Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Three weeks from today we’ll be in that strange week between Christmas and New Year. All the euphoria of Christmas will have faded, some toys and other Christmas gifts already lost or broken, many Christmas trees dismantled, ornaments put away for another year, as all around the world people begin to prepare for the end of 2022 and the beginning of a new year. But we’re not there yet, we still have almost three weeks in our journey toward Christmas, so let’s not allow the anticipation of the New Year steal from us all that God wants Christmas to be for us this year.
In our 30 day “Walking with Jesus” journey to Christmas 2022 I’ve been trying to help us find events or proclamations or even people in the Old Testament which pointed forward to Christmas, centuries into the future. Yesterday we were with Moses and 1 million fleeing Hebrew slaves as they followed a great light in the sky, fleeing Egyptian bondage as God’s powerful plagues had finally broken the stronghold of Pharaoh who had refused to let them go.
If you know that story of the Exodus, you’ll recall it didn’t take long and euphoria of escape turned to panic of Pharaoh’s army pursuing the fleeing slaves! The people were on foot carrying all their belongings, but Pharaoh’s army was on horseback and chariots! The army was the most powerful force in the world at that time, the Hebrew slaves had no weapons nor any training for fighting. They were helpless and hopeless, especially when they realized that great light in the sky had led them into what appeared to be a trap! The Red Sea was before them and Pharaoh’s charging army behind them! There was no escape. Certain death was imminent without a miraculous intervention from God!
The people cried out in their desperation and the record of that moment gives us a great proclamation which gave them hope and even though they didn’t know it, Moses’ words pointed forward to Christmas: “Do not be afraid! Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today! The Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only be still!” (Ex. 14:13,14) From that day to this God has over and over again come to the rescue of His people when they find themselves in helpless and hopeless situations! I wonder how many times you have experienced God’s miraculous rescue in your life journey my friends or how many stories your parents or grandparents have told you of the miracles in their lives?
A few hundred years later God sent a prophet to a Jewish King named Asa as he was in a desperate situation. This was God’s message in that moment: “The eyes of the LORD roam to and fro across the whole earth looking to strengthen those whose hearts are fully devoted to Him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9) Have you found that promise of God to be true in your life? I like to link it with this great promise from Psalm 9:9,10: “The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know Your name will trust in You, for You, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek You.” Oh, the number of times I’ve held tightly to that promise of God when I’ve faced terrifying situations in life! How about you, my friends?
As the Hebrew slaves stood helpless with the Red Sea before them and Pharaoh’s army behind them, God made a profound proclamation not once but three times: “I will gain glory for Myself through Pharaoh and his army…” (Ex. 14:4,17,18). Do you remember the powerful role of the ‘angel of the LORD” in that experience? Exodus 14:19 says “The angel of the LORD who had been traveling in front of Israel withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between them and the armies of Egypt. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to one side and light to the other so neither went near each other all night.”
In the morning, I’m sure you remember God sent a strong wind to open the Red Sea so the fleeing Hebrew slaves could follow a route of escape but also a route that would end up being death for Pharaoh’s entire army, as the walls of water closed over them as they chased after the Hebrews into the Red Sea!
Exodus 15 is an entire chapter of celebration and praise to God as the Hebrew slaves stood on the shoreline looking at all the floating debris of the miracle of God’s destruction of Pharaoh’s army!
Do you see how this event points forward to Christmas? Several times angels sent from God stepped into our human world to bring great glory to God as He accomplished His miraculous Christmas redemption plan by sending Jesus to our confused, dark, enslaving world. God sent angels to explain the impossible first to Zechariah (Luke 1:11) and then to Mary (Luke 1:26) and then to Joseph (Matt. 1:20) and then to shepherds announcing “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests. A Savior has been born to you…” (Luke 2:11-14)
Christmas is all about God gaining glory for Himself through Jesus, the Son of God, coming to earth to proclaim God’s truth, to live demonstrating God’s power, to die and rise from the dead in victory over Satan and sin and death, providing rescue from sin bondage for any human being who would trust God. But God also sent angels to protect His plan and His Son as a God sent angel warned and led Joseph and Mary to take infant Jesus and flee from Bethlehem in the night since King Herod sent soldiers to kill all the young boys! And then God did it again as He sent an angel to invite Joseph to leave Egypt and move to Nazareth, after King Herod was dead!
I wonder how God has led you in your life my friends, protecting you along your way? Will you join me today in celebrating how God has, down through history, brought great glory to Himself by intervening in human history to accomplish His great plans and purposes for the benefit of humanity while also defeating the schemes of evil attempting to enslave or destroy humanity! That is the glory of Christmas my friends, and this song helps us celebrate it! I wonder what your response will be today and each day from now till Christmas as we live the wonder of this song.
Today’s Scripture is Exodus 14.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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