The LORD your God is the One who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory. Deuteronomy 20:4.

The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, My people do not understand. Isaiah 1:3.

He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. 1 John 2:2.

The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29.

And continuing our 351 Old Testament prophecies, promises of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, we come to number 170: To be born of a virgin. Isaiah 7:14: Therefore the LORD Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. And, Luke 1:35: The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.”

Our world today is experiencing the difference between what the world offers as normal and all that Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, offers that is real. And we are so steeped in division, lies, enmity, pride, and greed that to think of God’s way of love as possible seems naive. We are in the midst of a political season that seems never-ending. We are used to the opposing side calling the other side the enemy and worse. Can we begin to see that when Jesus, the Son, returns, He will take away the sins of the world? All sins. We can’t truly imagine such a momentous thing happening in real time. But then, who could have imagined a virgin giving birth to the Son of God in the real time of this life, and not in some ancient mythology? We are so good at imagining the worst and acting upon it. What would change if we imagined the truth of Creator God and His love bringing healing and hope to all of us? For all of us is a very big ask to imagine. How about our own heart and mind? I have never found answers in this world alone. But when I turn to God in prayer and sit with Him in silence, I know who my Redeemer is and that He lives. He is with me and with Him I experience His peace that is real and that reminds me that the Good He brings to my heart, will be brought to all when He returns in real time – and all the kingdoms of men will be no more. No more suffering and pain, no more war, no more corruption, no more greed, no more lies and power grabs and oppression of any kind. Understanding will grow and He will teach us. The LORD your God is the One who goes before you to fight for you against your enemy to give you victory. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

***GENEROSITY – LORD, teach me to be generous, to serve You as You deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to look for any reward, save that of knowing that I do Your holy will. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556).***