For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Summary: Merry Christmas!
Today is Christmas Day. In honor of the day, Three Minute Bible is taking a break from Titus. Instead, I thought it would be nice to look at God’s promise of a Savior as given through Isaiah. Who is the “us” that the son is given to?
Isaiah, of course, is writing to the Jews. But like so many Scriptures, there are many layers to God’s Word. The world, from the Jewish perspective, is divided into two camps; Jew and Gentile. In the opening stanza of his prophecy, Isaiah describes the people God’s Son is given to as “The people walking in darkness.” And who walks in darkness?
Later in Isaiah 42:6-7 he writes:
“I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.”
All of us, both Jew and Gentile, “sit in darkness.”
John, in the first chapter of his Gospel, writes:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1: 1-5)
In God’s view of time, things look very different. From our perspective, the Light has been in the world for over two thousand years. It was seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus that Isaiah foretold of Christ’s coming. In God’s time, all of this is but a few days (Psalm 90:4, 2 Peter 3:8). The same way God sees time, he sees people. All people sit in darkness. All of us need God’s Light. And so to us a child is born, a son is given, and his name is Jesus — Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Merry Christmas!
Application: Rejoice in the light!
Food for Thought: How does one explain the light to someone who sits in darkness?
It depends on the nature of the relationship, the amount of common ground which is available to build bridges for communication.
Most relevant is a persons worldview and their openness to spiritual ideas, or viewpoints with which they are unfamiliar.
If a person’s worldview is very antagonistic to scripture, God, and/or Christianity there is probably little hope for the Holy Spirit to meaningfully penetrate their soul or being with the good news of the gospel.
It is likely building more common ground as well as the music of the gospel interms of good works, and sometimes radical grace surprising the person so their mind becomes more open.
This is why children who are simple enough to just accept by faith God’s love and grace as if it were something provided for them by a loving parent, or caretaker.
This is also why Jesus said “Unless your become like little children you can in no way enter into the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 18: 1-5).
The concepts of needing to earn God’s favor, work’s based salvation, grading on the curve are all foreign and in opposition to the Totally grace based salvation taught by Scripture.
So also are ideas that there can be many paths to God. Salvation comes only by accepting the gift of His Son. All of mankind are hopelessly lost, condemned sinners, Roman’s 3:23.
The only solution is accepting the only provider, and Only adequate Savior’s person and work on the cross. Roman’s 5: 8; John 14: 5-6.
Only an external God/Man can offer an eternal salvation adequate enough to pay an eternal penalty required to satisfy God’s absolute holiness and justice. Roman’s 2:15-16; 3:19-20.
The gospel is good news to those willing to accept it, and be transformed by by the Savior who offers it as a free gift. Roman’s 3:24-26; 2 Corinthians 3:12-18; especially verse 18.)
True believers know and follow their Savior, Master, loving Father, and awesome Guide and good Shepherd. John 10:1-18 especially vs. 11, 14.
Thank you, Jeff!
Well said! Excellent references!
Merry Christmas!
Also to Jeff and Debbie Englund as well as all who read and follow threeminutebible.com
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.
May your 2021 be Totally Blessed.
May Covid be a vanquished foe.
May any who seek to use it to enforce their will unjustly, harm others, attain power and dictate who may live, work, worship, or declare who is essential and who is not be frustrated and ultimately unsuccessful in their efforts and endeavor’s.
May good men and women push back and continue to exercise their God given rights and freedom’s as guaranteed by the Constitution as ensconced in the Bill of Rights and not be cowed into submitting to those who would use riots or the threat of a cancel culture to enforce unjustly over people. “Resist evil, cling to that which is good.” Roman’s 12:9, 21.
Merry Christmas,..thanks for these daily devotions,..you put a lot of time into it,..
As for explaining light to someone who sits in darkness,..if I were to show up where the person is sitting then they wouldn’t be sitting it darkness while I was around,…because Christ shines through me,..Chirst’s light may not shine in their life right away but they will see and come to know Who is shining through me,..why,..because I would be telling them about the light of Jesus that is shining through me,..in turn they would want to taste and see how good the Lord is for themselves,..
Awesome John!
A beacon of light for Christmas!
How does one explain the light to someone who sits in darkness?
One evening I was asked to come to the home of a family I knew and explain why and how I had become a christian. They wanted to know more about how a person like me could change as I had. We spent some time in their living room where I spoke with them and then I took all four into their basement. Had them all sit down, then I turned off the light switch and asked them to make it light again. Of course they could not do it. We talked about darkness, and when I turned the lights back on, we continued talking about the changes Jesus brings into our lives.
Our Lord used me to help three of them respond to His call to them, and over time we have lost contact so I do not know about the remaining son.
HAVE A BLESSED, VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!
Ron
What a beautifully direct way to illustrate the importance of light! I guess you might say that was a “bright” idea! 🙂
Merry Christmas to all.
Great comments here today. Thank you all. I don’t have much to add. I only agree with the sentiments expressed here.
Jesus is the light of the world (John 8: 12). To know Jesus is to understand the light. Introduce those in darkness to Jesus and they will then understand spiritual light.
Thank you, Rich!
Thank you for your faithfulness here and your friendship. You are a great encouragement and that is a Christmas gift I enjoy all year.