Cast Your Cares upon Jesus

A quick update on Barb: She has been quite ill since just after Thanksgiving. She fell Thursday night and was taken to Emergency in Greenfield. Fortunately she did not break anything. From Greenfield she was transferred to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines. She is still in Mercy. They are running test after test, but so far have yet to discover what is causing her nausea. Please pray for the doctors as they work to help her. But pray especially for healing from God, as He is ultimately the One who heals. God bless.

Now for today's Bible Insight: How do you react when things don't go so well, when things get tough and seem completely out of your control? Do you get angry? Do you rant and rave and blame God? Do you just throw up your hands and give up? Or, do you turn to God in prayer?

The latter is what you should do. God wants you to pray about these things and turn them over to Him. He wants you to transfer your burdens to Him. He stands ready to help you in your time of need.

Matthew 11:28-30 says, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Jesus begins here by encouraging us to come to Him when things get tough. When you "are heavy laden" (v. 28a). When you are burdened down with a load of cares, turn your heart and your mind to Jesus. Lay it all out before Him. As Peter says, "casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7).

A "yoke" (Matt. 11:29a) is "a wooden bar placed over the neck of a pair of animals so they can pull together" (Helps Word Studies, 1987, 2011 by Helps Ministries, Inc.). Figuratively here, it refers to a heavy burden.

When you encounter such a burden, cast it on Jesus. Let Him carry your burden. Then, take up His "yoke" and "learn from" Him (v. 29b). He is "gentle" and "lowly in heart" (v. 29b). When you lean on Jesus, He will give you "rest for your souls" (v. 29b). He will take care of you. And all because His "yoke is easy" (v. 30a) and His "burden is light" (v. 30b).

When you encounter various trials, lean on Jesus. When your burdens are heavy, lean on Jesus. In everything, lean on Jesus. That is the message. When you lean on Jesus, He will take care of it for you and He will give you rest. Amen.

Understanding the Virgin Birth

Merry Christmas! Tomorrow, Christmas Day, we will celebrate the incarnation of Christ, God becoming man, which required the virgin birth of Christ Jesus. It is one thing to realize the importance of the virgin birth, but understanding how it came about, the nuts and bolts of the process, is another story. In many respects, it is way beyond our finite ability to understand. However, the angel Gabriel gives us some insight into the "how" of the virgin birth in Luke 1:34-38.

The key thought in this entire passage is found in verses 34-35. That is where Mary asks that very pointed question, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?" (v. 34). In answer to this question, Gabriel comes as close as he can to answering the "how" of this miracle. In verse 35, he uses two very important phrases: (1) "The Holy Spirit will come upon you" (v. 35a), and (2) "the power of the Highest will overshadow you" (v. 35b). The latter explains the former.

First, he said that "the Holy Spirit will come upon you" (v. 35a). It is all of God. He will do it. Note how he later refers to Elizabeth's pregnancy (v. 36) to confirm that "with God nothing will be impossible" (v. 37). Mary is simply asked to believe God for this miracle. She is to trust Him to see her through all circumstances of life that come with this "favor with God" (v. 28a) in her life. When you serve God, sometimes life can become a little rough. When it does, you can know that Christ is there with you, and He will bring you through anything and everything. Only believe!

Then, Gabriel explains further what he means. He continues, "the power of the Highest will overshadow you" (v. 35b). Here we see the holy, powerful presence of God, just as in the description of the cloud in the wilderness that "covered" or "settled upon" the tabernacle when the tent was "filled" with "the glory of the Lord" (Exodus 40:34).

The word "overshadow" (Luke 1:35b), is the same word used in the story of the transfiguration of Jesus to describe the "bright cloud" that "overshadowed" them in Matthew 17:5. From this overshadowing cloud came a voice that said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!" (v. 5b).

In like manner, in Luke 1:35c we are told, "that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God." The Holy Spirit will "overshadow" Mary and create in her a baby who is identified as "the holy one" (v. 35c). This is a direct reference to ethical purity. The thought is that Jesus is holy and, therefore, without sin.

Remember this: Jesus was not sinless because He did not have a human father. Mary too had been born with a sin nature, and was not without sin. Rather, the Holy Spirit "overshadowed" her, and in a mysterious yet supernatural way, far beyond our ability to understand, sanctified Jesus' conception so that He was kept from being contaminated by man's fallen sinful nature.

Note again His special title, "Son of God" (v. 35c). That title shows His special role in God's purpose—that of Messiah, or Savior. He was born of a virgin, through the agency of the Holy Spirit, that He might save His people from their sin.

God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, created this baby Jesus to be born on Christmas morning to save you from your sin. That is His special purpose in the birth of Christ. Jesus' complete obedience to His Father in heaven enabled Him to pay the penalty for our sin and bring us back into fellowship with God. The Son was born by God's initiative and by God's grace. Jesus came purely as a gift from God. The best gift you could ever receive. The true Christmas gift from God.

Remember, "with God nothing will be impossible" (v. 37). In Jesus everything is possible! With that thought, Mary gave herself fully unto God as His servant, as she said, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word" (v. 38a).

With that thought, we must give ourselves fully unto God as well, as His servants. If you do, God will see you through whatever circumstances arise in your life as a result, just as He did Mary.

The truth of the virgin birth makes it clear that Jesus is both fully man and fully God. Only because of this truth can we truly be saved from our sin and receive eternal life with Him. Only because He was fully man can He sympathize with our needs, and only because He is fully God can He meet our needs completely and see us through all things. You can trust fully in Him, and lean on Him each and every day. Amen.

Importance of the Virgin Birth

How big is your God? Do you believe in miracles? Or, when miracles occur, do you try to explain them away? If so, then your God is too small! The God of the Bible is described in verse after verse as a great God—a big God! Throughout the Bible, God is described as the "God of the Impossible." Story after story in the Bible shows God doing what seems to man to be impossible. In fact, for man these things are impossible, but not for God! In Luke 1:37, the angel Gabriel tells us point blank that "with God nothing will be impossible." God proves this to be true by the way He provides the Savior for us through the miracle of the virgin birth.

Unless Jesus is both human and divine, both man and God, there is no gospel. The central doctrine of Christianity is the incarnation of Jesus Christ. All Christian theology is built on it. The central thought of the gospel, and its power, is that God became man, and by being both fully God and fully man, He was able to reconcile us to God. That requires the truth of the virgin birth of Jesus. Apart from the virgin birth, Jesus would not be both fully God and fully man. Then our salvation would not have been secured. That is why Matthew and Luke both begin by zeroing in on the fact of the virgin birth.

It is especially noteworthy that Luke, a physician, who of all people would be most skeptical, writes with all candor concerning the truth that Jesus was born of a virgin through the agency of the Holy Spirit with no involvement of an earthly father. He begins: "Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, 'Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!'" (Luke 1:26-28).

He wasted no time in getting right to the point. "In the sixth month" (v. 26) refers to Elizabeth's pregnancy. She was in the final months of carrying John the Baptist. Gabriel was "sent by God to… Nazareth" (v. 26). He was sent to "Mary" (v. 27b) because she was "highly favored" by God and was "blessed among women" (v. 28). Two very specific and very important things are noted here about Mary: (1) she was "betrothed to… Joseph, of the house of David" (v. 27a), and (2) she was a "virgin" (v. 27).

Note that Joseph (like Mary) was "of the house of David" (v. 27). Old Testament prophecy made it clear that the Messiah or Savior had to be of the house of David. Also, note that Mary was "betrothed to" Joseph (v. 27a). This is significant because this made Joseph the legal father of Jesus, even though he was not physically His father.

To be betrothed in ancient Jewish marriages was similar to engagement in our society, but more binding. The family arranged the marriage and money was paid to the bride's father to assist in the cost involved. A public announcement was made and the couple was "pledged." At this point the engagement could only be broken by death or divorce, yet no physical relations were allowed and the couple lived apart from one another. This lasted for about a year and was intended to prove the bride's purity. If she became pregnant during that time, the marriage could be annulled. After this time, the couple would be married and begin living together. So you can see the dilemma that Joseph faced and the reason Gabriel came to him in Matthew 1:18-25.

Doctor Luke specifically refers to Mary as a "virgin," not once but twice in Luke 1:27. The birth of Jesus was nothing short of miraculous (though it was actually His conception that was miraculous, not His birth). "Virgin" in the Greek means "maiden" or "virgin." It is used at times in a more general sense to mean "young woman," with the context making the difference. Here, with Luke being a physician, the context is clear that the word is used to mean none other than "virgin." Note Mary's question in verse 34: "How can this be, since I do not know a man?" The answer given in verse 35 is that the "God of the Impossible" will do it by the power of His Holy Spirit.

What is so important about Jesus being born of a virgin? Precisely this: Being born of the virgin Mary makes Jesus fully human! This is very important. Note how Mary is told in verse 31, "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus." This refers to the normal birth process. Jesus had to have an earthly mother because He had to become a man. No man but Adam ever existed apart from womb. The virgin birth guarantees an earthly mother without an earthly father. Thus, through the agency of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was born as Adam had been created, without a sin nature. In this way, Jesus was both fully man and fully God at the same time. Jesus had to be fully man to qualify as our substitution on the cross, and He had to be fully God, as well, in order to be able to accomplish that task. Only one who is both God and man can truly be our Savior. Only He can forgive our sin and give us eternal life.

Even His name, a Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua, means "Yahweh saves." Mary is told that "He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest" (v. 32). The word "Son" is a direct reference to the Messiah, the Savior. The message is clear: God's plan was to miraculously create a human child, Jesus, who would be born of Mary, but who would actually be God's Son, the long-awaited Savior. Amen.

Born to Reunite

The birth of Christ that first Christmas morning was all about reunion. It was all about reuniting God with the people of His creation. Christmas, along with Good Friday and Easter Sunday, is all about restoring our relationship with God. Through sin, fellowship with God in the Garden of Eden was broken. Through sin in our lives, fellowship with God continues to be broken and we find ourselves floundering through life separated from God. Through faith in Christ, in His death and resurrection, our sin is forgiven and our fellowship with God is restored. Through Christ we are reunited with God!

First John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." In the verses leading up to that statement we are told, "This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (vs. 5-7).

In other words, when living our lives in sin, or "darkness" (v. 6b), we are separated from God. We do not have "fellowship" (v. 6a) with Him. When we confess our sin to Him, He forgives our sin and restores our fellowship with Himself, as well as with our fellow believers. Then we can begin to "walk in the light as He is in the light" (v. 7). This is what Christmas is all about—a restored relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

This is also what the incarnation of Christ is all about—a restored relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The penalty for our sin had to be paid, but we could not pay the price ourselves. It is too great a price. God had to become a man in every respect, yet without sin. Only Jesus Christ could pay the penalty, redeem us from our sin, and restore our relationship with God. And so we have Christmas—God becoming man.

Scripture does not speak as to how the eternal God took on humanity. It is most likely far too great a mystery for our humble minds to grasp. The fact of Scripture is that God in Christ did become man. John, speaking of Jesus, said simply, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). Paul, speaking of Christ Jesus, adds, "Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men" (Phil. 2:6-7).

The truth of Christmas is simply this: God became a man (The Incarnation) to reunite us to fellowship with God. Jesus was born so He could die for our forgiveness and restore our fellowship with Himself. Amen.

The Light of the World

Continue to pray for Barb. She sees the oncologist in Des Moines on the thirteenth to set up chemo treatments. Pray all goes well. Problem is, she has been quite sick for nearly two weeks now, going back to just after Thanksgiving. Her stomach lining is irritated or inflamed. They gave her medication for that. It may also be that the tumor is growing rapidly and pushing against her stomach or small intestine. Pray that is not the case, and that the chemo shrinks the tumor. Thanks.

Now for today's overdue Bible Insight: A day came, while Jesus was teaching in the temple, that "the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery" (John 8:3). They demanded that Jesus condemn her to be stoned per the law of Moses (vs. 4-5). They were "testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him" (v. 6a). Jesus ignored them at first (v. 6b), but as they persisted (v. 7a), Jesus spoke: "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first" (v. 7b).

That didn't sit well with the scribes and Pharisees: "Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst" (v. 9). Seeing that no one remained to condemn her (v. 10), He said, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more" (v. 11).

Then Jesus made this profound statement: "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life" (v. 12). One of the famous "I Am" statements of Scripture. Later in this same chapter, after debating long and hard with the Jewish leaders, Jesus said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58). From the burning bush, God told Moses, "I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I am has sent me to you'" (Exodus 3:14).

The technical name of God is "I Am." In other words, He is the One who always has been. No one missed the fact that on multiple occasions Jesus claimed to be the "I Am." He claimed to be God! And rightly so, because He is the everlasting Savior, the Son of God, the creator God Himself. John said, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it" (John 1:1-5).

We have come full circle. Jesus is "the light of the world" (John 8:12a). When you follow Jesus, you will "not walk in darkness, but have the light of life" (v. 12b). Life is in Jesus. He came that we might have life. Jesus clearly told us this: "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10b).

His life is our light. He came and was born that first Christmas morning to bring us light and to shine in the darkness of our life, giving us true life, eternal life in His name. The darkness can not overcome His light. By walking in faith in Jesus, we do not "walk in darkness, but have the light of life" (John 8:12b). Amen.