Monday, December 19, 2005

Announcement of the Birth of Jesus Christ

Now, this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
"Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall call him Emmanuel"
which means, "God is with us." When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. He had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus.
Mathew 1:18-25
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In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afreaid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?" And the angel said to her in reply, "The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God." Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:26-38

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Birth of Immanuel

In the days of Ahaz, king of Judah, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, king of Israel, son of Remaliah, went up to attack Jerusalem, but they were not able to conquer it. When word came to the house of David that Aram was encamped in Ephraim, the heart of the king and the heart of the people trembled, as the trees of the forest tremble in the wind.
Then the LORD said to Isaiah: Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shearjashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller's field, and say to him: Take care you remain tranquil and do not fear; let not your courage fail before these two stumps of smoldering brands [the blazing anger of Rezin and the Arameans, and of the son of Remaliah], because of the mischief that Aram [Ephraim and the son of Remaliah] plots against you, saying, "Let us go up and tear Judah asunder, make it our own by force, and appoint the son of Tabeel king there."
Thus says the LORD: This shall not stand, it shall not be!
Damascus is the capital of Aram, and Rezin the head of Damascus;
Samaria is the capital of Ephraim, and Remaliah's son the head of Samaria.
But within sixty years and five, Ephraim shall be crushed, no longer a nation.
Unless your faith is firm you shall not be firm!
Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz: Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God; let it be deep as the nether world, or high s the sky! But Ahaz answered, "I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!" Then he said: Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary men, must you also weary my God? Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. he shall be living on curds and honey by the time he learns to reject the bad and choose the good. For before the child learns to reject the bad and choose the good, the land of those two kings whom you dread shall be deserted.
The LORD shall bring upon you and your people and your father's house days worse than any since Ephraim seceded from Judah. [This means the king of Assyria.] On that day
The LORD shall whistle for the fly that is in the farthest streams of Egypt, and for the bee in the land of Assyria.
All of them shall come and settle in the steep ravines and in the rocky clefts, on all thornbushes and in all pastures.
On the day the LORD shall shave with the razor hired from across the River [with the king of Assyria] the head, and the hir between the legs. It shall also shave off the beard.
On that day a man shall keep a heifer or a couple of sheep, and from their abundant yield of milk he shall live on curds; curds and honey shall be the food of all who remains in the land. On that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand pieces of silver, shall be turned to briers and thorns. Men shall go there with bow and arrows; for all the country shall be briers and thorns. For fear of briers and thorns you shall not go upon my mountainside which used to be hoed with the mattock; they shall be grazing land for cattle and shall be trampled upon by sheep.
Isaish, 7:1-25

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Immanuel Prophecies

In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the temple. Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings: with two they veiled their faces, with two they veiled their feet, and with two they hovered aloft.
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!" they cried one to the other. "All the earth is filled with his glory!" At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook and the house was filled with smoke.
Then I said, "Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
He touched my mouth with it. "See," he said, "now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged."
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" "Here I am," I said; "send me!" And he replied: Go and say to this people:
Listen carefully, but you shall not understand!
Look intently, but you shall know nothing!
You are to make the heart of this people sluggish, to dull their ears and close their eyes;
Else their eyes will see, their ears hear, their heart understand, and they will turn and be healed.
"How long, O Lord?" I asked. And he replied:
Until the cities are desolate, without inhabitants, Houses, without a man, and the earth is a desolate waste.
Until the LORD removes men far away, and the land is abandoned more and more.
If there be still a tenth part in it, then this in turn shall be laid waste;
As with a terebinth or an oak whose trunk remains when its leaves have fallen.
[Holy offspring is the trunk.]
Isaiah, 6:1-13