Month: December 2022

GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 21 ~ ~ PROPHESIES OF JESUS THE MESSIAH ~ ~ Not a Bone Broken ~ ~ Prophesied in Psalm 34:20 ~ ~ “He guards all his bones; Not one of them is broken.”

Fulfilled in John19:31-37 ~ ~ “Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.  Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him.  But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.  But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.  And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe.  For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.”  And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”

************ ***************** **************** ****************

Pierced for our transgressions ~ ~ Prophesied in Isaiah 53:5 ~ ~ “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.”

Fulfilled in Luke 23:33 ~ ~ “  And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.”

Also fulfilled in John 19:34 ~ ~ “But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.”

GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 20 ~ ~ PROPHESIES OF JESUS THE MESSIAH ~ ~ Reviled and Mocked ~ ~ Prophesied in Psalm 22:6-7 “But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,”

Fulfilled in Matthew 27:39-44~ ~ “ And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads  and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.  Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.  He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’  Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing.”

******************** ******************** ************** ****************

Cast Lots for His Garments ~ ~ Prophesied in Psalm 22:18 ~ ~ “They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.”

Fulfilled in John 19:23-24 ~ ~ “ Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece.  They said therefore among themselves, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 19 ~ ~ PROPHESIES OF JESUS THE MESSIAH ~ ~ Accused By False Witnesses ~ ~ Prophesied in Psalm 35:11 ~ ~ “Fierce witnesses rise up; They ask me things that I do not know.”

Fulfilled in Mark 14:57-58~ ~ “ Then some rose up and bore false witness against Him, saying,  “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.’ ”

*************** ****************** *************** **************

The Silent Lamb ~ ~ Prophesied in Isaiah 53:7 ~ ~ “He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.”

Fulfilled in Matthew 27:12-14 ~ ~ “And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing.  Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.”

GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 18 ~ ~ PROPHESIES OF JESUS THE MESSIAH ~ ~ Betrayed ~ ~ Prophesied in Zechariah 11:12-13 ~ ~ “Then I said to them, “If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.” So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.

 And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter.”

Fulfilled in Matthew 26:14-16 ~ ~ “ Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests  and said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver.  So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.”

Further fulfilled in Matthew 27:3-10 ~ ~ “Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”

And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!”

Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.

 But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood.” And they consulted together and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.

 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of Him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel priced,  and gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.”

************* ************** ************** ***************** ***********

The Disciples Scattered ~ ~ Prophesied in Zechariah 13:7 ~ ~ “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, Against the Man who is My Companion, says the Lord of hosts. Strike the Shepherd,
And the sheep will be scattered; Then I will turn My hand against the little ones.”

Fulfilled in Matthew 26:31, 55 &56 ~ ~ “Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

 In that hour Jesus said to the multitudes, “Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not seize Me.  But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.”

Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.”

GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 17–PROPHESIES OF JESUS THE MESSIAH ~ ~ Rejected By Men ~ ~ Prophesied in Isaiah 53:3~ ~ “He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”

Fulfilled in John 1:11 ~ ~ “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.”

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Triumphal Entry ~ ~Prophesied in Zechariah 9:9 ~ ~ “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation,
Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.

Fulfilled in Matthew 21:1-11 ~ ~ “ Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,  saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me.  And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”

All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:

 “Tell the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your King is coming to you,
Lowly, and sitting on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ”

 So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.  They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.  And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

“Hosanna to the Son of David!
‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’
Hosanna in the highest!”

 And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?”

 So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”

GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 16~ ~ Matthew 1:23 ~ ~ “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”

Unbelievers, skeptics, atheists and agnostics, will all deny the virgin birth because they can’t understand how it was done. But these same people will believe that all things we see and know to exist, came into being FROM nothing, and BY nothing!!!!! It takes far more faith to believe that all things, including the universe, came into being by a big bang and developed into complicated living things by themselves.

Life is filled with intervention by intelligent forces that we cannot understand. Television allows us to watch what is happening this instant thousands of miles away. Few, if any of us, understand every one of the intelligently directed efforts that make television possible. Who could master and control all the details that bring together satellite, television, sound and electrical control technologies to produce sights and sounds from anywhere in the world? However, our inability to understand television does not lead us to deny its existence. God Himself put the laws into being for these technologies to work, but man takes the credit for them.

Then can we say that God cannot take the form of His creatures simply because He loved us? Can we say that it is impossible for a virgin to give birth to God in the flesh? Can science rule out His suffering and death for the payment of our sin? Can science presume to tell us His grave is not empty?

Even if God would have visibly shown skeptical scientists every step, our measures are too narrow to span the width, too small to plumb the depth of His purposes. And for that we thank Him. We thank Him for intervening in our history with the birth of His Son. Truly the depths of God’s acts are only comprehended in heavenly light!

He was fully God on His Father’s side, and fully man on His mother’s side. If He had been the child of two humans, He could not have paid the price for our sins, because He would have been sinful Himself. If He had been the child of no humans, He could not have paid the price for our sins, because He couldn’t have identified with humanity, and it wouldn’t have fulfilled the justice of the Father. But because He had one human parent, and one Divine parent, He DID PAY THE PRICE FOR OUR SINS!!!

With the bloodlines of His mother, and his adoptive father, Joseph, He fulfilled both the qualifications of a direct descendant of David and the line of Kingship for David’s throne, fulfilling the prophesy given in Genesis 3:15

“ And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

Jesus is the Seed of the woman in that prophesy. Usually the man contributes the seed, as far as heritage, but because His human lineage was through Mary, to identify with the sin of mankind, (Mary was NOT sinless), this had to be. The first part of Genesis 3:15 was fulfilled at the cross (Satan bruising the heel of Jesus) but, awww- the head of Satan was crushed at calvary and he was taken captive! Death was swallowed up in victory for those who are in Christ Jesus!!!

1 Corinthians 15:54

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

That is what the virgin Birth is all about!!!!

GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 15 ~ ~ Matthew 2:9~ ~ “When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.”

Around Christmastime it is common to hear some “authority” trying to explain the star that the wise men followed to find the infant Jesus. It is commonly explained as a comet or the conjunction of two or more planets or stars. The question is, are these and similar theories possible?

About all you need to evaluate these theories are a Bible and a map of the Holy Land. Matthew 2:1 tells us that the wise men came from east of the Holy Land. Verses 2 and 9 further tell us that these men had seen the star indicating His birth in the eastern sky. They had not followed the star to Jerusalem, as often depicted in Christmas cards. Rather, they likely, (being wise men) turned to the Jewish Scripture, and found in what area the King was to be born. Proceeding that way, we learn from Matthew 2:9 that when they arrived in Jerusalem,(where Herod was) the star they had seen in the eastern sky moved to lead them to the Christ Child.

By this time Mary, Joseph and the Child may already have returned to Nazareth, or they may still have been in Bethlehem. Either way, they were in a house and not in the stable. No matter which was the case, the movement of the star was now from the eastern sky to either the northern or the southern sky. That is very un-starlike. In fact, the movement of the star was even more un-starlike in that it directed them to a specific house! No comet, conjunction or other natural object of the night sky will do that.

These wise men from the East were accustomed to the sights of the night sky. They could easily identify the unusual. This star was clearly created by God to announce the birth of the Savior to the world He came to save!

Matthew 2:11– “ And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.”

GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 14 ~ ~ Ephesians 1:3-4 ~ ~ “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.”

The story of Christmas begins with the beginning of the work of the Son of God. And His first work is recorded in Genesis chapter 1. The story of His love for us that led Him to give up the glory, beauty and perfection of heaven to come to our dirty, dusty, pain-filled world begins not in Bethlehem, or even in the Old Testament prophets, who predicted so many details of His life and death on earth. We must go to the beginning of His story.

The cross of Golgotha stands firmly planted in Genesis chapter 1. Even before the creation, Christ’s pain and suffering was planned by the Trinity. Ephesians 1:4 above, reveals that even before the foundation of the world God’s plan of salvation was already in place. Before the Triune God created the universe, before He created man, the plan was intricately planned within it all.

Just as Jesus’ robe had no seams, and was woven of one thread (prompting the Roman soldiers to fulfill prophesy by casting lots for it instead of ripping it), so the entire plan of Creation was woven of one thread—–salvation of man from his sinful nature, and giving him a perfect place with his perfect God. To remove the beginning of the story of the Word and His work in Genesis is to remove the foundation on which His work of salvation stands.

Christmas isn’t the beginning of the story of the man Jesus. Jesus interacted with His people all throughout the Old Testament. He was usually called the “Angel of the Lord” or the “one like unto the Son of God” Christmas is one part in the ongoing love story of an eternal God for His people and His creation, and we are a part of it if we have received Him as our personal Lord and know that He died for our sins.

GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 13 ~ ~ PS 35:18 ~ ~ “I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee among much people.”

There is nothing our Creator God does that is not intended to bring us closer to Him. Why? Because His purpose in making humans was to make someone to love. We exist because He wanted to love us and be loved by us.

There is nothing visible or invisible that is not meant to be of service to us. Consider the invisible angels who protect us. They rejoice when even one person turns to faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Consider the heavens above our heads. There, God placed billions of stars – some much larger than our sun. There are giant pinwheel galaxies with millions of huge stars. Countless billions of stars churn out more energy every second than we can ever hope to measure. What a lavish and beautiful timepiece to tell us when it is time to plant and time to harvest! God has given us more than the necessities of life. He has also hidden medicines within the bark of trees and the sweet-scented flower. He has certainly filled that creation with splendor and beauty.

However, I cannot neglect to mention His greatest and most generous gift. When we sought our will instead of His, we withdrew our love from Him. His response was to send His only Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer our punishment for sin on the cross. And He rose from the dead on the third day so that we could have new life with our Creator again. Oh, that our thanksgiving to God could be as unlimited as His generosity!

Psalm 96:12 ~ ~  “Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice”

Ps 136:26 ~ ~ “ O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy endures for ever.”

GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 12 ~ ~ Psalm 44:1b~ ~ “We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, [what] work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.”

How old did the Earth look five years after the creation? Geologists tell us that it takes hundreds of thousands of years to wear down new rock into sand and soil and for the sea to cut a beach. If this was true, one would not expect to see beaches or soil on an Earth that was only five years old. Or would we?

Off the coast of Iceland, over 300 feet below the surface of the ocean, hot volcanic rock began to seep into the cold ocean water in 1963. By 1967, over half a cubic mile of new, hot rock had formed a brand new island where there had once been only ocean. This new island was named Surtsey.

The following summer, scientists arrived on the island to study it. They found that a basalt cliff on the beach had been eroded over 300 feet inland by the sea in less than five years. They found that several parts of the island already had terraced beaches up to 300 feet wide. On the north side of the island, they found that newly formed sand had formed a sand bar that extended almost 1,000 feet out from the original island.

If geologists had not known that Surtsey was less than five years old, they would have guessed that the island was thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years old. After all, many geologists, rejecting the biblical account of a young creation, have used features such as sand beaches to try to prove that the Earth is millions of years old!

It takes far more faith to believe what the “scientists” are telling us about our home planet, than it is to believe what the Creator of not only this planet, but the Universe and all that’s in it, has been telling us!!! After all, what He tells us in His Word dovetails perfectly with what we see before our eyes!!!!

Thank You Father, that You have determined the Holy Spirit guide the writing of Your Word for all time. Thank You that in that Word You have told us that the evidence is right before our eyes, right under our feet, and right over our heads, in plain sight. Yet, many cannot see it. They will not see it because they don’t want to see it. We ask that You open the eyes of the spiritually blind. Let them see You in Your creation, and in Your sacrifice for the great Love You have for Your people!!! We ask this in the precious name of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Your dear Son. Amen