Foreshadowing
Today is the first of December! In our house that means the run up to Christmas officially begins, and like many others, we can start our advent calendars!
When I was a child, our advent calendar was reused annually. It didn’t dispense a daily chocolate but instead had an ‘exciting’ picture of something associated with Christmas, such as a bell, wreath or robin! After many years, the windows would not stay shut so my Mum stuck them down with Blu-Tak!
These days, my wife and (grown-up) kids do a ‘Secret Santa’ advent calendar for each other. It’s great fun and a nice tradition we’ve built together.
As we enter this season of advent, many Christians look back at what was said about the forthcoming Messiah in the prophetic writings of the Old Testament in the Bible.
If you’ve ever been to a Christmas Service you will probably have heard various Old Testament prophecies being read.
You may not have heard of the one that God said through the prophet Ezekiel around 585BC. God used him to call out the failure of Israel’s leaders, who did not care for their people...
“My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them. I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.”
This prophecy used the metaphor of sheep with their shepherd, an everyday illustration all would have understood back then.
Israel’s leaders had failed and so God stepped in! He would come and look for the ‘lost’ sheep, and He will take care and provide for them as a good shepherd should. This prophetic word was foreshadowing the very thing that Jesus did when He came.
Thousands of years later, Jesus is still on the lookout for lost sheep! Perhaps you have been let down by people, or feel a little lost, or in a place of darkness in need of love and care from something deeper than this world can offer?
In this run up to Christmas, there is hope! Let me encourage you to join us for our Christmas events later this month, or pop along to a church near you. Maybe you will encounter Jesus for yourself?
If you have questions about God, faith or the church then why not sign up for the Alpha Course we are running in the new year on Zoom? Alpha is an opportunity to explore life and the Christian faith in a friendly, open and informal environment, all from the comfort of your own home!
Find out more about our Christmas events here
Find out more about Alpha here
God bless
Gary Bastin - Hope Community Church leader