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God’s choir (Luke 2:1-20), September 19, 2015

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Luke 2:1-20

Set – Ezekiel 47; Luke 2

Go! – Ezekiel 47-48; Luke 2

Luke 2:1-20
1 Around the time of Elizabeth’s amazing pregnancy and John’s birth, the emperor in Rome, Caesar Augustus, required everyone in the Roman Empire to participate in a massive census— 2 the first census since Quirinius had become governor of Syria. 3 Each person had to go to his or her ancestral city to be counted.
4-5 Mary’s fiancé Joseph, from Nazareth in Galilee, had to participate in the census in the same way everyone else did. Because he was a descendant of King David, his ancestral city was Bethlehem, David’s birthplace. Mary, who was now late in her pregnancy that the messenger Gabriel had predicted, 6 accompanied Joseph. While in Bethlehem, she went into labor 7 and gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped the baby in a blanket and laid Him in a feeding trough because the inn had no room for them.
8 Nearby, in the fields outside of Bethlehem, a group of shepherds were guarding their flocks from predators in the darkness of night. 9 Suddenly a messenger of the Lord stood in front of them, and the darkness was replaced by a glorious light—the shining light of God’s glory. They were terrified!
Messenger: 10 Don’t be afraid! Listen! I bring good news, news of great joy, news that will affect all people everywhere. 11 Today, in the city of David, a Liberator has been born for you! He is the promised Anointed One, the Supreme Authority! 12 You will know you have found Him when you see a baby, wrapped in a blanket, lying in a feeding trough.
13 At that moment, the first heavenly messenger was joined by thousands of other messengers—a vast heavenly choir. They praised God.
14 Heavenly Choir: To the highest heights of the universe, glory to God!
And on earth, peace among all people who bring pleasure to God!
15 As soon as the heavenly messengers disappeared into heaven, the shepherds were buzzing with conversation.
Shepherds: Let’s rush down to Bethlehem right now! Let’s see what’s happening! Let’s experience what the Lord has told us about!
16 So they ran into town, and eventually they found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the feeding trough. After they saw the baby, 17 they spread the story of what they had experienced and what had been said to them about this child. 18 Everyone who heard their story couldn’t stop thinking about its meaning. 19 Mary, too, pondered all of these events, treasuring each memory in her heart.
20 The shepherds returned to their flocks, praising God for all they had seen and heard, and they glorified God for the way the experience had unfolded just as the heavenly messenger had predicted.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

The only time My heavenly choir left My throne room and touched the soil of Earth was to announce the birth of Jesus. They have seen many marvelous things throughout the centuries of their existence. My choir has heralded many wonderful events in the heavens. My messengers have been to your world many times. I have sent them one at a time to announce information to individuals. Sometimes I have sent more than one to emphasize the importance of My message.

My choir, however, always stays by My throne singing My praise. Until that night in Bethlehem. Then they couldn’t contain their joy over what was happening on your home planet. I was coming to live with you in the flesh. So they wanted to sing My praises there. I didn’t hold them back. They knew the importance of this single event. I was about to unleash My perfect plan of salvation with the birth of My perfect sacrifice for the world’s sin. I was going to live in the flesh of a human. Born of virgin mother, I would walk on the Earth for just over 33 years and become the perfect sacrifice for you. I would teach you about Me through the words of My flesh-wearing self.

My choir decided to announce My coming to some of the most important people on the planet…a group of shepherds on the Bethlehem hillside. You see, the announcement to those men shows everyone is important to Me. They were among the poorest. They worked in horrid conditions for almost nothing, looking out for the welfare of someone else’s smelly sheep. But those shepherds were important enough that I wanted them to be among the first to hear the choir that sings to Me eternally. It would be a sight and sound they would not forget for the rest of their lives.

My choir continues to sing for Me and rejoiced when the sacrifice for humankind was complete and sins forgiven for those who follow My Son. It has not touched the Earth since the day I came in the flesh, though. What a day that was for you. I’m looking forward to letting you hear that choir again one day. All it takes is for you to believe in Me, in My coming to you and giving My life for the forgiveness of your sins. Like the shepherds, it will be a sight and sound you will never forget.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
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I Came to You (Luke 2:1-40), Jan 2, 2015

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Luke tells of My Son’s birth in a magnificent way. He reminds you I didn’t come to the rich, the famous, or the powerful. I came in the form of a tiny baby. Completely dependent on a young mother and father to care for Me and raise Me as theirs.

I came to a lowly village called Bethlehem, which means the ‘house of bread’. My Son would one day call Himself the Bread of Life and you remember His sacrifice by eating bread together with other believers.

My Son came to a town crowded with visitors because of the taxes required by a foreign oppressor. He came to free you from the greatest oppression, sin. He lived a sinless life to become the perfect sacrifice for your sins. He gave Himself willingly on the cross so you might enjoy abundant life through Him.

My messengers heralded My Son’s birth in the heavens that night. They didn’t go to Herod’s palace, though. They went to the lowest class of people around Bethlehem – the shepherds. Wage laborers, barely earning enough to keep themselves alive. Young men, boys really, just eking out a few pennies to add to their families’ coffers to put a few more vegetables in the soup.

Luke reminds you My Son came to liberate everyone. If He came to the lowest, poorest, most outcast of Bethlehem, and My messengers cared enough to share His birth with them. He cares about you. He cares about your hurts, your troubles, your pain, your trials, your needs. He cares about your joy, your celebrations, your love. He cares about you.

My Son came to make you the best you can become. Read about Him. Listen to Him. Meditate on His words. Let His words fill your mind, your heart, your soul. Let Him permeate every part of you. He came to know how you live. He is My Son. But He is Me, too, wrapped in human flesh so I could participate in your world. I love you enough to make the story real. Then, in a little town called Bethlehem. Now, by you accepting Me as Lord of your life. Let Me live with you and in you so Luke’s story comes alive in you today.

Wherever you are, you can ask me into your world with a short sincere prayer confessing your sins to Me and asking Me to guide your actions from this day forward. I will stay with you. I will help you. I will never leave you. That’s My promise when you follow Me.

Ready – Luke 2:1-40
Set – Genesis 3; Luke 2
Go – Genesis 3-5; Luke 2

Luke 2:1-40

Around the time of Elizabeth’s amazing pregnancy and John’s birth, the emperor in Rome, Caesar Augustus, required everyone in the Roman Empire to participate in a massive census— 2 the first census since Quirinius had become governor of Syria. 3 Each person had to go to his or her ancestral city to be counted.

4-5 Mary’s fiancé Joseph, from Nazareth in Galilee, had to participate in the census in the same way everyone else did. Because he was a descendant of King David, his ancestral city was Bethlehem, David’s birthplace. Mary, who was now late in her pregnancy that the messenger Gabriel had predicted, 6 accompanied Joseph. While in Bethlehem, she went into labor 7 and gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped the baby in a blanket and laid Him in a feeding trough because the inn had no room for them.

8 Nearby, in the fields outside of Bethlehem, a group of shepherds were guarding their flocks from predators in the darkness of night. 9 Suddenly a messenger of the Lord stood in front of them, and the darkness was replaced by a glorious light—the shining light of God’s glory. They were terrified!

Messenger: 10 Don’t be afraid! Listen! I bring good news, news of great joy, news that will affect all people everywhere. 11 Today, in the city of David, a Liberator has been born for you! He is the promised Anointed One, the Supreme Authority! 12 You will know you have found Him when you see a baby, wrapped in a blanket, lying in a feeding trough.

13 At that moment, the first heavenly messenger was joined by thousands of other messengers—a vast heavenly choir. They praised God.

14 Heavenly Choir: To the highest heights of the universe, glory to God!
And on earth, peace among all people who bring pleasure to God!
15 As soon as the heavenly messengers disappeared into heaven, the shepherds were buzzing with conversation.

Shepherds: Let’s rush down to Bethlehem right now! Let’s see what’s happening! Let’s experience what the Lord has told us about!

16 So they ran into town, and eventually they found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the feeding trough. After they saw the baby, 17 they spread the story of what they had experienced and what had been said to them about this child. 18 Everyone who heard their story couldn’t stop thinking about its meaning. 19 Mary, too, pondered all of these events, treasuring each memory in her heart.

20 The shepherds returned to their flocks, praising God for all they had seen and heard, and they glorified God for the way the experience had unfolded just as the heavenly messenger had predicted.

21 Eight days after His birth, the baby was circumcised in keeping with Jewish religious requirements, and He was named Jesus, the name the messenger had given Him before His conception in Mary’s womb. 22 After Mary had observed the ceremonial days of postpartum purification required by Mosaic law, she and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord. 23 They were fulfilling the Lord’s requirement that “every firstborn Israelite male will be dedicated to the Eternal One as holy.” 24 They also offered the sacrifice required by the law of the Lord, “two turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

25 While fulfilling these sacred obligations at the temple, they encountered a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was a just and pious man, anticipating the liberation of Israel from her troubles. He was a man in touch with the Holy Spirit. 26 The Holy Spirit had revealed to Simeon that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Anointed One. 27 The Spirit had led him to the temple that day, and there he saw the child Jesus in the arms of His parents, who were fulfilling their sacred obligations. 28 Simeon took Jesus into his arms and blessed God.

29 Simeon: Now, Lord and King, You can let me, Your humble servant, die in peace.
30 You promised me that I would see with my own eyes
what I’m seeing now: Your freedom,
31 Raised up in the presence of all peoples.
32 He is the light who reveals Your message to the other nations,
and He is the shining glory of Your covenant people, Israel.
33 His father and mother were stunned to hear Simeon say these things. 34 Simeon went on to bless them both, and to Mary in particular he gave predictions.

Simeon: Listen, this child will make many in Israel rise and fall. He will be a significant person whom many will oppose. 35 In the end, He will lay bare the secret thoughts of many hearts. And a sword will pierce even your own soul, Mary.

36 At that very moment, an elderly woman named Anna stepped forward. Anna was a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She had been married for seven years before her husband died 37 and a widow to her current age of 84 years. She was deeply devoted to the Lord, constantly in the temple, fasting and praying. 38 When she approached Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, she began speaking out thanks to God, and she continued spreading the word about Jesus to all those who shared her hope for the rescue of Jerusalem.

39 After fulfilling their sacred duties according to the law of the Lord, Mary and Joseph returned with Jesus to their own city of Nazareth in the province of Galilee. 40 There Jesus grew up, maturing in physical strength and increasing in wisdom, and the grace of God rested on Him.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.