December 1st Advent Foretold Revisited

Last year Katie and I went into our storage to find a few things - one of the treasures I came across was our family's copy of Advent Foretold, a December devotional for all Ages. We used this devotional from 1996 through 2002. At the moment of discovery, I was flooded with memories and emotions, of our family with growing little ones sharing in this tradition.

You probably can't tell by the picture but the book is held together by duct tape. There are pictures that can be colored in with each day's devotion. Many copies were made over those 7 years, unfortunately, not many were saved.

The first half of the devotional is Prophecies about our coming Messiah and the second half is the fulfillment of those prophecies. The purpose of the book is to point us to Our God Incarnate, the Son of Man coming as a babe, born of a woman. It is because of this Event in history that we celebrate His humble entrance into this world.

Today's devotion sends us to 3 Scriptures Isaiah 46;9-10, Isaiah 48;3, 5 and Numbers 23;19

³"The former things I declared of old;
they went out from my mouth, and I announced them;
then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
⁴Because I know that you are obstinate,
and your neck is an iron sinew
and your forehead brass,
⁵ I declared them to you from of old,
before they came to pass I announced them to you,
lest you should say, 'My idol did them,
my carved image and my metal image commanded them.'

⁶"You have heard; now see all this;
and will you not declare it?
From this time forth I announce to you new things,
hidden things that you have not known.

Now I am looking at Isaiah 48 and since the devotion today sets us up for the rest of the book, I thought I would give you my take on it. Only God has ever perfectly proclaimed those things that are yet to come. When I read, "hidden things that you have not known." It makes me think not only of the coming of the LORD but also, of those things yet to come in my own life and the life of the Lord's Church. His Bride being prepared for the Bridegroom and the LORD's second coming.

The Bible is a Living Word and we can trust in what God has left us, His Holy Word and he says here in Isaiah 48 I spoke it out and it happened. He announces new things and we can be sure that God's Word will come to pass.

I am looking forward to revisiting this book and looking again at the coming of Emmanuel.