Beautiful

Last summer, Pastor Mike told a story about a young man who had been blind from birth.  Over time, he met a girl.  A very special girl.  He and this girl fell in love.  This girl was the daughter of a well-respected surgeon.  As he asked his future son-in-law questions about his vision impairment, the doctor realized that with a fairly simply surgery, this young man would be able to see.  Shortly before the wedding, the young man was able to undergo the surgery. 

The doctor that performed the surgery offered to take the bandages off his eyes a few days early so that he would be able to be visually involved in the days prior to the wedding ceremony.  He opted to wait to have the bandages removed only moments before taking his place at the altar, seconds before his bride walked down the aisle on her father’s arm.  The first face that his eyes focused on was that of his bride.  As she approached the front of the church, he clasped her hands and whispered in awe, 

“My love, you are far more beautiful than I could have imagined.”

On occasion, I become frustrated because I cannot see the face of my God.  How am I to believe in the unseen?   People say that He is beautiful, and that they see Him all around them.  I suppose that is true, but I can’t actually SEE Him.  I think I "see" Him as I see the wind- I cannot actually see the wind itself, but I watch as its effects sweep across the prairie.  

But I think that is only a shadow of the beauty of Jesus.  Nature’s beauty, as well as the beautiful examples we have from His life, are only a mere glimpse of who He truly is.

Sometimes I wonder what it will be like when I first catch a glimpse of Him.  I try to imagine the glory of those first few moments together- His face containing the beauty of the sunrise and the stars and the flowers and the mountains and smiles and all things beautiful all added together, emitting an ethereal glow.

*sigh*  But that is only my imagination.

Someday... someday, I will see Him.

Someday, I will have the blinders removed from my eyes as I enter the throne room for the wedding of the church to the Lamb.  I imagine that I will walk down the pathway to where He waits for me in utter awe.  My eyes have just been opened to invisible.  I imagine that I too will say something like, 

“My love, you are far more beautiful than I could have imagined.”  

Actually, I’ll probably be speechless.

Beautiful by Phil Wickham

I see Your face in every sunrise
The colors of the morning are inside Your eyes
The world awakens in the light of the day
I look up to the sky and say
You're beautiful

I see Your power in the moonlit night
Where planets are in motion and galaxies are bright
We are amazed in the light of the stars
It's all proclaiming who You are
You're beautiful

I see You there hanging on a tree
You bled and then You died and then you rose again for me
Now You are sitting on Your heavenly throne
Soon we will be coming home
You're beautiful

When we arrive at eternity's shore
Where death is just a memory and tears are no more
We'll enter in as the wedding bells ring
Your bride will come together and we'll sing
You're beautiful

I see Your face, I see Your face, I see Your face
You're beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautiful

Merry Christmas

Christ’s birth and kingdom are foretold by Isaiah 

Isaiah 9:2, 6-7

 ² The people walking in darkness
   have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
   a light has dawned.
⁶ For to us a child is born,
   to us a son is given,
   and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
   Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Of the greatness of his government and peace
   there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
   and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
   with justice and righteousness
   from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
   will accomplish this.

The Gospel brings peace to the whole creation

Isaiah 11:6-9

 ⁶ The wolf will live with the lamb,
   the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling 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 cobra’s den,
   the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy
   on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD
   as the waters cover the sea.

Mary is told of her chosen role

Luke 1:26-37

 ²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 

 ²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” 

 ³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 

 ³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”

Luke tells of the birth of Jesus

Luke 2:8-16

 ⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

 ¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

 ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
   and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

 ¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

 ¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.

The star leads the wise men to Bethlehem 

Matthew 2:1-11

¹ After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 

 ³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: 

 ⁶ “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
   are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
   who will shepherd my people Israel.’” 

 ⁷ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” 

 ⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

John unfolds the mystery of the incarnation

John 1:1-14

 ¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 

 ⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 

 ⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 

 ¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.