Thoughts For the Day

Bread From Heaven Christian Fellowship
Thoughts For the Day
December 7 to 13, 2009
Except when otherwise indicated “Scripture is taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.”
JOY TO THE WORLD, THE LORD IS COME

Joy to the world! the Lord is come; Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing,
and heaven and nature sing, and heaven, and heaven and nature sing.

Joy to the earth! the Savior reigns; Let men their songs employ;
while fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessing flow far as the curse is found,
far as the curse is found, far as, far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove
the glories of His righteousness, and wonders of His love,
and wonders of His love, and wonders, wonders of His love.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748) was a nonconformist minister in England. This simply means that he was not a member of the Church Of England, the official church of the Empire. He is remembered as the Father of English Hymnody and he must have written more than 600 hymns. Some of his famous hymns are still with us today and still enjoyed by many: “When I Survey The Wondrous Cross; O God Our Help In Ages Past; Jesus Shall Reign.” His very famous contribution to the Christmas carols is the song JOY TO THE WORLD. We are told that the song was written not as a Christmas song but a Second Coming song but we enjoy it today as a Christmas song. It is also based on Psalm 98 instead of the New Testament. But, a careful study of Psalm 98 reveals that many of its verses were fulfilled in relation to the coming of the Savior. The music was supposedly based on Handel’s work.

MONDAY: “JOY TO THE WORLD, THE LORD IS COME.” He removes our fear by sending a message of joy.
Luke 2:10 And the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
The word translated as “afraid” is from the Greek word where we got our English word Phobia. It also refers to whatever it is that causes alarm. It can be disturbing news, event, anxiety, uncertainty and the like. The angel said: DO NOT BE AFRAID. Summing up his message, he says the reason is that the Savior has been born, He is Christ the Lord. This is the message of joy.
Fear is not compatible with the presence of the Lord. The shepherds have not yet seen the Lord. They have only heard about His birth. But, that announcement, even before they went to see the Lord, was enough to bring joy, the kind that removes fear. Do you have Jesus Christ as Lord? Don’t be afraid. Talk to Him. Tell Him about whatever it is that is bothering you. He knows what to do and He will do something about it. Do not be afraid. He will, most likely, send you a message of joy.

TUESDAY: “JOY TO THE WORLD, THE LORD IS COME.” He removes our fear by sending a messenger of joy.
Luke 2:10 And the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
More likely, this angel was Gabriel, a prince among angels (archangel) who would usually deliver directly to a human recipient or recipients God message. Gabriel was not an ordinary messenger. In Luke 1, Gabriel told Zechariah that he came from God and that he was standing in the presence of God- a description of his highly favored and very powerful position even among angels.
Gabriel was the messenger of joy to the shepherds; the downtrodden and oppressed sector of society during those days. Even when days are dark with fear and the nights are frightening with its strange sounds and silence, God is awake and alert. He knows when to send His messenger of joy to you. Tell God about your concerns, even your uncertainties. He understands and most likely, He will send a messenger of joy to you.

WEDNESDAY: “JOY TO THE WORLD, THE LORD IS COME.” He removes our fear by sending a message which has personal significance.
Luke 2:10 And the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
Good News is not just the content. In fact, the content is nothing to the one who is not going to be benefited by it. Good News is an announcement that has personal significance and personal benefit to the one who is listening to or receiving the news. The angel told the shepherds that while the good news is also for the people, the core issue of this good news – the birth of the Savior- is that the Savior has been born FOR THEM (born for you a Savior).
Of course, God helps the world (common grace) but He has a special concern for His people. The shepherds understood that God wanted them to know that the message about the Savior was a message for them and that they should feel significant because of it. Later, this is how they thought of what had happened to them: Luke 2:15 And it came about when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds began saying to one another, "Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us." Personal message for you this Christmas from God? Why not?

THURSDAY: “AND HEAVEN AND NATURE SING, AND HEAVEN AND NATURE SING,
AND HEAVEN, AND HEAVEN AND NATURE SING.” The Night Of All Nights.
Luke 2: 13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."
There is a question as to whether the angels sang or just declared God’s praises. We note first of all that their words were not directed at men (unlike the message of the angel) but for the hearing of men. The angels were praising God but they came down to let the shepherds hear the praises. Whether they sang or not we cannot know for sure, but certainly, many praises are expressed through singing.
It was one night that heaven had to speak and earth had to speak. Heaven and nature sing because the Savior has been born. The plan of God for His people was unfolding that night and the shepherds were there to hear it. Here is the point. God does have a plan and you are among those intended to benefit from it. Glory to God in the highest!

FRIDAY: “HE COMES TO MAKE HIS BLESSING FLOW.” No Christ, No Blessing. That Is A Spiritual Truth We All Must Remember.
Gal 3:14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
The Savior has been born. Is that significant? Yes because the blessings cannot come to us from God’s storehouse unless they come through the Lord Jesus Christ and only upon His sacrificial death. The Lord has come and He has done what is required for the blessings to come to us. The blessings will not just come. The blessings will FLOW.
Is this a new truth? Not really: From the book of Genesis (chapter 3) we already read that the serpent (Satan) would fall in defeat and be trampled underfoot by the promised Savior. Abraham himself (in the Old Testament) “saw” the Savior and was glad. Both in the Old and in the New Testament, the blessings have always been released through Christ. You have Jesus Christ in your heart. What does that say to you? Don’t be scared of the threats your problems are presenting. You have the Lord Jesus Christ and God will make His blessings flow…. to you.

SATURDAY: “HE COMES TO MAKE HIS BLESSING FLOW FAR AS THE CURSE IS FOUND, FAR AS THE CURSE IS FOUND, FAR AS, FAR AS THE CURSE IS FOUND.”
Gal 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us — for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree" — 14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Curse? What curse? The Bible records many kinds or curses but in Galatians the curse is specifically identified as the curse in relation to the works of the law. What are the works of the law? The other word for this is obedience but more specifically, obedience to the law to gain salvation or to be right with God. The curse is that if anyone is unable to do the works of the law completely (obey fully), he is under a curse! The curse is related with the punishment meted out to the offender for every act of disobedience. We can obey nine laws and fail in one still be guilty. That is the core issue in a curse. Now, Paul explains what happens: Gal 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them." 11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, " The righteous man shall live by faith. "
Joy to the world, there are no more curses for us. The Lord Jesus Christ obeyed the law completely for us so His record of obedience becomes OURS! Theologians have given this wonderful teaching a fancy name: IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. What it means is that the righteousness of the Lord Jesus is ours by reason of divine election and justification. There is no more curse! That should make us sing JOY TO THE WORLD, THE LORD IS COME.

SUNDAY: “JOY TO THE WORLD! THE LORD IS COME; LET EARTH RECEIVE HER KING; LET EVERY HEART PREPARE HIM ROOM,…”
Rom 10: 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; 10 for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed."
Let every heart prepare Him room. To a modern user of the English language, the statement seems weak and actually, irreverent because it seems to imply that the heart cannot be surrendered fully. Only a room is to be reserved for the Lord. But, we are reminded that this statement does not imply that at all. The point of the statement is that having the Lord is a serious, deliberate and intelligent decision on the part of man. When we say today: I love you from the bottom of my heart- it does not imply that the upper chamber is for someone else. The hymn reminds us of the seriousness of the decision to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Romans 10 tells us of the importance of CONFESSING WITH OUR MOUTH THAT Jesus is Lord. This confession can only come from a conviction in our heart that such is the fact. It’s like saying: I know that Jesus Christ is Lord and He is my Lord and Savior. Paul says, we will not be disappointed. Jesus Christ is the one who erases OUR DISAPPOINTMENTS and prevents us from being swallowed these. Joy to the world, the LORD IS COME.