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Waiting for More than Christmas

The outcome is always the same. Christ and His Church
always come out victorious and all His enemies will be judged. 

“‘Surely I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”
(Revelation 22:20).

John was in exile, banished to the island of Patmos where he was isolated from the people he loved and prevented from preaching the Word of God to them.
Many of those whom he calls “my little children” were suffering terrible persecution. Some were fed to wild animals or slaughtered by gladiators, others were burned as human torches or crucified. Still others lost homes and businesses and wandered as fugitives, despised by all.

In such terrible times, one longs for and prays for deliverance. As the Children of Israel prayed for God’s deliverance from their cruel slavery in Egypt, so also John pleads with Christ, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” Read More »Waiting for More than Christmas

Prepared by John the Baptist

We are in a season that involves a great deal of preparation. We prepare our homes and our church buildings with decorations for Christmas. In northern climates, the local hardware stores offer “winter survival [or preparedness] kits.” Such kits are suggested for a driver who might become stranded in his car during a blizzard.

Such preparations are external. The “winter survival kit” includes blankets to protect our bodies from the bone-chilling cold. Our Christmas decorations are hung to make our homes and church buildings appear more beautiful.Read More »Prepared by John the Baptist

When God Gave His Oath

“For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, ‘Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.’ And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. Read More »When God Gave His Oath

Hymn 64 “Jesus, Thy Church with Longing Eyes”

Advent

Hymn 64 is an Advent hymn. Advent is a “three tense” season: the past and the future unite in our present worship.

In the American Heritage Dictionary, the first part of the definition for the word advent is “The coming or arrival of something or someone that is important or worthy of note.” In the Advent part of the church calendar, we look back to the first Advent (coming) of Christ, His birth in Bethlehem, when God came to mankind as a man in order to redeem the world to Himself. Read More »Hymn 64 “Jesus, Thy Church with Longing Eyes”

At the End of the Day . . .

How did it go today?

Some days are a challenge from start to finish. Others seem monotonous. Yet always, it is the Lord Who brings us safely to the close of each day. It’s easy to forget the Lord’s role, to feel that each day just grinds along on its own, somehow dragging us with it; or that by our own powers we have seized the day and bent it to our will.

In his evening prayer, Martin Luther (I mean, the first Martin Luther, 1483-1546, Bible-based reformer of the church in Germany) wrote, “I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me today.” YOU HAVE GRACIOUSLY KEPT ME TODAY! The Father has compassionately gotten you past the humps and bumps of today. He has helped you deal with the problems of your own making, and also with those of others’ making. He has given you strength to expend all, if need be. He has given you wisdom to solve the difficult issues. He has given you courage to deal with matters into which you had to be dragged. And so on, and on. “Father, thank You for bringing me safely to the end of this day.”Read More »At the End of the Day . . .