Daily Transcripts

12/25/2015
Zechariah 8:1-23 ~ Revelation 16:1-21 ~ Psalm 144:1-15 ~ Proverbs 30:29-31

Today is December 25th. Merry Christmas to my entire Daily Audio Bible family wherever you may be on the face of this earth. This day brings us together. This is the arrival of the Savior into the world and there is no other reason for us to be here today. So may we all rejoice. Merry Christmas everyone and may we rejoice that we can come together like this on this Christmas Day all over the world; kind of collectively coming in out of all of the stuff that’s going on. We have this moment to center ourselves as a community, step away from all of that and allow God to speak to us through his Word as we continue to celebrate his arrival.

Commentary

Okay, on this Christmas Day, like in Christmases past, we’ve come to these passages and I find great encouragement in Zechariah. And then we get to Revelation and it’s like all these plagues and we’re like “Ahh man, Christmas Day, where’s the soft furry, cuddly, warm baby Jesus?” Only over the years, I’ve realized something that’s just incredible. Jesus, yes, came as a baby. Jesus is God and God covertly invaded this earth to upend the forces of darkness that were enslaving his people, to rescue mankind from the powers and forces of darkness, from our slavery, to bridge a chasm so that we can go back to God and enter into a first person relationship with him.

The invasion of any kingdom by another is a declaration of war. If you’re going to declare war, I imagine the best thing to do is to go all out with guns blazing (right?), with everything you’ve got and destroy the forces that are set against you. We read of this in the book of Revelation. The first Advent, or arrival of God in flesh, is this covert secret mission under the cover of night. This baby boy is born who grows to show what humanity looks like and then defeats hell, the power of death and the grave and offers eternal life as a free gift.

We read in Revelation today of another invasion – total and complete destruction of the forces of darkness on this earth. That is what we long for. That is what the arrival of Christ and then his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension leads to. This is where we are headed. Any invasion of one kingdom to destroy the forces of another and then settle that territory with a new kingdom is a battle and this is where we find our lives. Every day we are in that battle. Every day we are fighting for our hearts. Every day we are turning to God and mankind has been doing this all along.

We’ve been through most of the Bible now. We don’t have too much more to go, a week. We’ve traveled thousands of years together through the scriptures and we’ve seen man turn to and turn away from God. And we should get where those roads lead by now. We’ve watched them and we should see the parallels in our lives. And we want Shalom, the peace and order of God in all things at all times and all places; if we want to pray thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven, then we’ve got to understand that we’re fighting against the kingdom of darkness in our own lives and in our world.

And we see a great victory. In the book of Revelation, we see a great victory. It’s like God gifted us the foreknowledge of how this ends, so that in the heat and fog of battle for our own hearts and for the hearts of our children and for the hearts of our spouses and for our communities and our churches and our workplaces and our towns and cities and states and provinces and countries, as we continue to try to be the force of good, the force of the kingdom in this world, that can get foggy. It can get crazy. It can get absolutely nuts when live ammunition and spiritual warfare is flying at you. But, to know how this ends, oh, that gives us great hope.

So, we have such a hope and such a reason to rejoice on this Christmas Day. And so, may we rejoice. Eternity is ours. The victory is assured and yes, may we contemplate the arrival of the baby Jesus and all of the warm, comforting thoughts that brings and all of the gift-giving and all of the celebrations of family and friends. But may we look out beyond that and understand that this baby is a warrior, a mighty Savior – Immanuel, God with us and there will never be a time that God will not be with us.

He is with us and this is a reason to celebrate. Merry Christmas.

SONG played on Christmas Day DAB "All Creation Sing" North Point Christmashttp://apple.co/1zEPKgr

Tamarie 12/26/2015 10:05