BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE. Luke 1:6-7; Romans 8:18.

Consider the elderly parents of John the Baptist. They did not deserve to be barren:

“They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commands of the Lord. And they had no child because Elizabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years” Luke 1:6-7.

I watched a 40-minute video of Ed Young, Jr., and his wife. Their daughter of 34, who has battled depression, recently discovered alcohol and would drink till she got alcohol poisoning. She had seizures beginning the first time she drank. She went to rehab and wanted to do well. She worked at her father’s church in Dallas and she loved the Lord. But after her first taste of alcohol, she was hooked. She only drank a few times but always drank too much. And she drank a lot recently, came home. Mom and dad knew and kept an eye on her, but she had a seizure and died. 

It was a huge blow, a shock. Just that day she told her mom “I want to live. I want to get better.” But she did not. And the parents went to God and searched their hearts and wanted answers, saying “God, we tried, we raised her in the church, we loved her, gave her a warm home… Why God? Why us? We were virgins when we got married…” 

Like any parent, they said “Why us, it’s not fair…”

But this life is not fair. More importantly, this life is not the end. Never forget heaven, your REAL home. In heaven, we won’t ask those questions. In heaven, we will be overwhelmed with the good things. In heaven, we will ask WHY ME about the blessings that come to us.

“For I am convinced that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed to us” Romans 8:18.

Hang in, no matter what. Great things may lie ahead in this life—just as Zechariah and Elizabeth had a delightful son, John.

But even if nothing great were to come in this life, remember heaven, your REAL HOME.

God is going to bless you so amazingly that nothing you endure on earth can even be compared with it!

Think of a scale. If earthly sufferings were on one side of the scale, and heavenly blessings on the other, the blessings will not slowly tip the scale, the brass drifting down like a leaf in the breeze. The blessings of heaven will drop that side of the scale like a brick. BOOM!

No matter what we suffer on earth, it cannot be compared to heaven’s blessings!

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DIFFERENT GOSPELS FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSES. Luke 1:1-4; John 1:1-5.

What a contrast between Luke and John. One is all business, the other all poetry.

One writes like a lawyer, lining up each piece of evidence in perfect order. The other takes a more creative approach, speaking in figurative language. 

“Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightiest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed” Luke 1:1-4.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not” John 1:1-5.

Which do you prefer?

John is the poet/philosopher, speaking of Jesus only as WORD and LIGHT. His approach is my preference, but barely. I love a thorough history, reported carefully and in perfect order. HOWEVER, once you understand that history, you MUST graduate to the metaphorical level. That is, if the facts Luke reports are TRUE, then it’s time to understand what John has to say: What is the “Word made flesh”? And the “Light of the world”? Do you see what John sees? Do you know Jesus as the LIGHT that LIGHTS UP your life? Does His light defeat the darkness around you? 

I find John’s words challenging. Could I have written them? Do I see the Risen, Eternal, Son of God as clearly as John does? 

Do you? Why not? 

God, help us master the facts like Luke, and see the deeper truths like John.

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PARENTING IS SACRIFICE. Luke 1:38; 2:35.

God uses children to make us less selfish. Because what can yank you out of your self-absorption faster than a fussy baby or a screaming child?

All parents make sacrifices for their children. But God calls some parents to unusual and difficult sacrifices.

Mary was engaged when the angel Gabriel showed up and said, “Hail, favored one. The Lord is with you. Do not be afraid, for you have found favor with God…. You will conceive and give birth to a son… He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High” Luke 1:28, 31-32. The angel explained everything and Mary knew that for the rest of her life people would gossip that she did wrong and conceived a bastard child. The scandal would dog the family forever. How did she respond?

“Behold the bondslave of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to thy word” Luke 1:38.

Joseph had a similar experience. Mary told him the news and he decided to quietly divorce her. Someone else could raise the bastard child of whatever loser Mary had hooked up with. But an angel came to Joseph and told him the news. He obeyed, married Mary, and kept her a virgin until the child was born.

Both parents were asked to make a sacrifice—to be reputed as “sinners” for the rest of their lives, and to raise a son who would be born under a cloud of suspicion. In the early days, even their families would have doubts. Others would have doubts for the rest of their lives. But so what? So what if the enemies of God think ill of you? Your job is to obey and please God, not to please His enemies.

Dear God, give us the courage as parents and future parents to make any sacrifices to which You call us. Make us self-less parents and self-less people, believers who live to serve You and to serve others. Thank you for the courage of Mary and Joseph. Help us to be as brave and obedient as they were, to face not only scorn and mockery, but even the agony of watching our children suffer, as Mary watched Jesus and “a sword … pierced her soul,” Luke 2:35.

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WHAT’S THIS STAR BUSINESS? Matthew 2:2; Genesis 1:14.

Men from the East showed up asking for directions. “Where is He who was born King of the Jews? For we have seen HIS STAR in the East and have come to worship Him?” Matthew 2:2.

“His Star?” Jesus had a star? Did anyone else in the Bible have a star? What is going on?

Herod asked about the star—like it was the most normal thing. He never says, “Wait. A star? A star moved around in the sky and led you here? How?”

Think about it. Have you ever followed a star? How exactly does one follow a star?

Then the wise men head toward Bethlehem and the star reappears! “When they saw the star they were overjoyed beyond measure” and it led them to the house where Jesus was. But how? Stars are unimaginably far away—there is nothing further. The nearest star is 25 trillion miles from earth. How could a star have led the wise men from the Orient, Babylon perhaps, to Jerusalem? And in Bethlehem, it led them to a specific house?

How? The star would have to be close, it would have to reach down like a man leaning over his toy railroad village, and point at the exact house. And that’s what happened. Imagine a stage in a darkened theater. The star is God’s SPOTLIGHT illuminating Jesus the Baby born to save the world. Never before in scripture—never before or after in all of human history—but that night, God turned on His spotlight and lit the place up, pointing the entire world to Israel, to Bethlehem, to this newborn Son of David, born to save His people from their sins.

“Then God said, ‘let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as SIGNS for festivals and for days and years” Genesis 1:14.

This supernatural star was the greatest of stars, the ULTIMATE SIGN, announcing the Messiah’s birth not only to the Jews but to everyone.

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JESUS’S PARENTS. Matthew 2:13-14, 19-20.

Mary had a job, right? A HUGE job! The angel told the virgin she would bear the Messiah. She raised Jesus. It strikes me as an exaggeration when people call her “the Mother of God,” but she certainly belongs in the Mom’s HALL OF FAME.

Joseph played a smaller role. He obeyed and wed Mary in spite of the scandal that would haunt this family of good people including priests (see Zechariah). Suddenly—

“an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, ‘Get up! Take the child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you’” Matthew 2:13-14.

The angel told Joseph what to do. Couldn’t the angel have told MARY to head to Egypt? Why is God leading HIM? Then—

“After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, saying, ‘Get up, Take the child and His mother and return to the land of Israel,’” vv.19-20.

So Joseph took his family home. But now Herod’s son is a threat to Joseph’s family:

“And being warned in a [THIRD] dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee” v.22.

Again, the angel could have led Mary as he did when she learned of the coming baby. Why does God keep speaking to Joseph?

Sometimes God speaks to one parent, sometimes to the other. God spoke to Mary about her mission, but to Joseph about the future and security of his family. Leading a family is not achieving great things in your own strength. It is obedience—and that is challenge enough. The parent’s job is not to earn points for leadership, but to obey. Joseph is a good husband and father because he obeyed, and did the hard work of moving his family wherever God led him.

Leading a family well is not about your talent. It’s about giving up your achievements and obeying God and serving in a selfless, sacrificial way. No one does that better than Joseph. I’m confident he was a great dad.

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A Miracle of Nocturnal Navigation. Matthew 2:9.

Can you explain the star of Bethlehem? I can’t.

Do you give much thought to stars? The North Star (a cluster of three stars referred to as Polaris) is predictable: because the axis on which the Earth spins lines up almost perfectly with Polaris, the North Star (visible to those of us north of Earth’s Equator) appears never to move in the sky—while all other stars appear to rotate around it each night in a counterclockwise fashion. For centuries, sailors have used the North Star to navigate at sea. In fact, not only can you navigate by the stars, but an informed sailor can tell time by them as well. The night sky holds a tremendous amount of information for those who care to master it.

What was God’s purpose for stars, moons, comets, and other celestial bodies?

“Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and they shall serve as signs and for seasons, and for days and years. And they shall serve as lights’ … God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night. He made the stars also” Genesis 1:14-16.

God gave us the sun for daylight, the moon for nightlight, and the stars “to serve as signs and for seasons, and for days and years” v.14. The sun and moon are most important, but stars play a role. Sometimes they “serve as signs.” If ever a star might herald one of history’s most important events, could there be a more worthy event than the birth of the Messiah? And who better to be persuaded by a star than the professional astrologers from Persia more commonly known as the magi, the three kings, or the three wise men? They showed up in Jerusalem after following a star for two years:

“Where is He who has born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship Him?” Matthew 2:2.

How did these Persian star-gazers know a Messiah was coming to Israel? Because 500 years earlier, the Jews had spent 70 years living in Babylon. Clearly some of the locals were persuaded to follow the Jewish God. Some believe the star was prophesied: “A Star shall come out of Jacob” Numbers 24:17[1].

A better question is how could a star lead anyone to a specific place?

One might easily follow a star in a westerly direction. But after visiting King Herod, the astrologers left Jerusalem to walk to Bethlehem (a village five miles away) and the star re-appeared, “it led them until it came and stopped above the place where the Child was” Matthew 2:9.

To lead them to a specific house, this star must have been something supernatural.

It would have to be small, and close enough to the ground that it floated over the house somehow. I’m sure there are many ways God could pull off this miracle of nocturnal navigation, but one thing is certain: this was no ordinary star. 

Why did these non-Jews see the star and know its meaning, while no one in Israel was aware of it?

What sort of a star was it that could lead them to a specific house?

Was the star prophesied or not—and if not, what made these men so certain they would commit months to this caravan to Israel?

And what was God’s purpose in revealing the birth to Persians—men old enough they might die before Jesus would begin his public ministry?

Did they return to Babylon telling everyone about the baby to whom they gave priceless gifts including gold? –And how did they choose such gifts? Who gives incense to a newborn, even a newborn king?

And then an angel appeared to these men, warning them not to tell Herod about the baby.

And the same night an angel appears to Joseph telling him to run away to Egypt.

Why Egypt? What was God’s purpose in having Jesus spend his earliest years a fugitive in a land of pagan idols?

There are so many mysteries in the early pages of the New Testament. The incarnation: God Himself takes on human flesh and becomes a man. Emmanuel—GOD WITH US. 

God has given us so much information. His word is an amazing record. But there are mysteries, nevertheless. As Paul writes, “this mystery is profound” Ephesians 5:32.  There are some things we cannot explain. A star? That leads men to a tiny house in a tiny village? Are you kidding me? What is God doing?  As Hamlet said, “there are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”  All the commentaries, all the systematic theology textbooks in the world cannot answer questions God has chosen not to answer.

–And you know what? I LOVE THAT. I love the fact that there are so many mysteries. That leaves room for God’s grace. Because here’s the thing: there are mysteries in my life. There are mysteries in your life. There are mysteries all around us! We have questions for God every day, and of course, He knows all the answers. But He lets us rest in the not-knowing. I have come to love that so much. And I love Him for that. I love God, in part, because He does NOT give me all the answers. And, after all, loving God is the whole point.

We love Him. And He loves us.  “This is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

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[1] I read Numbers 24:17 as a prophecy of a man who would be like a star, not a prophecy of an actual star. However, SOMETHING caused these Persian astrologers/astronomers to understand that the star they saw was a definite sign of the birth of “He who has been born king of the Jews.” They were right about the star, and God clearly used the star to lead them to Bethlehem.

Bondservant. Luke 1:38

How do you respond to bad news? To challenges? To setbacks?

Do you know how young Mary responded when the angel came and said, in effect, “God will make you pregnant, but everyone will assume the worst and will whisper lies about you for the rest of your life, and it will be a hard road and–in the words of Simeon–a sword will pierce your very soul” (Luke 2:35)? Do you recall her words?

Did she argue like Moses and try to get out of it (Exodus 4:1)? Did she blame God like Job (Job 9:22-24)? Did she fuss at God and ask Him to end her life the way Elijah did (1 Kings 19:4)? No.

She spoke one of the greatest answers in the Bible:

Behold the bondservant of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to thy word. Luke 1:38.

Isn’t that the perfect response?

Could she have done any better? What beautiful words. I have thought of these often, and spoken them in prayer many times.

I consider my circumstances and talk to God about my problems and I offer myself, my time, my money, and my problems to God:

“I think my truck is terminal, but I trust you. Behold the bondservant of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to thy word.”

“I don’t know what to do about the bills. But behold the bondservant of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to Thy word.”

“How do I lead my family? How do I pray for my children? Behold the bondservant of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to thy word.”

What are your problems? What challenges has God allowed in your life? Pray about them and use Mary’s words to offer yourself to God. Let Him do His work. You will be blessed if you submit.

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LAYERS. Matthew 1:17; Luke 3:38.

I just finished my eighth reading of Holman’s Chronological Bible (READING GOD’S STORY: A Chronological Bible, 2011, Nashville). The Bible is so deep, so rich, so LAYERED with meaning—you can keep reading the Bible all your life and ALWAYS learn something new. You may become a master of the scriptures, but you will never stop learning. You may be a Bible scholar, but this book is LIVING AND ACTIVE AND SHARPER THAN ANY TWO-EDGED SWORD, Hebrews 4:12. God will never stop speaking to you through His word. If you’re reading it, you are learning.

So what did I learn today?

I read a familiar passage, the first chapter of the New Testament, Matthew 1. It begins with a rather humdrum account of genealogies.

Then Matthew summarizes:

“So all the generations from Abraham to David were 14 generations, and from David until the exile in Babylon, 14 generations, and from the exile in Babylon until the Messiah, 14 generations” Matthew 1:17.

Seven is the perfect number, right? Often called, “God’s number”? So God arranged the generations in three groups of 14, building on multiples of seven. And the larger point is the division of time into three parts: Abraham to David, David to the Babylonian Exile, and Babylonian Exile to Jesus. What interests me is that the exile to Babylon plays a key role, but slavery in Egypt is not mentioned. My point? We should be more familiar with the Babylonian exile[1]. It means something to God.

By contrast, Luke provides another genealogy of Jesus, this one going back to Adam:

“…son of Enos, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God” Luke 3:38.

How many generations from Creation to Jesus? Luke does not count them. But we can! So I did—it’s 77. Talk about a perfect number. Seventy-seven generations! But I would not know if I had not taken the time to count.

(Don’t be afraid of those long, boring parts—laws, genealogies, blueprints—you will find NUGGETS in there if you dig a little.)

God, help us read well and study Your word seriously! Thank You for teaching us every day!

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[1] It was likely the Babylonian Captivity that caused the “Wise Men from the East” to be familiar with the scriptures, to recognize the Star that they followed to Jerusalem, then Bethlehem, where they discovered the Savior of the world—a Savior not only for the Jews, but for ALL. God used the captivity in Babylon to reach the Oriental peoples of the East, just as He later used Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch to reach the people of Africa.

** In the interests of full-disclosure, I should note that some online commentators agree that there were 77 generations from Adam to Jesus, some do not. Either way, it is certainly an interesting number.

Today’s Math Problem. Matthew 1:1, 17.

The book of Matthew—and thus, the New Testament—begins with the remarkable genealogy of Jesus. Genealogies make tough reading, but put yourself in the writer’s position:

Matthew wants to prove to his Hebrew people that Jesus is their long-awaited Messiah. Jesus’s ancestry is the logical place to start. 

“The historical record of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” Matthew 1:1.

Matthew begins with the biggest news in the history of Israel: he calls Jesus the Messiah, God’s Anointed One, a phrase rendered as Christ in Greek. Not only that, Matthew calls his book a “historical record.” That’s important:

Jesus Christ is part of history. He is not some mythological figure. In fact, non-Christian historians wrote about him, including the Jewish historian Josephus and the Roman historian and senator Tacitus (pictured).  Both report that Jesus was crucified by Pilate.

Next, Matthew records the written genealogy of Jesus, including 46 generations from Abraham to Jesus, and concluding with another astounding Bible verse:

“So all the generations from Abraham to David were 14 generations; and from David to the exile to Babylon, 14 generations; and from the exile to Babylon until the Messiah, 14 generations” Matthew 1:17. 

Because seven is a perfect number, three successions of fourteen is particularly special. The poetry of this sentence has always appealed to me, but I have wrestled with this tricky genealogy for many years. Like I said, there are only 46 links in this chain. Mathematically, 14 x 3 = 48. Every year, I would find myself reading and re-reading this chapter, struggling to understand Matthew’s arithmetic.

For a few years, I had decided that the Joseph listed as the “husband” of Mary should be listed as the “father” of Mary. That would add a generation. However, not one of the 60-plus English translations available on BibleGateway(dot)com translates that word as father. Not even one!  So this morning, I scratched out the note I had written in my Bible. Then I re-read and re-counted. Again, things did not add up. But I kept at it. I knew there had to be an answer.

Then suddenly, I solved this mystery!

Matthew counts two people twice. The count proceeds this way: (1) Abraham to David, 14 generations; (2) David to Josiah (Babylonian exile), 14 generations; and (3) Josiah to Jesus, 14 generations. So from Abraham to David is a neat 14, from David through Josiah is another 14, and from Josiah to Jesus is a final 14. This count requires you to count David and Josiah twice, but that fits the language of verse 17: three groups of 14. For years, I have been counting generations and struggling to figure this out! Today, I finally did.  Now, here’s a question for you:

Have you ever pulled out a calculator to figure out the Bible? Have you ever grabbed scratch paper so you could make sense of a difficult passage? Have you ever researched what commentators (preachers and professors) have to say about a scripture?

If not, why not? Don’t just half-read, hoping something you see will make you feel warm inside.  READ WITH YOUR MIND.  Think hard! Study! DIG!

“Work hard so God can say to you, ‘Well done.’ Be a good workman, one who does not need to be ashamed when God examines your work. Know what His word says and means” 2 Timothy 2:15 (TLB).

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  • Some commentators add that there are Old Testament records of additional links in the chain. That is, Jesus may have another generation or two of ancestors that Matthew does not record. These writers believe Matthew’s audience would have known about those generations, and understood Matthew’s purpose: to demonstrate that the Messiah was an heir of both Abraham and David, and they would not have been troubled by alleged omissions. My uninformed hypothesis is that Matthew may have had reason to doubt some of the entries in those other records, thus rendering the 46 generations recorded here the most accurate statement of the ancestry of Jesus.
  • In another devotional, I analyzed the ancestors of Jesus. Guess how many generations there are from Adam to Jesus? Seventy-seven, by my count (based on Luke 3). Full disclosure–some parties online agree with me, some do not. Either way, it is an interesting number.

The Word Became Flesh. John 1:14.

John is one of my favorite Biblical authors. Though a fisherman by trade, John thinks like a poet and skillfully wrote five New Testament books: the Gospel of John, three letters (First, Second, and Third John), and Revelation. The first chapter of John’s gospel is so rich, shelves filled with books could be written about it—and no doubt have been.

Let’s limit ourselves to a single verse.

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” John 1:14.

By calling Jesus the ‘WORD,’ John argues that Jesus embodies all of who God is in a single man.  The Greek word ‘logos’ (translated ‘word’) includes three ideas. First, Logos simply means ‘Word.’ Jesus is the Word of God, an expression or statement “spoken” by God in order to reach man. Second, Logos includes the idea of something essential or fundamental. Jesus embodies the essence of God, the thoughts and truth of God. Third, Logos (from which we derive the word ‘logic’) conveys the sense of logic and reason. Thus, by calling Jesus the Logos of God, John is identifying Him as the essence of God come to earth in a form as simple as a single word—a single man—yet one that persuasively appeals to our sense of logic and reason.

Jesus is the truth of God embodied in a man and sent to persuade us to believe.

In verse fourteen, John is saying that Jesus embodies God’s appealing truth in a human form, lived among us, and we beheld His glory, grace, and truth.  John elaborates a few verses later:

“No man has seen God at any time, but the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has EXPLAINED Him” John 1:18.

Jesus is the LOGOS of God, the WORD MADE FLESH. He dwelt among us so that we could see not only God’s love, but the logical appeal of following Him.

Jesus appeals not only to the heart, but to the MIND.

God, help us to understand You better. Give us insight into Your truth. May we embrace the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us.

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