placed in the virgins womb, and he lives for ever after his resurrection from the dead.

In regard to Father, I looked up a few books and suggestions are that he protects like a father protects a child, he provides like a father provides for his family, one book pointed to two Scriptures where Jesus called someone ‘son’, ‘And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.’ (Matthew 9:2) And on another occasion someone ‘daughter’, ‘And he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’ (Mark 5:24)

PRINCE OF PEACE – Prince of peace to me speaks of the highest source and provider of what is the truest and highest peace. Through his death and resurrection he has brought us peace, we have touched on this over a couple of devotions recently, peace with God, peace within ourselves and peace with one another, it is a perfect peace and a permanent peace, but it also speaks of the future when he will set up his throne in Jerusalem in what we call the future millennial reign where he shall reign over a kingdom of peace.

May we ever be conscious that this was no mere baby born in Bethlehem, it was God in the flesh, who has come to be our Wonderful Counsellor, our Mighty God, our Everlasting Father and our Prince of Peace. He came to live among men, he came to die for the sin of men, he arose again for our justification and he wants to rule in our hearts as the King of King and the Lords of Lords. Will you allow him to enter in.

Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:

And the government shall be upon his shoulder.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:

And his name shall be called Wonderful,

The mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end:

Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it,

And to establish it with judgment and justice, from henceforth, even for ever.

The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

And his name shall be called Wonderful,

The mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

SATURDAY 19^th

Isaiah 9:6-7 – ‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.’

We turn to another of the prophetic statements of Isaiah, just a couple of chapters after yesterday’s verses.

I guess the verses from yesterday and today are so well known to us and get read so often over the Christmas period. These verses very clearly portray the coming of the promised one, and once we realise that they are foretelling the birth of the Lord Jesus there should be no shadow of doubt concerning the deity of  Christ Jesus.

The prophetic utterance says that there is to be a child born, that is the child will enter the world via the womb of a woman and that a son is to be given, this clearly indicates that the child being born is already someone’s son, and that someone is giving the son to be born as a child. And we know from John 3:16 that it was God who gave the son therefore this child is the eternal Son of God. As the Son, Jesus has always existed, as John 1:1 says, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ When the angel visited Mary to announce to her that she was pregnant with child we read ‘And Mary said to the angel, How will this be, since I am a virgin? And the angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.’ Notice those important words, ‘the Son of God’, and as the Son of God he came to redeem mankind, for the same angel announced to Joseph, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.’ (Matthew 1:20-23)

Yesterday we said about the doctrine of the virgin birth as being important to the Christian faith, so also is the doctrine of his deity, that is that Jesus was at the same time both fully God and fully man.

In one of the experiences that the disciples had with Jesus, they made a statement, ‘Truly you are the Son of God’, it happened after they had faced a tempestuous storm that shook them to the core, they were frightened, they were afraid for their lives, but Jesus appeared to them walking on the water, Peter got out to walk to him and began to sink, but Jesus took him by the hand and they landed safely in the boat and immediately the storm was stilled, that was when the disciples made the statement, ‘Truly you are the Son of God’, on another occasion, in the closing moments of the life of Jesus as he hung on the cross, as he breathed his last breath, one of the soldiers who no doubt had been involved in the proceedings exclaimed, ‘Truly this was the Son of God’, and after his resurrection, which in itself was proof concerning who he was, Thomas on seeing him, and putting his finger in the nail prints in his hand, and his hand into the side of Jesus exclaimed, ‘My Lord and my God’ All three exclamations declaring something of the deity of Jesus. The eternal Son who himself is God.

May this Christmas fill us with wonder again as to who this child that was born really is, the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us.

I don’t know what you are expecting to receive this Christmas by way of gifts, nor where it is the gifts will have come from, but remember this the best gift of all came from heaven to earth, wrapped in a woman’s womb, unwrapped on that first Christmas morn and given to every man and woman as the Saviour of the world. Receive him and give thanks from a grateful heart.

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity.

The verse for today goes on to let us know that this child born, Son given was to have several names and titles and we will look at the ones mentioned here briefly tomorrow.

Todays song is not specifically a Christmas carol, but the words are applicable at this time:

Thou art the everlasting Word,

The Father’s only Son,

God manifestly seen and heard,

And heav’n’s beloved One:

Divine, O Son of God, art Thou,

In Thee God’s fulness find we now.

In Thee most perfectly expressed

The Father’s glories shine;

Of the full Deity possessed,

Eternally divine:

Divine, O Son of God, art Thou,

In Thee God’s fulness find we now.

True image of the Infinite,

Whose essence is concealed;

Brightness of uncreated light;

The heart of God revealed:

Divine, O Son of God, art Thou,

In Thee God’s fulness find we now.

But the high mysteries of Thy Name

An angel’s grasp transcend;

The Father only, glorious claim!

The Son can comprehend:

Divine, O Son of God, art Thou,

In Thee God’s fulness find we now.

Throughout the universe of bliss,

The centre, Thou, and sun;

Th’ eternal theme of praise is this,

To heav’n’s beloved One:

Divine, O Son of God, art Thou,

In Thee God’s fulness find we now.