Burunche’s Blog

Luke 1:26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” ²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called^[b] the Son of God. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”

³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Teenage pregnancy! What a disaster! Mary was engaged but there were certain cultural practices that had to be fulfilled, and the engaged couple were not to engage in sex until after the marriage ceremony. If Mary became pregnant before Joseph and she were married, it would be scandalous! How would Mary ever explain to Joseph that an angel had informed her God had selected her? Now an angel was telling Mary that she was to become pregnant and to bear a son who would be the long – awaited Messiah. Why didn’t Mary completely freak out and refuse?

Mary was from a devout family and had heard the scriptures read repeatedly. In addition, the Jews had been waiting for a Messiah, so to be the mother of that Messiah was to be forever remembered and forever blessed. Several hundred years earlier, Isaiah had prophesied, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14) But how could Mary be so accepting, despite the possibility of social disaster? The answer lies in the Spirit in which the Angel Gabriel came. The mark of the Holy Spirit is peace, a peace so deep that it is beyond our comprehension. This peace is so complete that it can calm storms on the Sea of Galilee and restore sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf; it can invigorate lame legs and drive out demons. Once experienced, the peace of the Holy Spirit is unmistakable. And it was that Holy Spirit peace that bolstered Mary’s faith so that she could truly agree to be the mother of the Messiah.

Perhaps today your faith has grown very dim. It’s been a very tough year, and circumstances have conspired to make you feel that you are trapped with no way out. But God is no respecter of persons; He doesn’t play favorites. Even though Mary was a virgin, she still needed a Savior, as do we all. The same Holy Spirit peace that helped Mary to act in faith can be yours as well. Ask God to give you His peace, for with that peace will come the faith to believe that God is working in your situation to give you a hope and a future.

PRAYER: Father, today many of us are battered. Problems with our jobs, family problems, financial problems, and personal problems have ganged up on us to crush us. But You are a God of Peace. Lord, we believe that if we ask, you will give us Your peace. Father, we give you permission to enter our minds and hearts and give us Your true peace that never ends and that never goes away. In the matchless Name of your Son our Savior, Jesus. Amen.

Revelation 11:7 – 14 “When the two witnesses have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will wage war with them, and will overpower and kill them. Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city—figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where their Lord was also crucified. For three and a half days all peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will view their bodies and will not permit them to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will gloat over them, and will celebrate and send each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented them. But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered the two witnesses, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell upon those who saw them. And the witnesses heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watched them.

And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand were killed in the quake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe has passed. Behold, the third woe is coming shortly.”

Yesterday we established that the two witnesses are most likely Moses and Elijah. Both these men worked many miracles during their lifetimes on earth. And at the end of the ages, it appears that Moses and Elijah will return to preach and to witness so that if at all possible, those who have refused to serve the one true living God will repent and be saved. But will people listen?

When Jesus was teaching his disciples, he told a story about a rich man who ignored the beggar at his doorstep until the rich man was in hell and the beggar was in Paradise. At that point, the rich man asked Father Abraham to send the beggar back to warn the rich man’s brothers, so that they would not wind up in hell. Father Abraham told the rich man, “They have Moses and the prophets. If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead,” Luke 16:31

There is no evidence to suggest that anyone repents; in fact, when the beast comes up from the abyss and kills the two witnesses, the people of Jerusalem leave the bodies lying in the street for three and a half days (a total violation of Jewish custom!) and have parties celebrating their deaths! Who is the beast from the abyss? This is the first mention of antichrist, who temporarily defeats the two witnesses. But when God raises the two witnesses from the dead and they ascend to heaven, there is a great earthquake. Those who survive the earthquake give glory to God, presumably also turning away from their sins at the same time. Who dies in the earthquake? The number is given as 7,000 but this might merely be a representation. At any rate, those who are left become believers immediately!

Why is it necessary for the two witnesses to die? Barclay comments, “The great interest of this passage lies in the fact that the unbelievers were won by the sacrificial death of the witnesses and by God’s vindication of them. Here is the story of the Cross and of the Resurrection all over again. Evil must be conquered and men won, not by force but by the acceptance of suffering for the name of Christ.”

Today, many churches are focusing on “feel – good” programs. But how much are these programs accomplishing? Jesus ordered us to make disciples, so that those disciples could also make more disciples. Programs that fail to carry out Jesus’s commands are worthless and may deceive people into thinking that they are believers when they are only church members.

Jesus warned his disciples in Matthew 7:15 – 23 “Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, by their fruit you will recognize them. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’

PRAYER OF SAINT RICHARD OF CHICHESTER:

Thanks be to thee, my Lord Jesus Christ,
for all the benefits thou hast given me,
for all the pains and insults thou hast borne for me.
O most merciful redeemer, friend and brother,
may I know thee more clearly,
love thee more dearly,
and follow thee more nearly, day by day.
Amen.

Luke 1:21  ^“Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. ²² When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.²³ When his time of service was completed, he returned home. ²⁴ After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. ²⁵ “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

Years ago, there was a popular TV program called “Touched by An Angel.” Each week people stuck in various predicaments would find themselves involved in a divine encounter. But many times, they only realized what had happened after all was said and done and the angel had left. Zechariah, on the other hand, saw the Angel Gabriel. Gabriel identified himself and informed Zechariah exactly why he (Gabriel) was there and what was to happen.

Luke tells us that Zechariah was a very devout man. Luke was a physician and I have always thought that he would have made a good neurologist. Neurologists are detail people who get every bit of a patient’s history, even tiny details that other doctors might miss so that they can reach a diagnosis. That was Luke. Luke interviewed who knows how many people to make certain that he was getting his facts exactly correct. So, we can trust Luke when he describes Zechariah and Elizabeth and the angelic encounter. It wasn’t that Zechariah didn’t want to believe; Elizabeth and he desperately wanted a child. But they had been married for at least thirty years, and had been unable to get pregnant. At this point, Zechariah’s faith was growing pretty dim. Zechariah’s sagging faith cost him more than nine months during which he was unable to speak.

Once Zechariah got home and told Elizabeth, she must have believed him. And Elizabeth got pregnant! Incredible! Why did Elizabeth remain in seclusion for five months? Elizabeth was an elderly mother; elderly mothers are more likely to have complications of pregnancy such as miscarriages than younger mothers. Elizabeth wanted to make sure that the pregnancy was safe; she probably allowed her maid servants to do things around the house that she would normally have done just to avoid stressing herself and causing any problem. By the time Mary came to visit Elizabeth, Elizabeth had been pregnant for at least seven months. Fetal movement generally begins at 16 – 20 weeks, so every time Elizabeth’s baby moved, she was praising God, even when the baby was kicking her diaphragm or her bladder.

Perhaps God has promised to do some big thing for you, but you don’t see that promise coming true. You have watched and waited and prayed, but you still don’t see any answer on the horizon. Take heart! Learn from Zechariah and Elizabeth that God is a God of the impossible and that He rewards faith. But remember, God will act in His way and in His timing. Many times, God intervenes in our lives, and we are like the people on that TV show. We only realize that God has done something after He has already acted. And also be prepared for God to work differently than you expected. By the time Elizabeth got pregnant, it’s likely that Zechariah and she were simply praying for God to give them grace to accept their barren state; they had given up praying for a child long ago.

PRAYER: Father, today many of us are struggling with sagging faith. Our hopes and dreams appear to have died, and we aren’t even sure how to pray anymore. Increase our faith! Help us to look around us and see that your hand of provision is already working in our situation. And help us to remember that you can do “abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to your power that works in us.” (Ephesians 3:20) We are looking to you! We are waiting for you! In the matchless Name of your Son our Savior Jesus. Amen.

Revelation 11:1 – 6 “Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers there. But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Do not measure it, because it has been given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months. And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

These witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. If anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone who wants to harm them must be killed. These witnesses have power to shut the sky so that no rain will fall during the days of their prophecy, and power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish.“

This chapter starts with instructions that make us scratch our heads. Why measure the temple of God? Doesn’t God know how big his temple is? In the old days in America, when new land grants were opened up, sometimes people were allowed to claim all the land they could walk around in a day. Since most people have a stride that is roughly one yard, this would give a reasonably accurate idea of how much land they were claiming. Here John is given a measuring rod, traditionally a rod 9 feet long, and ordered to measure the temple and to count the number of worshipers in it. The idea is to symbolically seal those who truly worship God to protect them from future harm. Why was the outer court excluded? In the temple in Jerusalem, the outer court was called the Court of the Gentiles, and anybody could enter that area; however, no unbelieving Gentiles were allowed to proceed further on pain of death. Next was the Court of the Women, beyond which women could not come. Further in was the Court of the Israelite for ordinary men. Lastly, there was the Court of the Priests, which contained the Altar of the Burnt-Offering, made of brass, the Altar of Incense, made of gold, and the Holy Place; and into this court only the priests might come. The Court of the Gentiles is not measured because God is going to allow the nations to trample the holy city for 42 months.

The temple was completely destroyed in A.D. 70 when the Romans over ran Jerusalem. This temple is a vision given by God, not a physical temple. Of the time intervals mentioned, Barclay explains, “Its meaning is three and a half years. That is what forty-two months, and twelve hundred and sixty days–by Jewish reckoning–are. A time, times and half a time is equal to one year plus two years plus half a year.

The origin of the phrase comes from that most terrible time in Jewish history when Antiochus Epiphanes, King of Syria, tried to force Greek language, culture and worship upon the Jews and was met with the most violent and stubborn resistance. The roll of the martyrs was immense but the dreadful process was finally halted by the rising of Judas Maccabaeus. Judas and his heroic followers waged guerrilla warfare and won the most amazing victories. Finally Antiochus and his forces were driven out and the Temple was restored and cleansed. The point is that this dreadful period lasted from June 168 B.C. to December 165 B.C. (To this day the Jews celebrate in December the Festival of Hanukkah which commemorates the restoration and the cleansing of the Temple.) That is to say this dreadful time lasted almost exactly three and a half years. It was during that time that Daniel was written and the phrase was coined which ever afterwards was stamped on the Jewish mind as indicating a period of terror and suffering and martyrdom.

Who are the two witnesses? There are many theories, but it is most likely that the witnesses are Elijah and Moses. Barclay observes, “Elijah was held to be the greatest of the prophets, just as Moses was the supreme law-giver; and it was fitting that the two outstanding figures in the religious history of Israel should be God’s messengers at the last time. It was these two who appeared to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. Further, the things said of them fit Moses and Elijah as they fit no one else. It is said (Revelation 11:6) that they have power to turn the water into blood and to smite the earth with all plagues, and that is what Moses did . It is said that fire proceeds out of their mouth and burns up their enemies, and that they can shut up the heavens so that the rain is withheld. That is what Elijah did with the company of soldiers sent to take him and when he prophesied to Ahab that there would be no rain upon the earth. We have already seen that Elijah was expected to return to herald the end; and it would not be difficult to regard God’s promise that he would raise up a prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:18) as a prophecy that Moses himself would return.”

Actually, the identity of the two witnesses is not as important as their mission. God is sending two of His mighty men to the earth one more time to try to persuade as many as possible to believe on Him and to be saved. God does not SEND people to hell! People turn away from God and in so doing, send themselves to hell.

PRAYER: Father God, as we continue to study, give us ears to hear and hearts to receive your truth. Let all who read this devotional put their trust in you, the one true living God. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Luke 1:5 “In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. ⁶ Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. ⁷ But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.”

“Childlessness! What a curse! Lord, why us? What have we done, that I am unable to get pregnant?” Generally, Elizabeth was not the type to mope around feeling sorry for herself, but sometimes she couldn’t help grieving. Zechariah, Elizabeth’s husband, was one of the priests selected to serve in the big temple King Herod had built in Jerusalem. When Zechariah and Elizabeth had married, the wedding guests had pronounced the customary blessings on them; and both were sure that soon their house would be filled with the sound of childish laughter. But year succeeded year, and Elizabeth continued to have her monthly bleeding right on time. Oh, there was the one time she had been quite ill, and she went for an extra two weeks without menstruating, but as soon as she felt better, the blood began flowing and her hopes plummeted. Each time Elizabeth saw a baby, her arms ached to hold one of her very own. At this point, Elizabeth wasn’t even certain that she could still get pregnant. In one more year, Zechariah would have to reach the age at which he must stop serving at the temple, and Elizabeth’s menstrual periods had become highly irregular. For Zechariah and Elizabeth, it seemed there was no hope.

And then came the day when Zechariah came back from Jerusalem from serving in the temple, unable to speak. In writing and with gestures, Zechariah made Elizabeth understand that while he was ministering in the Holy of Holies, the Angel Gabriel appeared to him and told him that they were to have a son. This son would be filled with the Holly Spirit even before he was born, and was to be the prophet foretold by Isaiah, the one who would prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. The Angel was very specific about the manner in which this boy was to be raised and ordered them to name him John. When Zechariah expressed some doubts as to how this miracle might come about, the Angel caused Zechariah to be unable to speak until the baby was born. Shortly thereafter, Elizabeth did become pregnant, and when Mary the mother of Jesus visited her, the unborn baby leaped in Elizabeth’s womb as he was filled with the Holy Spirit, thus fulfilling the angelic prophecy.

Working in Africa for years, I have witnessed a number of strange rituals women have gone through to get pregnant. Sadly, in at least one case, a woman went to a fetish priest, seeking for a son and dedicated that poor unborn baby to the fetish in thanksgiving. We knew this poor man as an adult, and there was evidence of demons working in his life.

Perhaps today you can sympathize with Elizabeth. You have been married for years, but no children have come. Perhaps you have gone through infertility work – ups and have been told that there is no reason that you cannot get pregnant. Perhaps you have been told the chances of your getting pregnant are very small. Perhaps you have even been so unfortunate as to have an operation or chemotherapy treatment that has rendered you sterile. But the question that you must ask yourself is this: what does God want for my life? Years ago, we knew a couple who had been missionaries in Ghana for many years, ministering in villages and founding a Bible School that has since become a university. It was their everlasting sorrow that they themselves could not get pregnant; however, they served as father and mother to untold numbers of Ghanaian students, many of whom were orphans. Do not assume that just because you cannot get pregnant, God has not given you a father’s heart or a mother’s heart for those around you! There are many people whose parents have failed them through physical or emotional abuse, or because the parents themselves suffered from a problem such as debilitating chronic depression.

What we can learn from Zechariah and Elizabeth is that God is always a God of surprises, and that God honors faith. But we must be willing to allow God to make our choices for us and not to attempt to force Him to work the same way in our lives that He has in the lives of others. Look around you! Has God already put someone in your situation who needs your love, encouragement, and guidance?

PRAYER: Father God, today some of us are hurting. It is Christmas, a time for children, and once more our arms are empty. But you are a good Father, and it is your will for us that we share your love with those around us. Help us to stop focusing on our own problems and see those who need help. Thank you that while not all of us are called to get pregnant, we are all called to parent in some fashion. In the precious Name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Lamentations 3:22 – 26 “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. ²³ They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will wait for him.” ²⁵ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; ²⁶ it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”

During Jeremiah’s forty years of ministry as a prophet, he witnessed the devastation of Jerusalem and was carried off into exile in Egypt by people who refused to listen to him when he warned that the Babylonians would invade Egypt also. The very people who had refused to listen to Jeremiah now bombarded him with complaints; meanwhile, it was their sins and the sins of their fathers that had caused God to finally allow their country to be overrun. Jeremiah had every reason to become bitter at people and at God, but he chose to respond differently. Throughout all of these sufferings, Jeremiah never lost his faith in the goodness of God. Here Jeremiah was pointing out to anybody who would listen that they were only alive because of the goodness of God.

People in an earlier generation were fond of saying that “where there’s life, there is hope.” (I tried to identify the original source of this quote but I failed.) As long as we are alive, there is the potential for change, for growth, and for unexpected wonderful things to happen.

You may feel that there is little or no hope in your situation and that nothing is going to change. But as long as you are alive, you have one golden opportunity: you can help encourage others and help others. In the stress of the holiday season, your smile and kind words may be the brightest part of the day for an overworked clerk at a convenience store. It doesn’t cost lots of money to be a Salvation Army bell ringer, and the money you help raise can do a great deal. If you have clothing, is there a warm coat or gloves or mittens that you could share with someone else? Do you have an extra blanket that would protect someone at the local homeless shelter? Can you help babysit your neighbor’s children so that they can leave to do Christmas shopping? Perhaps this is the year when you need to teach your kids that Christmas is not merely about getting but more about giving. Are there toys that your kids no longer play with that could be given to a homeless shelter for kids there? If you are looking for God to guide you, remember that an object at rest tends to remain at rest. You can’t guide a stationary object because it has no momentum. Helping others produces momentum and helps you.

7 Scientific Benefits of Helping Others https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/71964/7-scientific-benefits-helping-others

 HELPING OTHERS CAN HELP YOU LIVE LONGER.

 ALTRUISM (Thinking of others) IS CONTAGIOUS.

 HELPING OTHERS MAKES US HAPPY.

 HELPING OTHERS MAY HELP WITH CHRONIC PAIN.

 HELPING OTHERS LOWERS BLOOD PRESSURE.

 HELPING OTHERS PROMOTES POSITIVE BEHAVIORS IN TEENS.

 HELPING OTHERS GIVES US A SENSE OF PURPOSE AND SATISFACTION.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank you that your mercies are new every morning and that you are a faithful God. Thank you that even though our situations may appear bleak, you are still with us. Help us to reach out and help those around us. Enlighten our darkness, and give us hope. In the Name of your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.

Throughout history, many different religions have maintained the concept of a purely evil being fighting against God, who is considered to be good and righteous and holy. The Babylonians, the Persians, and numerous others all had as a central part of their religion the idea of the struggle between darkness and light. Christians have come to speak of the Antichrist as the embodiment of evil on earth. Barclay explains it this way: “We may lay it down as a general principle that Antichrist stands for the power in the universe which is against God. Just as the Christ is the Holy One and the Anointed King of God, so Antichrist is the Unholy One and the King of all evil. Just as the Christ is the incarnation of God and goodness, so Antichrist is the incarnation of the Devil and of evil….There is a sense in which the development of the idea of the Messiah made the development of the idea of Antichrist inevitable. The Messiah, God’s Anointed One, is bound to meet with opposition; and that opposition is entirely likely to crystallize into one supreme figure of evil. We must remember that Messiah and Christ mean the same thing, being the Hebrew and the Greek respectively for The Anointed One. Where there is the Christ, there will of necessity be the Antichrist, for so long as there is sin there will be opposition to God.”

In a few days, from December 10 – 18, Jews around the world will celebrate Hanukkah. Although Hanukkah is technically a minor holiday, its story is an important one. The story of Hanukkah involves a man who embodied evil as previously foretold by Daniel. Again, we turn to Barclay’s description: “But, so far as the later Jews were concerned, the peak of the manifestation of evil was connected with one terrible episode in their history. This is commemorated in Daniel’s picture of the little horn, which waxed great even against heaven, which stopped the daily sacrifice, which cast down the sanctuary (Daniel 8:9-12). The little horn stands for Antiochus Epiphanes of Syria. He determined to introduce Greek ways, language and Greek worship into Palestine, for he regarded himself as the missionary of Greek culture. The Jews resisted. Antiochus Epiphanes invaded Palestine and captured Jerusalem. It was said that eighty thousand Jews were either slaughtered or sold into slavery. To circumcise a child or to possess a copy of the Law was a crime punishable by death. History has seldom, or never, seen so deliberate an attempt to wipe out the religion of a whole people. He desecrated the Temple. He erected an altar to Olympian Zeus in the Holy Place and on it sacrificed swine’s flesh; and he turned the rooms of the Temple into public brothels. In the end the gallantry of the Maccabees restored the Temple and conquered Antiochus; but to the Jews Antiochus was the incarnation of all evil.”

History.com adds: Led by the Jewish priest Mattathias and his five sons, a large-scale rebellion broke out against Antiochus and the Seleucid monarchy. When Mattathias died in 166 B.C., his son Judah, known as Judah Maccabee (“the Hammer”), took the helm; within two years the Jews had successfully driven the Syrians out of Jerusalem, relying largely on guerilla warfare tactics. Judah called on his followers to cleanse the Second Temple, rebuild its altar and light its menorah—the gold candelabrum whose seven branches represented knowledge and creation and were meant to be kept burning every night. According to the Talmud, one of Judaism’s most central texts, Judah Maccabee and the other Jews who took part in the rededication of the Second Temple witnessed what they believed to be a miracle. Even though there was only enough untainted olive oil to keep the menorah’s candles burning for a single day, the flames continued flickering for eight nights, leaving them time to find a fresh supply. This wondrous event inspired the Jewish sages to proclaim a yearly eight-day festival. (The first Book of the Maccabees tells another version of the story, describing an eight-day celebration that followed the rededication but making no reference to the miracle of the oil.)

During Hanukkah, children play with a small clay top known as a dreidel, on which are written Hebrew letters. The Hebrew letters inscribed on a dreidel are a Nun, Gimel, Hey or Chai, and Shin. The letters form an acronym for the Hebrew saying Nes Gadol Hayah Sham, which can be translated to “a great miracle happened there,” referring to the miracle around which Hanukkah is centered.

WHY SHOULD HANUKKAH MATTER TO CHRISTIANS? Hanukkah celebrates a victory of God over evil, light over darkness. And when we enter Revelation Chapter 11, we will begin to learn the scope of that continuing battle.

PRAYER: Father God, thank you for your great mercy! Thank you that you are all goodness and that your light has shone in the darkness and that the darkness has NOT overcome it! Help us to learn to love you even more as we continue to study your word. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Ezekiel 40:1-5 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the fall of the city—on that very day the hand of the Lord was on me and he took me there. ² In visions of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, on whose south side were some buildings that looked like a city. ³ He took me there, and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze; he was standing in the gateway with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand. ⁴ The man said to me, “Son of man, look carefully and listen closely and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why you have been brought here. Tell the people of Israel everything you see.”

The Jews were in exile in Babylon, and had been there for many years. As far as anybody could tell, they were stuck in Babylon forever. There appeared to be no hope for change or improvement. Those who had gone into exile quoted a proverb that said, “”The parents eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” (Ezekiel 18:2) The exiles were alive and no longer suffering as they had been; however, they were busy blaming their fathers and forefathers, conveniently ignoring the effect of their own sins. Blaming someone else for our problems is a very human thing and a hellishly easy habit to fall into. If we can only assign blame to someone else, then we don’t have to face up to our own contributions to our problems. And self – pity feels SO comforting! Oswald Chambers in “My Utmost for His Highest” says that “self – pity is of the devil.” And it is in that setting that God gives Ezekiel a vision of a brand – new temple, a new Jerusalem, and a restored land of Israel.

Perhaps today you feel that you have lost everything. The job you once held has evaporated. You may have had to allow your house or car to go back to the bank because you could no longer make payments. While others are singing, “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas,” you are cringing and thinking “I’m dreaming of a bleak Christmas.” If this is your situation, God wants you to know two things: you have a hope and a future, and God has magnificent plans for your life. But you must be on the lookout for divine provision because it can appear in strange ways. Sometimes God may bless you with selective poverty so that you don’t sink money into something that may turn out to be a disaster. The fancy car you have had to give up might have a fatal flaw that could cause an accident.

The last few chapters of Ezekiel make very heavy reading because they are mostly descriptions and measurements for a new temple and for the division of Israel when the Jews were to return to it. But the very precision of these descriptions meant that God was not joking and that in His time the Jews would return to Israel. God has not taken His Hand off your life any more than He did for the Jews in exile. The message of Advent is a message of hope.

PRAYER: Father thank you that even though life may look bleak for us right now, you are still our Provider. Help us not to fall into self – pity but to trust that you do have a plan for our lives and that you can work things out for our good. Please give us the faith to trust where we cannot see, and to look for the ways you are already working in our lives. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Revelation 10:10:8-11 And I heard the voice which I had heard from heaven speaking again to me and saying: “Go, take the little roll which lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” And I went away to the angel and asked him to give me the little roll. He said to me: “Take it and eat it. It will be bitter to your stomach but it will be as sweet as honey to your mouth.” And I took the little roll from the hand of the angel and ate it; and it was as sweet as honey to my mouth and, when I ate it, it was bitter to my stomach. And they said to me: “You must prophesy in regard to many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”

Although John has been forbidden from writing down the message spoken by the seven thunder, he is now being given the opportunity to prophesy about the things that are about to happen all over the earth. Twice John is ordered to take the small roll (scroll) and he has to ask the angel before the angel gives it to him. God does not force Himself on anyone, neither is revelation forced on anyone. The whole universe tilts on the axis of free will; God has given men freedom to choose good from evil and to move toward Him or away from Him. Witchcraft and sorcery, on the other hand, have at their root the desire to control – to control people, demons, circumstances, the weather, nations, etc.

John is told to take the scroll and to eat it. The idea is that this prophesy will become an integral part of John’s body, something that he cannot possibly deny. In a sense, John will become a walking prophecy. The prophet Ezekiel had a similar experience that he described in Ezekiel 3 when he was fed a scroll. In both cases, the scroll is described as being as sweet as honey. Traditionally, when Jewish boys were learning to read, they were given sweet things as a reward for learning. The idea was to impress the boy that knowledge was sweet. Since John came from an observant Jewish background and was obviously literate, he might have had a similar experience when he was a child.

But the angel warns John that once John eats the scroll, it will give him indigestion! The words of the scroll are sweet because they are coming from God, but the prophecies John will be making are fearful ones. Remember that John lived in a time of great uncertainty. Armies such as the Parthians could suddenly appear on the horizon, bringing bloodshed and havoc. The Romans might decide that someone posed a threat to the Pax Romanus, the Roman Peace, and crucify them. Jesus was by no means the first person or the only person to be crucified by the Romans; crucifixion was a common form of capital punishment. About the time of Jesus, there was a rebellion and 400 of the rebels were crucified. And John has already glimpsed some of the horrors that will come upon the earth during the end times. No wonder that the scroll gave John abdominal pains!

What are we to learn from these few verses? Today there are many men and women who claim to be prophets but who are fakes and charlatans. Prophecy is not a mantle to be lightly assumed but a high and holy calling that demands everything the prophet can give. If you study the lives of the prophets in the Bible, you find that most of them suffered a great deal and many also died gruesome deaths. Haggai married an unfaithful prostitute upon God’s orders. Isaiah might have been sawed in two. Jeremiah was thrown into prison and at one point was dumped into a well full of muck, into which he was sinking when one of the king’s servants saved him. No! Prophecy is not merely a career; it is a calling, and one that you had better be sure of.

At the same time, remember that John was the disciple closest to Jesus. It was John of all the disciples who lived to an old age and who was granted the incredible privilege of receiving the vision that we know as the Book of Revelation. What a gift! But also remember that John was sitting on a bare rocky island as a prisoner when he had that vision. None of us can escape suffering; it is a part of life. But if we are faithful to follow God, He will give us visions of glory that will make the suffering worthwhile.

PRAYER: Father God, thank you for loving us so much that you sent Jesus to die for our sins. Thank you that you have made a way for us to be with you forever, if we will only believe in you and in what Jesus has done for us. Thank you for loving us even though we are sinners and thank you that if we confess our sins, you rare faithful and just to forgive our sins. Help us to learn the lessons you have for us in Revelation. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Ezekiel 36: 8-11

⁸ But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are about to come. ⁹ For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. ¹⁰ I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. ¹¹ I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and ^[d]bear young; I will make you inhabited as in former times, and do better for you than at your beginnings. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.

Israel had already gone into captivity, and soon Jerusalem would be completely destroyed. Only those in extreme denial could possibly believe that Babylon was not going to overrun Jerusalem. And from Babylon, where he was already with other exiles, Ezekiel had been sending extreme warning messages. But now in Chapter 36 Ezekiel does a 180 – degree shift and begins to prophecy wonderful things for the Children of Israel. Now Ezekiel’s messages are of healing and restoration and hope. In fact, these prophecies did come true. Israel was re – settled, and by the time of Jesus, it was heavily populated with the land under intense cultivation. In modern – day Israel there are lots of olive trees that have survived since the time of Jesus, many of them still bearing fruit.

Perhaps today you feel that all your hopes and dreams lie trampled in the dust. Circumstances beyond your control have overtaken you and you feel crushed. For you, the commercialism of the Christmas advertisements merely serves to underscore the fact that your family’s stockings will not be bulging with small gifts and candy on Christmas morning. At this point, your choices may have been reduced to purchasing a “Charlie Brown” type Christmas tree that nobody else wants or feeding your family. You really are losing all hope.

If this description fits your current situation, do not despair! God is still on the throne, and He still can provide. We have always served with “faith missions,” depending totally on donations for our income. For more than 31 years God has continued to supply our needs in this fashion. In the summer of 1993, my husband and I drove the hospital Land Cruiser to Accra to purchase drugs and other supplies. As we parked the vehicle on a main street in Accra, we suddenly heard hissing sounds coming from all four tires! Inspection confirmed it; all of the tires on the vehicle were spoiled! Even in those days, tires for an SUV were expensive, and the hospital had no funds for replacing them. And this was well before the days of cell phones, e – mail, WhatsApp, etc. In those days, we had to make arrangements before we could call the U.S. But two months earlier, someone had made a totally unexpected donation to our mission group. Somehow, we not only found out about this donation, but the mission was also able to wire the money so that we could purchase five new tires and a rim, giving us two spare tires. (One year later, Bob was returning from Yendi during the Northern Ethnic Conflict when both tires on the right – hand side of the vehicle spoiled. Those two spare tires came in very handy at that point!)

One of our old – time missionary friends was fond of saying that “God supplies our needs, but not necessarily our wants.” Look around you! God is no respecter of persons; He doesn’t play favorites. St. Paul could real off a long list of sufferings, but he also could advise in Philippians 4:6 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

PRAYER: Father, today many of us are anxious! We aren’t sure how we are going to handle our bills. Our families are in need. Our children are complaining. Frankly, Father, we are at our wits’ end! But you have promised to care for us and to bring restoration and hope. Father, help us! And also help us to recognize that assistance may come from a totally unexpected direction, and that You have better plans for us than we do for ourselves. In the matchless Name of Jesus, Amen.