Series: The Call of Christmas  
Message: The Call to Prepare & Provide
Preacher: Japhet De Oliveira

Refresh: Open with prayer. Read or listen to Psalm 40:1-5.

Read: Luke 1:1-38 - Re-read in the ESV translation for new insights/questions.  

Reflect: Only Luke and Matthew mention the “conception” story. No one else feels the need to re-affirm that. It was embraced that Jesus is the Son of God. It was preached that Jesus is the Son of God. Somehow, beyond our understanding, our finite scientific minds, Jesus was both divine and human. Ellen White, in an article she wrote for the Youth’s Instructor, May 4, 1899, used an expression that has been seared deep into my memory banks. Sharing insights into the resurrection of Lazarus, she states:

“And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth.’ His voice, clear and penetrating, falls with solemn power on the people, and pierces the ear of the dead. As he speaks, divinity flashes through humanity. The people see in his face, which is lighted up by the glory of God, the assurance of his power. Every eye is fastened on the entrance to the cave. Every ear is quickened to hear each word. With intense and painful interest, all wait for the test of Christ's claim, the evidence that is to substantiate the fact that he is the Son of God, or to extinguish the hope forever.”

I highlighted it in bold, so it would stand out, “divinity flashes through humanity.” Jesus was both divine and human at the same time, and there were key moments, pivotal shifts in the Gospel narrative when “divinity flashes through humanity.” The impossible is made possible. The story of Jesus on earth starts with a miracle that we cannot explain and ends with the resurrection miracle we still cannot explain. Our theology, our understanding of God, has to make space for God having the power to reorder the “laws of nature” that we know.

Recalibrate: 

1. The life of Jesus is bookended with miracles; how does that bring hope to our lives today?

Respond: Pray for the opportunity to engage and care for someone.

Research: How does Revelation 13:8 help you understand what the Trinity has prepared and provided for us?