12/16/2015

HE+ Came to PROCLAIM... and to BE PROCLAIMED... Advent Meditations 2015


At the brow of the hill at Nazareth


Our LORD JESUS CHRIST came to prepare a People for Possession, a People HE+ could call His+ own, a People HE+ was not ashamed to call   "Brethren." 


Isaiah 61:1-2a

 The SPIRIT of the LORD GOD is upon ME+; because the LORD hath anointed ME+ to preach good tidings unto the meek; HE hath sent ME+ to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,...

This exact same PROCLAMATION was announced by Our LORD Himself+ when HE+ was given the scroll of Isaiah to read in His+ home synagogue in Nazareth.

This was His+ first public PROCLAMATION after the devil had tempted HIM+ for 40 days.

After reading these same words of Isaiah the Prophet to the congregation in His+ home-town, Nazareth, HE+ said:

And HE+ began to say unto them, 
This Day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Luke 4:21

Thus, Our LORD JESUS CHRIST publicly proclaimed that HE+ was indeed the MESSIAH+ of the Israel of GOD, a  proclamation which thrust HIM+ headlong and immediately into ... favor ?

NO.  

That proclamation thrust Our LORD into His+ first persecution by the public... that same "public" that knew HIM+ as a child full of favor among them!  (See Luke 4. )

Luke 2:52
And JESUS increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with GOD and man.  

His+ townspeople tried to cast HIM+ headlong over the cliff, the brow of the hill where their city was built (Luke 4:29).

They failed because His+ time was not yet come to die for the sins of the people... those very people whose sins wrought such hatred and violence against HIM+.

Why was this ?

His+ Words revealed their hearts, that they were dark and evil and ready to kill anyone who revealed them in truth.

When we proclaim His+ Word in SPIRIT and in Truth, the same thing happens to us,  a People for His+ Possession.

His+ Truth reveals the evil in a human heart. His+ Word has power to do this. HE+ knows which spirits are ruling men, just like HE+ knew the spirits ruling the men of Nazareth in the synagogue that day.

 The satan and his minions know they have been revealed for who they are and for whom they serve  in the LIGHT of His+ Word. 

They hate the LIGHT+ of CHRIST, just as the men of Nazareth hated it although JESUS had lived in wisdom, stature, and favor among them growing up.

Knowing this, do we stop proclaiming the LORDSHIP of JESUS CHRIST  unto this dark and dying world ?

Knowing this, do we stop proclaiming the LORDSHIP of JESUS CHRIST  through our lives, in this dark and dying world ?

NO, no to both.  

We proclaim His+ Death until HE+ comes again in power and great glory!

Let us pray:

O LORD JESUS, THOU+ Who+ proclaimed the Light+ to men hostile to THEE+, strengthen me to do the same.

Help me in my resolve to proclaim Thy+ LORDSHIP to both the seen and the unseen.

But first, O Knower+ of all that is in man, help me to live FULLY under Thy+ LORDSHIP myself.  Let the satan find nothing in me that he can claim as his own.

Rather, make me a person for Thy+ Possession, O LORD, for THOU+ hast said there is nothing too hard for THEE+.

So, I renounce the works of the satan in my life -- the fears and the family spirits -- in the Mighty Name of our RISEN LORD JESUS CHRIST, Who+ came to triumph over death, hell, and the grave... and HE+ did  triumph !

Thanks be to GOD for sending His+ Only-Begotten SON+ to rescue such sinners as myself and to make us a People for Possession, His+ Own.

Amen.



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