Luke 2:12-14 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

There is a desire in most of us that says, “Show me, give me a sign.” We feel sufficiently insecure that we desire to be able to see, to have our way ahead lit by a sign that says, this way, it's all right. The strange thing though, when we come to the Bible, is that God isn't very good with signs. The shepherds were offered a sign: a baby in a manger – but that meant they had to go down to the town first to find the sign: act then get the sign.

We come to God asking for clarity, light on the path ahead, and He tells us that we are to live by faith not by sight (2 Cor 5:7). Faith in the Bible is responding to what God says, so our light is His word and that becomes a lamp to our feet (Psa 119:105), that's why we need to read it more and more. We're also called to be led by His Spirit (Gal5:16,25) which again is something that happens within us, not through our eyes.

When Moses was talking with God at the burning bush, the Lord gave him a sign to prove He was with him – the promise that when he had led Israel out of Egypt , they would worship at this mountain (Sinai). In others words, when you've done it you'll know it was me with you! When God speaks words of prophecy it is so often like that: He says it, you look for it, but don't find it, He then does it and you look back and realize that it was Him. So often, it seems, God's ‘signs' require us to move first.

John in his Gospel speaks of the miracles that Jesus did as ‘signs' (Jn 2:11, 4:54 etc.), but of course they were only recognized as such by those whose hearts were open and seeking. Others simply criticized and asked for more ‘signs' (e.g. Jn 2:18). It seems again and again the Lord wants us to respond to what He says and then, and only then, it becomes clear. It's when we step forward trusting, that a voice comes from behind us saying, “This is the way walk in it” (Isa 30:21). So if you're looking for a sign from God, in His graciousness He may just give you one (e.g. to Gideon – Judges 6:36 -40), but more often than not, He waits for you to act in faith before the sign comes.

So the angel tells them about the baby who will be God's Chosen One, the Christ or Messiah (v.11). The fact that he's there as I said, will be sufficient for you to believe what I've said is true, is what the angel is saying. When you look, you will find – but you need to look first. That's how it works with God – then and now!

Then it's as if heaven couldn't contain itself for suddenly there is a great company – very many – angels, all singing of God's greatness. The Christmas story is littered with angelic appearances. It's as if heaven is coming to earth to accompany the coming of the Son. Of course it wasn't until much later that Jesus himself spoke about how he had always existed and had come down to earth from heaven (Jn 6:33,38,41,51,58). The glory that had been in heaven, now somehow compressed, was now on the earth (Phil 2:6-8). The presence of the singing angels is not the incredible thing; it's the presence of the very Son of God who is the incredible thing, God on earth. This presence on earth of the Son was evidence of the wonder (glory) of God's plans for mankind, peace that will be brought between God and man, through this Son. The angels are singing of the wonder that is possible for you and me – peace with God!

Luke 2:16-19   So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart

It's nice when stories end happily isn't it. Here are the shepherds who have an angelic experience out in the fields, and who have come running down to Bethlehem , found the Inn with its stable and there, just as predicted by the angel, they find the baby. Story over. Not quite. It may be for the shepherds but it's only the start for others.

The shepherds make their way back to their sheep after telling everyone they could find, what had happened. The word went out that something amazing had happened that night. The only signs left were a baby in a stable and a bunch of happy shepherds. Oh yes, and the memory of the night in Mary and Joseph's minds. The account says that Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart . We mustn't forget that.

On the earth at that moment there were various groups of people. First there was the vast majority of the planet who had no idea that anything had happened. Then there were residents that night in Bethlehem who had heard the shepherds' accounts and so knew something had occurred. Then there were the shepherds who KNEW something special had occurred. Finally there were Mary and Joseph and they know something special IS occurring. They are in the midst of it. Mary has just had a baby after an angelic visitation and she knows there was no human father. Joseph has had a less tangible angelic visitation which has left him sure that something strange is going on and he's called to be a part of it, even if it seems he's on the edge of it, so to speak. Their minds must have been full of what was going on. For them this is just the start.

What goes on in people's minds is important. It's what governs our behaviour, how we act in the next few seconds or minutes. Much of it is based upon what has happened in the past and our understanding of it. Ah yes, that's the difficult bit, our understanding of it. Mary and Joseph know certain things definitely happened and, in Joseph's case he thinks certain things happened (in the dream). The end result, up to this moment, is that they now have a baby – and shepherds have just come and reiterated things they had both been told about this baby. The shepherds have acted as agents of confirmation, reassuring Mary and Joseph that what they had been told was true. (Check that out again by looking up Mt 1:21 and Lk 1:31-33, now added to by the shepherds' information – Lk 2:11). It wasn't much but it was sufficient. The baby was to be called Jesus – which means deliverer – because he will save people from their sins, he will be the long-awaited Messiah, that the Jewish people had been waiting for throughout the centuries.

Joseph just seems to accept all this (typical male response – “Right fine!”) for there's no mention of his response, but Mary (typical mother) held onto all this and mulled it over and over. Isn't that just how women work: she keeps on looking back on what has happened and keeps on chewing it over; her mind is full of it. Many of us are like Joseph (or least like the way I've pictured him) and when we hear the story say, “Yes, fine. OK.” and that's it. If only more of us would copy Mary and chew it over we would realise far more the wonder of what was going on there. These events are incredible! They are God appearing on earth, and we say, “Yes, right.”!!!! They deserve more! Ponder these things!

Luke 2:21,22  On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived. When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord

“Well, what I think…” How many times have you heard those words? Somehow we try to assert our individuality or create our uniqueness by opinions, as if what we think is THE all-important thing in life. Anyone who has any public role in life – whether it be a politician, TV pundit, newspaper writer, or even simple manager – constantly faces the great temptation to believe that their view is the right one. Politicians probably hold the most extreme position in this respect, when they have to follow a ‘party line', but we all do it in a lesser measure; we all hold a particular line. I once heard a group of about fifteen men discussing a particular contentious subject with an amazing degree of unity. It was only after about ten minutes that I realized that they had all watched the same documentary on TV the night before and were now all holding the same view. The only problem with all this is when a contradictory view appears in another ‘documentary' some months later.

With this in mind it is refreshing to observe the simplicity of Mary and Joseph. They don't go on their own ideas; they, quite clearly, follow God's views. God has said, through the two angels, that the child is to be named Jesus – so they name him Jesus. Next, being part of the Jewish race, having the Law of Moses, the Law given by God to Israel through Moses, they go to do what the Law required. The Law required the couple to go to the temple after a prescribed period after the birth and present an offering to the Lord. Now this is not the place (with insufficient space) to explain the sacrificial system for the Jews, simply to reiterate that it had been given to Israel to follow. Mary and Joseph therefore followed the dictum, if that's what God says then we'll do it.

As we look back over the story so far, we can see that this couple received their guidance from God through direct heavenly communication (the angels), through circumstances (the emperor), through other people (the shepherds), and now through the written word of God (the Law). Similarly today we receive our guidance through heavenly communication (the Holy Spirit – see Gal 5:25), through circumstances, through other people (see esp. Eph 4:11 for ministries and 2 Pet 5:1,2 – shepherds!) and through the Scriptures (see 2 Tim 3:16,17). What a wealth of guidance available to us! I wonder if we avail ourselves of it, or do we only go by what we think, our opinion, our ideas? Such people frequently go astray.

So here is this beautiful couple being led of God. The truth is that it is probably Joseph taking the lead and his capability for following dreams, as we'll yet see before the story finishes, suggests that he is particularly good at following God's guidance. Mary, we suggest, simply follows – she's probably a bit younger than him as well, and following your man was the teaching of the day – and because he's won the right to call her to follow his headship by first having laid down his life for her. See Paul's teaching on this (Eph 5:22 -25) which is beautifully epitomized in this couple. So for Mary, she has the additional form of guidance, so alien a concept in the modern Western world, of a life-giving husband, winning her love and submission by his attentiveness to God's voice and God's will. Amazing! Is that not beautiful?

Luke 2:25,26 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel , and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

Most of us have dreams. No, not the dreams-at-night type of dreams, but dreams of what might be. Sometimes those dreams just lurk there in the background of your consciousness and you're hardly aware of them – but they're there. For many people they're in the form of, “If only….” They may be dreams of winning the lottery (most unlikely to be fulfilled) or they may be dreams of going somewhere or achieving something – perhaps of learning something new. Oh yes, most people have dreams, even if they're just below the conscious level. Simeon was someone with a ‘dream'.

Simeon lived in Jerusalem , the capital of Israel , the place where the Temple of God was. Simeon was a Jew and no doubt well taught. Simeon had been taught the many scriptures, in what we now call the Old Testament, that pointed to One who would come to fulfil God's purposes of the ages for Israel . He looked at Israel in subservience to the Roman overlords, and he read the scrolls and saw in them the glory that Israel had once been. He saw that the One would come to comfort the people of Israel , and be the consolation of Israel . The teachers had differing views of the sort of person this One would be. Some said a conquering king, other said a suffering servant, because the prophetic scriptures seemed to indicate both, and they couldn't see how he could be both, so they opted for one or the other. Simeon read these Scriptures and then it was as if someone or something – the Holy Spirit could it be? – seemed to say to him that this One would come in his lifetime. He became absolutely convinced, the more he thought about it, that this was God confirming this to him.

Now, do you see what has happened in what we've just described? Yesterday we described again ways that God speaks. Included in the list was through the Scriptures, and also directly by His Holy Spirit. In the text, in the verses we're reading, the Scriptures aren't actually mentioned, but being a righteous Jew in Jerusalem , he would certainly have been taught them. There clearly was, in Simeon, a coming together of Word and Spirit. He read it and he heard it in his spirit. That's how it happens in Christians. This man is a pre-Christian, a Christian in all but name, for he believes in the saviour, even though he's not there yet! He's read of him and been spoken to within himself of him. He is utterly convinced about the Coming One.

That's amazing because it's more than most people today achieve, who now have all the story of Jesus available to them and yet who don't bother to read, don't bother to seek. Jesus was later to say, “ Seek and go on seeking, and you will find.” (Mt 7:7 using the ongoing tense that is there). We don't know quite how it was for Simeon but often there is something in people that starts them looking (God speaking to them?) and so they start searching and as they start searching the search becomes more intense – and as they go on searching they come to a place of decision, a place of realisation.

If you have read through these Advent meditations, welcome to the seekers club. Whether you're a Christian or a not-yet-Christian, welcome to the Club. Remember what it says at the top of the contents page – in the Introduction. As you read, pray, because as you pray you are seeking God and seekers who go on seeking always find. May this time be a time when you either find and deepen your existing relationship with God, or even perhaps for some, find Him for the first time. We're only a few days off Christmas now. Have this most wonderful of presents. If need be, go back and reread these meditations, go and read the whole story in a Bible. Seek and find.

Luke 2:27-29 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace.

There are some people who set out on their quest for truth with hearts aglow in anticipation, who pursue it and pursue it and come to a point where it all seems so clear – and yet there is something more. They become aware that there is a further step to be taken but somehow it eludes them. They stand there, so to speak, looking at all the evidence, considering all the implications, but aware that yet there is something more. It's like standing at the side of a swimming pool for the first time. You've been told about water, you've learned all about water, in fact you may have dipped your finger into it, and you've been told that when you commit yourself to it, the water will support you and you'll learn how to swim. So there you are standing there looking and knowing, yet you still remain unchanged, untouched until you take that leap of faith and jump in!

Now consider Simeon. He's read about the Coming One, he's heard the witness of the Holy Spirit speaking to him within, he feels that inner speaking, nudging him to go to the Temple . He could ignore it, but instead he responds and goes. He arrives at the Temple and wanders around. He stands by the entrance waiting and looking at the many pilgrims coming in to this great place. Suddenly he sees a young couple carrying a tiny baby and something within him leaps. This is them, this is Him! At this point he could have just returned home thinking, “I've seen him!” But that would be like our would-be swimmer who looks, who sees and who hears and then simply turns away untouched.

No, there has got to be contact made. You can't just learn about God and then walk away untouched; there has to be contact made after all this! Simeon goes over to the couple who are perhaps just standing there, looking in awe at the incredible building, wondering what they should do next. Whether he asks Mary or whether he simply gently takes the babe from her arms, we don't know; but take him he does. He takes the Messiah, the Coming One, the Christ, the Son of God, into his arms and holds him. At this moment his feelings are almost too much to describe. He simply lifts his face to heaven and praises God and thanks Him, that his ‘dream' has been fulfilled. He has seen and held and encountered The One. The future is irrelevant; he can leave that in God's hands. The most important thing is that he has had an encounter of the God kind!

People sometimes say, “Look, I've heard about Jesus, I realize my need, I understand a little of all this, so what do I have to DO to become a Christian?” Well, it's like the pool; you've got to leap in. It's like Simeon, you've got to step forward towards God, come to Him and pray. Simeon spoke out what was happening. You've simply got to speak out to God what's happening – I want to know you, I surrender to you, please forgive me, please lead my life. If you're ‘at the edge of the pool' as you read this, don't walk away. If you've seen God in this story this Advent, don't walk away.

If you're already a Christian, and the story has been speaking to you afresh this year, don't just walk away. For you too this should be a time of God encounter. Put aside all the thoughts of the things you need to do before Christmas. Sit quietly with Him. Spend time with Him, after all Christmas is all about Him.

Luke 2:33-35 The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel , and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."

Some people look at Scripture and say, “Oh, it's difficult to understand” and so shut the book, and so reveal the weak state of their heart. Seekers turn to God and say, “ Lord Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law ” (Psa 119:18). They recognize that all Scripture is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16 ) and so seek the giver of it for understanding.

What do you think the falling and rising of many in Israel means in our verses above? It is a description of the effect this child is going to have. In the verse before, that we have not read, Simeon had prophesied, that Jesus was “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel” (v.32) or as the Message version puts it, “A God-revealing light to the non-Jewish nations, and of glory for your people Israel.”. This baby, says Simeon under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, will reveal God to the world and bring the glory of God back to this nation of Israel .

Now you might think that was good news but you might have forgotten an aside we made in Meditation 22: “The teachers had differing views of the sort of person this One would be. Some said a conquering king, other said a suffering servant, because the prophetic scriptures seemed to indicate both, and they couldn't see how he could be both, so they opted for one or the other.” In other words people in Israel had differing but specific views of the Coming One and, as you'll see if you read the Gospels, some people looked at Jesus and didn't think he conformed to their expectations of him. He may have been a sign from God, but in the case of many he was a sign that will be spoken against . Jesus probably revealed the hearts of people, by their responses to him, more than any other person who has ever walked the earth.

There would thus be two main responses to Jesus. First there would be the oppressed and unloved who were accepted by Jesus and who found themselves being lifted up – the rising of many . But there would also be many who thought a lot of themselves and who thought Jesus didn't match their expectations and these persons fell before God. They were revealed for what they truly were – less than the great people they thought they were.

How have you been responding to these meditations? How did you come to them? Did you come feeling in need of God, have you found the wonder of all the elements of the Christmas story warming and comforting; have you been lifted up? Or have you come feeling strong and self-confident and have you felt affronted by the talk of your needs? Have you felt you were being pulled down, and so felt defensive?

You see, it is just a Simeon said it was. The truth about Jesus reveals our hearts. The way we come to the Christmas story and the way we respond to it, reveals the state of our heart. Those who coming seeking find – and are lifted. Those who come self-confident and critical, go away despondent and still critical and are pulled down in their estimation – they fall. How has your heart been revealed? We pray that you will be lifted and blessed as you realize who you are, one who is inadequate but much loved by God. May it be so!

Matt 2:1-2  After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea , during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

To maintain our chronological flow of this story, we move now from Luke to Matthew's account of what happened. In meditations 13 to 15 we saw what had happened to Joseph as recorded at the end of Matthew, chapter 1. Now the child has been born and it is probable that at least a couple of months have passed since then. The family are still living in Bethlehem in Judea which is about 5 miles south of Jerusalem . No reasons are given why they were still there, but when later, they flee to Egypt to fulfil prophecy, it is understandable why they stayed in the south of the country rather than returning up north.

While they are still in Bethlehem , some Magi, or wise astronomers from the East came to Jerusalem seeking one who has been born (so they arrive after) who is king of the Jews. We're not told how they got their revelation, beyond the fact that they followed a star (a meteorite perhaps?) which seemed to lead them to Israel . Jerusalem was the capital and so they assumed this is where the new king was born.

Now it's at this point we have to point out how we so often take for granted things we've heard many times before. If you have been to carol services or listened to them on the radio, or watched them on TV, or even attended Nativity plays at your child's school, you will no doubt have heard many times, We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him, and have come to take those words for granted. Yet they say something quite incredible. You don't normally worship kings. Yes, you may honour then and kneel before them acknowledging their majesty, but you don't worship them.

To worship means to bow down in adoration, acknowledging divine greatness – and that's what these men say they have come to do! The ‘East' probably means Mesopotamia, an area where civilisation had existed for millennia, and from where Abraham had originally come, an area known for its wise seers, mystics who looked beyond the material world. These men have probably travelled a long way because something in their thinking, their seeking, their mysticism, tells them that one is about to be born who is worthy of their adoration and worship.

In all the accounts so far, we've seen a gradual increase in revelation about this child. The angels, who came to Mary and Joseph, indicated something of his special role, and Simeon added to that. Now we find some non-Jews arriving on the scene, sent by how we do not know, and declaring that the child is a king but more than that, one worthy of worship.

I wonder if at the carol services I referred to above, you have ever heard the Isaiah prophecy referring to this coming child: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting F ather, Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6). Again, look at these words with new eyes: the child will be called Mighty God, Everlasting Father ! This child is far more than an earthly king. This baby is God in disguise! No wonder these men say they've come to worship him. Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth and Simeon have all caught something of the wonder of this baby, but it takes some strange men from a far country to make it clear. This is like a sign post going up now: “This baby is God. Bow down in worship!” If you responded to the call yesterday, this is your next significant point of call, to worship the One who has come, because he is God in disguise. It takes wise men to see this truth, because ordinary people just see a baby. Are you wise today?

Matt 2:3-6 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: " `But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"

In gender banter and gender jokes, there often crops up the assertion that men get lost going places because they won't stop to ask the way! If there is truth in this, is it because men don't like to appear not to be in control “as men are supposed to be”? Flat pack constructions from DIY superstores are also a good illustration of this. How many men work on the dictum, “Put it together and only turn to the instructions when it gets difficult”? Perhaps this is unfair, but it is certainly true for many people. When it comes to spiritual matters it is no less true. How many of us just plough on through life, determining to get it right on our own so, “Don't you tell me what to do!”?

These wise men from the East act as a good antidote to this way of thinking. Here they are; wise men who have travelled a long way, probably with a big entourage, and certainly bringing expensive gifts (as we'll see later). If they've come this far, you'd think they could manage it to the end. But the last steps are sometimes the most difficult. They're looking for a king so they come to the capital city and enquire. When the existing king, Herod the Great, heard this he became concerned. Being a king in those days was always an uncertain thing, especially if you were insecure to start with, and there were often palace coups. A new king has been born? Where? He calls for the people who should have the answers – the religious leaders. They know about prophecy and the like; they should be able to help. Well yes, they say, if this is the Messiah, the holy scriptures indicate he will be born in Bethlehem . That's what the prophecies we've studied all our lives tell us.

Do you notice the staggering difference between that land and our own in the twenty first century? If wise men turned up today on such a quest, if it could gain credibility, and the royal family were sought, who would they turn to? To the government? To scientists? The general lack of credibility of the established church suggests that the church would be the last to be consulted. And if they were? How many of our church leaders would be able to say, “Well the Bible says….” with any authority? The established church is not known for holding onto the Bible as ultimate authority, ultimate truth!

But before we are too hard on others, what can we say about ourselves? The people Herod referred to were able to say, “Well God has said…” and quoted Scripture. This takes us right back to the very first meditation when we considered the integrity of Luke's writing in particular, when we suggested that this was all very carefully researched, and that applies to Matthew's writing as well. We can come to a large measure of understanding and trust in the Bible through research, but at the end of the day, we have our greatest assurance about it after we have come into a living relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Have you that relationship? Have you come to that place of assurance with Him when you read His word, that this is alive, this is true, this is trustworthy, this is what it describes of itself, this is ‘God-breathed' (2 Tim 3:16)? It is here that you find your security in God, more and more as you read it more and more. May it be so!

Matt 2:9,10   After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

Because we live in a scientific age, because we have TV's, Hi-Fi's, and Computers, and because many of us work in activities that are constantly measuring our work or our progress or our development, we tend to think we are clever people who have got life under control. The arrival of so-called ‘reality shows' on TV should, however, alert us to the true reality of life. Watching families where the parents have lost control, families where the main partners are only too glad to get out and try a swap, or watching ‘Big-Brother' or ‘Get me out of here' shows, should make us realize that many of us are far from in control of our lives. We are actually unable to be in control and ‘be nice'. Nevertheless we do so often think we've got it sorted, simply because we know lots of information or have been through certain sorts of training. This makes us people who are not good in the simple faith realm of God's kingdom.

Yet that is what believers, Christians, are called to do, to have simple faith. Now these ‘wise men' put us to shame. They've come all this way because ‘something' tells them there is a new super-king arrived on the planet who deserves their worship. They've got the last stage guidance from the leaders in Jerusalem who, you might note, don't come with them – and they still follow the star! He's in Bethlehem , they've been told, so why not just go straight there? Do you see what happens when you start thinking about aspects of this story? You have to start asking questions.

What are they actually doing? They are checking their guidance with the guidance of the people of Jerusalem . But a star???? A meteorite perhaps? What sort of guidance about something that has happened on the earth, is that? Pretty freaky! Now don't take this as an excuse to read your ‘stars' in the paper. Doing that is a man-centred, man-devised, and a sign of being godless. If you need to think about that, just ask yourself, does ‘reading the stars' draw you close to God and evoke worship in you? No? Well that's what following this star did for these men!

Seriously, the simplicity of these men leaves our so-called modern minds befuddled. They leave us with our mouths hanging open. They know what they're doing, these men, and it's so simple! God has told them to follow a star. How do I know that? Well think about the possibilities. Would Satan tell them to go and worship Jesus? I think not! Who else knows about this? No one! As we might say today, the proof of the pudding is in the eating! These men travel hundreds of miles – without global positioning satellite navigation systems – and they arrive exactly at the place where the baby has been born! This may be freaky guidance – but it works!

That's where we come back to simple faith. It may be that just recently you've responded to the promptings of these meditations and you've entered a new-found relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Welcome to the ‘Walking by Faith Club'! What is that? It's being one of God's kids, being led by His Holy Spirit in your daily walk with Him, responding to the promptings He gives you, checking it against His word, the Bible, and then just stepping out. You know what happens when you do that? You encounter Jesus and you realise the wonder of what is happening, you are overjoyed, and you worship! Go for it! The Wise Men did, and it worked for them!

Matt 2:11,12   On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

There are people who try to have just a ‘Sunday-faith', a religion that is spiritual only on a Sunday, but that is very far from the call of God to His people. When writing to the church at Rome , the apostle Paul said, “Offer your bodies as living sacrifices” (Rom 12:1). Now if you approach your Christian life as a sacrifice to God, it doesn't just mean for a few minutes on a Sunday morning, but all the time and in every area of your life. The way people handle the material side of their life, is a good indication of the depth of their experience of God. God doesn't see our lives as material and spiritual; there is no division with Him. God looks to bless every aspect of our lives when we come to Him.

The ‘Wise Men' are a great example of ‘whole' worshippers. They worship the newly arrived Son of God by bowing down and by giving to him. It is a faith that expresses itself by far more than just words or certain spiritual actions. It is a faith that provides for him. Now isn't that strange! God arrives on the earth in the form of a tiny, vulnerable baby, complete with all the limitations of a baby. He's going to grow, this baby, and when he's fully grown, the power of God is going to flow through him as never seen before or since; he is God on earth. But, for the time being he is reliant upon Mary and Joseph to care for him and now, for the wise men to provide for him. Yes, God can do miracles, like providing life where there is none, but having done that He so often wants to use us as the means of further provision. The Christian life is a life of partnership with God (1 Cor 3:9. 2 Cor 6:1). Thus we're told to work out our salvation, because God is also working in us (Phil 2:12,13).

So these worshippers come and provide for the child. They provide Gold, currency in any day. This is God's immediate bank account for this little family. Frankincense is a pure incense used for worship offerings and for wedding processions in the Bible. Myrrh, another perfume was used as a perfume for bridal processions, and for funerals. Whether the two perfumes were given as symbols of what would be involved in this child's life or whether they were just given as alternatives forms of currency, things that could be sold for money, is not clear. They are however, clearly expensive gifts, lavish gifts, gifts what could be purely ornamental, but also very practical.

Some say the practice of giving gifts at Christmas (which is not done by Christians all over the world) derived from the Wise Men. Giving is a practice very much at the heart of love for God. For the Christian it is not just a ritual done to appease God, for He doesn't need appeasing. It is a response of a freed-up heart that sees need and gladly rises up to meet it. In a world where so many charities clamour for our attention we need to learn to respond to God's prompting to give, not the emotional pressures of advertising agencies working for such charities. Giving starts with those closest to us in need. Giving comes with a heart of love, a love that is moved by compassion and moved by relationship. John picked this up in his letter (1 Jn 3:17) as did James (Jas 2:15,16). We become providers for others, knowing God will provide for us (Phil 4:19)

Having come as worshippers, these men find a new form of guidance, as they too move into the realm of guidance by dreams! Yes, there is a truth here: true, whole-worshippers come into a new closeness with God where they can hear His guidance more clearly. May we each know it!

Matt 2:13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt . Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."

There are two forms of belief that are equally bad. There is the belief that there is no God, the belief of atheism that flies in the face of all the evidence to the contrary. But there is also the belief that there is a God but he stands outside of this world and has nothing to do with it. Now although all Christians, hopefully, would deny the latter belief, many in fact live as if it were true. In how many churches, and in how many Christians, is there the belief that God talks to his people? Again, many will say that He does, but live like He doesn't! That is tragic, so we must look at these verses carefully.

Already we've seen dreams as a form of guidance twice in the Christmas story. Joseph is with Mary as the result of a dream. He committed his life to her on the strength of a dream. The wise men didn't go back home via Herod as the result of a dream. Now Joseph has another dream, warning him to take the family south, out of the country into Egypt , before Herod comes searching for the child.

Now consider this more fully. How easy would it have been for Mary to say to Joseph, “Oh, don't be silly, you're just worrying unnecessarily. It's probably because of what those strange men from the East said. Let's just go home.” How easy it is to write off or find reasons to counter such things. This is the thing about divine guidance; most of the time there is room to doubt it. That's what faith is about. It's about responding simply to what God says, and that requires a belief first of all that it was God speaking. This is what makes the Christmas story so uncomfortable – when you stop to think about it. It's about people who get tenuous guidance and base their lives on that. It reminds us that Christians are called to life by faith, not by sight (2 Cor 5:7) and as one well-known preacher said a number of years ago, “Faith is spelt R-I-S-K!”

As we approach Christmas, and come near to the end of the year, the challenge that this story brings us, again and again, is will we be like these people in this story, will we simply respond to the simple word from God? In one sense, all else is secondary. It's come up before in this story, and we need to hear it again – and again! Will we give ourselves to what God says? Sometimes we will hear His fresh word very clearly, and in those times it will be relatively easy to do His will. When we've had a ‘mountaintop experience' and the presence of God has been very real, at that point it seems very easy to say, yes, I'll go, I'll do it! But what about those other times, the times that are, realistically, the majority of the times, when we are walking alone in the valley – for that's what it feels like! At those times will our faith be expressed in keeping on faithfully doing the things He's spoken in His word, the Bible, or the last thing He spoke to us at the last mountaintop experience?

Jesus once put it very simply: “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8). What he was saying was, when he returns will he find us full of faith, being who we're called to be, doing what we've called to do, with an ear open to heaven? Joseph heard God through dreams. that was the way the lord seemed to use most with him. What is it or what will it be with you? Will you hear through His word, through the preaching, or through the quiet nudge of the Spirit? Dream on, read on, listen on, continue to be sensitive – or learn to hear through one or more of these ways. There's nothing more important than hearing God – except obeying what you hear!

Matt 2:14,15   So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt , where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."

The world in which we live in today seems increasingly unstable. Three or four years ago, terrorist threat became a very real feature of modern life and that has continued. In the past years the forces of nature have also wreaked havoc in many parts of the world, and it seems that no area of safe from possible natural catastrophe. Fear has become a very real part of many people's lives as society has changed out of all recognition from fifty years ago. Where is there some source of stability?

As we look into these verses today and yesterday, we find our answer. Hollywood has produced various films where rogue government groups hunt the hero. This could be one such story and the rogue authority is Herod. He is shortly going to have every child under the age of two killed in an attempt to purge the land of a potential competitor to his family dynasty. Very soon the land is going to be very unsafe for this little family; their lives are under a very real threat, even if they don't realise it fully yet.

And that's where God's intervention comes in. God has bound Himself to permit us free will – and that includes allowing evil men to be evil, so the murder of the infants will happen. As terrible as that is, it cannot be avoided. This is what sinful men do! However, while the plans of Herod are being made, the Lord speaks to His servant, Joseph, in a dream, knowing that this is a man who has proved that he listens and obeys. Possibly God was speaking to all the other parents with young children, but few if any heard.

Where does Joseph and Mary's security come from? It comes from hearing God's words of guidance and protection and responding to them. Note the twofold aspect of that. God speaks AND they obey. God could have spoken and they refused to go. In such a case Jesus would have been killed! No, their security came from obeying what God said to them; it was that which put them out of harm's way. Does God not move sovereignly to protect His children? Yes He does, but more often that not, it seems that He wants our co-operation. The story of Peter's escape from prison, from the plans of a later Herod (see Acts 12), is a classic example of this. God's angel told him what to do and opened up doors for him, but he still had to get up, get dressed and follow the angel, step by step, out of the prison. Do you see this? Our security is not some passive thing, whereby we just sit back and let God pander to us. He wants us to be an active part of His plans and so He involves us in our deliverance from harm.

Is this easy? Is this easy, this listening to God and responding to Him? In as much as it requires us to learn to listen to Him, and the old natural ‘us' would prefer to reason out our own lives, no, it's not easy, but this is how it works! It's what we've been saying again and again: this Christmas story is not a comfortable soft and mushy children's story; it is an account of how God actually moved in the affairs of men and women, and it challenges us who call ourselves His children, to walk in the same way as them – the way of faith. When we learn to do this, we can be at peace, in the strong assurance that God is for us, and He who knows all things will lead and guide us – as much as we will allow Him to lead and guide! Maybe you have a steep learning curve ahead it you – but it's worth it! Go for it!

Matt 2:19,20   After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel , for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."

Have you ever had a time in life when everything seemed to go wrong and you were left wondering whether you even had any future at all? Life is full of upheavals that sometimes we would prefer to call catastrophes. One minute everything was going fine, and then either gradually bit by bit, or even perhaps suddenly, it all started changing and you were left alone and in despair.

Well, the Bible is full of such incidents. Moses, the Prince of Egypt, was one such person. There he was; his future certain, as an adopted prince of the king of Egypt . But he's aware that he's different; he's aware he's an Israelite by birth, and one day he tries to help his birth-people and ends up killing an Egyptian. He has to flee the country and for the next forty years he is looking after sheep in the wilderness hundreds of miles away. Without doubt he must have given up any hope of any meaningful future. He would simply die as an unknown shepherd miles from anywhere. And then God turned up, and he became one of the most significant men in history!

But it doesn't have to be forty years to feel you have no future. After the pain of personal failure, any period is too long. We don't know for sure just how long Joseph and Mary and their baby were in Egypt , but they must have been wondering about the future, wondering what had happened. A year ago they were happily engaged in Nazareth , and now here they are hundreds of miles away in a foreign land with a tiny baby to look after. The visit of the angel to Mary was probably now over a year back and in a year your memory begins to dull, and when everything has not worked out as you expected, you can be left wondering was it all a dream – but then there is the baby!

How long will we be here? Will God speak to us again? Will it ever be safe for us to return? Surely these must have been some of the questions going through their minds. One long day followed another. Did Joseph get a job or did they just life of the gifts the wise men had brought them? This is not their land. These are not their people. What are we doing here? And then God spoke. The trouble about this is that we can go weeks or months just wondering and then, it's as if He came suddenly, and He spoke. There is usually no warning. He just turns up and speaks. A few hours before you might have been wondering if you'll ever hear from Him again, and then without any fanfare He speaks – and it all starts over again! Is this Him or is it wishful thinking. Joseph has another dream and the angel appears again but now to tell him it is all right to return home; it's safe now!

Do you see this? So often we just read this story with so little thought. Oh, Joseph had another dream; how nice! Yes, but that was after days and weeks and months of uncertainty. If you think the Christian life is one of daily conversations with God, you are half right. You can talk and talk and talk (it's called praying) but sometimes it seems like a brick wall and you hear nothing in return. Then – at just the right moment – He speaks. You'd almost given up, but He hadn't! If you haven't ever seen how important timing is with God, check it out – Rom 5:6, Gal 4:4, Gal 6:9, Mk 1:15, Matt 10:19, Mt 26:18, Jn 7:6,8. Jn 7:30. Oh yes, it's all about right timing and God knows when it is, so rest in that knowledge today. Your times are in His hands. Be patient and rejoice in that!

Matt 2:21 -23 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel . But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth .

We are almost there. Tomorrow is Christmas Day. For a large percentage of the population it will be a day of presents, large amounts of food and drink, possibly too much TV and, for some, parties into the night. There will be a tiny minority who will totally ignore the day, but in the middle of these two groups will be those of us who want to appreciate the day in the traditional way with Christmas lunch and so on, but who also want to hold onto the truth and wonder of what we believe, according to the Bible, took place on this day slightly more than 2000 years ago. For Christians it's always an odd sort of day, trying to balance these things, but then the Christmas story is an odd sort of story.

We've seen over these past weeks that it's all about God communicating with ordinary people and doing extraordinary things with them, as He brings His Son onto the earth. We've commented on how it's so easy to become over familiar with the story and lose the wonder of what was happening. It's a story of angels and of miracles of conception, of movement around the country at the whim of an emperor, and then out of the country by the guidance of God. Yes, we saw all the preamble, the birth, the shepherds, the wise men, the welcoming team in the temple and the flight to Egypt .

It's like we've come to the closing scene of an epic film. All the big events have happened and now it's anti-climax at the end. If you saw the Lord of the Rings films, you may remember at the end of the first film, after all the fighting, the hero and his helper slip quietly away in a little boat. After all the things that had gone before, it's now a quiet, low-key ending – but we all knew there was lots more to come! That's how it is at the end of what we refer to as ‘The Christmas Story'.

Joseph's had his dream with an angel and starts to take the little family home. When he gets back to Israel he hears that the Herod dynasty still continues and so keeps on going, back up north to Galilee , to Nazareth . There's mention of a dream – whether it's the original one saying go home, or another one, is not clear. The fact is they reach home in the north and that's where they settle. For us, in a few days time, Christmas and all its activities will be a past memory, and we look forward to just getting back on with life after the holidays, back to normality. That's possibly how it was with Mary and Joseph. The great adventure, all the travelling, has come to an end, and so now they can settle down to normal life as a family. That's how it will be for twelve years, until Jesus gives his mother cause to wonder some more (see Lk 2:41 -52). It will be about thirty years before it all really starts to happen and until then it's just a time of waiting, although they might not have been very sure about that. But that's how life with God is: exciting one day, unsure the next.

Well, the waiting is almost at an end; tomorrow is Christmas Day, but there may be other things you've been waiting for, possibly for a long time. How can we make the waiting easier? To remind ourselves that God is there working out His purposes in perfect precision – which often means slowly – and so the call on us is to remain faithful to the revelation we've had so far, and to watch and wait. Have a good Christmas Day tomorrow, then go on watching and waiting until He comes with the next phase!

Isa 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

As we have gone through these Advent meditations, there has been a tendency to try to put ourselves in the place of the people concerned, in order to catch the reality of the events and the possible impact upon us today. In doing this we have almost ignored the baby! In a sense the baby is the most important person in the story but, by necessity, we focus on the people involved with the baby. In the last of these meditations we now seek to remedy that by looking at this Old Testament prophecy about this coming one.

A child…. a son is given….. the prophecy is all about a male human baby yet to be born who, from the descriptions that follow, will be far from ordinary, who will be ‘given' as a gift from God!

…. and the government will be on his shoulders… he will carry the burden of rule, a quaint way of saying he will be a king.

….And he will be called …. when you call somebody something, you are acknowledging who or what they are.

Wonderful Counsellor … this is literally wonder-counsellor or supernatural counsellor, one who will come with great wisdom and insight that is beyond human capability. When Jesus came he came with a different level of teaching (Mk 1:23 ,27, Mt 22:33 ) and knew what people were thinking (Mt 12:25 , Mk 2:8, Lk 5:22 , 6:8, 11:17 ) and stopped with mouths of the religious teachers with his wisdom and insight.

Mighty God … what a staggering prophetic claim! The word mighty gives no room to go off into wondering if the prophet was going off into some fantasy New Age speculations, (“we are all gods”). No this is Isaiah saying this child will be Almighty God. Of course, as we've noted a number of times, this defies our intellect and was therefore a stumbling block for the Jewish teachers. But this is at the core of the Christmas story – today we celebrate the coming of God Himself to live on the earth in human experience!

Everlasting Father … again there is no room given by the prophet for us to speculate about this coming child. Everlasting has to speak of God Himself for no other being is eternal or everlasting. The concept of God as Father was limited in the Old Dispensation, and only came to fullness when God came in the form of His “Son”. Contrary to the so-often terrible role models of today, this Father is a faithful, caring, compassionate and understanding provider who is always there for His children – and that He calls us when we come to Him (Jn 1:12, 1Jn 3:1). Within these latter two descriptions so far, is the sense of unity. Jesus is the Son, but he's also one with the Father (Jn 10:30 ,38, 14:9). John makes over 110 references to the F ather in his Gospel! He understood something of the incredible concept that Jesus was sharing.

Prince of Peace …. a prince is a son of a ruler… hence Jesus the Son of the Almighty Ruler of all things. His role? To bring peace between God and man, to reconcile us sinners to Holy God (Rom 5:11 , 2 Cor 5:19 ). This is what this baby is going on to do. Without him we would be estranged from God and could never know the wonder of His loving acceptance and the blessings that follow.

That is the wonder of this day – God has come to bring the means to bring us to Himself. Rejoice in it! Celebrate it! Worship Him! I have received this gift from God? Has Jesus become the ruler of my life? Have I acknowledged him for who he is? Is he my counsellor, the one who knows all about me and who guides me? Do I acknowledge him as God? Is he the way to my knowing the Father, the one who cares for me and provides for me? Have I received the peace he brings?

If I can respond in the affirmative to all these questions then the only thing left is to thank God for all of those things - for my gift of life, the leaders of my life, the bringer of wisdom and all else that I need, my entry to heaven, my peace here on the earth. Lord I thank you for all these things. Thank you for this day! Thank you for Jesus!