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“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”
Micah 5:2*

When Herod the Great discovered that the wise men from the East wanted to worship the newborn Jewish Messiah, he called up Bible scholars to find out what prophecy had to say. The chief priests and scribes knew that the Christ was to be born in “Bethlehem in the Land of Judah” (Matthew 2:6).

There is no doubt that this passage refers to Jesus because it is quoted in Matthew concerning His birth. There is also no question that this verse is linked to the Anointed of the LORD, because it states that He was pre-existent before His birth in the stable, and even before the prophesy was given somewhere around 700 B.C.

Like most visions of the future, this prophecy is a two-dimensional snapshot of events with no depth of focus. Many prophesies lack chronological order, and this one lumps both advents of Christ in the same verse. The fact remains that the babe of Bethlehem has not yet become the Ruler of Israel.

The promised Son of David who was supposed to re-establish the throne in Israel never had the chance to reign. “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him (John 1:11). Even the chief priests who handed over the Messiah to their Gentile overlords declared, “We have no king but Caesar!” (John 19:15).

All that will change in the twinkling of an eye. Jesus will soon return with an army of angels to reclaim what was denied Him almost two thousand years ago. He will be hailed not only as Ruler of Israel but as king of the whole earth.

*see also Matthew 2:6

December 18 

I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob;
A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, And batter the brow of Moab, And destroy all the sons of tumult.
Numbers 24:17*

Ol’ Balaam was a nasty guy; he sold knowledge of the true God for a price and showed King Balak how to bring a curse on Israel through seduction by the women of Moab. I really don’t expect to see him in heaven.

That having been said, he was still a prophet of the LORD, and he spoke these words that God gave him. God does that sometimes – reveals His word and will to unbelievers. The Almighty gave dreams to both Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar to reveal the future. Caiaphas plotted to crucify Christ, but prophesied in his capacity of high priest: “It is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish” (John 11:50).

Balaam had the reputation that those whom he blessed were blessed, and those whom he cursed were cursed. His words were probably recorded, and they may be what clued the wise men into searching the heavens for a star.

When that star did appear in the East, they recognized that the Scepter would rise out of Israel, and they were ready to greet the King of the Jews (Matthew 2:2). Herod tried to destroy the Christ Child, but God preserved Him. The king is long since dead and his dynasty eradicated, which points out a part of the prophesy that is seldom mentioned.

This Scepter that would come out of Jacob would battle the bad guys and destroy the evildoers. As the Righteous Judge, Christ will sit on the Great White Throne and pronounce judgment on the proud and powerful who reigned on earth. Righteousness will have its final victory over “wrongseousness.”

*see also Hebrews 1:8

December 19 

“For my eyes have seen Your salvation…”
Luke 2:30

Simeon waited all his life for God’s promised Messiah. He’d ask God about it every day. “How long, O Lord, until your Anointed will come? How long until we see the Consolation of Israel Lord, will it be today?”

In these daily conversations, Simeon demonstrated a faith in God’s promises that was extremely rare in his day. He expected an answer from God, so the Almighty didn’t disappoint him. The Holy Spirit revealed to him in a way as clear as any message received by Abraham or Daniel that he would see the Messiah before he died. Simeon was encouraged; he was old and ready to die. He wouldn’t have to wait much longer.

God’s timing is always perfect. Christ came at just the right moment in human history, and He made sure that Simeon was in the right place at the right time to be part of it. Mary and Joseph brought baby Jesus to the temple to be dedicated, and God’s Spirit made sure Simeon was there.

The Babe’s Hebrew name was”Yeshua,” which means “Salvation.” The old man picked up the baby and began to prophesy:

“Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32).

God not only kept His promise to Simeon to show him the Messiah, but He even showed him the Savior of the World.

In this day and age, another of God’s promises remains incomplete: Christ’s second coming. While the world mocks at this, and even some Christians have given up waiting, a few devout and righteous believers still ask, “Lord, are You coming today?”

God is waiting for just the right time so that with their own eyes the faithful will see the revealing of God’s Salvation.

December 20 

“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the Man who is My Companion,” says the LORD of hosts.
“Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; then I will turn My hand against the little ones.”
Zechariah 13:7

The night that the Lord Jesus was betrayed, He quoted the verse above on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:31). The urgent message that He needed to tell His disciples was that within hours, their Shepherd would be taken and all of them would be scattered. Obviously, this was the fulfillment of a Messianic prophesy, but hidden in this Old Testament verse is another title of Christ: “the Man who is My Companion.”

In context, the Shepherd knew His sheep, but was also a companion of the LORD of Hosts. Other descriptive titles of Christ are much better known: For example, Son of God, Servant of God, and Glory of God. These names emphasize the Lord’s deity and are a stark contrast to simply being a companion.

There is more to this title than initially meets the eye. The emphasis here is the humanity of Christ. The Savior’s equality with God (Philippians 2:6) is unquestionable. He is the God/Man who came to restore fellowship with His estranged creation. He reached out to multitudes, but He established a true bond of friendship with twelve special men. Jesus was more than just a rabbi, teacher, and shepherd to his disciples; He was a companion.

Christ not only taught the apostles things about God, but also demonstrated a relationship with God that was hard to even imagine. Clearly, Jesus was the companion of the Almighty, and both the Father and the Son delighted in the relationship. The Lord would be alone for hours communing with God and the disciples also experienced the reality of this relationship.

When Christ died on the cross, He reconciled the world to Himself. He restored the broken communications and communion with God, and He allowed former enemies to become friends.

The bottom line is this: The Lord Jesus Christ is not only my God and Savior, He is the Man who is My Companion.

December 5 

For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Luke 2:11

There are two unusual facts about this title. The first is that it occurs only once in scripture. The second is that it came from a non-human source.

Lots of preachers and hymn writers use the phrase Christ the Lord. That makes sense since it is a title combination of two of the most common names of God’s Son. In the Bible, it is only proclaimed at the birth of the Savior.

This announcement of the Messiah’s birth emphasized the most significant event in human history, or in the history of the universe, for that matter. God Almighty took on human form and even experienced childbirth to be able to reach His fallen creation. It made sense that the angel of the Lord would announce it backed up by a great celestial chorus. The surprising thing was that those who heard the news weren’t the movers and shakers of the world, but poor, cold, and frightened shepherds. The Who’s Who of the world weren’t worthy to receive the announcement that proclaimed a name found nowhere else in the Word of God.

The heavenly messenger proclaimed that Christ the Lord was born. The first part acknowledged that God’s anointed had finally arrived. By calling Him “Lord,” the angel acknowledged that He was the boss and commander-in-chief of every angel present that day.

Christ the Lord is risen on high!
Sing ye heav’ns, and earth reply
He endured the cross, the grave,
Sinners to redeem and save.
                                         – Unknown

December 21

And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Colossians 1:18

Heads are basic equipment on animal bodies. Fleas, microscopic dust mites, and even earthworms all have heads, although they may be hard to see. The head is the controlling force in all of God’s creatures, great and small. The head is connected to the various systems by way of nerves, so it can regulate the heart, lungs, and muscles. Every second, millions of bits of information are sent back and forth between the head and different parts of the body.

The Lord Jesus is Head of the Body, the church. That certainly means that He is in charge and over the church, but the title is also used to show that the church is more like an organism (a living thing) than an organization.

The human perspective views the church more in terms of the structure and hierarchy of an institution. This concept was vividly illustrated for me in a mural painted on the back wall of the Catholic cathedral in the town of Baños in Ecuador, South America.

At the bottom of the fresco, a poor peasant farmer is seen holding a rosary and kneeing before a priest. Behind him are much bigger beads of a huge rosary that forms a circle around the enormous painting. The background rosary connects the viewer’s eyes from the priest to a bishop, and from a bishop to a cardinal, and then to the pope. As the rosary beads continue around, they connect to the saints and then to the Virgin Mary and then finally to Jesus. Viewing this made me so sad, because the lesson being taught was that there is a lot of bureaucracy needed to get to the Lord. But the worst part was that, in portraying Christ at the end of the line, He looked more like the tail than the head.

Our Savior is the Head of the Body so is connected directly to each part. In my body, if my little finger is cut, a message is sent directly to the brain. It doesn’t go to the hand, then the wrist, then the arm, then to the shoulder. The head is immediately aware of what’s happening all over the body and coordinates the parts to work together.

December 6 

Blessed be the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands
for war, and my fingers for battle – my lovingkindness
and my fortress, my high tower and my deliverer…
Psalm 144:1,2

“Fortress” titles are common in the Psalms of David. The constant running for his life kept David’s adrenaline flowing and stress levels high. The only way that he could cope was to remember that he was in God’s will and God was in charge. Since that was the case, David was safe; he could rest in his high tower.

Medieval castles were built in stages. The very first part to be constructed was the “keep.” This was a very strong, very tall central tower located in the middle of what would be the castle complex. Once it was completed, work on the outer walls, gates, inner buildings, and moat could begin. This high tower allowed watchmen to see enemies coming from a distance, but was also a stronghold of defense even before more complete fortifications could be established.

Believers are able to rest in the Lord Jesus, just like David was able to trust in the LORD. Jesus said: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). The stress and crush of the opposition of the world is manageable because the Lord Himself is a wall to keep the enemies of God from bringing down Christ’s servants.

Abiding in the will of God allows the child of God to see sin approaching from far away. This gives us plenty of time to avoid it, along with all the heartache that comes with it. In the High Tower of Christ Jesus, the believer is elevated up and above the fray of the commonplace so that heaven itself doesn’t feel like it’s that far away.

December 22 

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us,
that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21

Babies sin because it’s their nature. No one needs to teach them how to lie, steal, or destroy; they are born with that ability. In fact, one of my son’s first words was a lie. He had recently turned one and still wasn’t walking or talking, but he could crawl everywhere, stand up on his own, and understand lots of words.

As my wife was cleaning one of the bedrooms, she noticed that the house was strangely silent and the toddler was nowhere to be seen. As she moved towards the kitchen, she called out, “Stephen, are you touching the stove?”

There were very few “no-no’s” in the house, but that was definitely one of them. The one year old was defiantly touching the stove and began looking around to see if mom was near. When he couldn’t see his mother, he assumed that she also couldn’t see him, so he proudly lied, “No!”

The sin nature might raise a chuckle when seen in a small child, but it gets very ugly very quickly, and it is not a condition that cures itself. That old nature has to die and a new nature has to come in to replace it if sin is to ever lose its power over us.

Christ never had that addiction to sin. He certainly knew what sin was, but had no desire to do it. He was sinless by nature, so on the cross he swapped rap sheets with humanity. He gave mankind a clean slate and took on Himself trillions of terrible sins, which he paid for with His death.

Coming to the Lord Jesus in faith means that sin’s power over sinners is broken. Those who were trapped in a habitual cycle of self-destruction receive a new desire to live in God’s will. They are changed, all because of Him who Knew no Sin.

March 11 

If he brings a lamb as his sin offering, […] Then he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and kill it as a sin offering at the place where they kill the burnt offering.
Leviticus 4:32-33

My memories of the special children’s gospel meetings in the 1950’s were that all the evangelists wore suits and ties and did “chalk talks,” where they drew pictures at the same time that they preached. One vivid image that I still carry in my mind is a picture of a little lamb lying dead on an altar of stones. A small river of blood flowed down the rocks and onto the ground below. The preacher used special chalk, so when the chapel lights were turned off and the black light came on, the drawing changed. In the background, we could see a cross, and at the bottom of the paper, the words “Sin Offering” were written in red as if they were formed from the blood of the lamb.

As a child, I thought that only lambs could be used for a sin offering. Later, I found out that bulls, goats, and even pigeons could be used, depending on who sinned (priests and leaders had to give more costly sacrifices for their sins). Another thing I learned was that this ceremony only covered unintentional sin (Leviticus 4:27). If a person sinned willfully and knew that he was breaking God’s command, no atonement or forgiveness was given.

Perhaps the most surprising thing I learned from studying Leviticus 4 was that the sinner had to kill his own lamb; the priest didn’t do it for him. The person would put his hands on the head of the animal and confess his sins before killing his sacrifice. This would make “the wages of sin is death”(Romans 6:23) real and show the sinner clearly that a substitute was needed so he could live.

Jesus Christ is our wonderful Sin Offering who took away our sins: Past, present, and future. He took away the sins we did without thinking, as well as those done in purposeful rebellion. The Savior died so that we might live. Jesus not only deserves a “thank you”; He deserves our willing obedience.

December 23 

“Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon?
And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him.
Mark 6:3

The folks in Christ’s hometown of Nazareth resented Him and that caused real attitude problems: “Who does he think he is anyhow? He’s just a common laborer, a woodworker. He doesn’t come from a good family. After all, he’s Mary’s son; he was born out of wedlock.”

People back then and there were judgmental just like they are today. They felt anyone who they labeled as “illegitimate” could never obtain greatness much less do anything for God. Being the Son of Mary meant “bad blood.”

The self-righteous are never so wrong as when they convince themselves that they are better than others. Mary descended from royalty and could trace her bloodline back to King David, and then even back to Adam.

Jesus has two genealogies recorded in scripture. Matthew traces Jesus’ birthright through His adopted father, Joseph, who could have had title to the throne of David if they were still doing that kind of thing at that time. One big problem with this succession of legal heirs is that it included King Jeconiah who was cursed by God in Jeremiah 22:24-28. The prophet said that “Coniah” and his descendants would be cut off, meaning that the Messiah could not come through Joseph. This presented a prophetic contradiction for the Messiah. Only the miracle of the virgin birth could solve this problem.

People assumed Jesus to be Joseph’s son, but the genealogy of Christ in Luke 3 is actually Mary’s. She was a descendant of David, but not of Jeconiah.

Christ had all the legal rights to the throne of David, because Joseph adopted Him and made him his own. He also had to have a human blood line back to David, without being Coniah’s relative. The King of Kings was able to fulfill scripture, because He was the Son of Mary. 

December 8