December 17, 2014

HOPE IN HIM

READ: ISAIAH 53

     As we drove home from a Christmas party one evening, my family and I approached a small country church nestled between glittering snowbanks. From a distance, I could see its holiday display. Strings of white lights formed the capital letters: H-O-P-E. The sight of that word shining in the darkness reminded me that Jesus is, and always has been, the hope of humankind.

     Before Jesus was born, people hoped for the Messiah--the One who would shoulder their sin and intercede with God on their behalf (Isaiah 53:12). They expected the Messiah to arrive through a virgin who would bear a son in Bethlehem and would name him Immanuel, "God with us" (7:14). The night Jesus was born, their hope was fulfilled (Luke 2:1-14).

     Although we're no longer waiting for Jesus in the form of an infant, He is still the source of our hope. We watch for His second coming (Matthew 24:30); we anticipate the heavenly home He is preparing for us (John 14:2); and we dream of living with Him in His celestial city (1 Thess. 4:16). As Christians, we can look forward to the future because the baby in the manger was, and still is, "the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope" (1 Timothy 1:1).---Jennifer Benson Shuldt 

Today's Bible Reading--Isaiah 53:4-12

(4) Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. (5) But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. (6) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (7) He was oppressed and He was afflicted yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. (8) He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken. (9) And they made His grave with the wicked--but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. (10) Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. (11) He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. (12) Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.