(Where was Jesus born?)
(Bethlehem, the city of wonder)
Last week, my family began celebrating Advent – anticipating the promised coming of Jesus. We read how God foretold Christ’s coming through prophets, and found that people in the Old Testament became expectors: watching for the certain fulfillment of God’s promise! That role still applies to us today, as the Church awaits Jesus’ promised return.
This week, we continued by focusing on the ‘little town of Bethlehem.’ Around 700 years before Jesus’ birth, the prophet Micah prophesied that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem – and as we now know, that is exactly where Jesus was born! As we saw God provide detail after detail about the coming of His Son, we talked with Elayne and Titus about how God had planned every part of His Son’s arrival on Earth!
We often contrast Jesus’ birth in a stable with what a future king deserves. When England’s Prince George was born earlier this year, his mother certainly wasn’t laboring in the straw with barnyard animals! No, George was born surrounded by the best doctors available… then around the world gun salutes fired, bells rang out, songs were composed, and commemorative coins minted in honor of the occasion. (No kidding!) How much more, we ask, should Jesus have had as the King of Kings and redeemer of all mankind?
Yet what Bethlehem illustrates is something I think we easily overlook. God Himself, the Creator of and Sovereign over all things, personally saw to and arranged every detail of His Son’s birth. The Father handpicked Jesus’ mother and her husband, prepared a place for Jesus’ birth, and arranged everything to get the key players in place at the perfect timing. He announced Jesus’ arrival with a choir of angels, a mute priest, a brilliant star, and excited shepherds scattering throughout Bethlehem’s streets. He oversaw homage paid by kings with gifts, protected His Son from the local ruler’s rage, and first revealed all this through a promise two thousand years before any of it occurred. How could we possibly imagine a more thorough preparation for any future king’s birth?!
Just as He prepared for Christ’s coming, we see God preparing us for His work in Mexico. Jesus’ birth was the cornerstone of His reconciliation plan, and however small our part is in that plan… He is still active in all parts of its execution! As always, we have found ourselves incredibly busy this past week as we prepare to go. Meetings with four different families were accompanied by legal paperwork and year-end reports… which all gets somewhat overwhelming! Yet it is not our preparations that matter most, but God’s. He is the one who commands us to extend the reach of the Gospel to the ends of the earth… and He will not be slow to aid us now in obeying His will. We are grateful to serve God knowing that it isn’t our strength moving us forward, but His.
Prayer Request: please pray for Nicky Poarch and her three children. They are missionaries in the Asia-Pacific region who very recently returned there from the States, and yesterday we learned that Nicky’s husband James died of a heart attack (at age 35 or 36). I cannot imagine what their family is going through… please pray for comfort for each during this incredibly difficult time, and that God will work through even this to His glory.