Posts
Monday's Mourning Ministry
First Advent Celebrated ~
Second Advent Anticipated...
O Come O Come Emmanuel
O come O come Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appears
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!
O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer
Thy people with Thine advent here.
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And Death's dark shadows put to flight
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!
O come Thou root of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny
From depths of hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!
"This beautiful rendition of 'O Come Emmanuel' is by the highly anointed group, Selah, from the album, Ultimate Christmas Hits, Vol. 2. The beginning background music is Hatikvah (The Hope), The National Anthem of Israel. This is significant because Emmanuel, the Messiah, will return to save His people, Israel. Emmanuel is 'The Hope Of Israel' O בא את אמנואל
"John M. Neale, an English hymn translator, translated this hymn from Latin into English in the 1800's.
"Christians rejoice with God's people of all ages upon realization that Christ the Messiah did come ages ago. Biblical references of the birth of Jesus and to believers, the real meaning of Christmas, are given in Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:23..."
All right then, the Lord Himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call Him Immanuel (which means 'God is with us').
~Isaiah 7:14 (NLT) - Old Testament prophecy
As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through His prophet:
“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call Him Immanuel,
which means ‘God is with us.’”
~Matthew 1:20-23 (NLT) New Testament fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.
But we know that when He (Jesus) appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see Him as He is.
~1 John 3:2
Context for this verse is below:
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He (Jesus) appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
~1 John 3:1-3 (NIV)
(B)elievers are not made like Him at death, for death introduces them into a disembodied state. That "death" is not the believer's Hope is clear from many Scriptures. See 1 Pet.1:3:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
~1Peter 1:3 (NIV)
Because Jesus died for our sins, and God resurrected Him from the dead, now we that believe in Jesus have been given a living hope that when we die, our bodies will be resurrected from the dead and we will "be like Him" when Jesus comes back to get us in the Second Coming to forever be with God and Him in Heaven...forever!
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
~1Peter 1:3 (NIV)
Because Jesus died for our sins, and God resurrected Him from the dead, now we that believe in Jesus have been given a living hope that when we die, our bodies will be resurrected from the dead and we will "be like Him" when Jesus comes back to get us in the Second Coming to forever be with God and Him in Heaven...forever!
A fuller context of this verse is below:
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and
Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
Praise to God for a Living Hope
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had
to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith— of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire— may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that
was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. Be Holy
Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled;
set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially,
live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you
have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For,
“All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of the Lord stands forever.”
And this is the word that was preached to you.
|
1 Peter 1:1-25 (NIV)
The apostle returns thanks because we have been begotten again "unto a living hope."
The saint of God has a living hope in a dying scene: a glorious prospect beyond this vale of tears.
The apostle Paul reminds us that there is laid up a crown of righteousness unto all them that love Christ's "appearing"
See 2 Tim 4:8 :
Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing.
The fuller context of this verse is below:
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
~2 Timothy 4:1-8 (NIV)
Death is my going to Christ, but His Return is Christ coming to me.
Death is a cause of sadness and sorrow, but the Return of the Lord is a cause of joy and comfort—
"Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
(1 Thess 4:18, see context.)
The Second Advent
Yet He now is awaited with the same urgent expectation for His second advent (as He was for His first advent, which we celebrate at Christmas), when victory over sin and death will be final. (!)
For the Lord himself will come down from Heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
~1 Thessalonians 4:16 (NIV)
Below is the fuller context for this verse:
The Coming of the Lord
Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will come down from Heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Therefore encourage each other with these words.
~1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NIV)
In Christmas, we have just celebrated Jesus's first coming to earth as a little baby.
Now we eagerly await His second coming which is termed "that blessed hope" (Titus 2:13):
Now we eagerly await His second coming which is termed "that blessed hope" (Titus 2:13):
while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ...
~Titus 2:13 (NIV)
The fuller context of this Scripture follows:
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good.
~Titus 2:11-14
At the Return of our Lord we shall be made like Him (See 1 John 3:2):
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He (Jesus) appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as he is.
~1 John 3:2 (NIV)
So Jesus now is awaited with the same urgent expectation for His second advent, when victory over sin and death will be final!
He who testifies to these things says,
“Surely I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
~Revelation 22:20
Grief Video: http://youtu.be/ULfmzfo8VaU
