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And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her (Luke 1:34-38 ESV).

The people of Israel faced a number of crises in the period between the Old and New Testaments. These events, some of them traumatic, left deep marks upon the social, cultural, and religious landscape of ancient Judaism.

The events of the second century B.C.—with the successful Jewish revolt against the Seleucids, in the festival of Hanukkah (the Feast of Dedication; John 10:22), and the subsequent eighty-year period of autonomous Jewish reign—dynamically shaped Jewish hopes of redemption. These ideas changed with the reality brought about by the intrusion of the Roman Empire in the form of Pompey the Great in 63 B.C.

By the time of the Angel Gabriel’s appearance to Mary, the land of Israel found itself under Roman rule, which at times could be oppressive. The reality posed by Rome challenged the widely held belief among the Jews that our God is the only god, and we are His chosen people. The present reality produced a widespread yearning for God’s redemption, which many thought His Messiah would accomplish.

Gabriel announced a message to Mary that had been anticipated and hoped for by many. So, on the one hand, she was prepared to hear it and receive it. There was only one problem. She was to be the vessel of God’s redemption, giving birth to His Son. And she was a virgin: “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

Gabriel then proceeded to relay how this would be accomplished, concluding with the reminder, “For nothing will be impossible with God.” Mary found herself incapable of seeing how she could fulfill what Gabriel told her. Yet, upon hearing what God intended to do, Mary’s response was one of trust and obedience: “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

The message of Advent is God entering into human history in a way that He had not done before. At the moment when things looked the bleakest for His people and impossible for Mary, He provided a way. He entered their story.

Throughout the Bible, God showed up to deliver His people. When circumstances seemed the darkest, He sent messages of hope. When things seemed impossible, He sent deliverance. God is for us. The annunciation of the birth of Jesus to Mary proclaims that He is with us.

Will we choose to respond to God, like Mary, with trust and obedience? Even when we don’t understand how He will accomplish His purposes, will we choose to act as His servants? Mary chose to trust what God told her and to submit to His will. Her choice led to the redemption of the world.

This Christmas and Advent season, will we trust God regardless of the appearance of our external circumstances? Will we obediently submit to His will for Him to bring hope and deliverance in our lives?

PRAYER

Father, thank You for sending Your Son into the world. Regardless of how difficult the circumstances appeared, You made a way. May we submit to You as Your servants to bring Your light and hope to those around us. Amen.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will advise you with My eye upon you. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, otherwise they will not come near to you (Psalm 32:8-9 NKJV).

The psalmist provided a journey from the silent isolation of a sinner, through his confession, to God’s forgiveness—and his restoration to a covenant relationship with God within the community of the faithful.

This leads the psalmist to herald (to the community of the faithful) God’s covenant relationship to them: He is their refuge, protector, and deliverer. Having gone through this journey, the psalmist turns into a wise sage who seeks to instruct us, his readers, as to our covenantal relationship with God.

Sin severs our relational connections with God and others. Forgiveness restores those relationships, but it does this so we can reenter the covenant relationships between God and us, and between ourselves and others.

After articulating God’s covenant responsibilities to those He has forgiven, the psalmist reminds us of our responsibilities: to receive God’s instruction, to be led not like a horse or mule that requires a bit and bridle. Our part of God’s covenant with us requires our submitted obedience to Him and His instruction.

We typically translate the word “Torah” as “law.” But the root of the word “Torah” means “to shoot an arrow in a straight direction.” In other words, the Torah is God’s direction for Israel—not a burden to be carried. We would more accurately capture the meaning of “Torah” if we translated it as “instruction.”

Do we let God instruct us? Do we seek the wisdom and instruction among the local and broader community of believers?

Western culture idolizes freedom and individualism. Both concepts clash with the outlook of the Bible. God does not forgive to make us free; He forgives so that we might serve Him and submit to Him.

Our desire to express and protect our individualism is foreign to the world of the Bible, for the covenant of God’s instruction manifests itself within the community of the faithful.

The journey to forgiveness is not only our own. It restores us to the community to jointly participate in the covenant relationship with God and the faithful. It also empowers us to instruct others, so they will not go astray.

We too often view our journeys from sin to forgiveness in very selfish and self-centered ways. The Bible looks at sin, forgiveness, and restoration through the eyes of the community of faith.

Today, may we allow God to broaden our view so that we better understand our responsibilities to both Him and others.

PRAYER

Father, may our journeys back into covenant relationship with You lead us to instruct others for Your name’s sake. Amen.

“During His earthly life, He [Jesus] offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the One who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. Though He was God’s Son, He [Jesus] learned obedience through what He suffered” (Hebrews 5:7-8 HCSB).

Our faith has run off the rails. Somewhere within western Christianity we’ve come to believe that God is more concerned with our comfort than our calling. We often forget that even Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered. That’s sobering.

What makes us think that we are entitled to live a life completely free of pain or difficulty? God did not even spare His own son trials, pain, and sufferings. In fact, He used trials and suffering to teach His son faithful obedience. God could have saved Him, but He didn’t. Jesus had a lesson to learn—obedience—so God allowed Him to walk through suffering.

Our faith often places us (mankind) at the center. We can be deceived into thinking God only desires us to be comfortable and happy. In that sort of economy, God exists for me. I am the subject, and He is the object. The Bible, however, does not view the world in such a manner. God is king. He makes the rules; we don’t. I exist to live for Him.

He has my ultimate best interest in mind, but His goal reaches beyond me. He receives the glory. He is the subject, and I am the object. He will teach me obedience—which is His ultimate desire for my life—even through suffering and difficulty.

We tend to equate our inconvenience with suffering. It’s not. We do not suffer when we are inconvenienced. The denial of my perceived rights does not mean I’m suffering. Our faith desperately needs a healthy theology of suffering, because through suffering Jesus learned obedience to His Father. His suffering did not mean God didn’t love Him. No, it meant His earnest submission to His Father’s will, way, and rule.

The author of Hebrews continued, “and being made perfect.” How? Through His sufferings. Jesus “became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him [God]” (Hebrews 5:9 HCSB). Jesus’ sufferings made Him perfect, and they made Him the source of salvation for everyone who obeys God. God can perfect us too through our sufferings, if we submit to Him. Moreover, our obedience to Him offers a conduit for others to come to Him.

Why should God save us from the lessons He taught His only son? As long as our faith focuses upon ourselves, we will never mature, nor will we learn the lessons God has for us. If we truly follow Jesus, we too will submit to the lessons God seeks to teach us, even in pain or suffering. Our refusal to do so indicates our ultimate rejection of following Jesus.

PRAYER

Father, You loved Your son Jesus dearly, and yet You taught Him obedience through suffering. Lord, teach us too. May we submit to Your will in all we say and do, and in every circumstance. Amen.

“Zechariah asked the angel, ‘How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.’ The angel said to him, ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news”’ (Luke 1:18-19 NIV).

Luke repeatedly speaks about the “proclamation of good news” within his Gospel and Acts. He uses the phrase “to proclaim good news” as opposed to the noun “gospel.” His language reflects a more Hebraic form of expression and goes back to biblical passages from Isaiah (40:9; 41:27; 52:7; and 61:1), which ancient Judaism understood as part of God’s promised redemption for His people. 

When the angel Gabriel tells Zechariah, John’s father, that he came to announce good news to Zechariah (Luke 1:19), he doesn’t merely mean the birth of a son (although that was certainly tremendous news for the aged couple). Rather, Gabriel’s language hints at the role Zechariah’s son will play in God’s redemptive actions for His people (1:15-17). And Zechariah would have understood that. 

The angels proclaimed to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people” (2:10 NIV). Their jubilant message to the shepherds—“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (2:14 NKJV)—articulated the essence of the good news they proclaimed: God is fulfilling His promises to His people; the hope of redemption has come! And He does so and draws near through the birth of these babies. 

The worldview of the Bible focuses primarily on the community and collective, as opposed to the individual as we do within Western society. The angelic proclamation to Zechariah and the shepherds announced God’s redemption for His people. It was not for a few. And the individual was not the center of God’s proclamation of good news; it was meant for all people. 

We often personalize our faith: What does the Bible say to me? What has God done for me? And, at Christmas, what is God’s gift of salvation to me? If that is our primary focus, we miss the angelic proclamation—which was about God, His fulfillment of His promises to His people, and the hope of redemption for all the people. 

PRAYER

Father, thank You for the fulfillment of Your good news by sending Jesus. May Your good news of hope and redemption be shown through our lives to the world, and may they know that it is Your good news for all people. Amen.