Behold!
Jan 01, 2009I wish you all a Happy New Year, on this first day of 2009!
All throughout the Scriptures, this word ‘Behold’ is used. This word can be translated from the original languages as, “Look” or “Pay Attention” or “See!” It’s a marker of emphasis, calling people to focus or center one’s mind on what’s about to happen next.
In Genesis, God gives every herb and plant in the beautiful, perfect world to the man and woman at the beginning of the creation and says, behold.
In Exodus, God says to Moses, behold the cry of the Israelites, my people who are in slavery. Look… pay attention… see their suffering.
In Isaiah 43, God says, behold the new thing I am doing among you. In the wilderness a straight path is being marked out. Pay attention to this work I am doing.
In Matthew 1, God says, behold a virgin will conceive and you will call his name Emmanuel, God with us. He will forgive his people from their sins.
At the start of this new year I want to encourage you to behold. Look. See. Pay Attention. To what God is doing in your midst. To the good gifts he brings, to the way your cries are answered, to the way he makes for you where there was no way.
If I were to begin life again, I should want it as it was. I would only open my eyes a little more.
Jules Renard
I encourage you to make notes, physically record the ways/miracles/events/happenings as you see God work this year. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just a text document on your computer or a simple notebook where you write the ways God is working. By this time next year you can look back and read all the many ways you beheld the Almighty God at work.
This year, I encourage you and I to behold, to truly see, the amazing works of God in our world.
-Pastor Tara VinCross
Hope
Dec 14, 2008Louw and Nida describes hope, elpis in Greek, as “to look forward with confidence to that which is good and beneficial.”
“Hope carries a connotation of being aware of spiritual truth.”*
Lamentations 3:20-24 says:
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
We hope when we believe that there is more than what we can see in front of us, more than we are experiencing right now. This isn’t all there is. Let me repeat, this isn’t all there is.
Deep at the heart of the Christmas story, is a story of hope. The story of hope by the salvation that comes through a fragile baby, who came to show us how to live and to bring us near to God.
So, I feel drawn… pulled… tugged into hope this season. Into believing that God still longs to work miracles among us today… still intervenes in the lives of humans …still brings salvation and light to those who sit in bondage and darkness. God still lets us know this isn’t all there is. God is working a new thing in our midst.
May this season for you, be an invitation to hope.
- Pastor Tara VinCross
- wikipedia.com
Advent
Nov 30, 2008O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence—
as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
From ages past no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who works for those who wait for him.
- Isaiah 64:1-4
In this passage we see Isaiah crying out, longing with all of his being for the first advent of Jesus Christ. As he looks around and sees the injustice, the pain, and the hurt in the world, his response is to turn to God and cry out in deep desire for his coming. He was waiting for the Advent of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
The word ‘Advent’ comes form the Latin adventus meaning arrival or coming. For Christians, the word is filled with hope and promise, for by saying this, we speak of the Advent or Coming of Jesus that sets the world right. We believe Jesus came in his first advent to live, die and raise to life – providing a way out for all of us, a way to live a life in connection with God. Scripture says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whosoever believes in him would not be lost, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
When Jesus left, he promised that he would return again, at the second advent (or coming) to set the world right and destroy sin & death forever.
As we anticipate the Christmas season and the celebration of the first advent, contemplate these words: “if the church cannot proclaim and look forward to the second Advent of Christ, then in all honesty there is precious little sense in making much ado about his first advent in Bethlehem." (Scott Hoezee)
We celebrate with joy the first advent of Christ, but we don’t stop there. For it is this longing that gives voice to the desire of our heart for Christ’s second Advent. Like Isaiah, we look around at the financial ruin, pain, and tragedy in our world and utter a cry of deep longing, “Oh that you would tear open the heavens and come down!” We wait in eager expectation for his return.
So, we add our voice to John’s as we say, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” (Revelation 22:20).
As we begin this advent season, we begin with a cry, beyond what our words alone can express. A cry for justice, hope and healing.
A cry for the advent of Jesus Christ.
-Pastor Tara VinCross
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