Christmas At The Temple

For awhile recently, the Holy Spirit has impressed upon me Isaiah's experience of seeing God in the temple, and with Christmas being the time of Immanuel — "God with us" — the two just came together.

Isaiah 7:14b – The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means "God is with us"). (NLT)

Isaiah 6:1 – It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. (NLT)

So wrote Isaiah about the day when he first met God personally. Isaiah was a scribe in the royal palace in Jerusalem, having a very respectable career as a bureaucrat for and amongst the royal family. His Sabbath custom would always have included worship at the temple, but on this particular day, Isaiah met someone there unexpectedly: God Himself.

Isn't it such an amazing act of grace, that the Lord meets us where we are? And He does so in a way that we need, in order that our hearts may open ourselves to Him. It is reasonable to think that pride of position and respectability may have been part of Isaiah's makeup, for they are part of the human condition. What changed his life was seeing and understanding, for the first time, how great and awesome was the God he worshipped: so mighty and great that the temple itself was filled by just the train of His robe! And then he saw the seraphim! They hovered and called out, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven's Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory." And the temple shook and was filled with smoke. (Isaiah 6:1-8 NLT)

Again, Isaiah saw his sin for what it was — for the first time. He repented and experienced God's forgiveness. And when God asked, "Whom should I send as a messenger to this people?" this new man replied, "Here I am. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8b NLT)

Do you remember where and how you were when you met God? He met me in the depths of the pit that I had dug for myself, from which He raised me up. (This was Psalm 40:2 come to life!) I am sure that you feel the warmth of His love as you recall your experience! God sends His love — His Son Jesus — to us wherever we are, as we call upon Him for our deliverance. "Christmas" comes to us at the temple, or in our pit, or wherever, for there is nowhere we can go that God isn't there already, waiting for us.

Christmas — it's all about Jesus, and our personally encountering Him. He is sacrificing love, He is grace, He is our redemption, He is our peace. Now that Christmas is past, if that has not yet been your experience, pause, and like Isaiah, turn from yourself to Him. He is still waiting to be born in you. And for us who have had this encounter, let's remember with rejoicing, and ask Him to kindle anew the fire of His Spirit within us. Any day can be a "Merry Christmas"!

Prayer: Father of mercy and love, thank You for sending Jesus into our personal world! Enable us to ask Him in to be our Lord and Saviour, and send us Your Spirit to enable us to live in the hope and joy of Your kingdom. In His name, we pray. Amen.

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About the author:

Don Lipsett <dllipsett@shaw.ca>
100 Mile House, British Columbia, Canada
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