We set out on a journey to commit 100 verses to memory and I allowed that journey to stop after we finished 94 of the 100...who does that? We have six more verses to go, and we're going to get there! Let's pick it up and complete this journey, and then ask God where He wants to take us next!
To start again, we have to realize where we are picking up...and that was in the series of verses that heralded the arrival of the baby Jesus. We had memorized:
Luke 2:10 "But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people.' "
and
Luke 2:11 "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord."
Read through these three verses and let them sink into your being...a Child was born, a Child of good news, great joy, for everyone...a Child, a Savior...our Christ, our Lord. If you have times of doubt, when the enemy plants questions in your mind, come back to these verses. Read them and hear the certainty of who was sent. Remember that angels announced His arrival, that He fulfilled all prophecy, and that He changed the world! Don't ever doubt that Jesus is THE ONE...there is no other Savior. He is God's answer for us, and He is a good, good answer. He is an answer that brings joy like no other...for He answers in completeness and wholeness the eternal question of HOW sinful mortals such as you and I can come before our Holy God and expect to live with Him for eternity! And then when you read these sweet verses again, join with me and say, "Thank You Lord!"
Now for verse 95...are you ready for it? You should be! I have certainly given you a long enough rest between these two stops on our trek!
Luke 2:12 "This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Not until I read Robert Morgan's commentary on his verse did I ever make the connection...do you see it? Read this verse again, and then read Luke 23:52-53...no I'm not going to include the text, you need to look it up! But when you do, I just bet you'll say, "Whoa!", just like I did.
Here we see Jesus' entry into the world...born in a manger, most likely a cave, wrapped in cloths, angels overseeing His arrival, and His mother by His side. Then we skip forward and view His earthly burial...the similarities are something that only Scripture could capture so miraculously! The two locations only a few miles apart...the two events only separated by thirty three years.
We find the baby, we find the crucified Jesus...as His earthly story began, so it ends. But read on, oh read on...for Jesus' earthly story resides within His eternal story. Thirty three years on earth, but an eternity in existence with God the Father.
And because of Him, we too can live on...whatever our earthly story consists of, it is just the beginning of our eternal story when we place our lives in His trustworthy hands.
One more thing tonight that I must share...prior to Jesus' arrival, prior to John the Baptist's proclamations of His coming, God had been silent since the time of His prophet Malachi, 400 years before. In reading the other night, I came across these verses in Malachi that I had never read, or if I had read them I had not really absorbed them. Malachi 3:16-18 ~
"Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name.
"They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him.And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not."At a time when God was about to become silent, He listened. He listened to those who talked with each other about Him, who feared Him and who honored Him. He promised to remember them and to show compassion to them.
If God was listening then, I am certain that He is listening for the same type of people today...let us be those people...people who talk boldly of God, who fear Him and who honor Him.
