Do Not Depart

Encouragement and Tools to Abide in God's Word

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Worshipping Jesus – It’s Your Turn

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I absolutely LOVE studying Scripture! There’s nothing like opening the Bible and getting to know the Living God more – getting together with God’s girls and exploring the wonder of the Word!

Sweet sisters, I hope you’ve been as excited as we have this past week! It’s been chock-full off foundational truths and fundamental Christian beliefs. Kristi Stephens explained why the manager was essential to mankind’s salvations. Kathy Howard examined the incarnation and helped us understand the significance of the truth that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And yesterday, Sandra Peoples explored the magnitude of the virgin birth.

During this season of twinkling lights, gingerbread houses and glittery gifts, Jesus emerges as the center of it all – the undeniable King of the universe. There is nothing that can compare to the majesty of who He is!

May this be a season of worship for you as you join the Scripture Dig team in our quest to know Him more and make Him the passionate pursuit of our lives – the unparalleled longing of our hearts.

“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Timothy 1:17

IT’S YOUR TURN NOW, SWEET FRIEND!

Let your adoration for the Living God overflow into words of encouragement for others to read. Share your praise for the Savior of the world – born of a virgin – the God/man – the One who graced planet earth with His presence and secured salvation by giving Himself for us all. Share what Christ means to you and how He is working in your midst.

I can’t wait to read what God is doing in your life!


The Virgin Birth

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The virgin birth. It’s not really a hotly debated topic in Christian circles. We learn it, we accept it, we almost forget about it. But each Christmas, we’re reminded that Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, not by the seed of a man.

Even though Christians accept this as truth, the world does not. It’s often debated this time of year. Magazines Newsweek and Time have run articles in the last decade claiming the virgin birth is a myth, and even quoted “Christians” who say it’s a myth, or that it’s not necessary to believe in the virgin birth to be a Christian.

So why is it important to believe that Jesus was born of a virgin? What is the implication for us today?

Before our conception we did not exist. But Jesus existed before Mary was with child. Galatians 4:4 says, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son…” God didn’t create His Son, He sent Him forth. The virgin birth was prophesied in Isaiah 7:14, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”  This prophecy was fulfilled when the angel told Mary she would give birth to Jesus and she answered, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” (Luke 1:34).

Romans 5:12 says that through one man sin entered the world and through him, sin spread to all men, because all sinned. But Jesus was born without sin. He lived a sinless life. Paul goes on to write in Romans, “…through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life (5:18).

The world doesn’t want to believe in the miraculous conception of Jesus because then they want to deny every miraculous detail of His life. Pastor John MacArthur writes,  “[A}ny rejection of Christ’s supernatural origin leaves His supernatural life and His supernatural death and His supernatural resurrection inexplicable. You gotta have it all, or any of it to make sense. And if Jesus wasn’t virgin born, then the claim that He can save is highly questionable.”

Remember this Christmas not to just read over the fact that Mary was a virgin when she conceived Jesus. She gives all praise to God for the gift of Christ, and we can as well when we pray with Mary, “For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name” (Luke 1:49). His name is holy because Christ is without sin–at birth, in life, and when He conquered death!

image source: ArtBible

God or man? Yes!

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The first couple of chapters of Luke and Matthew get worn out this time of year. That’s where we normally go to read about the birth of Jesus. However, the Christmas story found in the first chapter of John richly presents another aspect of our Savior’s earthly arrival.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.

He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John 1:1-4, 10, 12, 14 NIV

“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” Ah, so much truth, so much hope, found in one statement. Jesus, who John meaningful calls the “Word,” left the glory of heaven and became human in order to walk the earth with mankind. To “tabernacle” or dwell with us. The Word – who was Himself God – became man. John 1:14 poetically describes what we refer to as the “Incarnation.”

The term “Incarnation” refers to the foundational Christian belief that God became man in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Passage after passage in the Bible clearly presents Jesus as both fully divine and fully human. Two natures united together in one person.

Although hard to grasp, this concept is absolutely vital to our faith. That is why the early church worked so hard to battle against heretics and false teachers who wanted to twist the correct understanding of the Incarnation. After centuries of fighting those who would introduce incorrect doctrine, the church settled the matter once and for all at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD. The following is an excerpt from their lengthy treatise on the nature of Christ.

At once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man… recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ;

Why is the Incarnation – the truth that Jesus was both God and man – so vital to our faith? Here are a few things to consider:

  • Without it we would still be lost, spiritually dead. Only God Himself can forgive our sins. Only the sinless God-man could offer His life as the once-for-all perfect sacrifice needed to make atonement for our sins. No incarnation, no salvation. (John 1:12, Heb 9:11-28)
  • We have a High Priest who understands both our temptations and our sufferings. Because Jesus experienced both He knows exactly what we are going through and how to help us (Hebrews 5:14-15).
  • Our earthly Savior is both God and King! Jesus is the eternal God, the Creator of all there is (John 1:1-3). He is worthy of our praise and worship.
  • Jesus Christ is the true revelation of the Father to us. If we know Jesus, then we know the Father (John 14:9).

This Christmas don’t simply celebrate the birth of a wee babe in the manger. Celebrate the incarnation of Jesus Christ. God became flesh and dwelled among men so He could bring salvation to all who would receive Him! Hallelujah and amen!

How does the truth that Jesus is both fully human and fully God impact you and your faith? Share your thoughts with us.

If you have never received Jesus as your Savior, don’t let another Christmas go by without making that eternally important decision. Find out now how you can become a Christian. If you want to learn more about your need for a Savior check out Kathy’s book “God’s Truth Revealed.”

God’s unchanging plans… and unexpected ways (cont.)

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Yesterday we began to explore the question of why the manger? We began back in Genesis 3, so take a quick look at that post if you missed it!

The Passover was just the beginning of the lessons God had in store for the descendants of Abraham. As God brought them out of Egypt, He formed them into a nation with a “constitution” unique to them – laws and regulations for how to live as a unique theocracy where their holy God was their King and actually lived among them. The law constantly pointed out to the people that they were in the presence of a holy God – and they were inherently unclean because of sin and the broken state of this world.

They could not approach their holy God; even though He lived among them in a carefully planned Tabernacle, no one could approach Him, no one could pull back the rich tapestries of curtains and march into His awesome presence without it costing their very lives. No matter how hard they tried, they could not make themselves holy enough to regain the communion that was lost back in the Garden. They could not keep themselves clean. They could not sacrifice away their sin and the evil that lurked in their hearts.

As Israel became established in the land God had promised them and eventually demanded to have a human king to rule over them, it quickly became clear that no mere human king could save them. Every human leader failed, in small ways and often very dramatic ways – every human leader was flawed and sinful. No king could lead them to victory over their own sin; no king could provide them freedom from oppression and the brokenness of the human condition, let alone crush the serpent and reclaim what had been lost in the Garden.

They needed a better sacrifice – a Sacrifice much greater, much more costly, than any animal from their flock. They needed a better Priest who did not have to atone for his own sins before offering atonement for theirs. They needed a better King who could reign righteously without end and conquer the invisible enemies as well as the visible.

There was only one solution: God the Son Himself would come. He would dwell among us, not removed and separated from us, but as one of us. He would humble Himself, wrap Himself in flesh, walk with us, suffer among us, touch us, heal us, and ultimately die in our place as the one perfect Passover Lamb. Starting with the manger, God would fulfill centuries of promises – promises to Adam, Abraham, David; promises given through prophets, events hinted at throughout Israel’s history.

By becoming small, He would reclaim everything that was lost. By coming quietly to the outcasts He would change the course of history. He would come first as a suffering servant, and someday He would return as the conquering King of kings.

God’s great plan began to unfold in Bethlehem that night in the unlikeliest of ways, the most unexpected of places… and all heaven rejoiced at the sight of it.

Related reading:

God’s Big Story – a summary of God’s plan from Genesis to Revelation

The Word Became Flesh

Yahweh Has Come to Dwell Among Us (parts one, two, and three)

We hope you will continue to join us as we prepare our hearts and reflect on this Christmas season! If you haven’t done so before, please consider becoming a subscriber so you don’t miss any future posts!

God’s unchanging plans… and unexpected ways

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Christmas always hits me a little differently when I am pregnant. As I write this post I myself am nine months pregnant, feeling mysterious kicks and turns, anxious for my sweet baby’s arrival, dealing with the nagging anxiety that every expectant mother faces about what lies ahead. I frequently find myself wondering what that first Christmas was like for Mary – a young virgin in her teens, carrying the promised Redeemer, the Word in flesh, the God-man. What did she reflect on as she journeyed uncomfortably for days on the back of a donkey, heavy with the weight of the child in her womb, heavy with the weight of the responsibility entrusted to her? Did she share her ponderings with Joseph? Did she even know him that well? Was she afraid as she began to feel those first twinges of birth pangs? Did she weep in an unfamiliar town, on the floor of a dirty stable, without her mother or a female friend to comfort and counsel her through the overwhelming process of giving birth to her firstborn – the Son of God?

God’s plan to redeem the world from sin and death did not unfold as anyone might have expected. So today we ask along with Mary, “why?” Why the manger?

Throughout the Old Testament, God gives us glimpses of His unfolding plan. Back in the Garden of Eden, as the first man and his wife stood shameful and naked in their sin and receiving the worst news mankind would ever hear, God did not leave them hopeless – He promised a Redeemer: a seed of the woman who would crush the serpent and make everything right once again (Genesis 3:15). Adam and Eve just could not have understood the amazing intricacy of God’s plan and the depth of His love – God rarely does anything in the ways we expect.

Years later, one man named Abraham received an impossible three-fold promise from this Creator-God: Abraham, an elderly man without children to carry his name, would have unimaginable numbers of descendants who would form a great nation, God would give them a land to call their own, and through this people, all the nations of the world would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3). Through this man and his family, God would bring the promised Redeemer, the Seed of Eve that had been promised many years before. God rarely does anything in the ways we expect.

God did give Abraham the child he had longed for. Isaac, named after the joy and disbelief-filled laughter of his parents, and those after him indeed became numerous. And once again, God did not form this great nation of promise in an expected way. He allowed them to be enslaved in a foreign country, despised and segregated from the surrounding culture, insulated to a great extent from outside influences as the generations flourished and became great in number. And in a way that only God could plan, He purchased them out of captivity and taught them vividly through the night of Passover that the only way of safety was to be marked with blood of a spotless lamb, to be set apart to Him alone.

To be continued…

Why December 25th?

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When you think of the Christmas season, what images fill your mind? Probably snow, hot chocolate, stockings hung by the fire place, the smell of a pine tree. But Christmas hasn’t always been celebrated in December.

For the first three hundred years of Christianity, there was debate over whether the birth of Jesus should be celebrated at all. Those who were in favor of honoring Christ’s birth couldn’t agree on when to celebrate.

The date of December 25th was chosen possibly as early as 273. On December 25 of 336, Western Christians officially celebrated Christmas after Emperor Constantine declared Christianity Rome’s favored religion.

The date of Christmas may have been chosen to replace pagan holidays, but as St. Augustine said in 320, “We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun, but because of him who made it.”

When we celebrate Christmas isn’t as important as the thankfulness of our hearts when we remember that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). And that’s worth celebrating every day of the year!

JESUS is the Reason

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Christmas. It really is the most wonderful time of the year. The sites, the sounds, the lights, the music, the festivities – everything gives way to the joyous holiday we call Christmas.

But what is it really all about? Why do we celebrate this December 25th event? Is it all about the jolly man in the red suit with the long white beard? Or is it about so much more than sleigh bells, mistletoe and Santa Claus?

During this Christmas season, we are going to spend the month of December examining what Christmas is all about. I hope you will join us as we focus on the reason for the season.

In short, Christmas is all about Jesus! It’s a day we set aside to celebrate the virgin birth of the Savior of the world.

Unfortunately, many people don’t even know why it’s the most wonderful time of the year. Today, many store employees are prohibited from using the word, “Christmas.” Many businesses have taken down their “Merry Christmas” signs in lieu of “Happy Holidays.” Schools have changed their verbiage to “Happy Winter Solstice.”

Christ-mas is about Christ. He is the reason for the season. The very term defines its purpose.

Jesus. The Son of God, the Son of Man. The Savior of the world. The King of kings, the Lord of lords, the Messiah, the Way, the Truth and the Life. Emmanuel – God with us.

“That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” Luke 2:8-12 (NLT)

The silence of God’s written Word was broken when the Living Word took center stage as a babe in a manger. The curtain had finally been pulled back on what had been shrouded in mystery for oh-so long. The long awaited promise had been fulfilled. The Messiah was born and He would save His people from their sins.

As Christmas fast approaches, we have the privilege of celebrating all He is. The One who spoke this world into being humbled Himself and became a servant. It didn’t begin in a manger – it started before the foundation of the world.

“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began“ 2 Timothy 1:9

“…in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time” 1 Timothy 1:2

Our salvation was God’s plan long before He breathed life into Adam. But it’s important to know that our salvation meant there had to be a cross; and if there was a cross there would first have to be a manger.

That’s why we celebrate. Because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) And because of that life-changing, eternity-altering truth, Jesus is the reason for the season.

I hope you will join us every step of our Christmas journey. It’s going to be exciting!


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