A Lesson in Timing

We know that when we pray God will always answer us. We are taught in Sunday School that He hears us and that He will always give us an answer-either a "yes", "no", or "wait".

Oh, the dreaded "wait". Don't we hate that? Have you ever wondered how long we are to "wait"? Do you ever feel that your "wait" had turned into an unequivocal "no"? I know I have!

But then,

I think on the story of the Prodigal Son.
Luke 15:11-32
In His story, Jesus never says how long it took the son to squander his money, or how much time he wasted debasing himself. I think that is very purposeful-I tend to think it was a long time...years. Years of prayers and heartache for the father, years God was working on the son's heart. And finally, the son came home to his waiting father's arms.
A faithful prayer answered.

I think of Elizabeth and Zacharias.
Luke 1:5-25, 57-80
They prayed and served and waited for a child. I think there must have been a moment, an age, when they felt it wasn't going to happen-that they had received a "no". God was preparing the world for his "forerunner" - timing. Then the unthinkable, a miracle-an angel comes and tells Zacharias they will have a son-John.
The answer to a long forgotten prayer.

And what about the crippled man that Peter healed?

Acts 3-4:31

He was there, at the temple, every day. People passed him by for years. He had been afflicted since his birth and when we meet him he is past 40! We see him asking for alms, but I'm sure he longed for healing. Can you imagine the years in Jesus' active ministry? When He was healing and preforming miracles, He was in and out of the temple-yet Jesus, who was very aware of his need, never healed this man. Why? Timing. Peter and John receive the Holy Spirit and burst onto the scene of an emotionally charged Jerusalem. They are approached by this man, as they probably had been before, and their response is healing-full, complete, healing.

An answer to a prayer possible unuttered.

I think about that "wait" answer...it can be so hard to wait. But we can rest! Because we have a great God who is perfect and outside of time and we can know that He has the "timing" perfect.

Behold the Lamb

Behold the Lamb

The prophet Micah foretold the birthplace for the coming Messiah seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Micah said that the Messiah would be born in the little insignificant village near Jerusalem called Bethlehem. The actual location of the birthplace of Jesus Christ is also found in the prophecy of Micah, the location was Migdal Eder which in Hebrew is the “tower of the flock”.

“And you, O tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you shall it come, the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.” Micah 4:8

“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.” Micah 5:2

Migdal Eder, the tower of the flock mentioned in Micah 4:8, is the watchtower where the priestly shepherds would watch over their flocks in the shepherd's fields there at Bethlehem.

This tower is where they would watch over their flock from the second story and where they birthed the newborn lambs in the lower portion of the two story tower there in the fields of Bethlehem. In the lower portion of this watchtower that the birthing of the lambs would take place, ewes were brought to give birth to the lambs. In this shelter the priests would bring in the ewes which were about to lamb for protection.

The shepherds would wrap the newborn lambs in swaddling clothes to protect the body of the lambs, keeping the new lambs without spot or blemish, they would then be laid in a manger until they had calmed down.

These were not just any flock and herd.

Migdal Eder was the watchtower that guarded the Temple flocks that were being raised to serve as sacrificial animals in the Temple. The shepherds who kept them were men who were specifically trained for this royal task. They were educated in what an animal, that was to be sacrificed, had to be and it was their job to make sure that none of the animals were hurt, damaged, or blemished.” These special lambs came from a unique flock which were designated for sacrifice at the temple in Jerusalem.

These lambs would be offered as sacrifice at the Temple just four miles away in Jerusalem.

With the establishment of Temple worship in Jerusalem, the fields outside of Bethlehem became the place where this special group of shepherds raised the lambs that were sacrificed in the Temple. Being themselves under special Rabbinical care, they would strictly maintain a ceremonially clean stable for a birthing place. The Tower of the Flock was used for birthing ewes, and the surround fields were where these shepherds grazed their flocks. These shepherds customarily kept their flocks outdoors twenty-four hours a day every day of the year, but brought the ewes in to deliver their lambs where they could be carefully cared for.

It was to this place that Joseph took Mary. It was in this special stable at “Migdal Eder” that Christ was born!

The "swaddling clothes" that wrapped the lambs was also used to wrap the Lord Jesus.

These priestly shepherds in their fields near Bethlehem on that Christmas Eve knew where to go to find the newborn Messiah, Jesus Christ. He would be found where the angel had told them, wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger in the lower floor of the tower of the flock, Migdal Eder

Luke 2:8-18 records that there were shepherds in the fields keeping watch over their sheep by night.

“And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night … And the angel said to them, ‘Be not afraid: for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.’” Luke 2:8,10,11

These shepherds were none other but the shepherds from “Migdal Eder”. The angels told the shepherds that they would find the Babe wrapped in "swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." There was no need for the angels to give these shepherds directions to the birth place because they already knew. These were the men who raised sacrificial lambs that were sacrificed in the Temple. When the angelic announcement came, they knew exactly where to go, as Luke 2 indicates, for the sign of a manger could only mean their manger at the tower of the flock!

Migdal Eder at Bethlehem is the perfect place for Christ to be born. He was born in the very birthplace where tens of thousands of lambs, which had been sacrificed to prefigure Him, were born. God promised it, pictured it and performed it at Migdal Eder.

It all fits together, for that's the place the place where sacrificial lambs were born!

The Lamb born at Migdal Eder was the Lamb to be sacrificed to take away the sin of the world.

You see our Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem where all sacrificial lambs were born, and our Lord Jesus died in Jerusalem where all sacrificial lambs were killed.

John the Baptist proclaimed of Jesus,

"Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." John 1:29

Jesus is presented in the Bible as being “in type” as a sacrificial lamb. It was not by chance but by choice that Christ identified His death with the time of the observance of the Passover.

Peter spoke of our redemption as wrought by the

"Precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" 1 Pet. 1:19

and Paul told us that

"Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us" 1 Cor. 5:7

Even the first fulfilled type by which Christ is to be revealed in Heaven is as the Lamb (Rev. 5:6-13).

The baby grew up! He grew into a man to fulfill the plan for our salvation. He grew up to be the advocate, the intercessor, the "one mediator between man and God, the man Christ Jesus." (1 John 2:1, Heb 7:25, 1 Tim 2:5)

He grew up so that He could die, thereby offering a perfect, sinless life in sacrifice for our sins. He grew up to be raised from the dead, conquering death and instilling a living hope of eternal life in all who come to Him. He grew up so that he might become “the source of eternal salvation." (Heb 5:9)

I'm glad that Jesus was born. But I rejoice even more in the life He lived, the death He died, and the accomplishment of His resurrection! While the world remembers a baby in a feeding trough, let our remembrance of His death help us to look to the Man, the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the year.

Behold, the Lamb.


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Credits/Sources for this article:

This is by no means "mine". It is very much a copy and paste along with some editing and my own bits pieced together.

I was first introduced to this subject through Brock and Bodie Thoene's historical fiction novel: "Jerusalem's Hope" . Which I loved, and highly recommend.

Within weeks of finished that novel for the first time I received my copy of Friends of Israel's magazine: "Israel My Glory" (the copy is Nov/Dec 2008 if you would like to request a copy from FOI). In this magazine there was an article (page 25) on this very subject! I was so excited! It was from there that my fascination really took off!

The Internet is a wonderful place to search to your heart's content and your time is your only limitation. I've included some of my preferred links if you would like to explore yourself, but many of the writers refer to the following as their "sources":

The Bible

The Mishnah

The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Links:
Jimmy's Prophetic Perspective on the News, Dec. 23, 2005

http://www.welcometohosanna.com/LIFE_OF_JESUS/4shepherdfields.htm

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=E&artid=40

http://www.mayimhayim.org/Rabbi%20Mike/Migdal%20Eder.htm

http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/heb/view.cgi?number=04029

http://www.biblehistory.net/newsletter/jesus_birth.htm

http://www.bible.ca/D-Xmas-story.htm

http://www.bible-truth.org/BirthPlaceofJesus.html

I hope you enjoy your explorations as much as I did.
-Brittany

A Baby Changes Everything

Thank you Mrs. Langhans for posting this song.
I LOVE it! And now I'm sharing it with you.

"A Baby Changes Everything" sung by Faith Hill
Very moving song focused on Mary, mother of Jesus.

Knowing, Living, Forsaking

"Know who you are in Christ. Live who you are in Christ, and be done with who you used to be. That's what's being said here in Colossians 3. We have been crucified and raised with Christ, so we must put aside the practices of the past.

Let me read this list to you: fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth, and lying to one another. Not very pretty, it is? But that's who we were.

Outside of Christ we are capable of any and all sins. Did you catch what I said? Outside of Christ, which is not who we are anymore.

Know who you are, live who you are, and be done with who you used to be.

Listen to this next list, starting in verse 12: the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing on another, forgiving one another as Christ forgave us, charity, the peace of God ruling in your hearts, called in one body, and thankful. Wow. That's a tall order, but that's the goal.

I want to make sure you're aware of the verses that command all of this. Start in verse one where it says we have been raised with Christ. That's how we know who we are-we've been raised with Him.

Then in that same verse we're told to 'seek those things which are above'-live out who we are.

Now look at verse five where we are commanded to mortify the members which are upon the earth. In other words, be done with who we used to be.

Take some time this week and study these over-know them, remember then. And let's not forget to pray for each other all week and check with each other as we live this out and put aside who we used to be."

-"Hear me, I'm not dismissing the severity of your sin, but I understand the greatness of the cross. Your sin has been covered. It's gone. You're not that person anymore."
-"I think I'm starting to see. The cross is huge. It's why we're who we are."

Pastor Rylan Jarvik
fictional character
in The Big Sky Dreams series by Lori Wick

what is "all"?

"...you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind."
Matthew 22:37

Thank you

"This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God."
-2 Corinthians 9:12

Great verse

"Wisdom begins with respect for the LORD. And understanding begins with knowing God, the Holy One. "
~Proverbs 9:10

What do you think?

Do we have the right to be wrong?

Here are some thoughts on the topic I found:

"Free Will is the right to make your own decisions and to live with the
consequences, whether good or bad, of those decisions."

"Sometimes you will have to watch someone you care about make a
decision that you feel to be wrong for them. Although you are right to
contribute your ideas and opinions in order to try to help them to make the
correct decision that is all you can do. You cannot force anyone to follow your
advice and it would be wrong if you could - how they live their life has to be
their free choice and even if they make a wrong decision, they have the right to
get it wrong and live with the consequences. to decide how they will react to
their circumstances."

"We've gotten to the point where everybody's got a right and nobody's
got a responsibility." - Newton Minow

"Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong." -
John G. Diefenbaker

"Freedom means free to be wrong. being
free means having the right to be wrong, the right to make mistakes: the freedom
to fail."


"Liberty not only means that the individual has both the opportunity
and the burden of choice; it also means that he must bear the consequences of
his actions... Liberty and responsibility are inseparable." - Friedrich von
Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty (1960)

...what are your thoughts?

Hmm.

2 Corinthians 4:1
"Since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart."