The appalling and deadly attack against Jewish people celebrating the beginning of Hanukkah at Bondi Beach on Sunday, December 14 raises many questions – not least the question of ‘Why?’ Why, in this age of so much scientific and technical achievement, is there still bitterness and anger, hatred and murder in the world? Why do events such as this happen?

Humanly speaking, the responses are complex and many, but when all is said and done, there is a deeper issue at stake – flawed humanity. Despite the wisdom of the wise, such is the brokenness of humanity that we are not able to rescue ourselves. None of us is good enough, wise enough, or powerful enough to achieve it.

And, to take up an idea that is rejected by many elite today; if there is a creator God who is all good and all powerful, why doesn’t he do something to clean up the mess – to inaugurate a world of stability and peace? The answer is found in the story-line of the Scriptures.

Over this Advent season we have noted that some seven or eight centuries before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah foretold that a young woman would conceive and give birth to a son who would be named Immanuel – God with us (Isaiah 7:14). We also read of the time when this was fulfilled with an angelic announcement to Joseph, Mary’s fiancée (Matthew 1:20-23).

But that is not all. In Isaiah chapter 9 we read that into the darkness of Israel’s experience at the time, a light would dawn in the north, the region of Galilee: Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who are in distress, Isaiah says.

Galilee was the region that had been invaded by the Assyrians. As Isaiah chapter 9 unfolds we read that a day of joy would come (verse 3); the signs of war would cease (verses 4 and 5); and the shadow of death would disappear. For, as verse 6 of chapter 9 says: To us a child is born, to us a son is given…

The sign of the dawning of the new day in God’s purposes would be something weak and insignificant – the birth of a baby. Yet, as Isaiah foreshadows, the government will be on his shoulders. His name was to be called, wonderful counsellor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (9:6).

Through the lens of the New Testament we see the beginning of the fulfilment of these words – the first instalment, as it were. Matthew chapter 1, verses 21 through 23 records the angel’s words to Joseph – who had a problem: Mary his fiancée was pregnant and he knew he was not the father. “(Mary) will bear a son,” he was told, “and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel”.

How important it is we consider afresh the message of Christmas.

Sixty years ago (December 1965), Charles M. Schultz’s A Charlie Brown Christmas was released. “What is Christmas all about?” is Charlie Brown’s question.

When A Charlie Brown Christmas was first released, the overwhelming positive response took the television network executives by surprise. It was watched by an estimated forty-five percent of the television viewing audience that night. Now, sixty years later, it remains a Christmas classic.

Tired of the commercialism of Christmas, Charlie Brown wants to know the real meaning. Snoopy’s answer is his participation in a Christmas lighting and decoration competition. For Sally, Charlie Brown’s young sister, Christmas all about getting.

When once more Charlie Brown asks his question, Linus responds by taking center-stage and reciting Dr. Luke’s record of the event of Jesus’s birth found in chapter 2, verses 8-14:

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid: for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will amongst those he favors’.

In an interview later, Charles Schultz’s wife, Jeannie, commented that her husband pushed back against the idea that there is no place for a text from the Bible in a cartoon: he insisted that the Bible is not just for God’s people. It is for everyone.

Schultz understood that Christmas is the twinning of giving and getting. God gave; we get or receive.

So often we simply do not appreciate the full weight of this event. We may believe the baby born in Bethlehem to be the Son of God, but how often do we let the intense meaning of this birth pass us by?

How often do we pause and reflect on the reality that divinity walked the streets of Jerusalem? That infinite Wisdom and Power humbly took on human nature? That God poured his heavenly resources into rescuing us, even though it meant for Jesus the violence and horror of a crucifixion?

It is for our sake that Christ condescended to such monumental humiliation. The lowly birth in Bethlehem points to Christ’s voluntary decision to set aside his glory for our sake. He came and he gave, to rescue us from our brokenness and open a new era of justice and peace that would stretch into eternity.

God’s way of addressing human failure is so unexpected. But let’s remember, our wisdom is finite and imperfect. It cannot be compared with the infinite and perfect wisdom of God.

With the events that unfold in the pages of the Law, the Prophets and the Writings as well as the Gospel records, we learn that God has chosen to involve himself personally and at great cost in the events of the world to open the way for our rescue and restoration as people created in his image.

Colossians chapter 1, verse 13 sets out God’s action for all who believe: God has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, …

In response, we will want to emulate, no matter how feebly, the unspeakable generosity of God’s gift. Because God gave, we will want to live God’s way as salt and light and also share with others the gift of joy and hope – not condescendingly or aggressively, but graciously and generously.

You may want to find a way to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas with your family. You may also want to give a copy of The Jesus Story: Seven Signs to family and friends. It’s available through Amazon.

May you know afresh the joy and rich blessing of God’s great gift this Christmas!

A prayer. Almighty God, you have given us your only Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin. Grant that we, being born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

© John G. Mason

If you appreciate the weekly ‘Word on Wednesday’ please consider making a year-end donation to the Anglican Connection. Donations in the US are tax deductible. Donations can be made here.

Last Sunday afternoon, when many churches were beginning the celebration of the birth of Jesus, at least fifteen Jewish people were killed by gunmen and some twenty-nine injured at a Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach, Sydney. A great anti-Semitic evil was perpetrated. How much we need to pray for all who lost loved ones and for the Jewish people. How important it is that we support and care for Jewish people we know.

It is also important that we pray that God will direct the leaders of the nations, enabling them to administer justice impartially, uphold integrity and truth, restrain wickedness and vice, and maintain true freedom.

Yet in a world that is divided, where anger and hatred can dominate, and where the notions of serious public conversation and forgiveness are often dismissed, is there anywhere we can we find hope?

The Book of Psalms consistently speaks of the injustices, the sinfulness and suffering of the world. The psalms constantly remind us that the wisdom and strength we need are found in the creator God alone.

For example, in the opening lines of Psalm 46 we read: God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging (Psalm 46:1-3).

Psalm 46 encourages us that God is the sovereign lord over every aspect of life – over nature in the opening verses and, as it continues, over enemies of God’s people and over the world with all its tensions and conflicts. Written in a time of crisis, the Psalm-writer’s confident faith in God’s ultimate control is so encouraging.

Furthermore, while we might fear the instability in nature and are concerned with the tensions and conflicts of the world and the all-too-often lack of quality leadership needed to promote justice and peace, we can be assured that God not only knows what is happening, but is in the midst working out his greater purposes: The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;…But we are assured of God’s final word: he utters his voice, in judgment on the nations.

It’s clear that the Bible knows about suffering and evil, especially human evil and its devastating effects on the world. We see that God ‘s presence is neither disconnected nor dislocated from such evils.  Rather, in speaking of God being in the midst of them, the psalm tells us that God is not the cause of evil, but neither is he removed from it.

In verse 4 we read: There is a river, whose streams make glad the city of God….  Under God the waters no longer rage but are found as life-giving streams for his people under siege.

It is not surprising then that the Psalm moves to a climax with a command, Be still, and know that I am God (verse 10). This is not so much a word to God’s people, but rather God’s word to the turbulent seas and rebellious world. It is a command that foreshadows the words of Jesus of Nazareth to the stormy seas: ‘Peace! Be still (Mark 4:39). It is the same powerful voice of authority of Jesus when he commanded the deceased Lazarus: ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ (John 11:43).

Verse 10 continues: God will be exalted among the nations; he will be exalted in the earth.

If such a God is with us, we can have every confidence that when we turn to him he will hear us and sustain us. Despite the awfulness of our experiences at times, God is our refuge and strength.

The Psalm concludes: The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Prayer. Almighty Father, we commend to your goodness all who are in any way afflicted or distressed, especially those who are known to us. May it please you to comfort and relieve them according to their needs, giving them patience in their sufferings, and a happy issue out of all their afflictions. All this we ask for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Almighty God, the protector of all who put their trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: increase and multiply your mercy upon us, so that with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal that we finally lose not the things eternal: grant this, heavenly Father, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

If you appreciate the weekly ‘Word on Wednesday’ please consider making a year-end donation to the Anglican Connection. Donations in the US are tax deductible. Donations can be made here.

© John G. Mason

Once again, I’ve been intrigued by the promotion of Advent calendars, online and in large retail stores. The calendars are becoming a pre-Christmas accompaniment, advertising wine, coffee pods and chocolate and, of course, the calendars themselves.

Back in November 2016, Ysenda Maxtone Graham drew attention in The Spectator UK to the season of Advent. She spoke of Advent as ‘a season of death, judgment, heaven and hell’ (November 26, 2016).

‘I relish the frisson of gloom,’ she wrote, the ‘foreboding and fear of judgment you get at Advent, alongside the hope. The Holly and the Ivy is all very well, but it’s the minor chord at the end of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel that I crave.’

‘More goose-pimples erupt in the naves and transepts of our cathedrals during the Advent service, than at any other in the liturgical year’, she comments. ‘It’s the mixture of bitterness and sweetness that does it,…’

It was Isaiah the prophet, writing in the 8th century BC, who was amongst the first of the prophets to speak, not only of the first coming of God’s King (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6-7), but also of his second coming (Isaiah 11:1-9).

It’s important we think about this. Too often we don’t think about the elements of the Christian heritage that touch people in our wider society. Christmas retains an ongoing point of connection. Now we’re seeing an interest that extends back into Advent.

Given this interest let me consider one of the readings set for this Advent season – for this Sunday, December 14.

The Book of Isaiah, chapter 35, verses 1 and 2 read: The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.

A brooding theme in Isaiah chapters 1 through 39 is God’s impending judgment of his people. In 586BC the Babylonian forces would destroy the city of Jerusalem and take its people into exile. But Isaiah chapter 35 shines a light in the darkness, bringing news of God’s promise of a new day.

Isaiah’s poetry is powerful as he likens the experience of joy and singing at the coming of the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God, to our response when flowers burst into bloom in parched lands after refreshing rain.

It is a vision that inspires courage and fearlessness: Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God..’ (35:3-4a).

But Isaiah chapter 35 also sounds a warning: because God is holy, his very nature means that he must judge what is unholy.

In chapter 35, verse 4b we read: …He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. We would be much happier to overlook this aspect of God’s character. We’d prefer to listen to and pass on a message of blessing – of justice without judgment, of salvation without a cross.

However, the wonderful news is that the nature of the God of the Bible is always to have mercy. Isaiah continues: ‘…He will come and save you’ (35:4c).

We know that despite the incredible advances in science and technology, humanity continues to make a mess of relationships – between the nations and amongst families. It is self-evident we have no power of ourselves to save ourselves. Spiritually we are blind and deaf, lame and mute (Isaiah 35:5-6).

The wonderful news is that God himself promises us a future. He will build a highway for his people into his very presence! He will bring us to our true and lasting home where there will be joy and gladness… Sorrow and sighing shall flee far away (35:8, 10).

Isaiah uses the language of redeemed and ransomed of the Lord (35:9-10) to speak of every one who is brought into God’s presence. These words look back to the rescue from Egypt; they also look forward to the saving work of Jesus Christ.

And there’s something here we often miss. The highway to God is called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it… (35:8). Having been rescued we are now called upon to work at the quality of life that reflects the holiness of God. Paul the Apostle puts it this way: we all… beholding the glory of the Lord, will be transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Isaiah chapter 35 is a great reading for Advent. We see in it another facet of Isaiah’s vision of the glory of the Lord as he points us to the glorious day of the final coming of the Lord. We can drink it in and take new courage as it speaks to us of the everlasting joy and gladness we will then know.

Surely this is news we will want family and friends to know – so they too will see glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.

The interest in Advent reveals the deceit of a secular progressivism insisting that life now is all there is. This is cruel, denying the reality of a day when perfect justice will be done. It also rejects what, deep down in our hearts we know: eternity exists (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

As I write, I am praying that we will all have a renewed commitment to shape our priorities, decisions, and relationships in the light of Jesus’ return. Yes, he will return – perhaps when we least expect it.

So, will you join me in praying for two or three people who don’t yet know Jesus? You may also consider getting two or three copies of my recent book, The Jesus Story: Seven Signs. It’s available globally through Amazon. I’ve written it to encourage God’s people in our walk with Jesus, and as an easy-to-read book to pass on to family and friends – perhaps as a present for Christmas.

If others don’t hear, how can they be prepared to meet God’s King?

A prayer. Almighty God, we pray that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered through your guidance that your people may joyfully serve you in all godly quietness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

© John G. Mason

Inscribed on a clock-case in Chester Cathedral, England, is a poem, Time’s Paces, attributed to Henry Twells. It reads:

  ‘When as a child I laughed and wept, Time CREPT;

   When as a youth I waxed more bold, Time STROLLED.

   When I became a full-grown man, Time RAN.

   When older still I daily grew, Time FLEW.

   Soon I shall find, in passing on, Time GONE.

We do everything we can to deny the passing of time. We pay attention to the skillful marketing of products that can supposedly delay the ravages of the passing years or even reverse the process. But no one is able to stop the advance of time.

In Mark chapter 13, verses 24-27 we read some very sobering words from Jesus: “In those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.”

There are times when significant events occur that impact the course of history. We saw this with the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, the destruction of the twin towers in New York on September 11, 2001, and the unprovoked, barbaric attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The world around us seems to be growing more selfish and corrupt. Nearer home, parents are concerned about the influences of social media and the impact of gender issues. Drugs and alcohol, homelessness, violence and rape seem more prevalent. Any sense that humanity is the special creation of a personal God seems to be gathering dust on the shelf of history.

Will there ever be a time when the evil and troubles of the world are brought to a close?

In Mark chapter 13, we read that Jesus doesn’t beat about the bush concerning the realities of our troubled world. He speaks of suffering and using metaphors, predicts global, catastrophic events. In this context he forewarns us of a day of his return.

His expression, the Son of Man, takes up the prophecy of Daniel some five or six hundred years before. Daniel chapter 7 speaks of the Son of Man coming in dominion and glory and that all peoples, nations and languages will be brought under his rule.

Consider for a moment the splendor and pageantry of royal occasions on earth such as a coronation, then multiply the scene a million times, and then a million times more. We might just begin to imagine the dazzling glory and the awesome power of the return of God’s king.

The idea of an end of time is dismissed these days. The thought is laughable. Catastrophic events impacting the world is a theme that books and films play with. But in the human mind such catastrophies never mean an end of time. Movies such as 2012 and The Road portray humanity coming to the rescue in the aftermath of any global catastrophe. Opinion-makers today tell us there will always be survivors to carry on and chart human destiny.

How different is the picture that Jesus portrays. He foreshadows a world catastrophically consumed by fire and his appearing across the skies for all to see – all of which may seem fanciful. Yet he is clear. He points to an end-time and the beginning of a totally new age – one where there will be no crying or mourning, where death itself will have passed away (Revelation 21:4).

What we forget these days is the Person who speaks so clearly and firmly about these matters. Prophecies made by people such as Nathan (2 Samuel 7), Isaiah (Isaiah 7, 9, 11 and 61) and Ezekiel (chapter 34) centuries before Jesus was born, came true with Jesus’s birth and life. Furthermore, his specific predictions about his death and resurrection came true. And he was correct in his predictions about the destruction of the temple and fall of Jerusalem that occurred in 70AD. Is it not conceivable that his further prediction about his return will also be fulfilled? We would be foolish not to pay careful attention to him.

In his Pensées, Blaise Pascal, the 17th C French philosopher, mathematician and chemist, wrote: “Either Christianity is true or it’s false. If you bet that it’s true, and you believe in God and submit to Him, then if it IS true, you’ve gained God, heaven, and everything else. If it’s false, you’ve lost nothing, but you’ve had a good life marked by peace and the illusion that ultimately, everything makes sense. If you bet that Christianity is not true, and it’s false, you’ve lost nothing. But if you bet that it’s false, and it turns out to be true, you’ve lost everything and you get to spend eternity in hell”.

In Mark chapter 13, verses 28 through 30, Jesus uses the analogy of the fig tree to illustrate his remarks about the future. Just as the sprouting leaves on the fig tree indicate that summer is near, so do catastrophic events indicate the coming of God’s new age.

When will this happen? As history reveals, star-watchers don’t help us with an answer. And Jesus tells us that not even he knew (Mark chapter 13, verse 32). However, he is sure of this: there will be an end time when he will return. Indeed, he tells us that despite calamitous cosmic events in the world, his words will not pass away.

Why is it then that we so easily put aside this thought? Why is it that we don’t pay greater attention to what our Bibles say? Are we too busy? Do we not believe Jesus’s words?

We may forget that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. The giving of the law to Moses caused people to tremble with fear as they stood at the foot of Mt Sinai (Exodus 19:16). Isaiah’s vision of the Lord in the temple caused him to cry out, “Woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips…” (Isaiah 6:5). Significantly in Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 11, Paul the Apostle writes: Knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others…

How then should we now live? Watch, pray and work. Watch. Be aware that this world is passing. Be prepared for the return of the King. Pray. Pray that God, in his compassion, will open blind eyes and soften hard hearts. Work. God calls us to partner with him in rescuing the lost and bringing them to their true home in knowing, loving and serving Jesus Christ.

If you will allow me a personal note, you might consider getting two or three copies of my book, The Jesus Story: Seven Signs. It’s available globally through Amazon. I’ve written it to encourage God’s people in our walk with Jesus, and as an easy-to-read book to pass on to family and friends – perhaps as a present for Christmas.

I didn’t tell you there’s a last line to that poem in Chester Cathedral: ‘Soon I shall find while travelling on, time gone. “Will Christ have saved my soul by then?” I asked.’

A Prayer. Blessed Lord, you have caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning, grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them, so that, encouraged and supported by your holy Word, we may embrace and always hold fast the joyful hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

© John G. Mason

Uncertain times challenge us with the bigger questions of life and whether a good and caring God exists. Come with me to Jesus’s words in Matthew chapter 5, verse 17: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have not come to abolish, but to fulfill.”

These are remarkable claims. The Law, the Prophets and the Writings is the title in the Jewish world for our Old Testament. In speaking of the law and the prophets, Jesus was referring to the Scriptures at that time. What did he mean when he says that he did not come to abolish, but rather to fulfill the law and the prophets?

The events that unfold in Matthew chapter 1 provide an important clue to Jesus’s meaning.

Before Jesus was born, Joseph had a problem. Mary his fiancée was pregnant and he knew he was not the father. When Joseph planned to divorce Mary quietly, an angel spoke to assure him that everything about Mary’s baby was ‘to fulfillwhat the Lord had spoken through the prophet’.

Furthermore, in Matthew chapter 11, verse 12 we read Jesus’s words: “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, … For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John”. Jesus is saying that both the Old Testament prophets and the law pointed to him. He was not working in opposition to the Scriptures – our Old Testament. Rather he was bringing everything they said to fruition.

Think of it this way. Imagine the law and the prophets are light waves. They are travelling in parallel lines foreshadowing the coming of Jesus. As we now look back at his life, we could liken his coming to a lens through which the light waves of the law and prophets are filtered. We see that the climactic events of his death and resurrection are the focal point of the law and the prophets.

Jesus said so himself. In Luke chapter 24, verses 27ff, we read what he said to two grief-stricken followers with whom he walked on the road to Emmaus on the day of his resurrection:

“Oh, how foolish you are,” he said, “and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures (our Old Testament).

Let’s think about this and tease out some application. To return to the analogy of the light waves of the law and the prophets passing through the lens of Jesus’s coming to the focal point of his death and resurrection, the light waves are filtered as they appear on the other side of the focal point. Some of the ‘law and prophetic’ waves have come to an end, while others are given a new shape.

So, for example, the laws concerning sacrifice for sin pointed to the need for a sacrifice that would perfectly satisfy God’s righteous requirements. This is uniquely found in Jesus’s death – as we read, for example in Romans 3:22b-25 and Hebrews 12:12, 14-16. The principle of the need for a sacrifice for sin remains; however, the need for further sacrifices to atone for sin is now over. The 1662 Anglican Prayer Book rightly speaks of Jesus’s death as the one perfect and complete sacrifice for the sin of the world.

To take another example, the Ten Commandments set out God’s expectations of his people for their relationship with him and with one another. Unlike us, Jesus throughout his life perfectly kept God’s law. His life and teaching are the perfect exemplar of Godliness and goodness – not least in the way he honored God by loving and serving us, his neighbors, in our deepest need, in his sacrificial death on the cross.

Furthermore, to return to my analogy, as the filtered ‘light waves’ emerge on the other side of the focal point of Jesus’s death and resurrection, we come to understand more fully the high standards of God’s kingdom that Jesus sets out in his Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew chapters 5 and 6 especially, Jesus opens up the deeper meaning of commands concerning murder, adultery, love and prayer for enemies, prayer and possessions, self-righteousness and hypocrisy.

Jesus commands his people to practise and teach these things. In Matthew chapter 5, verse 19 we read: “Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practises and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

Significantly, we will only ever begin to keep them if we have discovered God’s love for us. For only then will we want to turn to him in honesty and deep repentance, asking for his forgiveness. We will also want to pray that his Spirit will so change our hearts and his Word so teach our minds, that we will want to honor and serve him with thankfulness in our hearts.

Furthermore, as we read in Matthew chapter 24, Mark chapter 13 and Luke chapter 22, Jesus specifically speaks of a time when he will return in all his glory and power, to judge the world and to gather his people into his kingdom. The world as we know it, will pass away. How important it is, as Jesus warns, that we remain alert and are prepared for his coming.

These truths are so encouraging in the midst of the uncertainties of life. They awaken within us true hope and a spirit of thanksgiving to the Lord, especially in this the season of Thanksgiving and as we begin the season of Advent – when we focus on the return of God’s King. In Revelation chapter 21 we read:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling of God is with men and women. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away’ (Revelation 21:1-4).

In Jesus fulfilling the law and the prophets, we learn of the God who serves – the God to whom we have every reason to give our heartfelt thanks at every twist and turn in life. And so, rejoice. With these thoughts in mind, may you enjoy a truly Happy Thanksgiving!

A Prayer of Thanksgiving.

Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give humble and hearty thanks for all your goodness and loving kindness to us and to all people. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your amazing love in the redemption of the world through our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace and for the hope of glory.

And, we pray, give us that due sense of all your mercies, that our hearts may be truly thankful, and that we may declare your praise not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be all honor and glory, now and forever.  Amen.

© John G. Mason

Hallelujah is a wonderful word! It’s a compilation of two Hebrew words: Hallel which means praise and Jah which is a contraction of God’s name, Jehovah or Yahweh. Hallelujah is an exhortation: ‘Praise the Lord’. It’s the word that forms the bookends of the last five psalms.

Hallelujah challenges us to ask, who is God that we would want to praise him? We can only truly worship God when we know something about him. In his conversation with a woman at a well in Samaria that we find in John’s Gospel, Jesus says that true worshippers worship God in spirit and in truth (4:23).

Significantly, Psalm 146, following the opening call Hallelujah, tells us about God. Two themes stand out: False Hope and True Hope.

False Hope. Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish (verse 3).

Psalm 146 was most likely written in the 6th century BC, when the Jewish people were in exile in ancient Babylon. But as earlier prophets had indicated, they were given the opportunity to return to Jerusalem – something Cyrus, the Persian leader decreed in 520BC.

But the psalm warns, Don’t put your trust in princes. Princes is a reference to the powerful and the rich, the elite, the celebrities and influencers, who seem to offer a better world – more often than not, as opposed to God. Even good leaders will disappoint, the psalm warns, for none can offer true, lasting solutions to the world’s problems. They’re not saviors. And their biggest problem is that they all die.

Now, Paul the Apostle in his Letter to the Romans, chapter 13, tells us that God has given us governments for the good order and protection of society. Nowhere is the Bible against governments. In a flawed, troubled world God in his mercy uses governments to provide a framework for justice and peace, and – in most democracies – security, education, healthcare and so on. Furthermore, in his First Letter to Timothy, chapter 2, Paul exhorts us to pray for all in authority so that everyone may enjoy peace and so that the gospel can be promoted.

Interestingly, despite being a global celebrity Taylor Swift acknowledges that she isn’t able to offer solutions to the longings or pain we feel – she is not a savior. In the chorus of Anti Hero she sings, “It’s me, hi/ I’m the problem, it’s me”.

And, to apply the warning of Psalm 146 to my own ministry, I ask everyone to work with a paradox: trust me when I say, don’t put your trust in me. I am in need of a savior to rescue me from my failings before the Lord; also the day will come when I will pass from this world. And even Mary, the mother of Jesus, called God her Savior (Luke 1:46-47).

The warning of Psalm 146 about false hope has lost none of its relevance through the millennia.

True Hope. Where then can we find true hope? In verse 5 we read: Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God,…

I’m sure you have noticed what the psalm is saying: God who made unbreakable promises to the Jewish people, is not only the source of true help in life, but also our only hope.

Who is this God? Verse 6 tells us: The Lord who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever;… The God who created all things, isn’t fickle. He always keeps his word.

And as the psalm continues to unfold, the focus is on God as creator, his faithfulness and his justice, his love and his commitment to give us life and hope.

The notion of a creator God is aggressively dismissed today by opinion-shapers. Yet some of the finest scientific minds agree that we are not here by chance: the universe is the work of a supreme intelligence.

For example, Dr. John Lennox, emeritus professor of mathematics, Oxford University, writes in God’s Undertaker: Has Science Buried God? ‘To the majority of those who have reflected deeply and written about the origin and nature of the universe, it has seemed that it points beyond itself to a source which is non-physical and of great intelligence and power’.

Furthermore, God is truly the God of good news. In verses 7 and 8 we read: …who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;.. He opens the eyes of the blind. He lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.

The oppressed, the hungry, the prisoners, the blind, and the righteous, the sojourners (immigrants), the widow and the fatherless (verse 9), are the recipients of God’s help.

The flow of the sentence tells us that these are not different groups of people, but the same people. It speaks of God’s people as a whole. The righteous are those who are righteous by faith. They don’t put their trust in the influential or powerful. They put their trust in the God who is faithful, the God who has good news to offer, the God who offers hope and a future.

Now the psalmist is not saying that there is no place for human agencies. That’s not his point. His question is: ‘Where do you put your trust – in human princes or in God?’

Let me ask, do you truly worship God? Let me urge you to open your mind and heart to him and to the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider God’s unchanging character, his special love and his majesty which one day will dazzle and be seen in all its glory throughout the universe. God’s final triumph will eliminate all evil and rebuild once and for all the paradise of Eden lost.

Friends, when we focus our minds on him and let our hearts be drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ, we will find that whatever our song of experience was in the past, it can finish with Hallelujah, the heartfelt song of praise, of hope and of joy, because God is truly good, loving and merciful. His beauty, glory and love are now perfectly revealed for us in his eternal Son whom we know as the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let the concluding words of Psalm 146 reach into the depth of your soul: The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord!

Now that God has come amongst us in person, the Lord Jesus Christ, we have greater reason to sing with the Hallelujah Chorus of Handel’s Messiah: And he shall reign forever and ever.  Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Prayer. O God, the author and lover of peace, in knowledge of whom stands our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom; defend us your servants in all assaults of our enemies, that surely trusting in your defense, we may not fear the power of any adversaries, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

© John G. Mason