Note: This post was first published 12/21/18
Isaiah 9:6-7 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. –ESV
God’s Zeal Brought Us A Child
The zeal of the Lord of hosts brought about the occasion that so many are preparing to celebrate across western civilization. Take a moment and reflect on what it is you are most zealous about. Does it match up with the things God is most zealous about?
We can glean from these verses that God was zealous about advancing His Kingdom on earth through His son Jesus—which is why He sent Him to be born of a virgin in Bethlehem. But it says that “of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end.”
From this we can learn that the plans God had for the authority of Jesus as Prince of Peace, extended far beyond His time on earth, and that it actually extends into the eternities. But Jesus is not on earth right now in bodily form, so how does this continuation manifest itself until His return?
The simple answer is that the Kingdom of God continues to advance as it began to do in the days of Jesus—through His ambassadors here on earth. We are His ambassadors, and He has placed His government on our shoulders now if we accept it. How are we– such humble creatures–given such a noble task?
How He Qualifies Us
Matthew 15:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. –ESV
So we have a Helper, the Holy Spirit Himself, who will teach us all things and bring to remembrance all that Jesus, the Prince of Peace, has said. In this way we are qualified to be ambassadors for a holy God. To advance His Kingdom until Jesus returns to the earth He was born into and which we rejected Him from. What a noble privilege! And yet we take it lightly so many times.
So let’s remember these things as we celebrate Christ’s birth this year. It was an overflowing of God’s zeal to advance His Kingdom here on earth, and not about our traditions and sentiments we tend to hold dear. And as we remember them, let’s allow them to spur us onward in the year ahead, to advance the Kingdom according to Christ’s will by His power.
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