Sunday School Lesson for Dec. 19, 2010: A Child Is Born (Isaiah 9:6, 7; 11:1-8; Matthew 1:21-23)

Isaiah 11:6-8

6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling[a] together;
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

Isaiah 11:9

9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.

2 Corinthians 2:14


But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.

Romans 8:19-21
19For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God's sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship].

20For the creation (nature) was subjected to [a]frailty (to futility, condemned to frustration), not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of Him Who so subjected it--[yet] with the hope(A)

21That nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an entrance] into the glorious freedom of God's children.





And So It Has Begun

The verses from Isaiah 11:6-8 describe a scene that defies the imagination. Lions and lambs abiding together, sandboxes with children and snakes. How will this be? The beasts mentioned here are among the most frightening on Earth but, something has happened here. They have been changed from the inside out. Their natural instincts have been changed. Changed at the sub-atomic level. You could almost say ‘Born Again’.. couldn’t you? Sure you could. That’s how it happens for us. Born again, changed from the inside out, transformed by the renewing of our minds, by the cleansing, regenerative power of the Word of God. A nature so changed and so dissimilar from what you used to be, that sometimes even you are amazed by it. But there’s more.

Once changed, things around you begin to change. They’re supposed to. Your environment begins to be affected by you. And why not? After all, the most dynamic force in all existence now dwells in you. It’s as though Niagara Falls were gushing out of your being. The roar would be deafening. Everything around you would be wet. Soaked. His Presence in you changes everything: inside and out.

Here’s the Good News. All of Creation is waiting. Waiting for Him. Waiting for Him in you. When the Heavenly Chorus heralded the birth of the baby Jesus, they understood that His birth marked the beginning of the restoration of all that is, all of creation, all of it. All of it! Everything! Everywhere! And you’re a part of that. Look up Beloved. Our Redemption is drawing near!



Merry Christmas!



.wb





Luke 2:13-14

13-14At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God's praises:

Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.

2 Corinthians 4:7

7However, we possess this precious treasure [the divine Light of the Gospel] in [frail, human] vessels of earth, that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves.