The Process of Obedience

“Ok God. I am ready. I have finished my four years in college; I have learned all that I need to learn in journalism; I feel calling to do work overseas; I am ready to move on and start the ministry that you have prepared me for.”

This was me about a year ago when I graduated. I was ready to move on with my life and get a job at a paper to gain more experience for going overseas as a journeyman. I thought that I had all the education and experience required to fulfill my goal as a missionary writer. The problem was that I did not wait and listen to hear God’s response. And the response was not the most favorable to hear from the Creator of the universe and the Savior of the world: “Not yet.”

After I finished college, I thought that I would forever be done with education. I had no further ambition to pursue higher education. I was satisfied with my Bachelor’s Degree and saw no reason to seek a Master’s in anything. Even though my parents and other family members encouraged me to think about it, I had no desire to even consider going to seminary.

I specifically did not want to go seminary because I thought it would delay me from pursuing my dreams in the coming future. I thought all the requirements of learning Greek, Hebrew, Hermeneutics and other courses were ridiculous in the pursuit of becoming a missionary. The church was started by a group of fishermen, many of whom most likely never learned how to read. I thought, “If God could use a bunch of unschooled fishermen to spread the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire, why wouldn’t He be able to use me to spread the Gospel wherever He sends me with the skills that I had?”

The following year became a humbling experience. A lot of changes occurred with the organization I applied with and made things more complicated to pursue their journeyman program. And instead of a job that would help me gain experience in writing, the job I took involved me standing in front of a sink most of the day washing dishes. Slowly I began to realize that I needed to improve my skills as an evangelist, and the best way I could do that was going to seminary.

During this experience I was reminded of King David. He started out as the youngest son in his family and responsible for taking care of sheep. His life changed when the prophet Samuel came to his hometown and anointed him as the next king of Israel. If David, from that moment, went to the palace and demanded Saul to surrender the throne to him as God’s chosen one, David would most likely have made a pathetic king. He was a shepherd. He only knew how to govern sheep, but he had no idea how to govern people. He needed to gain experience to become king.

He got that experience while living in the palace as Saul’s servant. He became acquainted with the duties of the king by being at his side, by befriending his son and falling in love with his daughter. He gained experience as a warrior by slaying a giant, and becoming a captain in Saul’s army. He achieved loyalty from the people while he was on the run from Saul. When Saul died, he gained more political experience by becoming king of his own tribe. Only after Ish-Bosheth, Saul’s son, was deposed as king did David become the king that God anointed him to be.

David’s road to kingship took a long time, but God used that time to condition him to be who He created him to be. All David had to do was be patient and be obedient no matter the circumstance. The Bible is full of stories like this, where following the will of God is a process. You see that with people like Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and many others.  Even those same, unschooled fishermen that I used to prove my point about refusing to go to seminary had do undergo a time of training through discipleship before they started the church.

And even Jesus followed the will of His Father through a process of growth. From a newborn baby to a local carpenter from Nazareth, Jesus took time to develop as a man and did not start His ministry until after his forty-day fast in the desert, sometime during John’s imprisonment. Now He was God and He was under no obligation to save humanity, but He did it in the way that the Father required.

From these examples, I learned that even if I know what I am going to do in my life does not mean that I am ready. God is using this time to prepare me for the work He has in store. I may not see how it plays out altogether, but I am trusting in Him to show me along the way. My job right now is to be obedient and take small steps to a larger goal. That is why I decided to follow through with going to seminary. I want to be completely prepared for whatever he requires of me. Even if it takes more time than I anticipate, I want to follow in obedience to Him.

Faith v. Fear

One of my favorite movie quotes comes from the wise, more than 800-year-old Jedi Master Yoda from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. In it, Yoda teaches Anakin Skywalker about his fear, saying, “Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering.”

I use this analogy to open up my thoughts concerning the behaviors of two kings. Right now I am reading 1 Samuel in my devotions and reading about the life of David. In this time, David had served King Saul faithfully, but his popularity among the people grew so much that Saul became afraid of David and wanted to kill him. So David is on the run and hiding behind enemy lines. Along the way he got help from Ahimelek, the priest of Nob, who provided him bread, and the sword of Goliath. Following David are over four hundred members of the tribe of Judah, his kin.

I read the follow-up of Saul’s hunt for David. He found out that Ahimelek helped David and ordered his men to kill him, his family and everyone in Nob. However, his own men refused to strike down the LORD’s priests, and so Saul commanded an Edomite name Doeg to do it. In the genocide Abiathar, one of Ahimelek’s sons, escaped and went to David.

At the end of the chapter David said something to Abiathar that caught my attention. He said, “Stay with me; don’t be afraid. The man who wants to kill you is trying to kill me too. You will be safe with me.” Now I wouldn’t say that I find that statement encouraging when you are trying to flee from a madman and the guy protecting you is on his hit list too. But those last words, “you will be safe with me,” speaks volume about David’s courage and his faith.

Yes, David was on the run for his life, but that did not make him a coward. God was reserving David to become the next king of Israel. When David needed direction on where to go next, he asked God and followed according to what God told him to do. He did not act out of fear, but out of faith. I think David said to Abiathar that he would be safe with him because he knew that God was protecting him, so the safest place for that guy to be in was among David’s men.

As for Saul, I think it is evident that he was growing more and more paranoid, and it was evident to those who followed him. It was clear that God was with David and Saul could not take it. But his men were God-fearing individuals, so when he ordered them to kill Ahimelek they would not compromise their faith in God over the fear of the king.

Ironically, as I keep reading about Saul, I notice a consistency with him. Almost everywhere he goes, he has a spear. It was like he needed it out of some misplaced security. Whereas David relied on God for his security, Saul relied on a spear.

Again, these are the behaviors of two kings. Saul chose to live in his fear of David. By doing so the Spirit of God departed him, and Saul experienced those very emotions that were described in the first paragraph. David on the other hand chose to live in his in God, so that even though he was hiding from Saul, he felt at peace knowing that God would protect him. God’s presence was so evident that he could lift an encouraging word to a friend and say, “you are safe with us.” To add to Yoda’s words of wisdom, I believe that to step as far as you can from the “dark side,” you must choose faith over fear; joy over anger; love over hate; and then instead of suffering, you have freedom.

The Prison Perspective

I am reading in the book of Acts in my devotions. As usual I came across a story that is familiar to me, yet comes back to me with new perspective. I was reading about Peter’s miraculous escape from prison and noticed some things about it that I never considered before.

For background information, the church was starting, but undergoing fierce opposition from the religious leaders and other Jews. Now the church was being threatened by a new authority: the monarchy. The church caught the attention of Herod Agrippa I, the king of Judea.

The Herod Dynasty already held a bad reputation of oppression and persecution among the Jews and Christians. His grandfather, Herod the Great, was the king who slaughtered the male infants of Bethlehem in a vain attempt to prevent the prophecy of the Messiah. His uncle, Herod Antipas, was the king who imprisoned John the Baptist for speaking out against the immoral marriage between him and Herodias, his brother’s wife, and later beheaded him at the request of Herodias’s daughter.

Now Agrippa began his own attack on the newfound movement of Christ. He started by killing James, one of the original Twelve Apostles. As it turned out he saw that this won him favor with the Jewish leaders. So he decided to arrest and kill Peter, who seemed to have become the leader of the movement.

I don’t know what was going through Peter’s mind that night while he was in a jail cell waiting for his sentencing the next day, but I imagine that he spent it in prayer to prepare for whatever would happen to him. I think that he saw this as his end and was ready to die the death of the martyrs before him. And maybe he was encouraged knowing that not too far away members of the church were praying for him.

Then something happened that he was not prepared for. The doors from the cell were opened, Peter’s chains were removed, and an angel escorted him out of the prison past a legion of sleeping guards. It says that Peter thought he was dreaming when all of this was happening and he did not realize that this was really happening until he was out. He must have gone through a revival that night. Here he was thinking that he was about to die like Stephen, James and several other martyrs like them. Instead God rescued him and basically told him, “I’m not done with you yet. Keep doing what you are doing.” God was still going to use him to be an impact in the spreading of the Gospel around the world.

Even the church did not expect this to happen. Perhaps when they were praying they were hoping that Peter would be met with mercy the next day or maybe that the church would thrive after he would be killed. But they didn’t expect him to show up at the door that very night. It was so unbelievable that church members did not believe Rhoda, the young lady who answered the door after Peter knocked (only to humorously delay letting him inside), that Peter was at the door. They got more than what they expected through the power of prayer.

What I took from this scripture was that there are times when you are at a place that seem hopeless and uncertain, but God will never cease to amaze you. Like Peter we might see things from a one-sided point of view and be prepared for the worst when faced with it. We ask God to be with us during a certain situation, but we don’t count on Him to completely reverse it. We are blinded by the circumstance in front of us that we forget the power that God displays in our lives. Even Peter, the guy who walked with Jesus on the water, who saw Him calm to storms and even provide an abnormally large catch of fish, was surprised at what God had done. That is why it is important to let God take control of our situations, because it is He who sees the big picture.

Jesus Found Us

These past few weeks I have been watching this documentary series on CNN called Finding Jesus. This series provides widespread information of the life of Jesus based on what the Gospel says about Him as well as other monastic gospels and records not included in the Bible. Each documentary tells the story of people who related to Jesus in some way, like John the Baptist, Judas Iscariot, and his brother James. With each person of study reporters talk about the findings surrounding the supposed relics of Jesus’ time, like the ossuary of James, the Shroud of Turin, and the disputed Gospel of Judas.

Even though I do not buy into all of what is being said about the findings and discussions of Jesus, I am impressed of how CNN went about their research and reports on people, places and objects related to Jesus. They did no discredit to the faith and provided many valid facts on the findings and interviewed pastors, professors and many people who are experts and leaders in the Christian realm. If anything, I would say that they did more to confirm that Jesus is who He said He is.

I find it ironic that the name of the series is called Finding Jesus. It seems like a valid statement to say that people all over the world are looking for someone or something to follow and to have fill a gap in their lives. People devote themselves to a religion or an ideal to pacify the demands of whoever of whatever they are following. They make a pilgrimage to a place of significance of that religion; they fast days and nights separating themselves from the world; they decorate their homes or attire with things resembling the ideology.

Indeed most religion is about people trying to find something to fill some void in their heart. The good thing about Christianity is that people don’t have to go far to find the answer. As a matter of fact, the answer actually came to find us.

When I was in fourth grade, our teacher had us had us memorize the verse Isaiah 53:6 through a silly hip-hop-like song that went like this:

We all like sheep have gone astray

Baa baa doo baa baa

Each of us turned to his own way

Baa baa doo baa baa

But the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all, sing

Baa baa doo baa baa

Isaiah 53:6. Huh!

Even though I memorized this verse in a funny way, I like how it emphasizes our waywardness and desperate need of a Savior. I have heard it said time and again that sheep are among the dumbest animals on the face of this earth. They continually wander with their heads down and if they are not careful will fall in a hole or get caught in a bush or something. They aren’t very fast, so if a predator appears they are in trouble. They constantly need the care of a shepherd over them. As insulting as it sounds for people to be compared to sheep in reference to this kind of behavior, that is exactly how we are. We can easily lose sight of where we are going and fall into problems.

There are a lot of times where the Bible uses sheep to describe people, and Jesus even used sheep as a reference to people to explain His purpose on earth. He described an attribute of God that other religions cannot imitate by telling the story of a sheep that got lost. It was one out of a hundred, and it probably would not matter to the owner if one sheep went missing as long as he could make a profit out of the other ninety-nine. But the shepherd did something unimaginable and went out of his way to find that one sheep.

What makes this story amazing is that this is what God sent Jesus to do. He was God, and still He came to be born as a baby and grow up into a human being, and a carpenter’s son at that. And let alone having to bear the torture and death of a criminal convicted in the Roman Empire and face the wrath of God with our sins upon Him. And He did it for the sake of each individual sinner on earth no matter his or her age, race, nationality, stature or how many sins committed in the past, present or future. To think of it is amazing beyond description. There are no words to describe who incredible this sacrifice was.

And not only that, but He did not stay in that grave. He rose from the dead so that we may now have ever lasting life in Him.

Whatever you might be seeking now, just know that God is seeking you. He is waiting for you to answer His calling. Will you go to Him?

Happy Easter. He is Risen.

Why Are You Here? (The Guatemala Experience)

As a former missionary kid, I am strongly attached to the Philippines where I grew up for ten years. I have always felt like that was my home. Now I think I have found my home away from home.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit Guatemala, a part of the world that I have never visited before. From the moment I stepped out of the airport and took in the scenery while riding the bus to our destination, it was almost a mirror image of where I grew up in, from the highly populous Guatemala City filled with vendors, historical art, and citizens crossing the streets, to the more rural countryside of Zacapa, seeing small villages filled with children. The only difference was that traffic was lighter and there were a lot more cacti out in the provinces, and the country must be known for its piñatas.

 

I came to Guatemala out of an invitation to serve in a mission project with my grandparents and a few other family members. We all came together with twenty or so members of my uncle and aunt’s church close to Mobile, Alabama. Our ministry consisted of serving at a village in Zacapa through medical and dental work.

As a missionary kid, I am used to traveling to different countries, experiencing new cultures and working with teams to do ministry work around the world. What made this trip different from others is that I came without knowing fully what I was doing. Usually I come into a place with an agenda in mind, or have an hour-by-hour guideline on how the day will proceed. But this time I came in the first day and wasn’t sure what we were going to do the next day. I basically hopped on a plane, arrived in Guatemala and said, “I made it. Now what?”

As strange as it seemed to go without knowing a whole lot of what the week had in store for me and the group, it was a first step to what God taught me. Because I am used to following a plan, I usually get irritated when that plan falls apart due to uncontrollable circumstances. And sometimes when I try to follow the plan, I forget about the main ministry project at hand. I think that God wanted to teach me to follow in faith and obedience to go and let Him do the work from there.

When I got off the plane, I didn’t even know what the country itself would be like. My grandparents did tell me what it was like living in Guatemala, but I didn’t go expecting it to be just like the Philippines. I learned from experience not to expect one place to be the same as others that I have visited in the past.

Another aspect is how Jesus sent His disciples, instructing them to go and preach the good news across Judea, not bringing any supplies with them so that God would provide for them during their journey.

While we were there, God showed me that I was capable of things that I never thought I could do before. Our assignment was to help set up a medical and dental clinic in this church that my grandparents helped build in a town called Conevisa. The team included members of the church that my uncle pastored who were either doctors, nurses, dentists, or just regular volunteers. I mainly helped by offering to assist with tools or help direct people to the places they needed to go, and on one occasion I literally had to brush a kid’s teeth. I also helped go through the village and, with the help of a translator, spoke to people to tell them my story of how I met Jesus and tell them that the same gift I had was available to them.

 

The highlight of my trip was seeing the Holy Spirit at work in my life, empowering me to overcome my uncertainties and let God use me to make an impact in the lives many people by being on this trip. I can gladly say that I have witnessed eleven salvations, including one where I had the opportunity to help a young man pray to receive Christ.

There is more that I want to share about trip, but I preparing a full length article that goes into more detail the work we did in Conevisa. I look forward to sharing it on my blog soon.

What do you need?

This article is a confession to something that I am guilty of as well as many Christians. Today I write about giving.

A couple of weeks ago I went to my Sunday school class, that day taught by my grandmother. She taught about giving and reasons that we should give and times when we fall short of doing so. On my way home after church, it could never be more ironic when I saw a man on the side of the road, dirty, dressed in camo and holding a cardboard sign that read, “Please help. Traveling. God bless you.” After passing by him, I thought of how easy it would have been to hand him a couple dollars I had in my pocket. I then recalled what James said in James 2:15-17 and felt convicted for not doing anything for the guy.

I can think of a few reasons why Christians are reluctant to give to every person who stands on the side of the road with a sign that says, “Hungry. Please help.” Some might look on them and say, “he should just get a job,” or, “he just want’s money to spend on drugs or alcohol.”

For me, I usually do not give out of suspicion. The particular area the man was standing in that day was in a populous area and thus, I found, a hot spot for people to carry signs asking for help. For all I knew, the guy really did need help and chose that place for the public area that it was. Then again, maybe it was just someone who wanted extra cash and dirtied himself up to look like he was in need.

One of reasons that I am suspicious is how I grew up. One of the challenges that I faced as an American living in the Philippines was the constant knocking at the door from someone who claimed to needed help. Americans or white people are usually targeted by beggars because people generally saw them as wealthy individuals. We were advised by friends not to give money, not even to children. For all we knew, they were only being used by an older person to get money. The reason we had to be careful about giving money was because if we did, we would probably do them more harm than good.

My friend works at a church who has a policy against giving money to people who come and ask for help. The church is targeted a lot because people like to hold Christians to their charity, but sometimes that charity is taken advantage of. My friend has no problem with giving and makes the argument that what that person does with her money is between him and God.

I also remember a time when my grandmother and I stopped to eat somewhere and she waited in the car while I went inside. When I came back she told me how a guy came up to her window and asked her to give him money to help him and his family. I asked her if she was sure that that guy was telling the truth, and I remember her saying, “He may have been pulling my leg, but at least I was able to show him some kindness.”

Giving to the poor has become harder in this age because people have become less honest and like to take advantage of our hospitality, and it is hard to distinguish the deceitful from those who really are in need. But maybe it is not for us to judge that person for being a liar. It might only be for us to show the kindness that God demands of His followers.

And giving to those in need should not be limited to money. There is a lot that a person can do with money, and sometimes it does not go to where it should. Whatever it is that a person really needs should be met directly. Sometimes what they need is food, shelter, clothing, and even you time to listen to their problems. And one thing that everyone can use is your prayer.

Sometimes people put the blame on God and ask, “Why isn’t God doing anything to help those in need? Where is He when people need Him?” I think the right answer to that is the same question directed to ourselves. “Why aren’t you doing anything to help those in need? Where are you when people need Him?” God called us to be His hands and feet. If we don’t lend a hand to those who are hungry, thirsty, cold, tired and hurting, then we are failing to be the stewards that God has called us to be.

Again this is an article that convicts me as I write it. As I make this challenge, I am challenging myself to do likewise. It won’t be easy and it will take faith to do it, but if giving is what God demands of me then how can I refuse Him?

The Advent: Christ

Merry Christmas. The first four candles have been lit and are burning bright. Now the last and most important one of them all joins them and burns brightest in the middle of them. This is the Christ candle.

It’s hard to say anything that has not been said already about who Christ is and what He means to the holiday. We celebrate Christmas being the night of His birth, and give Him glory by sharing the joy and good tidings of the holiday with those around us. We celebrate His birthday with singing Christmas carols, enjoying holiday feasts, giving gifts, and many other ways. We specifically emphasize gift giving because Jesus was God’s gift to us.

Before I continue, think about the kinds of gifts that you give or receive. Maybe it as a toy that you spend hours playing with, or maybe a tool that you can use to fulfill a necessity in your life, of just something that brings sentimental value to your soul and expresses the love of the giver. Whatever it is, there is always a purpose to the gifts that we give and receive. In the same way, there was a purpose to why Jesus was born that night in Bethlehem, but the reason was not as clear as people thought.

As I have written these articles, I have touched a lot on what the people of Israel were expecting from the Messiah and how Jesus trumped those expectations and fulfilling the prophecies in unexpected ways. I will say once more what people were expecting and then say what the people got instead. They wanted a warrior-like king to take dominion over Herod’s dynasty and overthrow the Roman Empire and have Him live in a luxurious palace and rule over Israel forever. Instead of that, they get a baby born in a manger to a small town carpenter and his wife, and grew up becoming a carpenter himself and then changed roles to a wandering preacher who was despised by the religious leaders and killed by them.

It wasn’t at all like the Jews had hoped, but as it turned out His life was all supported by Scripture and Jesus did what He set out to do and did more than what the people expected. He did not come specifically to free the Jews of the Roman Empire like they wanted. Instead He freed everyone from the real enemy and his bondage over us and our condemnation to hell. He did not raise a sword to wage war on the mortal world, but was raised up on a cross to end a war in the spiritual one. He does not set His dominion over us in a large, luxurious palace, but rather in the hearts of those who accept Him as LORD and Savior.

I hope that each of you who have been keeping up with my blogs have enjoyed these articles on the Advent and my take on the meanings behind the candles. I hope your holidays have been blessed by these articles in some small way. Again, to my family, friends and fellow readers, Merry Christmas.

The Advent: Angel

There are two more candles that I have to write about in honor of Advent. I have already covered Prophecy, Bethlehem and Shepherd. Today I will move on to the fourth one: the Angel candle.

The angel is a recurring figure in the Christmas story as he announces the birth of Christ to everyone from Zechariah to Mary to Joseph to the shepherds and to the wise men. The only angel that is given a name in this story is Gabriel, who many consider the special messenger archangel of Heaven. All I can say about that is that I only know Gabriel to be a servant of God like any other angel.

I like to think of the way that angels saw the Christmas story as it unfolded. I imagine how they had to hold back any news about the coming of the Messiah for four hundred years after revealing it through the prophets. Perhaps it was like that feeling we get at Christmas, where we have a gift for a certain friend or family member and we try so hard to keep the secret till Christmas morning. I think the angels wanted so badly to reveal the secret before the time came. Maybe something like, “Hey, guess what. Jesus is going to be born in a manger from a teenage girl named Mary from Nazareth who is betrothed to this guy named Joseph. And wait till you see our choir performance in Bethlehem on the night of His birth. We’re going to really spook some shepherds.” You have to admit, the more you know the more you want to share it with others.

Well, Gabriel finally got that opportunity to reveal part of it, first to Zechariah, the priest who was married to Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth. Gabriel told Zechariah that Elizabeth would give birth to the prophet who would prepare the way for Christ and announce His arrival to people. This, of course, would be John the Baptist. But Zechariah didn’t seem impressed with the news. He replied in Luke 1:18, “How can I be sure of this? I am so old and my wife is well along in years.” For this, God took away his speech until his son was born.

Then Gabriel had another message to deliver, and I think it was the one that he had waited with more eagerness to tell. He went to Mary and told her that she would be the one to give birth to the Messiah. Mary’s response seems similar to Zechariah’s, only her excuse was that she was not yet married. So why did she not lose her voice? The way I heard it preached once is that when Mary questioned, she was telling God that He was too early, but Zechariah was telling God that He was too late.

Joseph needed to hear this message too. He was the town carpenter who was betrothed to Mary. The Bible does not go into a lot of detail with the reaction of Mary and Joseph’s family when they found out that she was pregnant, but in that time they followed the Law of Moses which stated that a woman found with child before marriage was to be stoned to death, and Joseph had the right to declare the offense as her betrothed. There might have been hostility during that time, but what the Bible does say is that Joseph loved her enough not to make any accusation against her. He thought that the best thing for him to do was to divorce her quietly, but then Gabriel came to him and explained what had happened to Mary. Joseph may have had a minor role in this story, but it is no less important, because he was chosen to be the descendant of David that Christ would be born into, and maybe the angel reminded him of that.

And finally, the moment that all the angels in Heaven were waiting for: the night of His birth. As I imagine what that moment was like, I think of it like this: The very moment that you hear baby Jesus crying as he exits Mary’s womb, the sky is blasted with light as angels enter the atmosphere right above where the shepherds are herding sheep. And then Gabriel declares that the Messiah had come at last while the angel choirs are singing the most beautiful sounding melodies anyone could have heard in his or her lifetime. Sorry Joseph Mohr and Franz Xaver Gruber, but I don’t think it was such a “silent night” at all. I think that the angels were so excited to send this message that they could not contain themselves.

I think the angels represent the hope and expectation of the season that we repeat when we give gifts to our loved ones. And like them, we have the news of the Messiah that needs to be shared with those who need to hear it most.

The Advent: Shepherd

My articles on the season of Advent continue with the third candle, which is known as the Shepherd candle.

The shepherds have a rather interesting role in the Christmas story because they are the first to receive the news that the Messiah had come on the night of His birth. As it is, they were just doing their job taking care of sheep, when out from nowhere the glorious choir of Heaven announces that Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem. In response, the shepherds head for Bethlehem to see the baby and find him where the angel said: in a manger.

The question that many people have is why the shepherds were the first to hear the good news. Of all the people groups that may have seemed worthy to know, like nobles; religious leaders; the whole city; the whole Roman Empire; why the shepherds and why just them? Throughout Scripture, shepherds are looked down upon for having the most insignificant job. In fact, as early as Genesis it talks about how the Egyptians did not even associate with shepherds because of their lowly position. I imagine that even David received such ridicule and despise for his job as a shepherd.

Even though a shepherd was not the most popular of occupations, there was a high demand for sheep, especially in Israel’s culture. Sheep were important because they were needed to be used for sacrifice at the temple. In the Old Testament because the people had no direct contact with God, they needed to offer up sacrifices to cover their own sins, usually through that of a sheep. The shepherds needed to make sure that each one was strong and healthy, especially the firstborn males, to be worthy of presentation to the temple. So I don’t know why are looked down upon for doing something that people really relied on.

As far as their significance to the story, let’s go back to King David and what people expected out of the Messiah. The prophecies would have people believe that the Messiah would be a warrior like David. As I said before, people may have overlooked that David was a shepherd before he was a king. No one would ever think David as kingly material as a shepherd, but there is a quality that shepherds have that relate them to kings. Though both may seem extremely different, like the top versus the bottom rung, both the role of the shepherd and the king are positions of guidance, security and responsibility. Shepherds protect and lead their flock while the king is to lead and protect his nation. Really the king and the shepherd are not so different, and Jesus was born to fulfill the role of shepherd and king.

It was not just a shepherd and not just a king that the shepherds came to see, but also a sheep. Remember, it was the shepherd’s job to tend to the sheep so that they could be used for temple sacrifice to cover the sins of an individual. Jesus came so that He would be the once and for all sacrifice to cover our sins by taking them with him on the cross.

There is more that I want to say about the shepherds, but the only thing I know to say about them is that they were given an opportunity to witness the arrival of the King of kings, the Good Shepherd and the Lamb of God. Whatever the reason God chose them to see Jesus first, they had as much right as anyone to see Him.

The Advent: Bethlehem

Last week I wrote an article about the Prophecy candle for the season of Advent as part of the Christmas celebration. Now I will continue writing about these five candles, now on to the second candle.

The second one to be lit is known as the Bethlehem candle. This one represents the city that Jesus was born in. Bethlehem has a lot of history in the Bible that makes it a fitting birthplace for the Messiah.

One of the earliest mention of the city is in Genesis. Before it was named Ephrath and was along the way that many of the patriarchs crossed during their travels through Canaan. Somewhere close to the town is the burial place of Rachel, Jacob’s favorite wife. It has also been the home of some significant leaders in Israel’s history, like Izban, one of the judges that led Israel before they had a human king. The most significant person to have been born in that city was King David, the successor of Israel’s first king, Saul, and described to be a man after God’s own heart. Micah prophesied this place to be the city as the birthplace of the Messiah, possibly to remind the people of its legacy. Some of Israel’s greatest and most unlikely heroes emerged from this city, so it was a very fitting place for the Messiah to appear.

Another point to add with the fact that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, known as the city of David, is that the Messiah would be born from the line of David. I think this adds to the effect of the prophecy, because this told people what kind of person to expect: a hero just like David. However, I think people were still expecting a leading general or someone of great stature as the Messiah, not a carpenter’s son. So perhaps most completely disregarded the fact that anyone from Joseph’s family could be the Messiah. I wonder if the people disregarded the fact that David came from a humble origin as well. He didn’t start out as a mighty prince living in full luxury in a palace, but rather out in the fields as a shepherd.

Even though Bethlehem was the birthplace of some of Israel’s heroes, it wasn’t as large of a city, especially in comparison to its neighbor, Jerusalem. So it was probably no wonder that Mary and Joseph could not find any room to stay at the time of Jesus’s birth. In fact, in a New Testament survey class that I took in college, I learned about what the average household in Bethlehem looked like, and an inn was not what most think of when they think of an inn. It was probably not like a hotel with individual rooms, but more likely a relative’s single-room house filling up floor space with sleeping mats. Not only was the stable their only means of finding room, but also privacy while giving birth.

Given these thoughts about the prophecies and history behind the town of Bethlehem, the point to take away from this part of Advent is that Bethlehem teaches us about the humility of Christ. To put aside the glory of God and leave His throne in Heaven, to be born as a human being in a small village, and in a stable of all places, was probably humbling enough without later having to grow up to become a falsely accused criminal and to die a death that would subject him to ridicule and torment. Jesus’s whole life tells us an amazing story of how much He loves us. He gave up so much for us to give us the freedom to receive Him as Christ as LORD and Savior.