Read His Words Before Ours!
Luke 1:46-55
Luke 1:67-79
Isaiah 9:6-7 

Mary and Yosuf had be traveling for many days on their way to be counted in the official census as decreed by Caesar Augustus. The sun burned hot on Mary’s body, while she alternated walking and riding their donkey. She had been having contractions for several days now, and she could feel her baby settling lower and lower.

“Please, Yahweh, keep Yeshua inside for just a few days longer,” she continually whispered under her breath.

She and Yosuf laughed together and enjoyed their journey, she was afraid to mention that she felt the baby was going to be born soon, but he could tell without her saying. He saw her quietly grab her stomach and breathe slowly through contractions. Every time, he nudged their donkey to move a little faster.

Anticipation.

It filled the space between them and the silent moments of travel.

Yosuf was anxious to hold the son Yahweh was giving to him. His heart leapt as he imagined teaching him carpentry and watching him learn many things. His thoughts lingered on how to care for Mary during birth and where they would stay when they arrived in Bethlehem.

A small fear began to bubble up in Mary, as she imagined giving birth, but she would pray and peace would soothe that fear. She imagined nursing and snuggling her baby boy and she knew she already loved him.

Mary quietly hummed the song she’d been singing throughout her pregnancy:
My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
For He has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.

Savior.
Oh how they needed a Savior!
They needed one to come and save them from persecution, to take on the government and reclaim the throne for the Jews. And here was Mary, about to give birth to the One that would do this!
But Jesus was coming for so much more!
He came to redeem the world as it was.

A world that was stuck in following the laws of their forefathers.
A world that was stuck in tradition, repetition, and mundane days.
A world full of death, destruction, and disease.
A world that believed that it all began and ended with being a Jew.

Mary, Yosuf, Elizabeth, and Zechariah were the only ones who knew that Mary would be giving birth to the Messiah, the Savior of the World, but many were waiting in anticipation for the Messiah to come!

Mary and Yosuf were anxious to see the Lord’s promises to them be fulfilled, they were curious about how the world would change once Yeshua was born, and they wondered what the future held for their son.

The future… where Jesus would teach, heal, serve, and save.
Where Jesus would ultimately die a horrific death on a cross, in order to redeem the world.
The world as it was 2,000 years ago, and the world as it is today.

Oh how we need a Savior!
This world is stuck in trying to love better than our forefathers, without actually knowing the source of that love.

This world is stuck in tradition, repetition, days that we try to fill with excitement by seeking worldly pleasures instead of the Lord.

This world is full of death, disasters, destruction, and disease, that take place because of sin.

WE NEED A SAVIOR.
WE NEED A REDEEMER.

But we need Him for so much more. We need Him so we can dwell with God as was His plan all along! We need Him to make all things right, restore the broken world, and deliver us from evil.

The next day, Mary delivered Love into the world.

And now, through love, Jesus has delivered us from the world.
He came.
He’s here now.

And with the same anticipation Mary and Yosuf felt the day before he was born,
We await His return.
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Jesus came.
Jesus come!

This study first appeared on GracefullyTruthful.com and is property of Gracefully Truthful. For more studies like this one, check out the website! 

Read His Words Before Ours!
Genesis 4:4-24
Revelation 21:1-8
Romans 8:18-25 

Adam and Eve…
They knew no guilt.
They felt no shame.
And because they were perfect, they got to walk and talk with the Lord in a perfectly, beautiful garden that He created just for them.

They knew what it was to have a perfect relationship with God, there was nothing separating them, there was nothing between them. They were flawless. Their relationship was something extraordinary.

Oh I long for that!

And I should, because that’s how it was meant to be.
We were created to be in community with God…
Adam and Eve strolled through their home, enjoying the beauty of the flowers while they watched small creatures running through the woods.

All was good.
All was peaceful.

They joyfully laughed as they played with the chipmunks, and stopped to eat some delicious fruit. The juice ran down their arms while they slowly ate the fruit, savoring each bite while thanksgiving spilled from their hearts.

There was no over eating.
No bickering.

Adam didn’t wonder how he would provide for his family.
Eve didn’t have to worry about finding a balance of eating healthy, being a good wife, and exercising.

There were no bills.
There was no chaos.
There was no illness.
There were no messes.

But one day, God knew it would be the last.

It would be the last time He could walk with His children the way He did.
It would be the last time He wouldn’t have to watch His children suffer.

Everything was about to change.

God treasured these “lasts” with His precious creation.
He lingered a little longer on their final walk through the garden.
He savored their praise and worship without shame or guilt standing between them.

Tomorrow would come and sin would enter the world.
Tomorrow, God’s great redemption plan would begin.
Tomorrow would start the countdown until God would walk the earth again, the next time as a human who would eventually die to cover the sin that was about to occur, and all other sin that would take place after the first.

Tomorrow.

But today, the eve of Tomorrow, God relished in the fact that all was good, all was perfect, all was as it was always supposed to be.

While mountains of hurt, millions of deaths, and an abundance of sin would occur, He knew that…
One day, all will be right again with no sin to stand in the way of our relationship with the Lord.
We will walk with Him.
We will talk with Him.
He will see us, and because of redemption, grace, and Jesus,
He will see perfection in us.

We each have had our own Eve.
The Eve of The Day We Found Jesus.
The Eve of the day that sin will no longer separate us from the Lord.
The Eve of the day that we recognize that we, like Adam and Eve, have sinned and that sin keeps us from a precious relationship with God.
The Eve of the day that we choose to give our lives to Jesus, to allow Him to cover our sin.
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And thanks to Jesus, thanks to God’s great redemption plan, thanks to His never ending love for us, we are able to walk with Him and talk with Him, just as Adam and Eve did on the Eve of when sin entered the world.