Day 16: John

Finally, Elizabeth's baby was born. . .

The Birth of John the Baptist

" When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.
On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, "No! He is to be called John."

They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who has that name."

Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, "His name is John." Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, "What then is this child going to be?" For the Lord's hand was with him."

Day 15: Two women

"In that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

In a loud voice she exclaimed:
"Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"

Luke 1:39-56 (New International Version)

Day 14: Angel and Mary kneeling

Luke 1:39-56 (New International Version)

Mary Visits Elizabeth

39At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"
Mary's Song

46And Mary said:
"My soul glorifies the Lord
47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers."
56Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.

Day 13: Temple

And now, the New Testament! The story begins with the odd little story of Zechariah and some pretty confused people, saying, "where did he go? Isn't he going to come out?"

Luke 1:5-23 (New International Version)

The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

⁵In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron.⁶Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly.⁷But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.

⁸Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, ⁹he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.

¹¹Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. ¹²When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. ¹³But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. ¹⁴He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, ¹⁵for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.^{a]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[a]} ¹⁶Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. ¹⁷And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

¹⁸Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years."

¹⁹The angel answered, "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. ²⁰And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time."

²¹Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. ²²When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.

²³When his time of service was completed, he returned home.

Day 12: Crooked Line

Jesus will make a way in the wilderness:

Isaiah 40:3-4 (New International Version)

³ A voice of one calling:
"In the desert prepare
the way for the LORD;
make straight in the wilderness
a highway for our God.

⁴ Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.

Day 11: Comfort

The people are getting restless and saying, "Where IS this Messiah? Isn't he coming

already?"

Isaiah 40:1-2 (New International Version)

¹ Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

² Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the LORD's hand
double for all her sins.

Day 10: Cross

This doesn't seem to fit as part of Christmas, but if we're looking at prophecies preparing the way for Jesus, this one is the granddaddy! And notice those sheep (us!) reappear in this one, too. Baaah.

Isaiah 53

¹ Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

³ He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴ Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

¹¹ After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.

¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

Day 9: Chain, broken

Isaiah told of some of the things that the Messiah would do - read on for this great stuff. And the last part should get you singing. Well, at least, I know a song with these words. Hope you do too.

Isaiah 61:1-3

The Year of the LORD's Favor

¹ The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,

² to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

³ and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

Day 8: Tree and Branch

Jeremiah reassured a hopeless people that God would really bring the Messiah, the righteous branch to spring forth from the line of David.

Jeremiah 33:14-16 (New International Version)

" 'The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

" 'In those days and at that time
I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line;
he will do what is just and right in the land.

In those days Judah will be saved
and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it will be called:
The LORD Our Righteousness.'

Day 7: King Dreaming

This one is weird. Here we get a dreaming king on our Advent calendar. Why? Because Daniel interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar's dream, saying the crazy "superman" image in the dream represented all the kingdoms of the earth, including God's kingdom, the one that will never be destroyed -- unlike Nebuchadnezzars. Another image of Jesus' future reign. So God puts messages in strange places and in strange people!

Daniel 2:36-45 (New International Version)

"This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.

"After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.

"In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
"The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy."

Day 6: Building and Palms

God said that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. And a nice reference to sheep. I'm thinking about sheep this Advent.

Micah 5:2-4 (New International Version)

² "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times."

³ Therefore Israel will be abandoned
until the time when she who is in labor gives birth
and the rest of his brothers return
to join the Israelites.

⁴ He will stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of the LORD,
in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth.

Day 5: Immanuel

God said that the Messiah would be called Immanuel -- God with us. Still one of the most awesomest doctrines of Christian faith. Who would have thunk it, eh?











Isaiah 7:13-14 (New International Version)

13 Then Isaiah said, "Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you [a] a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and [b] will call him Immanuel. [c]

Day 4: Shoot from Stump

This is a passage of hope and vision! One of my favorites. And it starts with just the image of a small shoot coming from just one person (Jesse, David's dad, who, as we've been seeing is Jesus' ancestor). From this stump we have much fruit!

And don't you love that he does not judge by what he sees with his eyes or by what he hears with his ears. He judges with righteousness and faithfulness. So what is this stuff of righteousness and faithfulness if it does not come from eyes and ears? Hmmn... I wonder.


Isaiah 11:1-9 (New International Version)

1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD -

3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;

4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

5 Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling [a] together;
and a little child will lead them.

7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest.

9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.

Day 3: Heart

Oh no! I am already behind! But if Advent is about waiting, then think of this delay as part of the wait.

Today we have the heart because God promises to David that he will honor his descendants and not take his love from them. Interestingly, he promises to keep loving them, even if they break commandments and stop loving God. Their sins will be punished, but they will not lose His love.

Psalm 89:19-37 (New International Version)

¹⁹ Once you spoke in a vision,
to your faithful people you said:
"I have bestowed strength on a warrior;
I have exalted a young man from among the people.

²⁰ I have found David my servant;
with my sacred oil I have anointed him.

²¹ My hand will sustain him;
surely my arm will strengthen him.

²² No enemy will subject him to tribute;
no wicked man will oppress him.

²³ I will crush his foes before him
and strike down his adversaries.

²⁴ My faithful love will be with him,
and through my name his horn ^a]">[a] will be exalted.

²⁵ I will set his hand over the sea,
his right hand over the rivers.

²⁶ He will call out to me, 'You are my Father,
my God, the Rock my Savior.'

²⁷ I will also appoint him my firstborn,
the most exalted of the kings of the earth.
²⁸ I will maintain my love to him forever,
and my covenant with him will never fail.

²⁹ I will establish his line forever,
his throne as long as the heavens endure.

³⁰ "If his sons forsake my law
and do not follow my statutes,

³¹ if they violate my decrees
and fail to keep my commands,

³² I will punish their sin with the rod,
their iniquity with flogging;

³³ but I will not take my love from him,
nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.

³⁴ I will not violate my covenant
or alter what my lips have uttered.

³⁵ Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness—
and I will not lie to David-

³⁶ that his line will continue forever
and his throne endure before me like the sun;

³⁷ it will be established forever like the moon,
the faithful witness in the sky."
Selah

Day 2: Crown

For a time, the people of Israel had kings to rule them, including King David. God said that the new person who would speak for God would be an ancestor of David. That is why we will read later that Jesus is born of the house and lineage of David.

" 'The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.

He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son.

When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.' "

2 Samuel 7:11-16

Advent: Day 1.

For those of you without Advent calendars, I will give you a virtual calendar. We begin in the Old Testament, of course, with the stone tablets.

It is curious that God listened to the people when they said to Moses, "Make sure that we don't have to hear the voice of the Lord; make sure that God keeps sending us people who will speak for him, so we don't have to listen to him directly." And then God says, "OK. I will." (What's up with that? Is God really that scary that the people don't want him to talk directly to them?)

And Jesus enters the long line of prophets who speak for God. Yet Jesus was different, as we'll see in the coming days.

The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, "Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die."

The LORD said to me: "What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.

Deuteronomy 18:15-19