God's Love for His Son - Israel (Hosea 11:1-11)

Even if you do not read the Blog entry below, please take 5 minutes to watch this video, and have a Very Merry and Blessed Christmas in the name of Immanuel.                  (GOD WITH US)

The Lord our God has patience far beyond our imagination! On this Christmas Day we are drenched in love for the Christ child and the beauty that accompanies the miraculous, healthy birth of a newborn baby; so innocent and dependent, yet strong and thriving with promise.

Jesus was sent to us however, as what I can’t help but see as a last resort. God’s grace love and forgiveness wasn’t enough for his people (Israel). He took extreme measures for the mercy of us all by sending Jesus to model how to live. How many more years will it take for us all to get it? What else could he possibly do?

In the Old Testament, Moses wrote Exodus as a lasting memorial of God’s goodness to the people of Israel. Verse 4:22; the Lord instructed Moses; then say to Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son…”

Hosea, one of “The Minor Prophets” of the Old Testament also wrote; “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. But the more I called Israel, the further away he went from me.” Hosea 11:1-2

This reading in Hosea is also a prophesy about the world being no different then than it is today. Though the Lord took care of and healed his Israel, they did not realize it. He led them with kindness and ties of love, but they did not respond. They refuse to repent.

Though God would be angered, he would not carry out that anger; “For I am God, and not man-The Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath.” Hosea 1:9

We are Israel, and we still depend on “Immanuel.” God is truly with us here on earth because of Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection. Alleluia!

Read/Listen to Hosea 11:1-11

Luke 19:28-44

Palm Sunday a Prophecy

According to http://bibleistrue.net/prophecy/ the Bible contains 1,817 individual predictions (prophesies) concerning 737 separate subjects found in 8,352 verses.

As Zechariah said the Lord would come some 500 years earlier, “humble and mounted on a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9). This prophesy came to be in Luke 19.

Isaiah 35:4-6 …say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come with vengeance; with divine retribution He will save you. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like deer and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and stream in the desert.” 

This prophesy from approximately 700 BC came true as well. Jesus performed a multitude of miracles during his time on earth making it clear he was not of this world.

In Isaiah 40 the coming of Our God was proclaimed and in Luke 3 John the Baptist humbly spoke of Jesus making himself known; “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Jesus did indeed come, and you know the rest.

While the crowd (referred to in scripture as disciples) shouted for joy as He was carried into Jerusalem on the colt, Jesus wept over the city and its impending destruction. Those who lined the street knew who Jesus really was and what his coming meant to the world.

Though we read about the second coming of our Lord in many books of the Bible, we cannot understand just what it will be like. We can trust however, that it is right and true, just as all of the other predetermined events of this world. Rest in the words and deeds of Jesus, for He came to sacrifice His life so WE may live. 

 Read/Listen to Luke 19:28-44