God' Perfect Christmas Timing

Galatians 4:4a

God's Perfect Christmas Timing

Prepared by Dr. John E. Marshall

 

Galatians 4:4a (Holman)  When the time came to completion, God sent

                           His Son, born of a woman.

 

         Jesus was born at precisely the right moment, "when the time came to completion." The phrase refers to a strategic instant, an appropriate time.

         God carefully chose the exact day for Christ to be born on.  The birth of God's Son was an earthly event in time that took place at a heaven-appointed moment and had significance in eternity.

         History tells us God was converging positive and negative forces to make 4 B.C. the perfectly chosen year. At least three positive circumstances showed that the time truly had come to completion.

         One, a common government. Rome ruled. The world was largely at peace.  Hence, there was freedom of travel from one part of the Empire to another. Such widespread open travel between nations was not experienced again until the late 20th century.

         Two millennia ago, God used freedom of travel to further His kingdom. Surely He wants us to do it again. We must not waste this opportunity.

         Acts 1:8 can be more easily obeyed now than has been the case for over 16 centuries. How many countries are we taking the Gospel to? Early believers were stewards of mobile freedom in their day. We are stewards of it now.

         Two, Roman roads. To connect the 113 far-flung regions of the Empire, the Roman army built over 50,000 miles of stone-paved roads. They were built so skillfully that many are still in use 2000 years later.

         Their purpose was to give the army quick transport to squelch rebellions anywhere in the Empire. These roads turned into highways on which Christians carried Christ's message to the ends of the Earth.

         The early believers were good stewards of transportation. How many cars, trains, or planes have we ridden recently to carry out our assigned Kingdom mission? How far would Christianity have spread if the early believers had traveled with the Gospel only as far as you and I have carried it?

         Three, a common language. Greek was almost universally spoken.  Alexander the Great had spread it across most of the known world.  People from Europe to India knew Greek.  This removed a difficult barrier to spreading the story of Jesus.

         English, now for first and second language users the most spoken language on Earth, is the leading language of scientific research and international discourse, and the official language for aerial and maritime communication, the United Nations, and the International Olympic Committee. God gave early believers Greek. Has He maybe given us English to enable us to do a worldwide work for Him again?

         In addition to positive circumstances that showed the right time had come for Jesus to be born, several negative influences were also at work. By the time Christ arrived, the world should have been better able to appreciate its need for Him.  Centuries of human history had been allowed to elapse in order that the world might exhaust every strategy to attain its own moral deliverance.

         God gave people plenty of time to work things out by ourselves, but we failed miserably.  By the time Jesus came, Earth was in a terrible predicament, unable to lift itself out of a hopeless, helpless condition.  Our plight was deplorable and desperate. We were in critical condition. For life's real problems the ancients had found no help in any of these failed experiments.

         One, the arts failed. Ancient Greeks founded Western culture, excelling in oratory, poetry, painting, and music.  Greek architecture and sculpturing fascinate the modern mind.  But morally it was all for naught. What good are the arts if they point us only to ourselves? We cannot deliver us. We need help from beyond ourselves. The arts ultimately help us if they point us to the one Artist who can save us.

         Two, education failed.  Greeks were the first to study botany, medicine, physics, and zoology on a scientific basis.  Greece produced the world's first gifted historians and mathematicians. All this knowledge failed to save their civilization. Without God, education produces knowledgeable, well-schooled individuals who often fail morally and do not understand how to know Jesus.

         Three, government failed.  Rome brought political peace, but very form of government had been tried in vain to bring about personal peace.  Conquerors tried war; Greece tried democracy; Roman law influenced European law; governments lifted the standard of living and promoted commerce, but all for naught in the moral realm.

         The combined efforts of Israel, Greece, Rome, and every other government failed to lift humanity from the muck and mire of immorality and cruelty.  When Jesus came, the world was facedown in hopelessness because mankind had tried in vain every form of government they could invent to deliver themselves.

         Four, philosophy failed. Greece produced the world's best humanistic thinkers. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are a trilogy modern philosophers try in vain to excel.

         Yet, even these three could not keep their country from dying of self-indulgent evil. What good are ideas if they do not lead us to serving Jesus, the only idea that can rescue us?

         Five, recreation failed.  To escape reality, societies often become excessive lovers of pleasure.  Greeks were the first to hold athletic games, and to hunt and fish on a large scale for fun. Rome observed over 100 holidays a year. In Rome's Circus Maximus, which seated over 150,000, chariot races were held, and spectators bet on charioteers. People regularly spent much time at the gymnasiums, a system very similar to our modern day health clubs.

         Fun is not a panacea.  Relaxation and mental diversion will not solve the serious problems of society. An old saying says many go fishing, not knowing it's not the fish they are after. They long for something more and deeper.

         Six, religion failed.  Massive numbers of Greeks and Romans lost faith in their mythological religion, and turned to Oriental religions for spiritual aid and comfort.  These beliefs also left them empty. Even Judaism, having God's law and God's word, became corrupt. Religion in all its forms had had ample opportunity, but had proven to be utterly powerless in lifting us up.

         The primary difference between Christianity and other religious systems is; others are people's attempt to reach God; Christianity is God's attempt to reach people. It's about God becoming flesh to save us.

         Arts, education, government, philosophy, recreation, religion—all these experiments failed to redeem humanity, but the sad truth is; the main thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history. Thousands of years of unsuccessful repetition should speak clearly to us, but we still try to save us.

         Useless schemes of yesteryear are constantly resurrected to fail again.  Arts, education, government, philosophy, recreation, and religion have all been tried time and time again.  They will not help.

         Apart from the saving power of Jesus, the world will continue to grow worse.  Our only hope for salvation is Jesus' blood. A society's life can be good only as long as it adheres to Biblical principles. People try everything else, rejecting the fact Jesus died "when the time came to completion", at the very moment on which history and eternity hinge.

         We know God loves us for He sent His only begotten Son to come live among us, and die for us. We were helplessly sick people who had no hope of recovery. We were totally unable to rescue ourselves from the devastating effects of the Fall.  We know God loves us because Jesus came to help us when we could not help our­selves.

 

Welcome Home, Jesus

Luke 2:38

Welcome Home, Jesus

Prepared by Dr. John E. Marshall

 

Luke 2:38a  (Holman)   At that very moment, she came up and began to

thank God. . .

 

At what moment? Right when Simeon, who had been promised he would not die till he saw the Messiah, was praising God. Hearing Simeon giving thanks for the Messiah, Anna agreed with him and took up the theme.

When God came as a baby, and made His first in-flesh appearance in His temple, He was recognized by only two people: one old man and one old woman. God the Holy Spirit made sure that two spiritually venerated saints, a duo respected by the temple crowd, would bare witness to Jesus, and essentially represent the whole human race in welcoming God the Son into God the Father's house. Simeon and Anna, as it were, stood at the front door, saying, "Welcome home; come in!!" Thrilled and thankful, they praised God for the fact He had come in the form of a baby to save His people.

We do not have a temple building to welcome Jesus into, but we each have an inner temple, a heart with a throneroom, where we can welcome Him. Don't hang Bethlehem's "No room" sign on the doorpost of your heart.

I like the fact that the temple welcoming committee consisted of two older saints. I had all four of my grandparents till I was 28 years old. I have always felt a close affinity for the elderly. I feel at home with older folks.

I was taught to respect my elders. I was not allowed to address an adult by only their first name. I always said, "Mr., Mrs., Brother, Sister, Uncle, Aunt, Grandpa, Grandma, etc." We have lost much of this respect for the elderly. In my early days, two verses about white hair, the "hoary head" as the KJV called it, were prominent. "The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness" (Proverbs 16:31). In other words, growing old is an honor if it is accomplished through a life of godliness.

"Rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man" (Leviticus 19:32). That is, respect your elders; hold them in high esteem.

Youth is the new altar of fawning adoration. Some have a phobia of looking old. Don't misunderstand me; it never hurts to varnish an old barn.

I merely caution us; don't try to look a lot younger than we are. People are more insightful than we think. I hurt for morticians who must be shocked when they see a corpse that has a 30-year-old face, but an 80-year-old body.

Don't dread aging. Instead, prepare to embrace it for God. Focus on, and master, spiritual things. Look around. Find older examples to follow. Watch them. Learn from their mistakes. Hear their stories. Ask them to pray for you. Listen to their prayers. Examples are everywhere around us. Learn from them because we will soon have to take their place as spiritual leaders.

This is the case for me. My dad is our family patriarch. He has been for my entire life. But as he weakens, I feel the mantle pressing more heavily on me. Many of us in this room, before many more years pass, will have to move up to the forefront of the battle line in our family's spiritual warfare.

 

Luke 2:38b   . . .and to speak about Him to all who were looking

forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

 

The prophetess prophesied. She preached to anyone who cared to listen. We can learn a helpful practical lesson from her. What is an effective remedy for loneliness, especially during this Christmas season? Finding something helpful to do, and having determination to do it; choosing to bless others, to live outside our self, to realize the world is bigger than just me.

Yes, Anna had white hair, a wrinkled face, and trembling hands, but she also had an inner beauty that could not be hidden, a loveliness that wore well. Our sun provides a good illustration here. Sometimes when the sun is setting it seems to suddenly linger, and hover on the horizon for a while.

Since the day is essentially done, the sun's only purpose at this point seems to be to show off how pretty it can be and how beautiful its rays can make Nature. Its loveliness makes things in the path of its rays beautiful.

Similarly, even as the sun occasionally lingers on the horizon to show off its beauty, God sometimes lets beautiful lives be extended. Their duties are in essence done, their work is for the most part finished, but they are allowed to linger in order that God may let people look on their beauty. Even in this room, among us today, there are some lingering even now. Find them.

Let me share one more thought from our text. Jesus was born at a sad, dark time. Jerusalem had become the holy unholy city. Simeon and Anna remind us; even in bad times, some people remain faithful and constant. As Elijah learned in his midnight hour, 7,000 had not bowed the knee to Baal.

There is much dejection and hopelessness in USA Christians. Despair not. Even in the worst times, God has a witness. In these dark days for Israel, some were still true to God: Simeon, Anna, Joseph, Mary, Zechariah, and Elizabeth. God worked in this faithful remnant to do His greatest work ever.

Maybe the USA is seeing not the decline of true Christianity, but of nominal Christianity. Maybe we'll finally have only an indomitable remnant, who will earnestly pray, stay faithful in persecution, and call down revival.

 

Anna the Prophetess

Luke 2:36-37

Anna the Prophetess

Prepared by Dr. John E. Marshall

 

Luke 2:36a  (Holman)  There was also a prophetess, Anna, a daughter

of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.

 

When Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to be dedicated in the Temple, Simeon, who recognized the child was the Messiah, greeted them. "Also" in the Temple was a prophetess Anna, daughter of Phanuel. Her name meant gracious. Being of the tribe of Asher means she may have been from Galilee.

 As a prophetess, she was able to discern God's will, and communicate it to people. When Anna spoke, people listened. They knew she understood YHWH's ways, and could articulate how to apply them to people's lives.

Other women in the Bible served as God's spokespersons. Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron (EX 15:20), led Israel in worshiping God after He parted the Red Sea. Deborah (JG 4:4), who led a successful attack against the forces of King Jabin of Canaan, boldly proclaimed God's commands.

When King Josiah found the book of the Lord, and was weeping over the nation's sins, he sent messengers to consult Huldah (2 Chronicles 34:22), who verified Israel's disastrous condition. Philip the Evangelist, one of the original seven deacons, had four daughters who were prophetesses (AC 21:8-9). My family has an interesting woman-preacher story. My father-in-law was saved under the preaching of a lady in a General Baptist Church.

 

Luke 2:36b-37a  She was well along in years, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and was a widow for 84 years.

 

Our text can be interpreted two ways. She was either an 84-year-old widow or had been a widow 84 years. In the latter case, if she married at the usual age for marriage, age 12 or so, and was widowed at about age 19, she would have been 103 years old.

Either way, age 84 or 103, she had experienced a lot. She saw Pompey conquer Israel, and add it to the Roman Empire (63 B.C.). Adding insult to injury, Anna was forced to watch Herod's godless, ruthless family rise to power. She had seen Israel sink into a dark time. For decades she had daily come to God's temple, praying her people would better serve YHWH.

As a young bride, she enjoyed the security of marriage for seven years. When the shadow of death hid the light in her life, and filled her with mourning, she had to make a tough choice. What would her outlook on life be for the rest of her days? Would she stay always sad? A deep sorrow, especially one experienced early in life, can make us better or bitter, tender or harsh, yielded or resentful, for a long time. Anna fortunately made the right choice. She let her troubles soften her, and make her holier than ever.

I have been recently blessed by reading Pastor Tim Keller's book, "Walking With God Through Pain and Suffering." One of the book's many helpful lessons is; there has to be value in suffering because God suffered.

Since God does not waste time, there had to be worthwhile reasons why He suffered. He suffered not to keep us from suffering, but so we could suffer as He did, knowing it has meaning. He knew something helpful would come from it. Otherwise, He would not have taken time to endure the ordeal.

The same is true of our suffering. It matters. Do not count it a waste. We may never know in this life why we're suffering, but we trust our Father. We believe He has something worthwhile for us in our every fiery trial.

 

Luke 2:37b   She did not leave the temple complex, serving God night

and day with fasting and prayers.

 

Anna was, as we say it, in church every time the doors were open. This proves she made the right life choice with regard to her suffering. Anna chose to spend more, not less, time in God's house with God's people. She obviously loved both.

Don't let anger and disappointment drive us away from God and His people. Within the fellowship of believers we find our best hope for genuine comfort and undergirding. Here is where we are meant to be enfolded.

God's people not only enfold us; they encourage us and help us reach ever-greater spiritual successes. People who rarely or reluctantly come to church do not usually have a huge Christian impact in this world.

Paul the Apostle recommended Anna's example. He said Christian widows should pray night and day (1 Timothy 5:5). Let me humbly request, dear widows; please include Ruth and me in your daily and nightly prayers. We often feel spiritual warfare being waged around us. Please pray for us.

I love the fact Anna's corporate speaking in worship was matched by personal prayer in worship. "They pray best together who first pray alone."

Pray always. Live every moment, as much as possible, consciously thinking about God. Other disciplines may come and go, but always pray.

As we age, surely we see more and more the need for more and more prayer. The passing years teach us many things, one of the most important being the futile hopelessness of trying to serve God in our strength. Anna had evidently learned this lesson well. She prayed constantly.

I appreciate the fact that the prophetic words Anna spoke as God's mouthpiece through the decades to people were confirmed and reinforced by her lifelong holy life. Holiness matters most—even to our last breath. She was faithful to the end.

The capstone matters. When Ruth and I arrived at New Orleans Baptist Seminary in August 1972, its beautiful chapel was stunted, having a steeple platform, but no steeple. While we were there, the steeple was added; the transformation to the building was remarkable. It looked fulfilled, like what it was supposed to look like.

Christ-followers, for our lives to be truly beautiful, we must stay faithful to the end. Lifelong endurance adds the crowning glory to our lives.

Never retire from pursuing God, avoiding sin, going to church, reading the Bible, and praying much. Should we enjoy retirement and old age? Absolutely. Party! A part of this enjoyment should include what we feel to be a thrill: being able to spend more time in ministry and on mission.

As you often hear me say; the purpose of retirement is to be able to go on mission trips at Government expense. Surely we do not view ministry and mission as a burden. We should gladly serve God to our dying breath.

These are thoughts that occupy me often. What are the things I feel God wants me to do for the entirety of the rest of my days? I feel a need to spend all my life preaching and/or attending church every Sunday, reading the whole Bible annually, praying through my prayer folder daily, doing ministry and mission, and leaving a circumspect example for my family.

 

Thanksgiving Day's History

Nehemiah 12:46

The Story Behind Thanksgiving Day

Prepared by Dr. John E. Marshall

 

Thanksgiving Day evokes strong images.  Thanks to God.  Macy's parade, ending with Santa Claus ushering in the Christmas season.  Thanksgiving Friday, biggest shopping day of the year.  Most traveled holiday.  Family dinner.  Turkey.  Four days off work. Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys.        

 

We USA Americans enjoy our Thanksgiving Day. It is a tradition deeply rooted in our national psyche. We were not the first nation to set aside a national time for Thanksgiving. When Nehemiah completed rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem, he brought Levites to Jerusalem from all across the country to celebrate the day "with thanksgiving and singing" (Nehemiah 12:27). On the celebration day itself, he had the leaders make two processions on top of the wall, beginning at a point far from the Temple. "One (procession) went to the right on the wall" (12:31). "The second thanksgiving procession went to the left" (12:38). The two thanksgiving processions met "in the house of God" (12:40). It was a great day, and like our Thanksgiving Day, their mode of celebratory thanksgiving was rooted deep in their nation's history. "For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there were leaders of the singers and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God" (12:46).

 

For us, in our country, we also look to "long ago" to explain how we got here. How did this beloved Thanksgiving treasure become a national holiday?

 

The Continental Congress declared the first national Thanksgiving in 1777.  George Washington issued the first presidential Thanksgiving proclamation in 1789.  It celebrated our country's new Constitution. In the 1800s Thanksgiving Days became a regional observation.  Several states celebrated a Thanksgiving Day annually, each having its own set date. Sarah Josepha Hale eventually became the crusader who pushed a plan to have an official national Thanksgiving holiday. Her efforts caught President Lincoln's attention at a critical time in his life.

 

President-elect Lincoln, in his farewell address at Springfield, Illinois, pointed his listeners to God, a practice he regularly continued in his speeches through his presidency.  "Today I leave you; I go to assume a task more difficult than that which devolved upon General Washington.  Unless the great God who assisted him shall be with and aid me, I must fail.  But if the same omniscient mind and the same Almighty arm that directed and protected him shall guide and support me, I shall not fail; I shall succeed.  Let us all pray that the God of our fathers may not forsake us now.  To Him I commend you all.  Permit me to ask that with equal sincerity and faith you will all invoke His wisdom and guidance for me" (S.2.426).

 

God-thoughts weighed heavily on Lincoln as he rode a train to Washington. At Lafayette, Indiana, Lincoln said, "We are bound together in Christianity, civilization, and patriotism."  Lincoln later heard from non-Christians who wondered since when the United States was limited solely to Christianity (S.3.39).  In Columbus, Ohio, Lincoln said he was, for the difficult task ahead, looking "to the American people, and to that God who has never forsaken them" (S.3.46).

 

He would later recall from the first of the war "this government appealed to the prayers of the pious and the good, and declared that it placed its whole dependence on the favor of God" (S.5.371). In his first inaugural he claimed, "Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty" (S.3.133).

 

God-talk became the norm in Lincoln's communications.  He wrote to Iowa Quakers, "I am upheld and sustained by the good wishes and prayers of God's people.  No one is more deeply than myself aware that without his favor our highest wisdom is but as foolishness, and that our most strenuous efforts would avail nothing in the shadow of his displeasure."

 

"In God we trust" was first used on USA coins in Lincoln's administration (T.7).  The currently embattled words in our Pledge of Allegiance, "under God," were popularized by Lincoln, who spontaneously used them at Gettysburg.

 

On a War Department paper about pardons he wrote: "On principle I dislike an oath which requires a man to swear he has not done wrong.  It rejects the Christian principle of forgiveness on terms of repentance.  I think it is enough if a man does no wrong hereafter" (S.5.484).

 

During his four years as President, Lincoln issued nine calls to public penitence, fasting, prayer, and thanksgiving:  two in 1861, one in 1862, three in 1863, three in 1864.  Lincoln was working on proclamation number ten when assassinated.  Three days before his death, rejoicing over the fall of Richmond, he said, "He, from Whom all blessings flow, must not be forgotten.  A call for a national thanksgiving is being prepared" (T.85).

 

Lincoln's first call to prayer, August 12, 1861, set aside a Thursday, thereby establishing a pattern.  But for two exceptions, Lincoln set each special observance on a Thursday, a day not identified as any religious group's day of worship.  Thus the observances belonged equally to all the people, regardless of religious affiliation.  The people were called, not as church members, but as Americans.

 

After victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, the President issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation.  "It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the supplications and prayers of an afflicted people.  It is meet and right to recognize and confess the presence of the Almighty Father, and the power of his hand."

 

The proclamation set aside Thursday, August 6, 1863, as a day for national thanksgiving, praise, and prayer, for people to gather in their customary places of worship to render homage to the Divine Majesty (S.4.359). On May 9, 1864, when good news came from General Grant, the President called for a time of thanksgiving.  "Enough is known of army operations within the last five days to claim an especial gratitude to God" (S.5.46). 

 

Lincoln told a crowd that evening, "I am indeed very grateful to the brave men who have been struggling with the enemy in the field, to their noble commanders who have directed them, and especially to our Maker. . . .We should, above all, be very grateful to Almighty God, who gives us victory" (S.5.47).

 

When Lincoln's re-election chances seemed their dimmest, he received from General Sherman on September 3, 1864, the telegram that changed everything: "Atlanta is ours."  The President called for thanksgiving to be offered in houses of worship the next Sunday.  When an Army Chaplain mentioned how pleased people would be at the proclamation, Lincoln said he would be glad to give such a proclamation every Sunday for weeks to come (S.5.230).

 

Lincoln's thanksgiving proclamations were criticized by some as savage and vindictive because he was calling for thanks in a time of war (S.4.518), but during Lincoln's term, a groundswell of interest in an annual national Thanksgiving celebration began to grow.  It was an idea whose time had come.

 

In 1848, Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey's Lady's Book, the most influential ladies magazine of her day, began a multi-year battle.  With unremitting toil she took on the task of the USA having a unified national Thanksgiving Day.

 

Her words long fell on deaf ears, but eventually began to be seriously considered.  In September 1863 Sarah Hale wrote a historic letter to the President, spelling out in detail her arguments for having "the day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival."  Lincoln, ever looking for ways to unify the nation, read Hale's letter and passed it on to his Secretary of State, William Seward, who bought into the concept entirely.

 

One morning in October 1863 Seward told Lincoln, "They say, Mr. President, that we are stealing away the rights of the states.  So I have come today to advise you, that there is another state's right I think we ought to steal."  Lincoln asked what Seward wanted to steal now.  Seward replied, "The right to name Thanksgiving Day!"  He said states celebrated Thanksgiving on different days at the discretion of each state's governor.  Seward suggested it should be made a national holiday.  When Lincoln said he supposed a President "had as good a right to thank God as a Governor," Seward, who had already written a proclamation, handed it to Lincoln.  It invited citizens to observe the last Thursday of November as a day to give thanks to our beneficent Father (G.577).  Lincoln signed the proclamation, thereby unifying the scattered state observances.

 

As we celebrate the history and heritage of Thanksgiving Day, let's not forget to commemorate and practice what the day is set aside for.  Remember to give thanks to God. Thanks-living is a powerful antidote against selfishness and sin.  Never reflect negatively on God's dealings with us.  He is kind and good all the time.  All His dealings with us are gracious.

 

"Give thanks in everything" (I Thessalonians 5:18a Holman).  Thanksgiving refreshes our spirit.  Discontent is dangerous.  This is how Satan tripped Adam and Eve.  They felt cheated.  Once a heart turns sour, actions soon follow suit.

 

Thanksgiving combines in perfect balance seriousness and joyfulness.  Gratitude to God is beautiful, exhibiting noble soberness about life's meaning, and showing joyous buoyancy of spirit.  A grateful person is a contented person, and a contented person is an attractive person.