There’s a story about a grandfather who found his grandson, jumping up and down in his playpen, crying at the top of his lungs. When the grandson saw his grandfather, he reached up his chubby little hands and said, “Out, Gramps, out.”
Have you ever thought of yourself as a lover letter from God to the world?
Much of the book of Acts is about the missionary journeys of Paul. His life and ministry can be summed up in the verse above. “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul.” Advent and Christmas remind us that God can and does do extraordinary things through each of us.
Have you ever left a present under the Christmas tree? Forgotten it was there and inadvertently left it there only to discover it when taking the tree down and getting it ready to stow away until next year? Linus asks, “What did you want . . . a chance to warm up first?”
In a “Peanuts” comic, good old Charlie Brown tells Linus, “Life is just too much for me. I’ve been confused from the day I was born. I think the whole trouble is that we’re thrown into life too fast. We’re not really prepared.”
Linus asks, “What did you want . . . a chance to warm up first?”
Ah, Advent, the season of Preparation, Expectation and Anticipation.
In particular, this verse speaks of the role of the priests and Levites in worship.
The promise of a descendant for David, who will sit on the throne of the house of Israel, is one of the many prophecies in the Scriptures about the Messiah, the Son of God.
The message of this verse is a promise of salvation, protection, and divine justice for those who trust in God.
In the Jewish culture of the time, the term “Branch” referred to a descendant of the royal family of David.