Jeff Englund

December 21, 2018December 21, 2018

Prophecy

While we wait for Mary and Joseph to arrive at Bethlehem so Jesus can be born, let’s look back in time to the beginning of mankind. It is only the third chapter of the first book of the Bible and mankind has already discovered sin. The other thing that was discovered along with sin was a game called, “Passing the Buck.” Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the Serpent. Punishment, as you might recall, was divided up between all three of them, but in addition to the punishment there was a prophecy:

So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
    and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
    and you will eat dust
    all the days of your life.

And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
    and you will strike his heel.”

Genesis 3: 14-15

The offspring of the woman mentioned here is referred to as a “he.” A specific, single, person who would crush the head of Satan. Many people look at this passage as the first reference in the Bible to the need for a redeemer.

December 20, 2018December 19, 2018

Family Album

I often think of the Bible as a family photo album. God’s family extends back to Adam and Eve and includes an amazing assortment of people whose lives have been recorded in the Bible. Sometimes photo albums have little notes on the edges of the photos or on the back saying who was in them, what they were doing and where they were. The Bible also shares this kind of information with us, telling us a lot about the people, places, and activities of ancient times. The places mentioned in this passage all have histories in the Bible.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

Luke 2: 4-5

When you read through the Bible it takes a while for the faces and names to become familiar. The Bible is not a book that is read once and then fully understood. The Bible is as deep and wide as space itself. Yet, by reading it through, again and again, relationships and places become clear. The “pictures” of the people in the books of the Bible start to come into focus.

December 19, 2018December 18, 2018

What To Do

One of the hallmarks of living in a free country is that people can develop an aversion to being told what to do. Maybe this trend is a hallmark of all people, but it certainly is pronounced in this country. Imagine the government suddenly issuing a proclamation that requires you to drop everything you are doing, abandon all of your plans, and leave your home to travel a very long journey to some place where you have no real connections.

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.

Luke 2: 1-3

While he was still in his mother’s womb, Jesus was already on the road, being jostled hours on end while his mother rode a donkey or walked during the ninth month of her pregnancy. My daughter-in-law is a fitness instructor and has four kids. Each one was treated to multiple workout sessions during their pregnancies, so I have to assume that if a person was used to walking a lot this would not have been the trial that a couch potato like myself might have suffered. Even so, it was a trial and a journey.

December 18, 2018December 17, 2018

Adoption

This month we are preparing for Christmas by focusing on the events leading up to the birth of Jesus as they are recorded in the Gospels. So far we have focussed on the Gospel of Luke, but today we take a detour and look at the Gospel of Matthew’s account of how Jesus’ adoptive father took the news.

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Matthew 1: 18-25

Something I had never thought about until this year is the fact that Jesus had an adoptive earthly father. Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus, and yet he accepted him as his own son on the say-so of an angel in a dream. (My guess is that if an angel visits a person in a dream, the experience is much more than just a dream!) And while this would have been a challenge for Joseph as a father, it would also have had some impact on Jesus as the son. In Luke 2: 41-52 we see that Jesus is aware that Joseph is not his actual father so we know he was aware of the facts about his birth.

December 17, 2018December 16, 2018

Peace

Zechariah’s prophecy about Jesus and his son, John, comes to a close with this amazing stanza:

…By which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.

Luke 1: 78b-79

The imagery here is powerful. The “rising sun” coming to us from heaven is visual imagery for the coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

The light from this sun shines on those here on earth living in darkness. The darkness is caused by the shadow of death. Anyone who has lost a loved one to death knows what that feels like.

December 16, 2018December 15, 2018

Who, What, When, Where … Why?

God is amazingly good about explaining things to his people. So far in Zechariah’s prophecy, we have seen who is being raised up, what he will do, when this will happen, where it will occur, and now why.

…because of the tender mercy of our God...

Luke 1: 78a

This is not a ruthless mercy, a calculating mercy, or a pitying mercy, but a tender mercy. Such a phrase suggests a depth of love that might be expected between mother and child, or the new love of a man and woman. And why mercy? Well, we already know the answer to that. No one to this point in time has ever been able to live a sinless life.

December 15, 2018December 14, 2018

John’s Mission

As we get closer to Christmas Day, we are walking through the scriptures that tell us the story of Jesus’ birth. We have seen the Annunciation or formal announcement of the coming events by the angel Gabriel to Mary. We have seen Zechariah’s voice restored after proclaiming his baby’s name to be John as the angel Gabriel instructed him. Now we hear John’s words of prophecy by the Holy Spirit regarding the coming Messiah and his own son’s mission as the herald of the coming king. John will be called a prophet of the Most High and will go before the Lord to prepare the way for him…

… to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins…

Luke 1:77

John’s mission was to proclaim salvation through the forgiveness of sins. He must have been a very effective preacher because people came from all over the Holy Land to hear his words. Many of them humbled themselves, admitting their sin and confessing their desire to repent. Those that did receive a symbolic baptism of water, a ceremonial washing as it is called in some places.

December 14, 2018December 13, 2018

Vision

Up until this point in Zechariah’s prophetic song he has been talking about the coming Messiah, Jesus. Now his vision switches to his own newly born son, John.

And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him…

Luke 1: 76

At the time John is born, Zechariah and Elizabeth are old people. It seems unlikely that they would have still been alive when John started his ministry, so they would never see the fulfillment of his calling with their eyes of flesh. Through the Holy Spirit, however, Zechariah is able to see what John will become: a prophet of the Most High, preparing the way before Him.

December 13, 2018December 12, 2018

Without Fear

In verses 69-71 (“Horn of Salvation”) we looked at the difference between how the Israelites viewed their enemies and who God sees as the real “enemy.” In this passage, Zechariah returns to that same theme but here he explains the reason why this is important.

…the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

Luke 1: 73-75

To serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness is a picture of great beauty.

December 12, 2018December 11, 2018

Ancestry

When Zechariah regains his voice he bursts out in praise for God and prophesies by the Holy Spirit (v67). Referring to Jesus, he explains what God has done and how He, God/Messiah, has come to redeem his people. He then tells us that God has come …

to show mercy to our ancestors
and to remember his holy covenant…

Luke 1: 72

The ancestors Zechariah refers to are probably not those who are still living, but the dead.

This is an important point because one of the questions I hear asked now and then is, “What about those people who were alive and then died before Jesus came?”