-December 13, 2023-
Good morning beloved, happy Wednesday,
“To perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant.”
(Luke 1:72).
The words of today’s verse are part of the prophecy of Zacharias in Luke 1:67-79. He was the father of John the Baptist, who doubted the Lord’s promise given to him by an angel. For this reason he was made mute until John was born. Once it came time to name him, the townsfolk wanted his name to be the same as his father’s, Elizabeth said it would be John. It was not until they asked Zacharias, and he wrote on a tablet, “His name is John” that his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he spoke praising God.
Imagine if whenever we doubted God we were struck with muteness. Some of us who speak a lot would really have a hard time. When Zacharias did speak, he spoke of John’s role as the forerunner of the Messiah and what His coming meant to the world. John the Baptist would preach the message of repentance in preparation for Jesus entering into the scene.
Jesus’ birth brought hope, peace, and joy. Truly heaven came down to earth. When God first created man, Adam and then Eve, He placed them in a beautiful garden, and gave them dominion over all the creatures He created. The Garden of Eden was perfect, they were innocent, and they walked with God. Then Eve listened to the serpent, the devil, and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God had forbidden. Sin entered the world and paradise was lost.
When God dealt with Adam and Eve, he made a blood sacrifice and took the animal skins and provided coverings for them both. This pointed forward to Christ’s sacrifice for our sins on the cross. Christ is called the Last Adam. He brought salvation, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life to those who believed. In Genesis 3:15, God told the serpent, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
Jesus came to reverse the curse and eliminate it completely. He because a curse for us, dying on the cross for our sins as our Substitute. He brought us who believe heaven on earth spiritually. One day we will depart this sin-cursed earth and be in heaven forever. Life in Christ is far better than all the beauty of Eden. Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
Let us enjoy the sweet fellowship with the Lord, spending time with Him in the Word and prayer. This is truly heaven on earth for us, a foretaste of what heaven will be in the future. Now our days are full of troubles, trials, testings, and temptations. We experience sorrow, pain, and hardship, but the Lord is with us, seeing us through all the way to heaven, the Paradise of God.
Have a blessed Christmas season. Jesus gives us heaven on earth. Stay safe and healthy.
Finding in Jesus all we need, not in man’s ways or in his creed,
Dean
Dean Allen's Daily Devotional 