The echoes of Christmas remind us that the Lord often does what is most significant in the world in places and people that are viewed as being insignificant by the world...

This week we are looking at another echo of Christmas that is found in a section of a letter in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Micah. So far this week, we have seen Micah confront the Jewish people of his day for placing their trust in human plans and power instead of the Lord. Micah then predicted and proclaimed that there would be a day in the future when the Jewish people would be conquered and led captive to Babylon.  Their selfishness and rebellion that led them to place their trust in their own plans and power instead of the Lord would lead to them being conquered and led into captivity.

125 years before the events in history would actually occur, Micah proclaimed that the Assyrian Empire would be conquered by the Babylonian Empire, which would then invade the Jewish nation and, in 586 B.C., conquer the nation and lead them into captivity. In addition, Micah proclaimed that there would be a day in the future, after their captivity, that the Jewish people would be given the opportunity to return to their home. And in 538 B.C., 50 years after being conquered and led captive by the Babylonian Empire, the Persian Emperor Cyrus, after conquering the Babylonian Empire, allowed the Jewish people to return home in fulfillment of this prediction by Micah.

Micah also proclaimed that while King Sennacherib and the army of the Assyrian Empire, which consisted of forces from other nations that were in treaty with the Empire, were intent on desecrating and destroying the city of Jerusalem, the Lord had gathered them together for a far different purpose. Instead of desecrating and destroying the city of Jerusalem, King Sennacherib and the Assyrian army would be desecrated and destroyed.

However, while Micah proclaimed the future deliverance of the Jewish people by the Lord, he also proclaimed the sadness and suffering that the Jewish people would experience at the hands of the Assyrian Empire. Micah proclaimed the reality that there would be a day in the not too distant future where the Jewish people would be forced to muster their troops in defense of the city of Jerusalem. There would be a day in the not too distant future when the Jewish people would mourn over the impending attack that would take place in light of the siege of the city of Jerusalem that would occur. There would be a day in the not too distant future when the king of the Jewish people would be humiliated by the invading Assyrian army.

However, while Micah proclaimed a time of mourning and humiliation for the Jewish people and the Southern Kingdom of Judea, that did not mean that the Lord was done with the Jewish people. Instead, it is at this point that the Lord, through the prophet Micah, made a promise that served as an echo of Christmas. A promise that is recorded for us in Micah 5:2:

 "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity."

Here we see Micah proclaim that there would be a day in the future when the Lord would fulfill a promise that He had made to the Jewish people’s most famous king, King David, that one of his descendants would be the messiah and ruler that would bring the Jewish people back to God and back to prominence in the world. However, the town that would produce the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise would not be Jerusalem, its capital city. Instead, the town that would produce the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise would be the little town of Bethlehem.

Bethlehem was not a bustling metropolis; Bethlehem was a small rural community. Bethlehem was not a destination that up and coming people moved to in order to start their careers; Bethlehem was a departure point that people left as soon as they grew up. However, Bethlehem, this small, unimportant town would produce the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to send a descendant of King David, who would be the Messiah, who would rule over the Jewish people. And this Messiah, this ruler, Micah explained “goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.”

In other words, this Messiah, this ruler, would not be a simply another human ruler who would rule temporarily over the Jewish people. Instead, this Messiah, this ruler, would be eternal and His rule would be eternal. This Messiah, this ruler, would be God in a bod who would usher in the kingdom of God. However, in the midst of this promise from the Lord for the future, there would be punishment and judgment from the Lord in the present. We see Micah reveal this reality in Micah 5:3-6:

 Therefore He will give them up until the time When she who is in labor has borne a child. Then the remainder of His brethren Will return to the sons of Israel. ⁴ And He will arise and shepherd His flock In the strength of the LORD, In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God. And they will remain, Because at that time He will be great To the ends of the earth. ⁵ This One will be our peace. When the Assyrian invades our land, When he tramples on our citadels, Then we will raise against him Seven shepherds and eight leaders of men. ⁶ They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, The land of Nimrod at its entrances; And He will deliver us from the Assyrian When he attacks our land And when he tramples our territory.

Micah proclaimed that the Lord would send the Jewish people away as a conquered people into captivity, where they would remain a divided people until the birth of the Messiah. However, the Messiah, upon His arrival, would reunite the Jewish people. Micah proclaimed that the Messiah would shepherd the people of God in the power of God and in the name of God. And in the future, this Messiah, this ruler, would rule in a way that would result in His fame and renown spreading throughout the world. This Messiah would rule in a way that would defend and defeat the enemies of the Jewish people as He united the Jewish people and provided leaders for the Jewish people.

And it is here, in this prediction and promise by this prophet, that we discover a timeless echo of Christmas that reverberates as a reminder to humanity throughout history. And that timeless echo is this: The echoes of Christmas remind us that the Lord often does what is most significant in the world in places and people that are viewed as being insignificant by the world. You see, it is in the prediction and promise by the prophet Micah that we see the Lord remind the Jewish people of the reality that He often accomplished His greatest work in the world by those who were often overlooked by the world.

For example, the Lord did His most significant work in the life of the Jewish people through their most famous king, King David. However, King David was not viewed as being significant in the eyes of those around him. Instead, King David was the youngest of eight sons who was given the insignificant job of watching the sheep. And when Samuel was sent by the Lord to anoint and appoint the next King of the Jewish people, both Samuel and David’s father totally overlooked David. As a matter of fact, King David’s father had to call and get David from the field where he was watching the sheep because his father did not even believe that he was significant enough to be in the presence of Samuel.

Yet, while David was viewed as being insignificant, the Lord was about to do what would be most significant for the Jewish people, and for all humanity through David. You see, it was through this insignificant youngest child that the Lord would anoint and appoint to be king that the Lord would promise to send a Messiah and King who would bring the Jewish people back to God and back to prominence in the world. And this descendant of David would be born in an insignificant, small backwater town of Bethlehem.

However, while Bethlehem was viewed as being insignificant in the eyes of the world, Bethlehem would be the place where the Lord would begin to do what would be most significant in the world during that first Christmas. Because that is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is about the Lord doing what is most significant in the world in a place that was viewed as being insignificant by the world.

And the timeless reality is that the Lord still operates the same way today. In the Lord’s eyes no place and no person is insignificant. And each and every day the Lord is at work to do what is most significant in the world in the places and the people that are viewed as being insignificant by the world.

However, the reality that the Lord often does what is most significant in the world in places that are viewed as being insignificant by the world is not the only echo of Christmas. Next week, we will uncover another echo of Christmas.

7 Common Questions About Attending City Bible Church this Christmas...

If you are considering visiting a church for the first time this Christmas, or after not having been to church for a while, you may have questions, but you’re not sure who to ask. So here are 7 frequently asked questions that you may have if you are considering visiting City Bible Church this weekend for Christmas:

What should I wear?

At City Bible Church, you will see all styles of dress. Some will wear suits and dresses. Some will wear jeans and t-shirts. To answer your question, choose an outfit you already own, one you feel comfortable in, and join us.

What will we do? What can I expect?

We will have a fairly typical worship schedule. We will have a short greeting time, sing two songs, I’ll share a message, we will sing two more songs. We will attempt to have songs that would be somewhat similar in style to what you may hear on your radio and that all ages can enjoy. And, yes, in full transparency, and in case you’re wondering, we will receive an offering. Our offerings support the full range of ministries we offer in the church, community, and around the world. You are not required, however, to participate during this time unless you choose to do so.

Will you embarrass me?

I certainly hope not. It will be a primary goal not to do that. I don’t personally like to be embarrassed when I visit somewhere new, even in a church — and I’m a pastor — so my goal is to create an environment that is comfortable for all. You WILL NOT be singled out as a visitor. We don’t make visitors stand, raise their hand, or even fill out a card if you choose not to do so.

How long will the service last?

Slightly more than an hour. I’d love to say an hour, but frequently the service ends up being an hour and 5 or 10 minutes. At the most, you’ll be with us for an hour and 15 minutes.

What time should I arrive?

That’s a great question. We have two worship services on the Sunday before Christmas (8:30 and 11:00 a.m.) and two worship services on Christmas Eve (5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.) that will have a different message than on Sunday. And, I’m really trying to help when I suggest you get here a few minutes early. Maybe even as many as 10 or 15 minutes early. It takes a little while to make your way through our campus, especially if you have children to check into our children’s areas or this is your first time. We especially want you to find a seat where you are most comfortable, and you’ll feel more comfortable if you have a few minutes to adjust before the service begins. We have a bulletin you can be reading while you wait for the service to start.

Do you have something for children?

Absolutely. Birth through 6th grade have their own activities designed especially for them. They will enjoy a time called Kids Konnection that will engage them at their level. Of course, we don’t keep you from bringing children with you in the worship service if that is more comfortable on a first visit, but our experience is that they truly do enjoy Kids Konnection. Either way, we love when entire families join us Easter Sunday.

Can I only come one time? Really, for what am I signing up when I come on Christmas?

There’s no obligation beyond Christmas weekend. Promise. Being honest, we do ask you to fill out a communication card and, if you do, we will follow up with you. And I hope you do. I love seeing who God brought to us as our guests. I love meeting guests. We won’t put any unfair pressure on you to ever come again. We hope you will, and we’d love if Christmas triggered that desire in you, but that’s your call — not ours.

I hope that answers some questions of those who are thinking about visiting City Bible Church.

What other questions do you have? Seriously, I’d rather you asked.

***Much of this post adopted from a great post by Ron Edmonson on this issue...

A Promise of Present Suffering and Future Deliverance...

This week, we are looking at another echo of Christmas that is recorded for us in a section of a letter in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Micah. Yesterday, we looked on as the prophet Micah proclaimed the Lord’s message condemning the wealthy, the local rulers, and false prophets, who were oppressing the common people of the Southern Kingdom.

We looked on as, in 701 B.C., as the Assyrian army was preparing to conquer the capital city of the Jewish people that the Lord sent Micah to proclaim the Lord’s message to the Jewish people of the Southern Kingdom. Micah confronted the Jewish people of his day for placing their trust in human plans and power instead of the Lord. Micah then predicted and proclaimed that there would be a day in the future when the Jewish people would be conquered and led captive to Babylon.  Their selfishness and rebellion that led them to place their trust in their own plans and power instead of the Lord would lead to them being conquered and led into captivity.

However, as Micah continued to proclaim the Lord’s message to the Jewish people, we see another amazing prediction and proclamation, which we will look at today beginning in Micah 4:11-13:

 "And now many nations have been assembled against you Who say, 'Let her be polluted, And let our eyes gloat over Zion.' ¹² "But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD, And they do not understand His purpose; For He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor. ¹³ "Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion, For your horn I will make iron And your hoofs I will make bronze, That you may pulverize many peoples, That you may devote to the LORD their unjust gain And their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.

Here we see Micah proclaim that while King Sennacherib and the army of the Assyrian Empire, which consisted of forces from other nations that were in treaty with the Empire, were intent on desecrating and destroying the city of Jerusalem, the Lord had gathered them together for a far different purpose. Instead of desecrating and destroying the city of Jerusalem, King Sennacherib and the Assyrian army would be desecrated and destroyed.

Just like wheat would be gathered together and be scattered and destroyed; just like the hoofs of a charging horse would pulverize anything in their path, the Assyrian army would be gathered together to be pulverized and destroyed. And in a section of as letter in the Old Testament of the Bible, called the book of 2 Kings 19, we read of an event from history where the Lord destroyed the army of the Assyrian Empire, which led to the subsequent assassination of King Sennacherib, that is recorded for us in 2 Kings 19:35-37:

Then it happened that night that the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead. ³⁶ So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home, and lived at Nineveh. ³⁷ It came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.

However, while Micah proclaimed the future deliverance of the Jewish people by the Lord, he also proclaimed the sadness and suffering that the Jewish people would experience at the hands of the Assyrian Empire. We see Micah reveal this reality in Micah 5:1:

"Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops; They have laid siege against us; With a rod they will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek.

Here we see Micah proclaim the reality that there would be a day in the not too distant future where the Jewish people would be forced to muster their troops in defense of the city of Jerusalem. There would be a day in the not too distant future when the Jewish people would mourn over the impending attack that would take place in light of the siege of the city of Jerusalem that would occur. There would be a day in the not too distant future when the king of the Jewish people would be humiliated by the invading Assyrian army. A day that is recorded for us in 2 Kings 18:19-32:

Then Rabshakeh said to them, "Say now to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, "What is this confidence that you have? ²⁰ "You say (but they are only empty words), 'I have counsel and strength for the war.' Now on whom do you rely, that you have rebelled against me? ²¹ "Now behold, you rely on the staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt; on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. ²² "But if you say to me, 'We trust in the LORD our God,' is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem '? ²³ "Now therefore, come, make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. ²⁴ "How then can you repulse one official of the least of my master's servants, and rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ²⁵ "Have I now come up without the LORD'S approval against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, 'Go up against this land and destroy it.'"'" ²⁶ Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, "Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak with us in Judean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall." ²⁷ But Rabshakeh said to them, "Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?" ²⁸ Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in Judean, saying, "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. ²⁹ "Thus says the king, 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you from my hand; ³⁰ nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, "The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria." ³¹ 'Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, "Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern, ³² until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live and not die." But do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you, saying, "The LORD will deliver us."

However, while Micah proclaimed a time of mourning and humiliation for the Jewish people and the Southern Kingdom of Judea, that did not mean that the Lord was done with the Jewish people. Instead, it is at this point that the Lord, through the prophet Micah, made a promise that served as an echo of Christmas.

A promise that we will look at on Friday…

Predicting the future, 125 years in advance...

At the church where I serve, we are in the middle of our Christmas sermon series, entitled Echoes of Christmas. During this series, we are going to look at three different events from history that served as echoes that reverberated and impacted the very first Christmas. During this series, we are going to discover how these echoes of Christmas continue to reverberate and impact our lives today. And as we go through this series, our hope and our prayer is that God would move, by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that we would wrap our heads, hearts, and hands around these echoes of Christmas and the impact that they have had on Christmases throughout history, so that we would live lives that reflect these echoes of Christmas to those around us every day of every year.

This week I would like for us to spend our time looking at another echo of Christmas. We find this echo in a section of a letter in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Micah. And it is in this section of this letter that we are reminded of another echo of Christmas that has reverberated throughout history. However, before we jump into this section of the book of Micah, we first need to understand a few things about Micah and the context in which we will jump into this section of this letter.

The book of Micah was written by a man named Micah, who was a prophet who served as a messenger of God who proclaimed God’s message to the Jewish people of the southern Kingdom of Judea from 740-690 B.C. During this time, the Jewish people of the Southern Kingdom were led by three different kings, who were Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Jotham was a good king but did little to call the Jewish people back to God. As we discovered last week, King Ahaz was perhaps the worst king to ever lead the Jewish people of the Southern Kingdom.  The third King, King Hezekiah was committed to the Lord and zealous to call the Jewish people to return to the Lord.

Throughout the book of Micah, we see the prophet proclaim the Lord’s message condemning the wealthy, the local rulers, and false prophets, who were oppressing the common people of the Southern Kingdom. Micah proclaimed the Lord’s message condemning the wickedness of the rich who were cheating the poor. Micah proclaimed the Lord’s message condemning the wickedness of the rulers over the poor. Micah proclaimed the Lord’s message condemning the wickedness of the false prophets who were leading the Jewish people astray and who were taking bribes.

And 35 years after the prophet Isaiah had proclaimed the Lord’s message to wicked King Ahaz, which we looked at last week, in 701 B.C. the Jewish capital of Jerusalem found themselves surrounded by the invading Assyrian Empire. Just as the prophet Isaiah had proclaimed to the Jewish people 35 years earlier, while King Ahaz and the Jewish people of the southern kingdom of Judea placed their confident trust in the nation of Assyria instead of the Lord, that trust would be misplaced.

And that misplaced trust in Assyria would have devastating consequences for the southern kingdom of Judea. From 732 B.C. to 701 B.C., the Assyrian Empire would be a menace to the Jewish people, culminating with the Assyrian army preparing to conquer the capital city of the Jewish people. And it is in this context that the Lord sent Micah to proclaim the Lord’s message to the Jewish people of the Southern Kingdom. So let’s look at that message together, beginning in Micah 4:9-10:

"Now, why do you cry out loudly? Is there no king among you, Or has your counselor perished, That agony has gripped you like a woman in childbirth? ¹⁰ "Writhe and labor to give birth, Daughter of Zion, Like a woman in childbirth; For now you will go out of the city, Dwell in the field, And go to Babylon. There you will be rescued; There the LORD will redeem you From the hand of your enemies.

Here we see Micah is paint a word picture of a woman in labor to expose what led to the distress and anguish that the Jewish people were experiencing as the army of the Assyrian Empire surrounded the city. Micah basically proclaimed “Why are you crying out in despair? After all, you have a king and you have counselors who can give you guidance and put your trust in?”

You see, similar to last week when the prophet Isaiah confronted King Ahaz for placing his confident trust in the Assyrian Empire instead of the Lord, here Micah is confronting the Jewish people of his day for placing their trust in human plans and power instead of the Lord. Micah then predicted and proclaimed that there would be a day in the future when the Jewish people would be conquered and led captive to Babylon.  Their selfishness and rebellion that led them to place their trust in their own plans and power instead of the Lord would lead to them being conquered and led into captivity.

What is so fascinating is that Micah made this prediction and proclamation in 701 B.C., when the Assyrian Empire, not the Babylonian Empire, was the dominant military and political power in the world. However, 125 years before the events in history would actually occur, Micah proclaimed that the Assyrian Empire would be conquered by the Babylonian Empire, which would then invade the Jewish nation and, in 586 B.C., conquer the nation and lead them into captivity.

In addition, Micah proclaimed that there would be a day in the future, after their captivity, that the Jewish people would be given the opportunity to return to their home. And in 538 B.C., 50 years after being conquered and led captive by the Babylonian Empire, the Persian Emperor Cyrus, after conquering the Babylonian Empire, allowed the Jewish people to return home in fulfillment of this prediction by Micah. However, as Micah continued to proclaim the Lord’s message to the Jewish people, we see Micah make another amazing prediction and proclamation.

Tomorrow we will look at that prediction and proclamation together...

The echoes of Christmas remind us of the Lord’s faithfulness in the face of our faithlessness...

This week we have been looking at an echo of Christmas from an event from history that is preserved and recorded for us in a section of a letter in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Isaiah. So far this week, we have looked on as the Jewish people shook from fear at the prospect of being invaded and conquered by the invading armies of the northern kingdom of Israel and the nation of Aram.

And as the invading armies approached, King Ahaz and the Jewish people were faced with a choice. And that choice was this: who were they going to trust? Would they trust in the Lord? Or would they place their trust in the nation of Assyria, who were the Jewish people’s hated enemy. And as King Ahaz faced a potential invasion of the nation that shook him to the core of his being with fear, that the prophet Isaiah approached king Ahaz as the king was preparing for the defense of Jerusalem to deliver a message from the Lord.

Lord’s message to King Ahaz through the prophet Isaiah, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Do not fear these two armies that are plotting together to conquer you and set up a puppet king in place of you, because this plan of theirs will never happen. This plan will never happen because the nation of Aram and the northern kingdom of Israel will soon be conquered themselves. As a matter of fact, within 65 years the nation of the northern kingdom will no longer be Jewish. So do not place your trust in the Assyrians, place your trust in me. But if you do not trust me, if you trust the Assyrians, understand this; you surely will not last”.

In addition, the Lord invited the king to ask for a sign from the Lord to demonstrate that He would do what the prophet promised him that the Lord would do. King Ahaz responded to the invitation to test the Lord by trying to give the appearance of trusting the Lord by refusing to test the Lord. However, the reality was that King Ahaz refused to test the Lord because King Ahaz had already made up his mind to not trust the Lord. The king had already decided that he would place his confident trust in the nation of Assyria instead of the Lord.

And it was this decision by King Ahaz that signaled the beginning of the end for the Jewish people of the southern kingdom. However, while King Ahaz and other leaders of the Jewish people would continue to demonstrate a lack of trust in the Lord, that did not mean that the Lord was done with the Jewish people. Instead, it is at this point that the Lord, through the prophet Isaiah, made a proclamation and a promise that served as an echo of Christmas.

The prophet Isaiah’s words that are recorded for us in Isiah 7:14 are some of the most often cited words during the Christmas season: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. However, these very familiar words are only a part of what the Lord had to say to King Ahaz through Isaiah.

The prophet Isaiah’s prediction and proclamation, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “so, it’s not enough for you to test the patience of men. Instead you want to test My patience by refusing to place your trust in Me and in My promises to you. Well, I will give you a sign anyways, whether you want it or not. A virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. And before the child has reached an age that he can understand the difference between good and evil, both of these nations that you fear will cease to exist. And this child will eat curds and honey because I, the Lord, will deliver the Jewish people from the threat you face in spite of your unwillingness to trust in Me.”

And just one chapter later, we see the fulfillment of this prediction and proclamation in Isaiah 8:1-4. The Lord command Isaiah to take a tablet, and in the presence of two witnesses, Uriah the priest and a man named Zechariah, write the phrase “swift is the booty, speedy is the prey”. After following the Lord’s command in the presence of these two witnesses, Isaiah became engaged to a woman who was a prophetess and who was a virgin. Most scholars and historians believe that Isaiah’s first wife died after giving birth to his first son.

After marrying this prophetess, Isaiah approached his wife, which is another way to say that he had sex with his wife. Isaiah’s wife became pregnant and subsequently gave birth to a son, who he named Maher-shalal-hash-baz. Isaiah’s son would be the fulfillment of the sign that the Lord would give to the Jewish people. And before the child reached the age of two, in 732 B.C. the nation of Assyria plundered both the nation of Aram and the northern kingdom of Israel.  And ten years later in 722 B.C., the northern kingdom of Israel would be conquered and led into captivity by the Assyrian Empire.

Now a natural question that could arise here is “Well Dave, I was always told that this was a prediction about the virgin birth of Jesus on Christmas. But how can this be about Jesus is you are saying that this prediction was already fulfilled over 700 years before Jesus showed up?  So is this verse about Jesus or not?” If that question is running through your mind, I just want to let you know that you are asking a great question.

And my response to your question is this: Isaiah 7:14 was a prediction and proclamation about Jesus and what would happen that first Christmas. And Isaiah 7:14 was a prediction and proclamation about how the Lord would deliver the Jewish people in Isaiah’s day. You see, the child of Isaiah and his second wife that would serve as a sign of a deliverance in the face of the Jewish people’s unfaithfulness was a foreshadowing of another child. This child was the foreshadowing of another child who would be the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to send a greater deliverer, who would arrive in a more miraculous fashion, to provide a greater deliverance for humanity in the face of humanities unfaithfulness to the Lord.

You see, while King Ahaz and the Jewish people of the southern kingdom of Judea placed their confident trust in the nation of Assyria instead of the Lord, that trust would be misplaced. And that misplaced trust in Assyria would have devastating consequences for the southern kingdom of Judea, as we see back in Isaiah 7:18-25:

 In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is in the remotest part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. ¹⁹ They will all come and settle on the steep ravines, on the ledges of the cliffs, on all the thorn bushes and on all the watering places. ²⁰ In that day the Lord will shave with a razor, hired from regions beyond the Euphrates (that is, with the king of Assyria), the head and the hair of the legs; and it will also remove the beard. ²¹ Now in that day a man may keep alive a heifer and a pair of sheep; ²² and because of the abundance of the milk produced he will eat curds, for everyone that is left within the land will eat curds and honey. ²³And it will come about in that day, that every place where there used to be a thousand vines, valued at a thousand shekels of silver, will become briars and thorns. ²⁴ People will come there with bows and arrows because all the land will be briars and thorns. ²⁵ As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the hoe, you will not go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place for pasturing oxen and for sheep to trample.

Here we see the prophet Isaiah proclaim that there would be a day when the Lord would whistle for the nations of Assyria and Egypt to come and devastate the Jewish people of the southern kingdom of Judea. And these invading nations, like flies and bees, would be everywhere, there would be no escape. The Jewish people would be humbled and humiliated, as when someone had their head shaved as a sign of disgrace. The Jewish people would be deported, and the land would be depopulated so that just a few cattle and livestock would be able to provide for the few people that would be left. The land would return to wilderness where weapons would be necessary to defend against attacks from wild animals.

And from 732 B.C. to 701 B.C., the Assyrian Empire would be a menace to the Jewish people. Eventually, the Assyrian Empire would be conquered by the Babylonian Empire, which would then invade the Jewish people and in 586 B.C. conquer the nation and lead them into captivity. Yet it is here, in this event from history, that we discover a timeless echo of Christmas that serves as a reminder to humanity throughout history. And that timeless echo is this: The echoes of Christmas remind us of the Lord’s faithfulness in the face of our faithlessness.

You see, it is in this event from history that we see the Lord demonstrate His faithfulness in the face of the Jewish people’s faithlessness. It is in this event from history where the Lord would deliver the Jewish people in the face of their unfaithfulness that would serve as an echo of the promise of another child. It is in this event from history that we see an echo of a promise of a child who would serve as a sign from the Lord of a deliverer, who the Lord would send to deliver humanity in the face of their unfaithfulness.

An echo of another child who would be the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to send a greater deliverer, who would arrive in a more miraculous fashion, to provide a greater deliverance for humanity in the face of humanities unfaithfulness to the Lord. And it is this echo of Christmas that serves to remind us that the Lord provides humanity the opportunity to be delivered and rescued from their selfishness and rebellion in the face of our faithlessness to the Lord, not because of our faithfulness to the Lord.

Because that is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is about the Lord’s faithfulness in the face of our faithlessness that has echoed throughout human history.

However, the Lord’s faithfulness in the face of our faithlessness is not the only echo of Christmas. Next week, we will uncover another echo of Christmas...

A Familiar Phrase of the Christmas Season...

This week we are looking at an echo of Christmas that is preserved and recorded for us in a section of a letter in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Isaiah. And it is in this event from history that we are reminded of an echo of Christmas that has reverberated throughout history. Yesterday we looked on and discovered that, as the united armies of the northern kingdom of Israel and Aram marched toward Jerusalem, the Jewish people were shaken with fear. Just like a tree that is pummeled by the winds of a monsoon storm, the Jewish people shook from fear at the prospect of being invaded and conquered by the invading armies of the northern kingdom of Israel and the nation of Aram.

And as the invading armies approached, King Ahaz and the Jewish people were faced with a choice. And that choice was this: who were they going to trust? Would they trust in the Lord? And it is in this context, as King Ahaz faced a potential invasion of the nation that shook him to the core of his being with fear, that the prophet Isaiah approached king Ahaz as the king was preparing for the defense of Jerusalem to deliver a message from the Lord.

Now the Lord’s message to King Ahaz through the prophet Isaiah, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Do not fear these two armies that are plotting together to conquer you and set up a puppet king in place of you, because this plan of theirs will never happen. This plan will never happen because the nation of Aram and the northern kingdom of Israel will soon be conquered themselves. As a matter of fact, within 65 years the nation of the northern kingdom will no longer be Jewish. So do not place your trust in the Assyrians, place your trust in me. But if you do not trust me, if you trust the Assyrians, understand this; you surely will not last”. And to make sure that King Ahaz understood how serious the Lord was when it came to His message and His promise, we see the Lord say that following in verse 10-11:

Then the LORD spoke again to Ahaz, saying, ¹¹ "Ask a sign for yourself from the LORD your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven."

Now, if Isaiah was writing these verses today, these verses may have sounded something like this: King Ahaz, the Lord, the God of the Jewish people who has made Himself known to the Jewish people throughout history and has intervened for the Jewish people in history. The Lord, who has entered into a covenant relationship with your ancestor King David so that the Jewish people would live in a special relationship with Him invites you to put Him to the test. The Lord invites you to ask for whatever sign that you would like the Lord to do to prove that He will do what I have told you He would do. King Ahaz, there is no limit on what you may ask for when it comes to a sign from the Lord to demonstrate to you that He will do what I have told you He would do. We see how King Ahaz responded to the invitation to put the Lord to the test in verse 12:

 ¹² But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, nor will I test the LORD!"

King Ahaz responded to the invitation to test the Lord by trying to give the appearance of trusting the Lord by refusing to test the Lord. However, the reality was that King Ahaz refused to test the Lord because King Ahaz had already made up his mind to not trust the Lord. The king had already decided that he would place his confident trust in the nation of Assyria instead of the Lord.

In 2 Kings 16:7-11, we discover that King Ahaz responded to his situation by appealing and paying the nation of Assyria a great sum of money to come to their aid. The Jewish people broke their covenant with the Lord in order to enter into a covenant with the false gods of the nation of Assyria. However, such a short-sighted decision by King Ahaz failed to recognize that the nation of Assyria, and not Israel or Aram, were the real threat to the Jewish people of the southern kingdom. And it was this decision by King Ahaz that signaled the beginning of the end for the Jewish people of the southern kingdom. This was the turning point that would lead to the southern kingdom being conquered and led captive by the Babylonian Empire in 586 B.C.

However, while King Ahaz and other leaders of the Jewish people would continue to demonstrate a lack of trust in the Lord, that did not mean that the Lord was done with the Jewish people. Instead, it is at this point that the Lord, through the prophet Isaiah, made a proclamation and a promise that served as an echo of Christmas. And echo of Christmas that we see beginning in verse 13-17:

 ¹³ Then he said, "Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well? ¹⁴ "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. ¹⁵ "He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good. ¹⁶ "For before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken. ¹⁷ "The LORD will bring on you, on your people, and on your father's house such days as have never come since the day that Ephraim separated from Judah, the king of Assyria."

Now Isaiah’s words that are recorded for us in Isaiah 7:14 are some of the most often cited words during the Christmas season: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. However, these very familiar words are only a part of what the Lord had to say to King Ahaz through Isaiah.

The prophet Isaiah’s prediction and proclamation, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “so, it’s not enough for you to test the patience of men. Instead you want to test My patience by refusing to place your trust in Me and in My promises to you. Well, I will give you a sign anyways, whether you want it or not. A virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. And before the child has reached an age that he can understand the difference between good and evil, both of these nations that you fear will cease to exist. And this child will eat curds and honey because I, the Lord, will deliver the Jewish people from the threat you face in spite of your unwillingness to trust in Me.”

And just one chapter later, we see the fulfillment of this prediction and proclamation in Isaiah 8:1-4:

Then the LORD said to me, "Take for yourself a large tablet and write on it in ordinary letters: Swift is the booty, speedy is the prey. ² "And I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah." ³ So I approached the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the LORD said to me, "Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz; ⁴ for before the boy knows how to cry out 'My father ' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria."

Here we see the Lord command Isaiah to take a tablet, and in the presence of two witnesses, Uriah the priest and a man named Zechariah, write the phrase “swift is the booty, speedy is the prey”. After following the Lord’s command in the presence of these two witnesses, Isaiah became engaged to a woman who was a prophetess and who was a virgin. Most scholars and historians believe that Isaiah’s first wife died after giving birth to his first son.

After marrying this prophetess, Isaiah approached his wife, which is another way to say that he had sex with his wife. Isaiah’s wife became pregnant and subsequently gave birth to a son, who he named Maher-shalal-hash-baz. Because that seems like a natural name for a child, doesn’t it? Actually, this name literally means “quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil”, which sounds remarkably similar to what the prophet Isaiah wrote on the tablet before the two witnesses.

You see, Isaiah’s son would be the fulfillment of the sign that the Lord would give to the Jewish people. And before the child reached the age of two, in 732 B.C. the nation of Assyria plundered both the nation of Aram and the northern kingdom of Israel.  And ten years later in 722 B.C., the northern kingdom of Israel would be conquered and led into captivity by the Assyrian Empire.

Now a natural question that could arise here is “Well Dave, I was always told that this was a prediction about the virgin birth of Jesus on Christmas. But how can this be about Jesus is you are saying that this prediction was already fulfilled over 700 years before Jesus showed up?  So is this verse about Jesus or not?” If that question is running through your mind, I just want to let you know that you are asking a great question.

Friday we will answer that question and discover a timeless echo of Christmas...

Experiencing the echoes of Christmas...

This week we find ourselves in the midst of the Christmas season. And as we find ourselves in the midst of the Christmas season, we can find ourselves reminiscing about Christmases past. You see, there is just something about the Christmas season the causes us to go back to recall our childhood and our favorite memories of Christmases growing up. There is just something about the Christmas season that echoes back to Christmases past.  And we can find ourselves in a place where the echoes of Christmas are all around us.

We can experience the echoes of Christmas as we put up the Christmas tree. We can experience the echoes of Christmas when we turn on the radio and hear a favorite Christmas carol. We can experience the echoes of Christmas when we are shopping for that special gift for that special someone. We can experience the echoes of Christmas when we gather around the kitchen table to make our favorite Christmas cookies. We can experience the echoes of Christmas as we smell the smells of our favorite Christmas meal cooking in the kitchen. And we can experience the echoes of Christmas as we gather together around a table to connect with family and friends and as we reflect on those who are no longer at the table.

You see, there is something about Christmas that powerfully echoes us back to Christmases of the past. And there is something powerful about the echoes of Christmases past the reverberate and impact our Christmas celebrations in the present. And for many of us, the powerful echoes of Christmases past will reverberate and impact our Christmas celebrations long into the future. Because, this morning, the timeless reality is that there are echoes of Christmas that have impacted humanity for over 2,000 years.

So in the weeks leading up to Christmas we are going to spend our time together at the church where I serve in a sermon series entitled "Echoes of Christmas". During this series, we are going to look at three different events from history that served as echoes that reverberated and impacted the very first Christmas. During this series, we are going to discover how these echoes of Christmas continue to reverberate and impact our lives today. And as we go through this series, our hope and our prayer is that God would move, by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that we would wrap our heads, hearts, and hands around these echoes of Christmas and the impact that they have had on Christmases throughout history, so that we would live lives that reflect these echoes of Christmas to those around us every day of every year.

This week, I would like for us to spend our time together looking at the first echo of Christmas that we will look at during this series. We find this echo in an event from history that is preserved and recorded for us in a section of a letter in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Isaiah. And it is in this event from history that we are reminded of an echo of Christmas that has reverberated throughout history. So let’s look at the context in which this echo of Christmas appears, beginning in Isaiah 7:1-2. Let’s look at it together:

Now it came about in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not conquer it. ² When it was reported to the house of David, saying, "The Arameans have camped in Ephraim," his heart and the hearts of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake with the wind.

Now to understand what is happening in this event from history, we first need to understand the context in which this event from history took place. During this time in history, the Jewish people were a nation that was divided into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom, which was referred to as Israel and the southern kingdom, which was referred to as Judah. This event from history occurred between 736 and 734 B.C. and is recorded for us in a section of another letter in the Old Testament of the Bible, called the book of 2 Kings, in 2 Kings 16:5-6. At this time in history, the southern kingdom of Judea was led by King Ahaz.

Now King Ahaz was one of the most wicked kings to ever led the Jewish people. The letters that make up the Bible tells us that King Ahaz embraced the idolatry that had previously consumed the Jewish people who were a part of the northern kingdom of Israel. King Ahaz worshipped the false gods of the nations that surrounded the Jewish people that the Lord had commanded the Jewish people to destroy when He delivered them from slavery at the hands of the nation of Egypt. As part of his idolatrous worship, King Ahaz burned incense to these false gods and even burned his sons in fire to these false gods.

With that background in mind, here we see Isaiah explain that the northern kingdom of Israel had made an alliance with the nation of Aram, which was located in modern day Syria, to attack King Ahaz and the southern kingdom of Judah. And as the united armies of the northern kingdom of Israel and Aram marched toward Jerusalem, the Jewish people were shaken with fear. Just like a tree that is pummeled by the winds of a monsoon storm, the Jewish people shook from fear at the prospect of being invaded and conquered by the invading armies of the northern kingdom of Israel and the nation of Aram.

And as the invading armies approached, King Ahaz and the Jewish people were faced with a choice. And that choice was this: who were they going to trust? Would they trust in the Lord? Or would they place their trust in the nation of Assyria, who were the Jewish people’s hated enemy. If the Jewish people chose to place their trust in the nation of Assyria, this would not simply involve relying of the military might of their army. You see, at this time in history, to enter in an alliance with another nation was to enter into a relationship with that nation’s gods.

Thus, an alliance with the nation of Assyria would require the southern kingdom of Judea to enter into a covenant commitment that involved a recognition of the Assyrian gods and an admission of their lordship over the Jewish people. In addition, King Ahaz would have to redesign the altar at the Temple in Jerusalem in order that sacrifices to the gods of the nation of Assyria could be made.  And it is in this context, as King Ahaz faced a potential invasion of the nation that shook him to the core of his being with fear, that the prophet Isaiah approached king Ahaz as the king was preparing for the defense of Jerusalem to deliver a message from the Lord. A message that is recorded for us in Isaiah 7:3-9:

Then the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the fuller's field, ⁴ and say to him, 'Take care and be calm, have no fear and do not be fainthearted because of these two stubs of smoldering firebrands, on account of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah. ⁵ 'Because Aram, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has planned evil against you, saying, ⁶ "Let us go up against Judah and terrorize it, and make for ourselves a breach in its walls and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it," ⁷ thus says the Lord GOD: "It shall not stand nor shall it come to pass. ⁸ "For the head of Aram is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin (now within another 65 years Ephraim will be shattered, so that it is no longer a people), ⁹ and the head of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you will not believe, you surely shall not last."'"

Now the Lord’s message to King Ahaz through the prophet Isaiah, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Do not fear these two armies that are plotting together to conquer you and set up a puppet king in place of you, because this plan of theirs will never happen. This plan will never happen because the nation of Aram and the northern kingdom of Israel will soon be conquered themselves. As a matter of fact, within 65 years the nation of the northern kingdom will no longer be Jewish. So do not place your trust in the Assyrians, place your trust in me. But if you do not trust me, if you trust the Assyrians, understand this; you surely will not last”. And to make sure that King Ahaz understood how serious the Lord was when it came to His message and His promise, we see the Lord say that following in verse 10-11:

Then the LORD spoke again to Ahaz, saying, ¹¹ "Ask a sign for yourself from the LORD your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven."

Now, if Isaiah was writing these verses today, these verses may have sounded something like this: “King Ahaz, the Lord, the God of the Jewish people who has made Himself known to the Jewish people throughout history and has intervened for the Jewish people in history. The Lord, who has entered into a covenant relationship with your ancestor King David so that the Jewish people would live in a special relationship with Him invites you to put Him to the test. The Lord invites you to ask for whatever sign that you would like the Lord to do to prove that He will do what I have told you He would do. King Ahaz, there is no limit on what you may ask for when it comes to a sign from the Lord to demonstrate to you that He will do what I have told you He would do.”

Tomorrow, we will see how King Ahaz responded to the invitation to put the Lord to the test…

A shallow and insincere relationship with the Lord dishonors the Lord...

This week we have been looking at a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Malachi. So far this week, we looked on as the Lord accused the Jewish people of refusing to show honor and respect to Him. The Lord accused the Jewish people of viewing the worship of Him as being something that was to be loathed and viewed with contempt.  The Jewish people were being accused of being so unimpressed with the Lord and thinking so lightly of Him that they failed to give any honor or respect to Him.

As far as the Jewish people were concerned, worship was a duty that needed to be done. There was no excitement about worship; there was no sense of expectancy when it came to worship; and there was no delight in worship. Instead, worship was done out of duty with loathing; worship was viewed with contempt as something to be endured. We looked on as the Lord made it abundantly clear that He would rather that we not worship at all than receive worship that makes light of Him. The Lord would rather that we not worship at all than receive worship that is out of duty and that gives Him less than our best. The Lord would rather that we not worship at all than receive worship that is driven by duty instead of delight. I

Instead Malachi predicted and proclaimed that in the future all of the nations would honor and make much of God. From as far as the east is to the west, individuals across continents and cultures would respond to who God is, what God has done, and what God has promised to do by worshipping Him. But not only were the Jewish people dishonoring and despising God through their words; they were also dishonoring and despising God through their actions. The Jewish people decided that the Lord was only worthy of their leftovers and had come to the conclusion that the Lord could be deceived into thinking that they were offering the best when in fact they were offering the worst.

Malachi then proclaimed that the person who attempted to deceive the Lord into thinking that they were giving Him their best when in fact they were giving Him their worst in worship would receive a curse from the Lord. And throughout the book of Malachi, the prophet continued to confront the Jewish people with their rebellion against the Lord and warn the Jewish people of the response that awaited them as a result of their rebellion. We see this reality revealed by Malachi in the conclusion of his letter, which serves as the second bookend of this letter, which begins in Malachi 3:13-15:

"Your words have been arrogant against Me," says the LORD. " "Yet you say, 'What have we spoken against You?'” "You have said, 'It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the LORD of hosts? 'So now we call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up but they also test God and escape.'"

Malachi begins by revealing another accusation which, if communicating in the language that we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “You have used strong and harsh words against Me when you have talked about Me to others”. And once again, the Jewish people responded to the prophet’s accusation with a plea of ignorance. “What have we said about You that was harsh? We haven’t said anything bad about You.”

After hearing the Jewish people’s denial, Malachi, provided four pieces of evidence of the Jewish people’s strong and harsh words against the Lord. First, the Jewish people were telling others that serving and following the Lord was foolish and worthless. Second, the Jewish people were basically saying “what do we gain by observing His commands? How does it benefit us to walk in His ways?”

Third, the Jewish people were painting a word picture of how a person conducted themselves at a funeral to communicate to others that they no longer found joy on following God. Instead, like attending a funeral, it was a dreadful duty that did not benefit them at all. And fourth, the Jewish people were telling others is that God blesses the arrogant. However, not every Jewish person held such a view of the Lord, as Malachi revealed in verse 16-18:

Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name. "They will be Mine," says the LORD of hosts, "on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him." So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.

Here we see Malachi explain that there were some Jewish people who still held the Lord in honor; there were some Jewish people who still thought highly and made much of the Lord. And those Jewish people continued to gather together in community to encourage one another to remain faithful to living lives that honored and glorified the Lord. Malachi then explained that the Lord responded by leaning in to listen and that a book of remembrance was written before the Lord for those who fear the Lord and esteem His name. This book of remembrance was to serve as a memorial of the faithfulness of the Jewish people who did not buy into the lie that following the Lord was foolish and futile.

A book of remembrance would be written so that, at the end of God’s story here on earth, when every human being will give an account for how they lived their lives here on earth, the book of remembrance would provide the evidence of their faithfulness during their life here on earth. And on that day when the Lord establishes the kingdom of Heaven in its fullest sense, Malachi explained that those who were faithful to the Lord throughout history will be God’s possession. Just as a father has compassion on his faithful son who serves him, the Lord will have compassion on those who are faithful to Him.

And as a result of the Lord’s activity at the end of God’s story, the prophet explained that all humanity will be able to distinguish between the righteous and the wicked. There will be a crystal clear distinction between those are just and right when it comes to their relationship with God and those who are guilty of not being right when it comes to a relationship with God. Malachi then unpacked exactly how this distinction will become so crystal clear in Malachi 4:1-3:

"For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze," says the LORD of hosts, "so that it will leave them neither root nor branch." "But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.  "You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing," says the LORD of hosts.

Here we see Malachi proclaim that, upon the Messiah’s arrival at the end of God’s story here on earth, the Messiah will sift through all of humanity and gather all of those who reject the Lord and the word of the Lord to experience the eternal judgment that awaits those who reject Him. And that judgment, according to Malachi will be thorough and complete. However, for those who honor and glorify the Lord, they will experience the blessings that come from living faithfully and rightly with Him. Those who live in a right relationship with the Lord will experience justice and righteousness in the fullest sense. 

Those who live in a right relationship with the Lord will experience healing from the damage and destruction that selfishness and rebellion have wreaked on the earth. Those who live in a right relationship with the Lord will experience the joy that comes in living in the fullness of the relationship with God that they were created for. And those who live in a right relationship with God will overcome and dominate those who have received God’s right and just response to their selfishness and rebellion upon the Messiah’s coming. Malachi then concluded his letter by reminding the Jewish people of the Lord’s promise of the Messiah and His coming in verses 4-6:

"Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel. "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. "He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse."

Malachi commanded the Jewish people to keep watch and make sure that they followed the Lord’s commands as given to Moses. The reason that they are to make sure to keep and follow the Lord’s commands was due to the fact that the Lord would send Elijah the prophet before the arrival of the Messiah and the ushering in of the kingdom of Heaven. Upon his arrival, Malachi explains that he will be used by God to “restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers.”

Just as reconciliation within a family involves a turning toward one another to restore the broken relationship, the Lord would take the initiative to restore the broken relationship with humanity. And, it is here, when God speaks, that we discover a timeless truth about the nature and character of God and His activity in history. And that timeless truth is this: A shallow and insincere relationship with the Lord dishonors the Lord. Just as it was for the Jewish people of Malachi's day, just as it has been throughout history, a shallow and insincere relationship with the Lord dishonors the Lord.

You see, the point of the book of Malachi is that a shallow and insincere relationship with the Lord will lead us to give the Lord our leftovers in worship of the Lord. The point of the book of Malachi is that a shallow and insincere relationship with the Lord will lead us to view having a relationship with the Lord as a duty rather than a delight. The point of the book of Malachi is that a shallow and insincere relationship with the Lord will lead us to have a faulty view of how the Lord responds to those who rebel and reject Him.

And when we give the Lord our leftovers when it comes to worship, we dishonor the Lord. When we view a relationship with the Lord as a duty rather than a delight, we dishonor the Lord. When we have a faulty view when it comes to how the Lord responds to those who rebel and reject Him, we dishonor the Lord.

We dishonor the Lord because our view of worship reveals that we have a shallow and insincere relationship with the Lord. We dishonor the Lord because a life of duty to the Lord instead of delight in the Lord reveals that we have a shallow and insincere relationship with the Lord. We dishonor the Lord because a faulty view of the Lord’s response to rebellion reveals that we have a shallow and insincere relationship with the Lord.

So here is a question to consider: How do you view your relationship with the Lord? Is your relationship with the Lord driven out of duty to the Lord or delight in the Lord?  

Because, as we have discovered, a shallow and insincere relationship with the Lord dishonors the Lord...