Prepare for Christmas: The Tenth Day of Advent

And Who Is Melchizedek?

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Today, if you hear God’s voice, do not harden your heart. . . . There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work just as God did from his. Hebrews 4:7, 9-10

When I was very young, I memorized a little verse that comes to my mind now:               

Said the robin to the sparrow, “I should really like to know
Why these anxious human beings rush about and worry so.”
Said the sparrow to the robin, “Surely it must be
That they have no heavenly Father such as cares for you and me.”

As I remember these words, prompted by my reading of the Scripture in Hebrews, I feel almost compelled to move for one day from what I have been trying to write about our Great High Priest, to a time of just listening to God as he seems to be prompting us to pause, and just enjoy him. Do we harden our hearts? Do we get so busy with life and work and activity that we can’t hear God speaking to us? Are we so committed to busy-ness that even his shouts become lost in the din of our activities?

I know that my own answer to these questions has to be a resounding, “Yes!” Right now as I am hurrying to finish this devotional, I skipped right over these verses, looking further down the page to find more about Jesus. But the Lord nudged me back to see if I had skipped something important. And I had!

So I stopped, read, and confessed to him that I’m trying so hard to get through – even writing about him – that I had stopped listening. I realized afresh how easy it is to miss important things if I set my goals and rush through any passage of Scripture.

I’m trying hard to learn to listen to God. What he is saying to you may not be what he is saying to me. We’re at different places in our spiritual journey, so what we hear along that road is planned just for us individually. So today, I am not going to tell you all I’m hearing, but I do want to challenge you to do something just for yourself.

Stop where you are. Tell him you don’t want to be one of those who never “enters into rest.” (v 5) Tell him that you want to be part of the “some” (v 6) who will know the joy of just quietly resting with God. Then begin today to set a time – 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes if you think you can be still that long – just to enter into rest with God. That’s what I’m doing every morning. I’m not there yet, but I’m learning.

Prayer: Father, we have missed so much in not being still and enjoying you. Help us learn to be still and listen. We are hearing your plea that we come to you. Remind us that you call because you desire our company – desire to spend time with us. Give us please, the desire to spend time with you. Amen

And Who is Melchizedek?

An Advent Devotional Guide
prepared for Rehobeth United Methodist Church, Winter 2012,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator

messiahcob.com

Prepare for Christmas: The Ninth Day of Advent

And Who Is Melchizedek?

Monday, December 10, 2018

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need. Hebrews 4:14-16

Some years ago, I was taking some kind of course for understanding childhood development, and a little segment from a film stuck in my brain. The film depicted a toddler, still too young to have cohesive thoughts, too young to ask questions, too young to process information in a language he could use orally. The child was playing intently with something on a table, when a cardboard figure was quietly placed before him of an adult person, whose head had hair like a woman but no facial features – no mouth, nose or eyes. The child glanced without interest at the figure and continued to try to put something together on the table, apparently ignoring the figure standing before him as though it were not there. Then the psychologist studying the child’s reactions, carefully replace the shape with an identical one to which he had added the face of the child’s mother. Immediately, the child smiled, ignored the trinkets he’d been playing with, and reached out toward the cardboard figure bearing his mother’s face.

I was amazed. As a mother, the film was lovely to watch, and I remembered how my own infants had almost immediately smiled when I found them standing at the rail of their cribs. Sometimes they were trying to figure out how to get over the bars and out of the crib, maybe even having thrown one leg over the bed rail, while not knowing yet how to get the other leg to follow. Though they were unable to complete the monumental task of getting out of the crib, and still unable to speak my name or call me for help, when I appeared, they instinctively related to the form they saw, knew I related to them, and expected me to give the help they needed.

I think of that when I read this Scripture. I try to “turn my eyes upon Jesus, look into his wonderful face” just as we sing and as I’ve learned from his Word, and I remember he can relate to me! He knows me. He understands me. He recognizes my struggles. He hears my unspoken cry for help and remembers I am frail! Jesus, my great high priest knows who I am, and he waits for me to recognize him and to allow him to help me as I struggle.

He’s not some distant God who says, “I’ve made you; now figure out life on your own.” No, he too struggled as he was growing up. He felt alone in a dark garden as he prayed while his friends slept nearby. My struggles are small compared to his, but he relates to them because he has been where I am, struggling with temptation!

I like to think of boldly (not arrogantly, but unafraid) approaching God’s wonderful throne of grace with joy, and I imagine his saying, “I’m glad you’re here. I miss you when you get too busy to come. Sit here. Come. Let’s talk!”

Prayer: Father, we are struck with awe! How can it be that the Greatest of the Great allows us to come with the trivia of our lives? Thank you for our high priest, born in such a lowly place, enduring so much so we could know you – could come to you to talk! Thank you. Thank you. Amen.

And Who is Melchizedek?

An Advent Devotional Guide
prepared for Rehobeth United Methodist Church, Winter 2012,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator

messiahcob.com

Prepare for Christmas: The Eighth Day of Advent

Second Sunday of Advent

And Who Is Melchizedek?

Sunday, December 9, 2018

For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way. . .that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. . . . Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Hebrews 2:17-18

The Old Testament clearly teaches that sin separates creation (us) from God, and the law required the blood of a perfect lamb to be shed to atone for sin. The above Scripture says Jesus had to be like us in every way so he could demonstrate that he understands our state of being, could relate to sin though he never sinned, and could remain a perfect human to atone for an imperfect race. All this was necessary both for him to accomplish his earthly task and for us to even begin to understand!

And it’s also amazing that he didn’t just atone for our sins but at the same time dealt with our sin nature. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, all the bad things we have done, said, or thought have been wiped away, but there’s more! Even the desire to sin and the ability to resist that desire Jesus has now died for! The law-required “wages” have been paid.

And how comforting the last of this passage should be for us! I remember as a young person thinking about Jesus as a super-human being who was immune to the things I struggled with. I was oh, so wrong! Here we read the comforting words of the Scripture that assure us Jesus was tempted just as we are, and his temptations did not end at the desert where he went soon after his baptism. The temptations continued all the way to the cross. Read the gospels carefully and find the times that he suffered temptation. These show that he understood how we also are tempted.

Go with him to Gethsemane, and hear him pray, “Father, is there any other way? Yet not what I want but what you want.” Read that his temptation was so great that he sweated blood as he resisted. Listen as he refuses during an agony we cannot imagine the drugged wine that would have eased his physical pain on the cross. Sing one of the old hymns that tell us, “He could have called ten thousand angels. . . ,” but instead he resisted the temptation so that you and I could be forgiven for our own individual sins through his awesome sacrifice.

“How could he love us so? How could he love us so? How could our Savior to Calvary go? How could he love us so?” we sing. He refused to give in to his temptations to reject the cross and the suffering, and his refusal to give in made it possible for him to become our “merciful and faithful high priest in service to God.” He had “to be made like us.” It was absolutely necessary!

Prayer: Father, the next time we are tempted to have our own way, to yield to some sin’s momentary pleasure, remind us of Jesus and his faithfulness to you. Remind us of our opportunity to be “in service to you.” Remind us that you understand us, forgive us, atoned for us. Keep us from sin. He became like us. Now make us like him. Amen.

And Who is Melchizedek?

An Advent Devotional Guide
prepared for Rehobeth United Methodist Church, Winter 2012,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator

messiahcob.com

Prepare for Christmas: The Seventh Day of Advent

And Who Is Melchizedek?

Saturday, December 8, 2018

Since the children have flesh and blood, he [Jesus] too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Hebrews 2:14-15

We seldom mention the devil any more – and if we do, it’s not as though he were an active, powerful being but as some mystical presence of evil. But here, the Scripture presents him as very powerful, one whom Christ has come to destroy. Ephesians 5 clearly teaches us that we are struggling against dark, spiritual forces – Satan and his henchmen – and that we should be prepared to meet those forces well clad for battle!

Notice that this Scripture calls Satan by the name familiar to us – the devil – saying he [Satan] holds the power of death. At first thought we might want to argue this point. Isn’t God the one who holds the power of life and death? Isn’t he the one of whom pastors speak when they pray at funerals, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I will depart. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21)?

So, if this is true, how can the devil have “the power of death?” The writer of Hebrews is talking about fear of death, about being afraid to give someone up to death or of dying ourselves. That becomes clear when he says this fear causes us to be in bondage. And he’s right! We are. We use euphemisms: someone has “passed on,” or “departed,” or “left us.” Why don’t we just say, “He died?” That is what happened, you know. The life of the person we loved is no longer evident or resident in the loved one’s body, and it hurts too much to say what has happened.

Well, the power of the devil that Hebrews talks about is not the power to kill us but the power to cause us to “fear death.” Who originated the word, “die?” Go read Genesis 3, and see how Satan taught Eve a new word! Just as Satan has the power to cause us to fear, Jesus has the greater power to cause us to be free from fear, especially the fear of dying.

I had a wonderful friend in Florida who had multiple sclerosis, a very debilitating disease that had slowly taken all the strength from every muscle of her body. She had been an avid swimmer, a hearty Swedish woman who hiked through snow, laughed often, whose strong lungs gave her a powerful voice. Now nothing worked but a few muscles in her face. She loved the Lord, so she had no need to fear. Just before she died, I saw some apprehension in her face, and I knelt by her bed and reminded her that before long she would run again, hike again, and sing joyfully in the presence of Jesus. I reminded her she’d soon be in the presence of the one who came to free us from “slavery to the fear of death.”

Jennifer LaMountain sings a wonderful song I love, and part of it is this: “No more fear, no more pain, no more tears, never crying again. Praises to the great I AM. We will walk in the light of the Risen Lamb.” That’s what this verse in Hebrews is all about. Jesus came to destroy the one who holds the power to cause us to fear death. His [Jesus’] greater power will move us through that incredible time called death to the eternal moment when we never face fear of death again.

Prayer: Father, thank you for the power of Jesus Christ to overcome Satan and his diabolic plan to keep us afraid of many things, and especially afraid of that wonderful time when we move from earth to you – there to be with you forever. Forgive us for allowing him to frighten us, and help us to remember your promise to be with us, even to the end. Amen.

And Who is Melchizedek?

An Advent Devotional Guide
prepared for Rehobeth United Methodist Church, Winter 2012,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator

messiahcob.com

Prepare for Christmas: The Sixth Day of Advent

And Who Is Melchizedek?

Friday, December 7, 2018

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God might taste death for everyone. Hebrews 2:9

As we have seen and will see again, Jesus came to earth in human form and grew, just as we do. Remember yesterday when I mentioned Luke 2:52 where Jesus grew in several ways? In wisdom – as he learned; in stature – physically from a baby to a man; in favor with God – as he learned to be obedient to is Father; and in favor with man – as he learned to live with others who did not understand him? He did this so we would not perceive him as a distant, unknown God who could never understand our lot in life. Ben said recently in Bible study that we must never forget that Jesus was “100% man and 100% God.” What a huge difference seeing Jesus in this light makes to our faith!

But the Scripture also says, “He was made a little lower than the angels.” That does not mean he was created, for we have also seen that he had “no beginning and no end.” It means instead that it was necessary for him to have this earthly, created human, lower-than-the-angels form in order that he might by God’s grace shed his blood on a cross vicariously for us. Only another man – a perfect man – could atone for our sin. Only a perfect sacrifice could bear the punishment for our sin. Only a perfect, loving God through a perfect son could accept a perfect sacrifice for an imperfect human race.

I have a little new great granddaughter. I have watched her mother hold her, attend to her little baby needs. I’ve watched the expression on her face as she speaks loving words to this child who has much to learn and has no idea what her mother is saying. Soon I know that Dorea (our baby) will respond to her mother’s voice with smiles and sounds. I have watched love in action as Rita (my daughter-in-law) teaches her newborn what unconditional love is all about – long before she is capable of rationalizing what is happening in her newly discovered universe. I imagine God looking at his own son and loving him with unconditional love. I will always be awed by the fact that he would allow him to come, knowing that he would have to die to buy back from evil the humans God loves so much.

God made Christ Jesus – who is our Priest/King – a little lower than the angels, so that he could fulfill the most noble of purposes. He would “taste death” for everyone – even you – even me! “And when I think that God his Son not sparing, sent him to die, I scarce can take it in! That on that cross, my burden (black ghastly sin) gladly bearing, he bled and died to take away my sin! Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, how great thou art,” how very, very great thou art!

The Hebrew writer says so simply, “But we see Jesus . . . .” The more I read and the more we consider the depth of the Word’s presentation of just who Jesus is, the more I wonder. Do we really see Jesus? The real Jesus or just our preconceived notion of who he is? A little baby in a manger at Christmas or the biblical revelation of God’s multifaceted self?

Prayer: Father, there are no words to tell you how amazed we are at this gift you have given us – Jesus Christ your Son! Help us to remember – not just at Christmas but all year long – how costly this gift from you was. We write thank you notes for gifts from friends. Help us to live in such a way that our lives will be our thank you not to you! Amen.

And Who is Melchizedek?

An Advent Devotional Guide
prepared for Rehobeth United Methodist Church, Winter 2012,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator

messiahcob.com

Prepare for Christmas: The Fifth Day of Advent

And Who Is Melchizedek?

Thursday, December 6, 2018

. . . To the Son he says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness . . . ; therefore, God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions.” You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of your hands. Hebrews 1: 8-10

I always hope that you will read the entire passage when I quote a tiny portion of a chapter. Though I try to get enough of the Scripture for you to understand its context, sometimes that is a bit of a strain. For example, here the writer makes a clear distinction between God’s angels and his Son. The angels, though bright and powerful, are lesser beings than the Son who is king forever (v. 8). Both are present at creation but only one laid the foundations of the earth and with his hands formed the heavens.

Just as Melchizedek simply “appeared” in the Genesis account we read earlier, a king who had no beginning and no end, here as in many places in the Bible we see Christ in that same light. He was in the beginning and his throne is forever and ever!

If you wonder why this is important, I hope you will continue to read for a day or two more, as we see the greater meaning of eternal – that is, not just no ending out in the future but no beginning in the past, existing before anything else was! We are so inclined to think of Jesus as having come to earth at Christmas, when actually he has been involved with and coming to earth in and since creation. It’s just that at Christmas, he came in a form we can imagine, an infant, so we could see him and relate to his growing up just like we did, just like our children do.

He was actively involved in creation; he was/is the eternal king. We cannot comprehend there being no such thing as time. Our finite minds cannot comprehend a being who preexisted time. We actually cannot comprehend God. So God came as an infant at Christmas because he understands how difficult it is for us to fathom preexistence. He knows a little baby boy we do understand.

Prayer: Thank you, Father, that Jesus came to show us in flesh your very person whom we struggle to understand. We cannot think in timeless terms when there was no heaven and no earth, when there was only You – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – moving about with your angels but longing for someone like yourself to commune with. But when you came to us as a baby, “grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:2) even as we must do, when you walked on tired feet from town to town, wept with your earthly friends as they sorrowed, and longed for company when you were in distress, we can almost see you. Thank you for your every effort to reveal yourself to us. Thank you for not only showing us the Man Christ Jesus but for revealing to us the preexisting Christ Jesus so we can at least try to imagine you – our no-beginning, everlasting God! Amen.

And Who is Melchizedek?

An Advent Devotional Guide
prepared for Rehobeth United Methodist Church, Winter 2012,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator

messiahcob.com

Prepare for Christmas: The Fourth Day of Advent

And Who Is Melchizedek?

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

And when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” Hebrews 1:6

The heading in one of my Bibles entitles this portion of Hebrews 1, “The Son Superior to the Angels.” I don’t usually read the headings too carefully. I know that they are not part of the inspired text but are additions by some editing team, there to help us in our study, and I appreciate that, but I still often skip them. This time, however, I did not skip over the heading.

Have you ever wondered about the angels at Christmas. I have. Luke says, “And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will.’” I’ve wondered how much the angels know in advance about what is going on in the world. How do they get to the right places at the right times? A lot of times when I have had a near accident or come close to something tragic, I feel sure divine intervention has taken care of me. When Peter was in prison and the disciples were praying for him, remember the little girl, Rhoda, who went to answer a knock at the door? There stood Peter, freed from prison, but she wouldn’t open the door. Instead she ran back to those praying for Peter and announced, “He looked like Peter.” And they responded, “It must have been his angel!”

So, do we all have an angel? Are they always there? How do they know when we need them? I don’t think we have to wonder how they got to Bethlehem on that Christmas morn. According to our text today, God had ordained not just a choir of angels but “all of God’s angels” to worship him.

Babies were born all the time, but a king’s birth was celebrated with pomp and circumstance. God planned an humble but glorious entry for his Priest/King Son. Imagine the sight and sound the shepherds witnessed! All the angels of heaven filled the air with their brilliance and their song! Wouldn’t David Lemly love to direct such a choir? No wonder the shepherds were, as the King James Version of the Bible says, “sore afraid!” God planned an humble but glorious entry for his Son, our Priest/King!

Prayer: Father, as we try to comprehend the enormity of this holy birth, fill our hearts so with gratitude that we, too, will sing with joy and gusto, “Glory to God in the highest.” Amen

And Who is Melchizedek?

An Advent Devotional Guide
prepared for Rehobeth United Methodist Church, Winter 2012,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator

messiahcob.com