Messiah
The Israelites whispered “Messiah”
In Judea for hundreds of years
A king for the Jews, mighty and strong,
To rid them of all their fears.
Fears of the Roman soldiers
Who pushed the Jews around
What kind of king will Messiah be?
Would he put the Romans down?
Advent is a time of anticipation.The first reference to the time when Jesus would come to earth is found in Genesis 3:15 when God spoke to the serpent in the presence of Adam and Eve. Micah 5:2 identifies Bethlehem as the place where the Messiah would come from. Several references in Genesis identify the line through which he would come, that of Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Judah, and King David. For more prophecies of Jesus as Messiah click here. It was no secret that the Jewish nation was looking for Messiah, yet when he arrived they did not recognize him.
The Christian church recognizes the days of December 1 through December 24 as a time of advent – a time to revisit their years of waiting, a time of anticipating the coming of the Christ. We need this time of preparation if we are to fully appreciate the birth of the Christ Child and everything that it represents. We need to be careful not to let the clamor of Christmas shopping and preparations that must exceed every Christmas of years past, and the greed of merchants and those anticipating receiving extravagant gifts stamp out the true Light of the Christmas season.
Can we approach the Christmas season with purpose? How might we sift our motives to determine if our activities are intended to glorify Christ or something less glorious? How can we put Christ first in everything?
I trust you recognize these as questions that don’t have glib answers that I can roll out. They are the kind of questions that we need to think about every day of our lives. But in today’s generation, the Christmas season seems to be the most difficult time of all to maintain our focus on the Christ.
James 4:8 says “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” Let’s take deliberate steps to draw near to God each day. Perhaps you can use an advent calendar with your children. If you do, take the time to find one that has spiritual meaning so that it leads them to anticipate Baby Jesus instead of Santa Claus.
The children’s Bible storybook, The First Christmas is carefully written to share the account of the birth of Christ Jesus through thirteen mini-stories with questions for discussion. Also available is a set of coloring pages to correspond with the book. These coloring pages may be used to make a First Christmas banner, quilt, or Christmas tree skirt. This kind of family project is designed to facilitate a deeper understanding of the true Christmas story. It is available here at www.honeycombadventures.com. Look for the peek preview of the book to see if it is right for your family. The photo below is a First Christmas Banner that was made as a youth project at First United Methodist Church of Hemingway, SC.
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