Burunche’s Blog

Luke 1:39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, ⁴⁰ where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴² In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! ⁴³ But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵ Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

Zechariah might have been struck dumb and Joseph had to be reassured by an angel in a dream, but Elizabeth and Mary had faith that God would honor his promises. Elizabeth never had an angelic vision; she just believed, and Mary, unlike Zechariah, didn’t argue with the Angel Gabriel, she believed and accepted the Will of God for her life. By this point, Elizabeth was nearly seven months pregnant, and the pregnancy was going well. Mary may have been about two or three months pregnant and eventually stayed with Elizabeth for another three months. When Mary first went to Elizabeth, her pregnancy was not yet showing. Perhaps Mary stayed so long with Elizabeth because she knew that Elizabeth was a woman of faith and that Elizabeth would believe her story of the Angel Gabriel and his prophecy.

Mary may also have been staying with Elizabeth because she was struggling to find a credible way to tell Joseph. According to the Talmud (Deuteronomy 22:23), if a woman was raped in town and did not cry out, it was assumed that she was actually a willing participant, and therefore an adulteress. If Joseph failed to believe Mary and did not protect her, Mary could be killed by stoning. An angelic visitation? A divine impregnation? Who would be foolish enough to believe that? No! The men of Nazareth would far more readily believe that Mary was a slut! “Who knew? And we always thought that Anne was a good lady who could control her daughter. Mary pregnant? The very last person we would have suspected! Well, these young women these days think they can get away with misbehaving. We’ll show everybody in the community that Nazareth is not that kind of place!” (Spoiler alert: tomorrow we are going to talk about Joseph and how God helped him save Mary from this horrible fate.)

The Angel Gabriel had promised Zechariah that his son John would be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb. When the Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth, He also filled her baby as well. The bond between a pregnant mother and the infant inside her womb is incredibly strong. And infants respond to prenatal influences and to their mothers’ emotional states. Many devout parents pray over their children in the womb, laying hands on the baby before he or she is ever born. What a wonderful thing, to know from the womb that you are loved and wanted! (But if you are reading this and are pregnant and are depressed, do not punish yourself. God is greater than your depression, and He can protect your unborn baby. My mother was chronically ill and had had four miscarriages in three years before she got pregnant with me. Mom was still grieving the death of her beloved grandfather at the time I was born. God healed Mom and protected me. God can do the same thing for you and your baby.)

PRAYER: Father, today we pray for all pregnant mothers, as well as for those who hope to become pregnant. We pray for protection for mother, for baby, and for everyone in their families. We also pray for expectant mothers and fathers who feel overwhelmed and who are worried that they won’t be able to care for their babies properly. Grant all of these people your Holy Spirit peace, so that they will know that you are truly King of Kings and Lord of Lords and that you love them and care for them and will always be with them. In the matchless Name of Jesus. Amen.

Revelation 12:1 – 6 “And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and crying out in the pain and agony of giving birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: a huge red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven royal crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars from the sky, tossing them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman as she was about to give birth, ready to devour her child as soon as He was born. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was caught up to God and to His throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place for her to be nourished for 1,260 days.”

In searching for graphics to illustrate these verses, I encountered a PDF presentation from Almaden Neighborhood Church (almadenchurch.org) entitled “The Christmas You Didn’t See.” Today’s devotional draws heavily from that presentation.

The question that has troubled Christians ever since Revelation was first written is this: Who is the Woman? This is one of those visions that works on several different levels:

1. These verses give a behind the scenes look at the spiritual battle surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ, i.e., “The Christmas You Didn’t See.” First of all, remember that God chose Mary to bear Jesus. To the villagers in Nazareth, Mary was just another teenager, but God saw her differently. Song of Solomon 6:10 says, “Who is this who shines like the dawn, as fair as the moon, as bright as the sun, as majestic as the stars in procession?” That was how God saw Mary. The ancient Babylonians visualized their goddesses as being crowned with the signs of the zodiac, and John was probably familiar with that picture. Why couldn’t God activate that mental picture as well to emphasize unearthly beauty? When God touches a life, nothing is ever the same again. Mary was so filled with the Holy Spirit that when she met her pregnant cousin Elizabeth, Elizabeth’s baby leaped in her womb and was filled with the Holy Spirit from that point onward.

 2. The huge red dragon is Satan. The horns and the crowns indicate complete power over the kingdoms of this world. Satan is the Author of evil and will use any one willing to pursue their own interests instead of God’s. When Satan fell from heaven, one third of the angels followed him and fell to earth as well, as indicated by the sweeping of one third of the stars from the sky to earth.

3. Satan did everything he could to attack Mary and to kill Jesus. It’s entirely possible that Satan had poisonous snakes, robbers, and other agents stationed along the road to Bethlehem to try and stop Mary and Joseph. And had Mary and Joseph stayed in one of the inns in Bethlehem, something terrible might have happened to them; however, God covered Mary and Joseph with His hand and protected them. God led them to a cave used by shepherds as a stable, the last place in which anyone might look for them. There are many instances throughout Christian history where God has blinded prison guards or soldiers or police to save believers. Inspired by Satan, Herod tried to get information about Jesus and when he couldn’t he massacred all the baby boys below the age of two years just to make certain that the Messiah would not escape…. but God warned Joseph in a dream and he and Mary and Jesus escaped in the middle of the night! (Had the Holy Family been in a bigger town, they could never have left in the middle of the night because the gates would have all been closed and the guards would not have allowed them to leave.)

4. “And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was caught up to God and to His throne.” Jesus the Messiah is the One born to rule all the nations! And after Jesus was crucified and arose from the dead, He ascended into heaven.

5. “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place for her to be nourished for 1,260 days.” Here is where the second interpretation of the identity of the Woman comes into consideration. The figure of the Woman has been considered to represent Israel or the body of believers. There are many recorded instances where the Jews had to flee to the wilderness, beginning with the escape from Egypt. Jesus foretold the attack of the Romans and advised those listening to flee to the mountains. Barclay states: Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70. The years immediately before that were terrible years of bloodshed and of revolution in which anyone with eyes to see and a mind to understand could forecast what was about to happen. Eusebius, the Christian historian, tells us that, before the final disaster came, the Christians in Jerusalem had been warned by a revelation given to approved men to leave Jerusalem and to cross the Jordan into Perea and to dwell there in a town called Pella (Eusebius: The Ecclesiastical History 3: 5). This is actually referred to in the account of Jesus’ words to the disciples about the last times. When they saw the last terrors coming they were to flee to the mountains (Mark 13:14); this is exactly what they did. The figure of 1,260 days is a standard figure of a time of distress, not necessarily an actual number.

Being a Christian has never been easy. In the last few decades, there have been more Christians martyred around the world than ever before. Each day brings news of fresh massacres in places such as Northern Nigeria. But the good news is this: We serve the One True Living God, who is still on the throne and who rules and reigns over all. No matter how terrible the conflict, no matter how severe the persecution, we can still trust in God. Thousands of year ago, three young Jewish captives faced a terrible fate: worship a golden statue of King Nebuchadnezzar or be thrown into a fiery furnace. This was their answer: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If the God whom we serve exists, then He is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden statue you have set up.” Daniel 3:16-18 And when the three young me were thrown into the fire, observers saw a fourth man with them, and his appearance “looked like a son of the gods.’ When you go through persecution, Jesus shows up. You might or might not be delivered physically, but you will be delivered spiritually.

PRAYER: Father God, thank you that you always cause us to triumph in Christ Jesus! Thank you that Jesus defeated death, hell, and the grave! Thank you that throughout history you have always been working and have never stopped! And thank you for loving us and sending Jesus as your best Gift. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Revelation 11:15 – 19 “Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: “We give thanks to You, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were enraged, and Your wrath has come. The time has come to judge the dead, and to reward Your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear Your name, both small and great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.” Then the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple. And there were flashes of lightning, and rumblings, and peals of thunder, and an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.”

How can we picture this scene? Our imaginations might not stretch far enough. Perhaps the best “picture” of this scene is the verses from Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus,” from his Messiah oratorio. With the blast of the seventh and last trumpet, we realize that every thing that has gone before was merely a prelude. Here now is the fulfillment of Scripture. What will happen from now on?

1. “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: “We give thanks to You, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.” Finally, after years of struggle, suffering, and spiritual and physical warfare, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, is taking His Kingdom. All of heaven is celebrating this victory over the forces of evil and darkness! The morning has come and all darkness has had to flee, never to gain a victory again! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

2. “The nations were enraged, and Your wrath has come. The time has come to judge the dead, and to reward Your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear Your name, both small and great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.” Time after time, God has sent His prophets, time after time, believers have witnessed and died, time after time, God has shown signs in the heavens and the earth. God has given the human race every possible opportunity to turn and worship Him. If there are any left at this point who are not worshiping the One True Living God, it is by their own choice. God does not SEND people to hell; they CHOOSE to go there.

3. Then the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple. And there were flashes of lightning, and rumblings, and peals of thunder, and an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.” From the time of the first temple for which God gave Moses instructions, God made it clear that the earthly temples were only a foreshadowing of the heavenly one. Barclay explains it this way: In Revelation 11:19 we come back, as it were, to the present. There is a vision of the heavenly Temple opened and of the Ark of the Covenant. Two things are involved in this vision.

(i) The Ark of the Covenant was in the Holy of Holies, the inside of which no ordinary person had ever seen, and into which even the High Priest went only on the Day of Atonement. This must mean that now the glory of God is going to be fully displayed.

(ii) The reference to the Ark of the Covenant is as a reminder of God’s special covenant with his people. Originally that covenant had been with the people Israel; but the new covenant is with all of every nation who love and believe in Jesus.

Barclay concludes: Whatever the terror to come, God will not be false to his promises. This is a picture of the coming of the full glory of God, a terrifying threat to his enemies but an uplifting promise to the people of his covenant.

PRAYER: Father God, help all who read this devotional to realize that you love them beyond all measure and that is why you sent Jesus Christ to die for our sins. Lord, help us to truly love you and to follow hard after you all the days of our lives. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.

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.

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.

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.