Bonnie Alba
A-N-D, the middle of God's plan
By Bonnie Alba
The Christmas season finds us all living in a world of uncertainty. Are you worried about your job, your family? Are you concerned about the ongoing corruptive influences in our government bodies and society?
America appears to be drowning in a sea of divisiveness, contrary belief systems, hedonism, extreme political rhetoric and cultural immorality leaving citizens in continuous turmoil about America's future.
I find the best way to calm my heart and spirit is through prayer and God's Word. So it is I share what I have learned about God's Plan. Christmas celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ was not the beginning nor is it the end.
About two thousand years ago, Jesus was now a man. Baptized by John the Baptist and tested by Satan for 40 days in the desert, he began his ministry traveling from village to village teaching in Galilee synagogues. He visited his hometown of Nazareth where his ministry heated up.
As Jesus stood to read in the synagogue, he was handed the Scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He found these verses:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Isaiah 61:1-2a; Luke 4:18-19)
Then he sat down. As everyone looked at him, Jesus said, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
As Jesus continued teaching, he said, "I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his hometown." The people went from graciousness to this homegrown son to fury. They attempted to throw him off a cliff. "But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way."
About now, you're thinking "so what, he was a radical." Let's explore a bit further. Look at Isaiah 61:1-2 — it didn't end with the year of the Lord's favor. Jesus deliberately ended before the sentence was finished. The conjunctive "and" continues with a second phrase in that sentence.
"...and the day of vengeance of our God..." Now I know that people like to think of God as the God of "unconditional Love," but that is only one facet of his character. He is also the God of Justice and will bring his complete wrath/judgment upon the world in the future.
What does all this have to do with America? America's earliest beginnings were of a people who desired to serve God by being a "shining city on a hill." America would provide the example of Jesus Christ's message of salvation to the whole world.
America has moved far from that promising inception and the founding fathers who set up a government never before demonstrated in recorded history, a Republic underpinned and strengthened with the laws of God. Today's reality: The shining city-country's light has dimmed in rejection of God. Our godly history is no longer relevant nor fitting for the progressive New World Order.
America no longer represents God. The world now unsteadily stands on that little "and" between the "year of the Lord's favor" and "the Day of vengeance of our God." Present and future. The "and" stretches across the centuries of nations and peoples — all moving towards fulfilling the rest of the story.
But it's not too late for people to come to a saving knowledge of God and Jesus Christ. For there will come a time when the Lord will proclaim his Day of Vengeance — when he has had enough of what he hates: sin, evil and rejection of him.
We celebrate the birth of God's son who became the "sacrificial Lamb" who died on the cross for the sins of the world. This is the message of "the year of the Lord's favor" — God's redemptive plan of reconciliation through his Son, Jesus Christ.
This Christmas, take time to reflect on God's redemptive plan, the Year of the Lord's favor. Our hearts will experience comfort and inner peace surpassing earthly understanding in the midst of the ongoing turmoil and peril in the world. God "is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2Peter 3:9b)
"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name (Jesus, Matthew 1:21) under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
© Bonnie Alba
December 9, 2010
The Christmas season finds us all living in a world of uncertainty. Are you worried about your job, your family? Are you concerned about the ongoing corruptive influences in our government bodies and society?
America appears to be drowning in a sea of divisiveness, contrary belief systems, hedonism, extreme political rhetoric and cultural immorality leaving citizens in continuous turmoil about America's future.
I find the best way to calm my heart and spirit is through prayer and God's Word. So it is I share what I have learned about God's Plan. Christmas celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ was not the beginning nor is it the end.
About two thousand years ago, Jesus was now a man. Baptized by John the Baptist and tested by Satan for 40 days in the desert, he began his ministry traveling from village to village teaching in Galilee synagogues. He visited his hometown of Nazareth where his ministry heated up.
As Jesus stood to read in the synagogue, he was handed the Scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He found these verses:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Isaiah 61:1-2a; Luke 4:18-19)
Then he sat down. As everyone looked at him, Jesus said, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
As Jesus continued teaching, he said, "I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his hometown." The people went from graciousness to this homegrown son to fury. They attempted to throw him off a cliff. "But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way."
About now, you're thinking "so what, he was a radical." Let's explore a bit further. Look at Isaiah 61:1-2 — it didn't end with the year of the Lord's favor. Jesus deliberately ended before the sentence was finished. The conjunctive "and" continues with a second phrase in that sentence.
"...and the day of vengeance of our God..." Now I know that people like to think of God as the God of "unconditional Love," but that is only one facet of his character. He is also the God of Justice and will bring his complete wrath/judgment upon the world in the future.
What does all this have to do with America? America's earliest beginnings were of a people who desired to serve God by being a "shining city on a hill." America would provide the example of Jesus Christ's message of salvation to the whole world.
America has moved far from that promising inception and the founding fathers who set up a government never before demonstrated in recorded history, a Republic underpinned and strengthened with the laws of God. Today's reality: The shining city-country's light has dimmed in rejection of God. Our godly history is no longer relevant nor fitting for the progressive New World Order.
America no longer represents God. The world now unsteadily stands on that little "and" between the "year of the Lord's favor" and "the Day of vengeance of our God." Present and future. The "and" stretches across the centuries of nations and peoples — all moving towards fulfilling the rest of the story.
But it's not too late for people to come to a saving knowledge of God and Jesus Christ. For there will come a time when the Lord will proclaim his Day of Vengeance — when he has had enough of what he hates: sin, evil and rejection of him.
We celebrate the birth of God's son who became the "sacrificial Lamb" who died on the cross for the sins of the world. This is the message of "the year of the Lord's favor" — God's redemptive plan of reconciliation through his Son, Jesus Christ.
This Christmas, take time to reflect on God's redemptive plan, the Year of the Lord's favor. Our hearts will experience comfort and inner peace surpassing earthly understanding in the midst of the ongoing turmoil and peril in the world. God "is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2Peter 3:9b)
"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name (Jesus, Matthew 1:21) under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
© Bonnie Alba
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