As I contemplate taking down my Christmas tree, I think of the bare spot it will leave behind. I can arrange the furniture as it was before carving out a space for the tree but the twinkling lights and aromatic greenery speckled with red and white checkered or lacework angels, snowflakes, and nativity scenes will be conspicuously absent for quite some time.
I think of Mary as I hold the baby Jesus from the manger scene in my hand. After His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, even knowing all that she knew, her brain must have had to deal shrewdly with her mother heart to cope with the absence of her firstborn. She knew God had kept His long awaited promise when the angel brought her God’s message. “The virgin will conceive a child. She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel, God with us.” (Isaiah 7:14) The things she’d seen and experienced in her thirty-three years with Jesus had taught her not to rely on her own understanding. The angels said He would return as she’d seen Him go. (Acts 1:11) Could she keep the faith in His conspicuous absence?
At the end of his life, Moses addressed the children of that generation- the ones who wandered the wilderness for their disobedience and died before crossing into the promised land. All those under the age of twenty who survived on manna and had seen the manifest presence of the Lord were now being prepared for the final crossing. They would be led by Joshua because Moses would not be allowed to pass into the land of promise by reason of his own disobedience. These now distant descendants of Abraham listened as Moses made his final speech as their leader, detailing the covenant promises made to the patriarchs- promises God was keeping to them- who neither heard nor contributed to the conditions of the promise. They were merely beneficiaries of His goodness and grace and mercy, as we are of His new covenant promises in Christ, whom we have never seen nor heard.
To this generation of children, Moses said, ““In the future your children will ask you, ‘What is the meaning of these laws, decrees, and regulations that the Lord our God has commanded us to obey?’
“Then you must tell them, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his strong hand.
The Lord did miraculous signs and wonders before our eyes, dealing terrifying blows against Egypt and Pharaoh and all his people.
He brought us out of Egypt so he could give us this land he had sworn to give our ancestors.
And the Lord our God commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear him so he can continue to bless us and preserve our lives, as he has done to this day.”
Deuteronomy 6:20-24 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/deu.6.20-24.NLT
God had no obligation to them nor does He have any to us. He chose to remind Israel of His promises made to their ancestors again and again as He continued to keep them because His plan was to bless the entire world through Abraham’s descendants.
“And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.””
Genesis 22:18 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/gen.22.18.NLT
““The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations!
Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors.
That is why the Lord rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God.
He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.”
Deuteronomy 7:7-9 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/deu.7.7-9.NLT
A one hit wonder, Ethan the Ezrahite, captured a snapshot of God’s promised Messiah in the single psalm to his credit, Psalm 89.
“And he will call out to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
I will make him my firstborn son, the mightiest king on earth.
I will love him and be kind to him forever; my covenant with him will never end.
I will preserve an heir for him; his throne will be as endless as the days of heaven.
But if his descendants forsake my instructions and fail to obey my regulations, if they do not obey my decrees and fail to keep my commands, then I will punish their sin with the rod, and their disobedience with beating.
But I will never stop loving him nor fail to keep my promise to him.
No, I will not break my covenant; I will not take back a single word I said.
I have sworn an oath to David, and in my holiness I cannot lie: His dynasty will go on forever; his kingdom will endure as the sun.
It will be as eternal as the moon, my faithful witness in the sky!”
Psalms 89:26-37 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.89.26-37.NLT
Jesus came as a man and walked the earth in human flesh. He spoke every word, healed every disease, and endured every trial in the knowledge that He would regain all that was lost to Him, but not for Himself alone. He opened a way for all who believe to be with Him forever. Immanuel became God with us to make a way to God for us.
We’re all in this together-Moses, Abraham, Mary, you and me. The writer of Hebrews, after penning a litany of spiritual giants, concludes with this statement.
“All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised.
For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.”
Hebrews 11:39-40 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/heb.11.39-40.NLT
Until the heavens part and the Rider on the white horse appears in victorious procession, defeating the final enemy, death, and judging the inhabitants of the earth, God is still keeping His promise.
“And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire.
They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.
The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think.
No, he is being patient for your sake.
He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.
But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief.
Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.
On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames.
But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.”
2 Peter 3:7, 9-10, 12-13 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/2pe.3.7-13.NLT
God is faithful to keep every promise He has ever made, both to save and to judge. His faithfulness is not contingent upon anything or anyone other than Himself. His promises do not depend on the obedience of changeable, self-serving human beings. The living Word is eternally true and unchanging. We cannot divorce the Old from the New Testament. Jesus came to fulfill the law and the prophets.
““Don’t misunderstand why I have come.
I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets.
No, I came to accomplish their purpose.
I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.”
Matthew 5:17-18 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.5.17-18.NLT
God is faithful to a thousand generations, lavishing his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands. Will we keep the faith in His absence? Are we watching for His return?
“Your unfailing love will last forever.
Your faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens.”
Psalms 89:2 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.89.2.NLT
Hallelujah Our King
-Jordan Feliz https://youtu.be/83XVkOR6E34
No Matter What
-Jordan St Cyr https://youtu.be/VPao9BGY4yM
A Fitting Reply 