13 December 2016
Straight Outta Bethlehem
Hebrews 1:1-2
Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe.
How do we know for sure that what God says is going to happen will happen? This passage explains how God told certain people what was going to happen and then those things happened. We can look back in history and see these things happened.
Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets... In Women’s Bible Study at our church, we’re studying the book of Daniel, and that book records all sorts of historical things before they happened. The Persians really did conquer the Babylonians, Alexander the Great really did die in his prime and his kingdom was parceled out in quarters, and Anitiochus Ephipohnes really did desecrate the Temple. (See Daniel 2, 7 & 9) Daniel did not cause these things to happen in order to make God’s Word true; these things happened because God said they were going to happen. And they happened.
When Jesus was born, circumstances arose that caused him to be born in a location previously predicted by the prophet Isaiah. Prophecy from scripture is so reliable that even King Herod inquired the “experts” about it. (Matthew 2:4-6)
Herod called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?” “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:
And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
are not least among the ruling cities of Judah,
for a ruler will come from you
who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.
Joseph didn’t take his wife to Bethlehem in order for Jesus to be born there. Jesus was born there because God said he would be born there.
These passages of prophecy prove God’s reliability. And so God’s Word is reliable in all other places too! Ephesians 4:6-7, for example, teaches this: Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
I have peace in my heart because God told me how it will get in there not because I did a bunch of stuff to make that happen.
Dear God,
Thank you for your Word and its proven reliability. Thank you for what you’ve done so that we can confidently trust you for what you say. I love you and thank you for the assurance that accompanies following your & reading your Word. And I pray in your Son’s name, amen.
Straight Outta Bethlehem
Hebrews 1:1-2
Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe.
How do we know for sure that what God says is going to happen will happen? This passage explains how God told certain people what was going to happen and then those things happened. We can look back in history and see these things happened.
Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets... In Women’s Bible Study at our church, we’re studying the book of Daniel, and that book records all sorts of historical things before they happened. The Persians really did conquer the Babylonians, Alexander the Great really did die in his prime and his kingdom was parceled out in quarters, and Anitiochus Ephipohnes really did desecrate the Temple. (See Daniel 2, 7 & 9) Daniel did not cause these things to happen in order to make God’s Word true; these things happened because God said they were going to happen. And they happened.
When Jesus was born, circumstances arose that caused him to be born in a location previously predicted by the prophet Isaiah. Prophecy from scripture is so reliable that even King Herod inquired the “experts” about it. (Matthew 2:4-6)
Herod called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?” “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:
And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
are not least among the ruling cities of Judah,
for a ruler will come from you
who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.
Joseph didn’t take his wife to Bethlehem in order for Jesus to be born there. Jesus was born there because God said he would be born there.
These passages of prophecy prove God’s reliability. And so God’s Word is reliable in all other places too! Ephesians 4:6-7, for example, teaches this: Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
I have peace in my heart because God told me how it will get in there not because I did a bunch of stuff to make that happen.
Dear God,
Thank you for your Word and its proven reliability. Thank you for what you’ve done so that we can confidently trust you for what you say. I love you and thank you for the assurance that accompanies following your & reading your Word. And I pray in your Son’s name, amen.
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