Relevant For Life -07/15/2013—“For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” Isaiah 9:6-7 NKJV. For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given … Isaiah spoke of a time in the future—but for us, this time has already happened. These were part of the words he spoke to Ahaz, the current King of Judah—part of Israel. Remember, King Ahaz was supposed to have represented God, but he did not, as God tells us, he did not walk with the Lord. For one, he made his sons pass through fire which was considered to be an abomination to the Lord. Ahaz lived a life filled with fear so much so that God told Isaiah he would find Ahaz at the aqueduct. You see, Ahaz was afraid the city’s water supply was going to be taken, so he was guarding it. Ahaz was more fearful of people instead of the One he should have feared, God, so he stole gold and silver items from the temple of the Lord and sent them to the king of Assyria to bribe him to leave him alone. Isaiah had told Ahaz God’s message that God was in charge and He did not need to fear. In fact, Isaiah said that Ahaz needed to believe in God or not be established as king—Isaiah 7:9. We all need to decide who or what we are going to believe in, like Ahaz at one point or another in our life. Like Ahaz, we can choose to live a life fearful of everything or we can believe in God and be established as one of His and live a life without fear—Deuteronomy 31:6,8; John 10:28-29. A life of peace and joy. For unto us a Child is born. Born. Think about that for a minute. God who always existed chose to be born flesh. Spirit became flesh for us. He chose to go from always being around to subjecting Himself to pain and bleeding and certain death. I have to say, I don’t think it sounds to comfortable to leave Heaven and be born human and actually feel pain if you don’t have too. He chose to do this for us; for those whom He had created—John 1:1-5, 10-14. He chose to be spit on, slapped, part of His beard torn from His face, beaten with leather straps that had nails on the end that would take a part of His flesh from Him each time it was ripped away from His bare body for another new lash. He chose to endure all of this and then be made to carry the very cross He was nailed to and die at the hands of the very beings that He Himself had formed and breathed life into. He could have left at any time, but He endured this intense pain for those whom He loved—John 3:16-17—those He had made. He loves us that much. Unto us a Son is given. With this Son, Jesus we were given a gift. He was not forced to come and die for us, He chose too because He loved us that much. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:13 NKJV. He gave us the greatest gift you can give anyone—Himself Jesus is Immanuel—God with us, the Word and our Creator God—John 1:1-5, 10-14. Jesus was the One who chose to become flesh and dwell among us. We were all given a gift. Jesus is our gift. Jesus has many names, and the Lord foretold part of His names in Isaiah reminding us of a few. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Peace … peace is a good thing. He chose to endure all of this pain and death for you and I. Why? Because we are that joy He speaks of above in Hebrews 12:1-3. He saw us before we were even born, before time even began and He considered us His joy. Looking at us, He decided to do this for us—we are those who give Jesus joy—His creation. We were given a gift of Jesus and the grace He brings. grace – the unmerited or unearned favor and love of God. You don’t have to do anything for Him to love you, He loves you the way you are. Just believe in Him—Romans 10:9-10,13. Are we ignoring His gift? What are we doing with that gift? Should we open the gift He offers, the pardon from all sin and guilt? Or should we just keep walking through life ignoring His gift until it is too late. There is a wrapped up pretty package that is being offered to each of us by God—a gift to fill our hearts that we do not realize is right there for the taking. Without Him, we have a big hole in our heart that we keep trying to fill with things and people. That won’t fill that hole inside you, I know. I used to try to fill it too. Jesus is that gift and the grace He brought freeing us from the Law—John 8:36. Jesus is that package we are not opening. Why would we want to reject this gift? Why would we want to reject Jesus? I, one who has opened the gift, cannot believe I waited as long as I did to accept His gift. My life now … I cannot explain what it feels like to life without fear, guilt or sin. To have peace every day. To know where I will be when I die. It is too grand to put into words … I am sure of Him and I am sure of this; I can highly recommend Jesus. I recommend Jesus over any other thing. Anything. That hole in your heart? You know the one. The one you try to fill up at the Mall and with things. Funny thing is, I found out that the hole is shaped like Jesus. The hole I had in my heart. It’s gone. He filled it. Forever. Forever is a long, long time.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 15:19:27 +0000
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