And He Shall Be Called - Week 4

Daily Scripture Readings

Monday: Isaiah 7:1-14

Tuesday: Matthew 1:18-24

Wednesday: Luke 1:5-25   

Thursday: Luke 1:26-38

Friday: Luke 1:39-56

Saturday: Luke 2:1-20

Opening Prayer

Christ child,  You are the Everlasting Father.   You are totally and truly God.    Speak to us during this season of Advent and remind us that what you are called tells us who we are to you.

In Jesus’ name, AMEN

Reading

In Isaiah 8:12, the Lord speaks to Isaiah, and encourages him to trust in the Lord. In v17, the Lord says that he himself will wait for the Lord and hope in him – and in v18 his children are with him, as a sign from the Lord. The one speaking to Isaiah in each of these verses is God the Son, and he speaks of his own trust in God, for himself and for the ‘children’ entrusted to him. Hebrews 2:13 quotes this verse as being about Jesus the 'founder of our salvation' taking us with him through sanctification, perfection, suffering, and on to glory since he has taken our flesh and blood. In this way, as the Son holds and cares those the Father has given him, he too is a father. He has not become the eternal person of the Father, but is fatherly towards those for whom God has made him responsible.  This is a common thought all through the Bible. 

Perhaps the passage that most powerfully illustrates Jesus’ fatherly care for his people is John 17 as he prays to his own Father just hours before his crucifixion. He reflects on his relationship with his disciples; ‘those you gave me out of the world’. To these men and women entrusted to his care, he revealed the fulness of God. As he goes to give up his life for them in a display of the depth of his commitment, he hands them back to his Father and asks him to keep them, to give them joy, to set them apart, and to one day reunite them with him.

Such is the heart of Christ for us, his children. He utterly reflects and lays bare the heart of his own Father. The unconditional love and self-giving that Jesus himself enjoyed for all eternity from his Father, he now pours out on his Church. He is our Saviour, Lord, Friend, Brother, Husband – and our Father.

Daniel Hames