Bethlehem Ephrathah

 

2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.

3 Therefore He shall give them up, Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth; Then the remnant of His brethren Shall return to the children of Israel.

4 And He shall stand and feed His flock In the strength of the LORD, In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God; And they shall abide, For now He shall be great To the ends of the earth;

5 And this One shall be peace.

     Micah 5:2-5 (NKJV)

In this passage, Micah reassures the people that their Messiah will come and prophesies that He will be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah.  Because there is another town called Bethlehem in northern Israel, Micah specifies that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah (just south of Jerusalem).  And so it was, just as predicted centuries earlier.

 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, "Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”

     Luke 2:12-15 (NKJV)

After the angel heralded to the shepherds that their Savior had come, they were told that a Babe lying in a manger would be the sign of this miracle. This sign shows the incredible contrasts involved in God’s sovereign plan. Though Bethlehem was just a little, out-of-the-way town, the Savior was born there. Though the Davidic line was dried up at the time, the Messiah came forth from it. The eternal Son of God came as a newborn baby, the divine King was born in a lowly manger to a humble girl. The best news was given first to common shepherds. Yet we see over and over how God uses the little things to confound the wise, and chooses the humble to become greater. 

While the shepherds found their Savior in Bethlehem, others did not.  The chief priests and scribes knew this prophecy and even quoted it from Micah to tell the wise men where to find the Christ (Matthew 2:5-6), but they did not seek Him themselves.  Whatever their reason, it’s tragic.  The long-awaited Messiah was right there with them and yet the Jewish leaders missed the most wondrous gift.  We must be careful not to miss Christ either.

 Let not our hearts be hard or distracted, but meek and focused on Him. Let not our expectations cause us to miss what God has for us. Like the shepherds, let us run to Him and believe with child-like faith. Like they did, let us fall down and worship Him. Then we will truly have a Christ-filled Christmas.

Giving Up Control To Get Control

 

Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in many parts of the world, as well as famines. But this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.

When these things begin to happen, watch out! You will be handed over to the local councils and beaten in the synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell them about me.  For the Good News must first be preached to all nations.  But when you are arrested and stand trial, don’t worry in advance about what to say. Just say what God tells you at that time, for it is not you who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit.  Mark 13:8-11

One of the great things I never mentioned about my Dad was how much I admired him when he prayed for the family.  My Dad was a successful businessman, but as I have said previously, he was a man of faith long before then.  As a young man, he went to a prominent local church in Detroit, and he would sing in a quartet as a tenor.  I would not get to hear him sing like that much, but he had a beautiful tenor voice.  That is where I guess he grew comfortable in front of audiences, and he would often say grace over the meal not only at home but also at major family functions and church gatherings.  I marveled at his timing of words and connection with God, and every word flowed with ease.  I would aspire to be as connected, but for most of my adult life, I would always get nervous and struggle to find the right words to say.  But over time as my relationship with God grew and more journey taught me to trust Him more, the words suddenly came.  The family entrusted me with saying prayer more, and I was able to speak what was on both my mind and heart with a seamless connection with God.  There is a saying I heard that became a lifelong principle of mine.  Sometimes, you must give up control in the narrow sense to get control in the broader sense.  If you can give up control of what to say and how to say it, you can begin to trust God to fill you with the Holy Spirit to say exactly what is needed for His Glory.

Trusting God means believing what He put in you is the good that will come out.  I spoke a couple weeks ago about when Jesus poured out His wisdom, love, and knowledge to Peter to lead His people after He would ascend to Heaven.  As I read these verses, the situation Jesus described was dire.  Being handed over to the council and beaten in the synagogues is bad enough.  But then, you had to stand trial just because you claimed Christ.  Just an ordinary walk in the park in the name of Jesus, right?  I remember saying how God is a wonderful playwriter, and is a master of setting the stage.  In the story of Job, Satan said that when you take all away from Job, he will curse you.  God knew that Job would remain faithful, and of course, Job affirmed it having said:

Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked shall I return there.
The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord.  Job 1:20b (NKJV)

Here, Jesus set this stage knowing that should we find ourselves under the most trying of circumstances and yet testify to God’s goodness in the face of such adversity, there can be no doubt not only who we serve but also who others should be willing to give their life to Christ.  It is why Billy Graham Sr. was such a great crusader for Christ for every word that flowed from His mouth was clearly words God intended to share with his audiences.  And upon hearing him, millions confessed and gave their lives to Christ.  When you reflect of today’s verses, it is not so difficult to understand how such a movement of God happened.

God is forever faithful.  When the right words seemingly cannot be found and you worry about what to say, we know we can simply close our eyes, and focus our mind and heart on Jesus.  His Spirit will fill you, and then, speak with confidence knowing the true living God is with you.  Do not focus on your past failed comments.  Let us surrender control to Him and be amazed.  What prayers will you go to Him focusing exclusively on the Holy Spirit within you?  How can you allow your words to melt into God’s words?  My prayer is that we give up control of our thoughts to God to get control of our walk of faith toward Him.  Amen.

Pun Gained in Translation

 One of the reasons that I wanted to learn biblical languages is that I had always been told, "...in the original Greek, that means..." and figured that, to really understand the important stuff, I needed to know Greek and Hebrew. After several years of training, and two decades of translating, it has dawned on me that I gained something else, and still haven't really understood the important stuff.

One of the things that I gained was an appreciation for the creativity and humor of many of the biblical authors (and, of course, my Savior) demonstrated in their writing. That wasn't always as clear in a translation. But it's not an amazing revelation either. Usually, some phrase or word is a "pun" or a joke, or something you would pickup if it were spoken out loud in Hebrew or Greek.

But today, I found something that seems to only work in English rather than Greek or Hebrew:

As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him. (Mark 1:16-20 NASB)

Jesus, walking along the Sea of Galilee, finds...fishermen. Who would have thought? Some occupations are made up of "participles" of the action done in the occupation. And I figured "fisherman" was one of those. It isn't. In Greek, you can't "borrow" the verb, "to fish", in another form to make a pun like you can in English (I don't know if it's technically a "pun", but some sort of word-play).

It would technically read, "...and I will make you fishermen of people." But that reads really odd in English. Instead, translators have used the obvious word-play. And it's important to draw attention to what Jesus says here. He connects what Peter and Andrew do for a living to what He is calling them to do. 

In a basic sense, Peter and Andrew gather fish (net fishing). Jesus uses the metaphor of harvesters in the fields to describe something similar. Fishermen were at the mercy of fish, in many ways. In Luke 5, this account includes Jesus directing Peter to catch fish with Him. After a fruitless night of fishing, Peter and his people net a huge amount of fish, simply at Jesus' word.

In one sense, Simon, Andrew, James, and John all leave one occupation to follow Jesus. This becomes their new occupation, or activity with which they provide for their families. In another sense, this occupation is also dependent upon what is sought, or rather, for God to bring what is sought to the seeker. 

We can all fall into the trap of believing we "make money" by what we do. We do our "jobs" and "make a living". But the reality is that our Creator brings us what we seek; He provides what we need for our families. The same is true for our calling in His Kingdom. We only see the results He brings. We work, we prepare the fields, we mend the nets, we make ready to share the good news of Jesus.

And it is our Savior who prepares the hearts as our Creator prepares the rains. It is our Savior who brings the people as our Creator gathers fish to the nets. What we have been called to be doing for the Kingdom of Heaven, may not be our "occupation". Even so, it is dependent up on our Savior for results. And there may be nights we work all night and catch nothing. And, like Peter, at the word of Jesus, we may need to put the nets out one more time.

If your occupation and your kingdom calling are different (mine are), take a minute to think about how our Savior is providing within both. How is Jesus making you successful at "work"? How is the Holy Spirit giving you success in a ministry? And how are you protecting your heart and mind from the trap of believing it's about what you do? How can you avoid the common cultural message that you are responsible for your own success?