Want or Need

With a pair grandsons tottering into the twos at roughly the same time, my daughters have each determined to nix nap time when at all possible. Some days, naps are still essential but days are measured on a case by case basis. Four children under five is more manageable when the weather is mild and we can be outdoors and all together. Dinner and bedtime can get dicey but at least everyone falls asleep easily and sleeps soundly. On cold rainy days when the cousins are two hours away and Ezra’s stuffy head kept him restless the night before, a nap is a must. Otherwise our generally coordinated boy stumbles over his own two feet before  banging his head on everything in sight. The wailing that follows could wake the dead.

Since Jesus was God in the flesh, what sort of toddler stories would Mary tell? I believe scripture which declares that Jesus was without sin. (II Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15, I Peter 2:22, I John 3:5, Isaiah 53:9) I believe this truth about Jesus and still, having raised three children and having babysat, taught or mentored countless others, I find it nearly impossible to imagine. Human nature is so strong in us. All except Jesus have sinned. We all fall far short of God’s glorious standard. (Romans 3:23)

My four grandchildren are beautiful and precious but they are also human with natures to match. To claim otherwise would be to deny the truth. Their parents are human and their parents before them, including yours truly. Each of us inherited an empty way of life from our ancestors but God who is rich in mercy paid a ransom to save us from this empty life long before the world began. He made provision for full and abundant life in Christ. (I Peter 1:18-20) The first man and woman were created to walk with God in intimate fellowship and every design of God since the fall has been to reconcile humanity to Himself.

God gave Moses explicit directions for constructing a tabernacle in the wilderness, a dwelling place for God among His chosen people. In the innermost chamber of the tabernacle, the most holy place, stood the Ark of God or the Ark of the Covenant. The mercy seat atop the ark was overshadowed by cherubim and represented the throne of God on the earth, the place where God met with His people. Moses was told to follow God’s instructions exactly as the patterns God gave were shadows of heavenly realities. The blood of the sacrificial lamb was brought into the most holy place and sprinkled on the mercy seat only once a year by the high priest to make atonement for the people for that year. This process was repeated annually and only after the priest had made an offering for his own sin by placing blood on the horns of the altar until Jesus, once for all time, became the perfect sacrificial lamb.

At the birth of John the Baptist, when his father Zechariah’s tongue was loosed after being unable to speak for the duration of his wife, Elizabeth’s miraculous pregnancy, God revealed something of Jesus’s identity prophetically. 

Zechariah sang, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because he has come to help and has redeemed his people. 

For he has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago, that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us. 

He has done this to show mercy to our ancestors, and to remember his holy covenant – the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham. 

This oath grants that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, may serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him for as long as we live. 

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High. 

For you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins. 

Because of our God’s tender mercy the dawn will break upon us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.””

‭‭Luke‬ ‭1‬:‭68‬-‭79‬ ‭NET‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/107/luk.1.68-73.NET

In Old Testament times, to grasp the horns of the altar meant to beg for mercy. The Israelites would have understood that for God to raise up a horn of salvation was for God to empower a leader who would save them. They understood a conqueror in light of the judges and prophets and kings of old but God came Himself at just the right moment in history, taking on human flesh complete with human nature and it’s myriad temptations to battle not the Romans and their occupying forces but the very forces of darkness, sin and death. In Jesus, the mercy of God satisfied the wrath of God at the cross.

“The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 

He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. 

He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 

But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.”

‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭9‬-‭12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.1.9-12.NLT

“God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. 

John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light.”

‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.1.6-8.NLT

“But I have a greater witness than John-my teachings and my miracles. 

The Father gave me these works to accomplish, and they prove that he sent me.”

‭‭John‬ ‭5‬:‭36‬ ‭NLT‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.5.36.NLT

The religious leaders saw the miracles Jesus performed and still they thought they could snuff out the Light, first by killing the prophets and by crucifying the Lord of glory but they could not thwart the plan of Almighty God. John was beheaded. “But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. 

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 ‭11‬:‭35‬-‭40‬ ‭NLT‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/116/heb.11.35-40.NLT

When Thomas, who is nearly five, begins to unravel whether from frustration or sheer exhaustion, I have heard his mom ask him if he needs a nap. His reply tells the real story so she follows with this reminder. “When you act this way, you’re telling me that you’re tired and you need a rest. Why don’t you find a book to read with me? Either that or you can sit quietly in your room.” His preference is predictable enough. 

“No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. 

And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. 

When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. 

Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. 

But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. 

It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. 

Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. 

For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” 

But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭2‬:‭11‬-‭16‬ ‭NLT‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/116/1co.2.11-16.NLT

“So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 

This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. 

There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭4‬:‭14‬-‭16‬ ‭NLT‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/116/heb.4.16.NLT