Its easy to get caught up in the convivial merriment of the Christmas season . . . the buying of gifts for those of whom are cherished; all the spectacular lights and decorations; special Christmas parties at work, friends and loved ones homes; the music and of course all the wonderful food. The good folks go out of their way to bake homemade cookies, fudge, and prepare meals with love as the main ingredient. I am exceedingly grateful for the one-of-a-kind Christmas Holidays of my youth that were provided for by people that genuinely cared for the season and cared for me. I am also grateful for having a wife that had similar special Christmas memories, and wanted to carry on the traditions year after year and make each Christmas a bit more special. I actually feel sorry for men that have wives that don’t have the love or skills to provide a Christmas Holiday Season for the ones they supposedly care about. Such empty, meaninglessly non-celebratory self centered lives are to be pitied.
Yes it is easy to get entirely too caught up in the secular, temporal dynamics of Christmas, and that is why The Roman Catholic Church (Christ’s one and only true church) from December 17 to December 24 dedicates a daily scripture reading through the Office of the Readings to key parts of the Book of Isaiah. During Advent, the Church turns to the Old Testament book of the Prophet Isaiah. There are many themes in Isaiah’s prophecy, but some of the most important are:
•The need for repentance
•Spiritual conversion
•The extension of salvation from Israel to all nations
My Advent Christmas Tree display has a trinket and a specific Isaiah Scripture inside every small box. Open the door to the December 17th box and find a trinket that represents a simple, harmless part of the secular, temporal Christmas and a reading of Isaiah 45: 1-13:
Thus saith the Lord to my anointed Cyrus, whose right hand I have taken hold of, to subdue nations before his face, and to turn the backs of kings, and to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut.
I will go before thee, and will humble the great ones of the earth: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and will burst the bars of iron. And I will give thee hidden treasures, and the concealed riches of secret places: that thou mayest know that I am the Lord who call thee by thy name, the God of Israel.
For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have made a likeness of thee, and thou hast not known me. I am the Lord, and there is none else: there is no God, besides me: I girded thee, and thou hast not known me: That they may know who are from the rising of the sun, and they who are from the west, that there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is none else: I form the light, and create darkness, I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord that do all these things.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just: let the earth be opened, and bud forth a saviour: and let justice spring up together: I the Lord have created him.
Woe to him that gainsayeth his maker, a sherd of the earthen pots: shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it: What art thou making, and thy work is without hands? Woe to him that saith to his father: Why begettest thou? and to the woman: Why dost thou bring forth?
Thus saith the Lord the Holy One of Israel, his maker: Ask me of things to come, concerning my children, and concerning the work of my hands give ye charge to me. I made the earth: and I created man upon it: my hand stretched forth the heavens, and I have commanded all their host. I have raised him up to justice, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and let go my captives, not for ransom, nor for presents, saith the Lord the God of hosts.
•Source: Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition of the Bible (in the public domain)
The above was one of the greatest prophecies from the Book of Isaiah: Cyrus the Great, king of the Persians, whom God used as a protector of the Jews, even though Cyrus did not profess faith in Him. The works ascribed to Cyrus are those that are later performed by Christ.
More to come . . .
December 18 Advent Scripture Reading:
Isaiah 46:1-13
The Israelites were constantly tempted to abandon faith in God and to turn to idols instead. In this passage from the Book of Isaiah, the Lord reveals the futility of idols. He created us; He alone is our God; and He alone can save us. His plan of salvation will soon begin, with the birth of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Bel is broken, Nebo is destroyed: their idols are put upon beasts and cattle, your burdens of heavy weight even unto weariness. They are consumed, and are broken together: they could not save him that carried them, and they themselves shall go into captivity.
Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who are carried by my bowels, are borne up by my womb. Even to your old age I am the same, and to your grey hairs I will carry you: I have made you, and I will bear: I will carry and will save. To whom have you likened me, and made me equal, and compared me, and made me like? You that contribute gold out of the bag, and weigh out silver in the scales: and hire a goldsmith to make a god: and they fall down and worship. They bear him on their shoulders and carry him, and set him in his piece, and he shall stand, and shall not stir out of his place. Yea, when they shall cry also unto him, he shall not hear: he shall not save them from tribulation.
Remember this, and be ashamed: return, ye transgressors, to the heart. Remember the former age, for I am God, and there is no God beside, neither is there the like to me: Who shew from the beginning the things that shall be at last, and from ancient times the things that as yet are not done, saying: My counsel shall stand, and all my will shall be done: Who call a bird from the east, and from a far country the man of my own will, and I have spoken, and will bring it to pass: I have created, and I will do it.
Hear me, O ye hardhearted, who are far from justice. I have brought my justice near, it shall not be afar off: and my salvation shall not tarry. I will give salvation in Sion, and my glory in Israel.
•Source: Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition of the Bible (in the public domain)
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