It’s Complicated

A series on Isaiah 9:6 – The Child of Prophecy
 – Son of God
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Isaiah 7:1-17; Matthew 1:18-25 

[Jesus was a child of prophecy. The Christmas story in the Bible was predicted in many Old Testament prophecies but the centerpiece of these is Isaiah 9:6. It was written nearly six hundred years before Jesus’ birth. In this series we’re going to look at the meaning and implications of this amazing prophecy.]

 

“The Night Before Christmas” is a classic poem/book about Santa Claus being discovered by a dad on Christmas Eve. It paints an idyllic picture of the children snug in their beds when Dad hears a noise and springs from his bed. To his surprise he discovers that it’s Santa and his eight tiny reindeer.

 

Another image of Christmas is the surreal picture of the baby Jesus lying in a manger with Joseph and Mary gazing at him. A bright star shines overhead. Close by are some shepherds. Three wise men are kneeling and a few barn animals graze nearby. It all looks so very peaceful.

 

However, life was anything but peaceful or idyllic during Isaiah’s ministry as the Lord’s prophet. Assyria was on a murderous rampage moving westward and conquering any nation that dared to get in their way… including Israel and Aram.

 

To protect themselves, King Rezin of Aram and King Remaliah of Israel, formed an alliance. Then they devised a plan to coerce King Ahaz of Judah to join with them. But their real plan was to dismantle Judah and put their own puppet king in place of Ahaz.

 

Despite Isaiah telling him that the Sovereign Lord had promised that their plan would fail, Ahaz trembled in fear. He didn’t have faith in the Lord. Because of this, he decided to take things into his own hands by making an alliance with Assyria against Israel and Aram. It’s complicated!

 

But the Lord gave Ahaz a sign to confirm his promise of protection.

 

¹⁴ Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.                NIV

 

Fast forward over 700 years later. Mary, a teenage girl was engaged to Joseph. But he learned that she was pregnant so he planned to divorce her quietly. However, an angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him that the baby was miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit. Also, that she would have a son who was to be named Jesus because he would “save his people from their sins”.

 

²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).       NIV

 

Truth be known, it wasn’t peaceful or idyllic for Joseph or Mary. In fact, it must have been very stressful! After all, Mary eventually went to her cousin Elizabeth’s to avoid the rumors and shame of being pregnant. And Joseph’s carpentry business could very easily have been hurt by the apparent illicit affair. It’s complicated!

 

In an effort to make it less complicated, John explained it like this.

 

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.         NIV

 

Jesus, the Son of Man and the Son of God doesn’t promise peace, but he does give us peace in the midst of chaos. Life is complicated, but the Sovereign Lord is always with us.

 

Copyright 2024 Joseph B Williams

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We Are… Marshall

A Series on the letter of 1 John
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
1 John 5 

[The author of this letter is John. Prior to being a disciple of Jesus, he was a fisherman with a reputation for his bad temper. In fact, he and his brother were called the “Sons of Thunder”. But he was also known as “the one whom Jesus loved”. In this letter, John shares that same love with us.]

  

The 2006 movie titled “We Are Marshall”, is based on a true story about a college football team, a school and a town that needed to mourn a tragic loss and to heal. On November 14, 1970, a plane crashed that was carrying the Marshall University football team, coaches, staff and boosters. All died!

 

In the movie, the newly hired coach gave his newly recruited team an inspirational message before their first game. He took them to the memorial site where six of the deceased players were buried. This is an excerpt from his message.

 

“When you take that field today, you’ve got to lay your heart on the line until the final whistle blows. And if you do that, we cannot lose. We may be behind on the scoreboard at the end of the game, but if you play like that, we cannot be defeated. This is your opportunity to rise from the ashes and grab glory.”

 

The players responded with a “we’re ready-to-run-through-a-wall coach”, call and response chant of - “We are… Marshall”!
(You can watch this scene by clicking on the link below.)
We Are Marshall

 

In the closing paragraphs of John’s letter, he summarizes several significant themes. He does it with a repetitive phrase starting with “We know”. As I read these it reminded me of the movie. It’s not a call and response like the Marshall chant, but it has that feel to it.

 

In a way, John’s giving the believers a pep talk to teach them; prepare them; inspire them. They’ve already faced the adversity of heretical teachings which led to people they knew, some of them were likely friends, rejecting their faith and leaving the fellowship. Plus, the believers would certainly face more adversity.

 

¹⁸ We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.

¹⁹ We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.

²⁰ And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.            NLT

 

As you read these verses, could you feel the rhythm of the chant from the movie? We know… that God’s son holds you in his arms; we know… that you are a child of God living in a sinful world; we know… that you live in fellowship with the Son of God.

 

Do these words move your heart and soul? Like the players, are you ready to run through a wall for your faith? Do they inspire you to “rise from the ashes and grab glory” for the Son of God?

 

John also wrote these simple words of encouragement for us.

 

¹¹ And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.    NLT

 

Copyright 2022 Joseph B Williams

 

Good versus Evil

The Life of Jesus Series:

How Jesus interacted with others.

Mark 5:1-20

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%205%3A1-20&version=NIV;NLT

 

My grandson’s favorite supervillain is Thanos, a fictional Marvel Comic character who most recently appeared in Avengers: Endgame.

 

 

 

 

 

Like Thanos, the demon possessed man in Mark 5 had super natural strength. He was a scary guy.

 

³ This man lived in the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. ⁴ Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. ⁵ Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones. NLT

 

The demon possessed man saw Jesus from a distance. After Jesus crossed the lake, the man ran to meet him as the boat landed. Then the story gets really bizarre as Jesus has a full blown conversation with the demons, and sends them into a herd of pigs who then plunge into the lake and drown; all 2000 of them.

 

In the Greek, demon possessed is translated as unclean. The NIV translates it as an impure spirit. You could legitimately say that we all have an unclean, or impure, spirit within us because of our sinful nature. There doesn’t have to be a demon for that to be true.

 

This story would make a great Avenger’s movie. Thanos versus Adam Warlock; good versus evil; with good winning out. Here, good and evil were battling over the man with an unclean spirit.

 

During the battle, he asked a profound question, and at the same time, made a profound statement. “What do you want with me, Jesus? Son of the Most High God.” We could ask the same question… and make the same statement. If we did, maybe good would defeat evil more often.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Superman

1 Timothy 6:11-21

 

 

“Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive!

Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!”

“Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane!

It’s Superman!”

 

These are the powerful words that I heard as a little boy every time Superman was on TV in the 50’s. Normally, he was mild mannered Clark Kent, a journalist. But when he put on his cape, he became a hero who went flying around Metropolis defeating the bad guys with super human powers. He was one man who changed the world around him. And I wanted to be like him.

 

In today’s passage Paul addresses Timothy as a man of God. Obviously Paul had great respect for him and believed that Timothy, like Superman, could change the world around him. He could do it, not because he had super human powers, but because God was with him and had called Timothy to Ephesus. Being called a man of God carried with it high expectations.

 

Listen to some of Paul’s challenging words to Timothy:

 

• But you, man of God, flee from this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
• Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.
• I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame.
• Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth.
• Guard what has been entrusted to your care.

 

Clearly, being a man of God who is called to change the world is not an easy task. However, like Timothy, God has called us to guard what has been entrusted to us; to keep his commands without spot or blame; to flee sin and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness; to live a life that shares Christ’s love.

 

In so doing, we will be fighting evil in the world. We may not be Superman, but we can be a Man or Woman of God who can change the world around us. Not because we have super human powers, but because we know God will never leave us, is always faithful, has gifted us, loves us and has sent us to do His will.

 

To Make Your Joy Complete

1 John 1:1-4

 

 

Hello. My name is John. Not John the Baptist, but John a son of Zebedee. I’m a fisherman by trade and used to work in my father’s business with my brother James. Mostly we fished in the Sea of Galilee.

 

There has been a lot of unrest in our little part of the world. People were unhappy with the oppressive Roman rule, and our Jewish religion was at a fever pitch of expectation for the Messiah. First John the Baptist appeared, but he claimed not to be the Messiah.

 

Then this other man showed up. He was a common carpenter, but people were beginning to follow him like a great teacher. In fact, one day my brother James and I were fishing when he called us to follow him. We left our boat immediately. I don’t know how our Father got along, but we had to follow this man Jesus.

 

We were with Jesus day and night for the next three years, and during those years I witnessed some of the most amazing things. He healed the sick, made the lame to walk, cleansed the leper, fed thousands in one sitting and turned water into wine. He even raised the dead and forgave sins. Only God can do that.

 

I have wonderful memories of him. On one occasion he took Peter, James and I to the top of a mountain. We saw the brightest light I’ve ever seen. Then a voice that filled my soul said, “This is my son whom I love. With him I am well pleased”.

 

We were in Jerusalem for Passover when everything started to unravel. He took Peter, James and I out to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. The next thing we knew, Jesus was being dragged away by soldiers. He was tortured, beaten, mocked and spit upon. There was a travesty of a trial and finally he was hung on a cross. I felt so powerless and so ashamed. I loved him so much, but fear paralyzed me.

 

The day after the Sabbath all of us were sitting around in a safe house feeling sorry for ourselves when some of the women came running into the room breathless with an unbelievable story. The tomb where Jesus had been buried was empty. We were stunned. Soon though Mary came, and with tears in her eyes, told us that Jesus was alive; that she had seen him, talked with him and touched him.

 

Indeed, Jesus stayed with us for another 40 days before we watched him ascend into heaven. I’ll never forget it. My life will never be the same because of him. That is why I wrote these letters: “to make my joy complete”.

 

You see, Jesus was the Son of God and he was the incarnation of God Himself sent here to bring salvation to all who would believe and follow. And in a way, those of us who believe and follow him are his hands and feet. Maybe even in a small way, we are Jesus to those with whom we share his love. That is why I share with you and why you need to share with others. So that your joy may be complete also.

 

Won’t you join me?