Day 1 - Introduction to Jesse Tree Read Isaiah 11:1-10.

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1 Day 1 - Introduction to Jesse Tree Read Isaiah 11:1-10. Christmas is coming soon! It will be here before we know it. Though waiting 25 days to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the people of God had been waiting for thousands of years before He finally came to earth to die for our sins, rise again, and bring us back to God. God promised a Savior sooner and more often than you might expect, and the Bible is filled with prophecies and expectations that all point to Him. To get our hearts focused on Jesus, we are going to use a Jesse Tree. Every day we will put a new ornament on the tree that symbolizes a person or event in the Bible that talked about Jesus before anyone even knew what His name would be. Hopefully through this study we will love Jesus more deeply and see how the Bible is one big beautiful story that even involves you and me. The Bible contains 69 books written by more than 40 authors over a period of 1,500 years, but the whole Bible tells one story. In Luke 24:27, Jesus was talking to some of His disciples, and beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. He started at the beginning of scripture and went all the way through to the end and showed his friends that He was in all of it! As we read in Isaiah 11, Jesus was like a green plant shoot coming from a stump of Jesse. Tree stumps are usually a sad thing to see because it means there used to be a great tree but it has been torn down. Israel was once a great nation, and David was one of their most famous kings, but there came a time when their sin destroyed them and Israel became almost nothing. But God promised to a hurting people through the prophet Isaiah that there would be something green and alive coming from a stump meaning He hasn t forgotten His people and He will bring something even better. His very own Son. Jesus would come from a long line of people many of whom made huge mistakes! including King David, and his dad Jesse. Jesus chose to come as a shoot, a little acorn sprout a little baby. Let s fall in love with Jesus more and more as we see how the Bible tells His story. Day 2 - Creation Read Genesis 1:1-5; Have you ever wondered why God even made the world? There used to be nothing, but then he decided that He would create something. And something huge. Some people spend their whole lives traveling the world, but it s impossible to ever see all of it. And really smart people have been studying science for a really long time, but there are still so many mysteries. They don t know how big outer space is or what s out there. They can t even figure out exactly why we sleep! No one was asking for such a vast and beautiful universe there wasn t anyone who could ask for it! but God decided to create it. And He didn t stop there! He chose to make people in His own image. So why did He make us? Isaiah 43:6b-7 says Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. God made us to celebrate how great He is! This might seem selfish or prideful, but considering that God is infinitely great, He is kind to let us enjoy Him. Have you ever seen a breathtaking natural wonder such as the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls? Why do people visit places like that? We love to be in awe. God made us to ~! 1~

2 desire to be in awe of something greater than us, and it s so wonderful that He draws us to Himself and lets us know Him so we can be in awe of Him. Did you notice that Genesis 1:26 says Let us make man in our image? Even in verse 2 we saw the Holy Spirit had a part in creation. But now we see another hint that God is three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Later in Colossians 1 we learn that all things were made through Jesus and for Jesus. Sometimes we think that Jesus only showed up on the scene 2000 years ago, but Jesus helped make the world! Praise Jesus that He is Creator and God! Day 3 - The Fall Read Genesis 3:6-15. What we read today was a sad moment for all of mankind. God cared for and provided for His people. He never lacked anything. He loved them with a love that is far better than any kind of love you or I have ever experienced from another person. But humans are weak and Adam and Eve were deceived. They thought they needed more. Don t we do the same? And their consequences were serious. Sin and death entered into the world and every single person is affected by it, even from before a person is born! It s like there was a really amazing domino display and one act of disobedience toppled all of them down. Then something shocking happened! When God cursed the serpent who tempted Adam and Eve, did you notice that He also made a promise full of hope for mankind? Verse 15 says, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. Even the very first people God made were looking forward to the coming of Jesus. They didn t know much about Him at all, but they knew that God promised someone would come and destroy Satan, even if it meant being harmed himself. We know that this Someone is Jesus! Romans 5 helps us understand this a lot better. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous (vses ) It s like Jesus somehow undid the toppled dominos. It s like a house was burned down but He was able to put it back together. But what Jesus actually accomplished is so much more impressive than either of those things: by His one death and resurrection, He removed the curse of sin and death for all who would believe in Him! He is sometimes called The Second Adam because He, like Adam, did something that affected many, many people. However, unlike Adam, instead of bringing death to the human race He conquered death and provided eternal life! Praise Jesus! Day 4 - Noah s Ark Read Genesis 6:5-8. This is one of the most famous stories in the whole Bible because a flood and an enormous boat and lots of animals sounds really fun, but we really don t like to think about what God actually did. Literally every person on the earth except for Noah and his family passed away in a flood. God s wrath is shown to be very serious. Psalm 7:12 says that if a man does repent and turn from their sin, God will sharpen His sword and get His bow and arrow ready. He is a good Judge and will punish sin. The story of the great flood proves that. ~! 2~

3 But God is also merciful. He didn t have to rescue anyone, but He did chose to. He would ve rescued anyone who came to Him. But no one came. Even Noah only obeyed God because God gave Him the grace to do so. God gave Noah instructions for how to be saved from the flood, helped him complete the task, then when Noah and His family entered the boat God Himself closed the door and shut them in. When the rains began falling, God helped Noah and his family stay alive. After the storms stopped and Noah was finally able to go back to dry land, God even made a promise to Noah with a symbol in the sky that we even get to see today; it looks like an archery bow, because God has promised to remember that He will not flood the earth again. What God did for Noah is amazing, but what God has done for us is even better. We deserve the floods of God s wrath, not just one time but for all of eternity. But by grace He has welcomed us to be protected from His just anger by Jesus, who endured it like the ark did. And, as the storms subsided and we now have a rainbow of hope and promise that floods will not return, Christ rose again and we have promise that, if we believe in Jesus, there is no more wrath for us. What a Savior! Day 5 - Abram Read Genesis 12:1-3. When we first read it, we might think this promise to Abram is simply that God will give him a family and lots of grandkids, but this promise is actually so big and important that it even affects you and me. Let s notice the three parts of the promise: land, children, and blessing. As you probably know, Abram (later called Abraham) did indeed have a son. Can you believe it? He and his wife were older than any of your grandparents but they still had a baby! Abram didn t get to see the land part of the promise fulfilled, but God certainly fulfilled it not too much later as He gave His people the promised land under Joshua s leadership. The biggest way God blessed Abraham was when He promised Also, God blessed Abram s descendants when He spoke to Moses and promised to be his personal God. But God s promise-fulfilling work gets even better! The first words in the New Testament tell us that Abraham was the great-great-great-great-great-(and many more great s)-grandfather of Jesus. Abraham was one of the people closer to the beginning of the line of Christ Himself! The writers of the New Testament talked a lot about Abram and in Romans 4 it s made clear that anyone who shares the faith of Abraham is considered a child of Abraham, part of the people of God. So Abraham s children and great-great-grandchildren grew to even way more people than simply those who were born from his family. If you believe in Jesus, you are part of God keeping his promise to Abraham. It doesn t even stop there. God isn t done keeping this very important promise to Abraham. There will be a time when all the people of God are together including Abraham Himself, and all people who have ever belonged to God through faith on the New Heaven and New Earth. We will be standing before the throne of God, entering a promised land much better than anything we could have ever dreamed. We will be blessed to worship God freely and no longer have sin or sadness weighing us down. Isn t it wonderful that God made an ancient promise that He fulfilled and will still fulfill in eternity to come? Praise God that through His Son we are able to even enter into this promise too. How amazing! ~! 3~

4 Day 6 - Isaac Read Genesis 22:1-14. Have you ever had something you really liked and then you lost it or you had to give it up? I m sure we can t even begin to understand how painful it was for Abraham to give up his son Isaac, that son that he had wanted so badly and that God even promised to him. Isaac points us to Jesus, since Jesus is the son whose Daddy really loved him but decided to give him up. John 3:16 starts out by saying For God so loved the world that He gave His only son. God loved the world you included so much that He was willing to give His Son, watch Him suffer, and painfully turn His back on Him. When Jesus cried out My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me? God had to refuse to answer. He was punishing sin our sin, which was on Jesus and sin does not get to receive help from God. Abraham must have felt so relieved when God stopped him from killing Isaac. He provided a ram (a male goat) to be killed and sacrificed instead of Isaac. Imagine how Isaac felt, looking at that ram burning up in the fire and thinking That was almost me! Isn t it wonderful that our sin put us in a spot where we deserved to experience God s burning wrath? Since we have disobeyed such a great God, our punishment is enormous. As we read through the Bible and become more convinced of God s righteousness and our sinfulness, it s like we re hiking up that mountain with the sticks on our backs, only becoming more and more aware of what terrible thing might soon be happening to us but just as the angel of the Lord stopped Abraham at just the right moment, Romans 5 tells us at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. We can look at Jesus suffering on the cross, or we can think about hell, and if we believe in Jesus we can say with joyful disbelief: That was almost me! I deserved God s wrath, God s wrath was aimed at me, but Jesus stood in the way! He took it all! He was a substitute! Praise Him! Day 7 - Jacob Read Genesis 28: First, a silly question: how would you like to have a rock as a pillow? Ouch! Now back to the lesson. Have you heard the story of the Tower of Babel? How is that story different than the dream that Jacob had? The Tower of Babel was a really bad idea because people were trying to put themselves in God s place; they were trying to make a way up to God. But in this dream, God made a way down from Heaven to man. Jacob was a sad man who had just lied to his dad and betrayed his brother, and now his brother was really angry. This was really good news to Him, that heavenly help would meet him and care for him right where he was. In John 1:51, Jesus told Nathanael, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Jesus was reminding his new disciple of the story we read today, except did you notice that the angels of God weren t going up and down from Heaven to earth on a ladder? They were going up and down on the Son of Man: Jesus! Jesus not only cares about our hurts and needs, but He Himself knew what it was like to hurt and need. He got hungry and thirsty, He felt pain in His body and He experienced heartbreak; He cried and sometimes He was angry. He was even tempted! Jesus understands ~! 4~

5 us. So when we have the promise, even seen as early as Genesis, that God cares for us in our sad times even when we re the ones who got ourselves in that mess! we can rejoice that Jesus even took it a step further. He not only cared for us from Heaven, but He came down to us from Heaven and became one of us. Jesus knows! Day 8 - Joseph Read Genesis 50:20. The story of Joseph is really long (13 chapters!) and you probably already know it, but just to review: Joseph was Jacob s favorite son and kept having these dreams that he would rise above his brothers. This made them really mad so they threw him in a pit and then sold him into slavery. As a slave in Egypt, he did an excellent job and his master, Potiphar, trusted him. However, Potiphar s wife tried to get Joseph to sin, and he refused, so she lied and got him in trouble for something he never did. He was sent to prison for a long time but eventually was used by God to interpret a dream for Pharaoh and was made second in command over the whole kingdom! Because of this and with God s help, Egypt was prepared for a famine and Joseph s brothers from back in Israel had to come ask Joseph for help. But they didn t realize it was Joseph until he told them, and they were so sorry for all they had done to him. Later, after their father Jacob had died, the brothers wrote a letter and asked Joseph again to forgive him. This is when Jospeh said the verse we read today. This is one of the sweetest verses in scripture and means even more when we think about Jesus. In many ways the life of Jesus was similar to Joseph s. He was innocent and never once sinned, but He was punished as if he was guilty of worse crimes than we could even imagine. The crucifixion of Jesus was horrible; people wanted evil things for Jesus. It was unfair. Jesus deserved a throne, not a cross. But what would our lives be like if He had never died on the cross? There would be no hope for mankind. If it weren t for that horrible event, we would die in our sin with no one to save us. Acts 2:23 shows us how the cross is the best example of God using evil people to accomplish His good purpose: This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. Praise Jesus that what was meant to destroy Him is actually the only way that we can have life! Day 9 - Passover Read Exodus 12: Joseph s children had children who had children and eventually there were so many of Joseph s descendants in Egypt that the Egyptians were getting really mean towards them. The new Pharaoh didn t have the same respect for this family and made the Israelites slaves. The Israelite s begged God to rescue them, and though they didn t feel like He was hearing them, they didn t know He already had a plan in place. Long story short, a man named Moses was sent to lead God s people out of Egypt. Pharaoh kept saying no, even after God brought about nine terrible disasters on them. The tenth plague was the worst of all: God would send an angel of death through the land, and he would kill the first-born family member in each home unless they followed some specific directions. He told them to take the blood of a lamb and use a hyssop branch to brush the blood ~! 5~

6 of that animal on their doorposts. If a family did that, the angel of death would see the blood and go right past the home without taking the life of anyone; the angel would pass over that family. Sure enough, the next morning, there was much wailing from Egyptians who had lost their family members. But God s people who covered their door frames in blood were saved. Is this not what God has done for us? Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death. Our sin makes us deserve death. But the blood of Jesus, which He shed on the cross, covers His people and makes us pure. 1 Peter 3:18 says, For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. Isn t this amazing news? If you believe in Jesus, eternal death has passed over you, and you get to have freedom from slavery to sin. Praise Jesus for shedding his blood and covering our sin. Day 10 - Moses Read Exodus 20:3-17. Once Moses delivered God s people from slavery in Egypt, God called him up to a mountain to hear from Him, see His glory, and receive the Law. In Exodus 20 God lays out the ten commandments. Most people, whether they believe in God or not, would agree that the Ten Commandments (or at least many of them) are good rules to live by. Murdering is wrong. Stealing is wrong. Lying is wrong. But the people in today s culture would say You can do anything you want as long as it doesn t hurt anybody else. Follow your heart. You know best. But God loves us far more personally than that. He created us so He knows us, and He made commandments that are best for our bodies and our souls: He is. Walking in the way He commands is the best way, no question. In Deuteronomy 28, God makes a long list of ways that He will bless people who obey and a long list of ways He will punish those who disobey. How good are we at keeping God s commandments? Romans 3 tells us There is no one who does good, not even one. Jesus said that even if we are thinking sinful angry thoughts, we are subject to judgment as if we actually killed someone! God made commands, and we willingly decided to disobey them. The Law was even made for our good but we, like Adam and Eve, decided we should be the ones who decide which rules we should follow. In Matthew 15:17 Jesus says, Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. He did every single thing the Law said to do. Jesus never once disobeyed God. Romans 10:4 says For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. The consequences for breaking the law, the wrath of God we deserve, were poured out on Him. But the reward of keeping the law, the sweet relationship with God that only Jesus deserves, has been given to those who believe in Jesus. Praise Jesus that He obeyed every single bit of the Law when we didn t, He was punished for our sin, and He rose again, so that we can stand in the pleasure of God as if we never disobeyed. Day 11 - The Curtain Read Hebrews 9:1-5. That passage in Hebrews gives us a nice summary of many of the commands that God gave Moses in the Law regarding the tabernacle and how the priests could talk to God and offer sacrifices to Him. Did you notice that there was a big curtain separating even the regular priests ~! 6~

7 from the Most Holy Place? This is where the ark of the covenant was and God chose to let His presence dwell there, and only the High Priest could go there once a year to offer a sacrifice for Israel s sins. The temple in Jerusalem in Jesus s day had a curtain too; it was about 60 ft high; that s as tall as a five-story building. Why do you think God designed the tabernacle to have a curtain like this? He wanted to communicate that because of our sin, we are separated from God. No one could just walk into God s presence. Remember when God talked to Moses from the burning bush? He even made Moses take his shoes off because the ground was so holy. Being in God s presence is a really big deal, and God wanted everyone to know that. But one day everything changed. Matthew 27:50-51 tells us that that the moment Jesus died on the cross, the earth shook and the curtain of the temple was torn in two pieces, from top to bottom. This is so powerful it makes me want to cry: God was telling the world that there no longer needs to be a separation between God and man! Even as sinful humans we can actually enjoy the presence of God! Let s read Hebrews 10:19-22: Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Praise Jesus for opening the way for us! We can have confidence to come into the presence of a holy God! Day 12 - Burnt Offerings Read Numbers 6:14. When you re reading the first five books of the Bible, you ll see a lot of animal sacrifices when God told His people to burn up an animal to make peace and atone for sin. Atone means repair, or make at one again. This is hard for us to think about because we love animals. Can you imagine raising a lamb from its birth, feeding it every day and caring for it for a whole year, and then you have to kill it and burn it up in fire? God wanted us to see how serious our sin was, that it would take a living creature to pay for them. God made many more commands to kill animals and offer them as sacrifices to God, because God wanted us to know that only blood can cover guilt. Priests would have to offer burnt sacrifices all the time to make atonement remember, that means repair the relationship between a holy God and sinful man. Hebrews 10:11-14 says And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Praise Jesus that no more sacrifices need to be made! ~! 7~

8 Day 13 - Rahab Read Joshua 2:1-18. In Bible times, women were not treated with nearly as much respect as men. In those days, and also now, women like Rahab who made money as a prostitute by doing very sinful things she surely wasn t proud of were seen as very lowly and without much dignity. So isn t it shocking and wonderful that she is listed in the family tree of Jesus? She is also mentioned in Hebrews 11 along with great heroes of the faith, as well as an example of good works in the book of James. The Bible gave dignity and value to this woman in a culture where that just didn t happen. To summarize the story: Rahab lived in an ungodly city named Jericho that God promised His people would overtake. He sent spies to see the city and she let the men stay in her house so they wouldn t get caught by the guards in Jericho. She made a quick plan to hide them and then made them promise that when God would indeed take over the city, that they would protect her and her family since she protected them. They agreed, and as Rahab risked her life to help the spies escape, they told her to put a scarlet (red) cord in her window and the warriors would know not to harm her or her family as they took over the city. Sure enough, if you fast-forward to Joshua 6 you ll see that the Israelites took over Jericho but avoided the home of Rahab because they saw that red cord and remembered her sacrifice. Does that sound familiar at all? The story of Rahab is almost even similar to the story of Passover; because of the red cord in the window, the Israelites passed over Rahab s home and her family was spared. Even the despised prostitute Rahab points us to Christ because she made a sacrifice that protected others, just like Christ died for our sins and protects those who believe in Him from God s wrath. Rahab ended up getting married to someone from the family of Judah and had a son named Boaz, who we ll read about tomorrow, and she was eventually the great-great-great-great grandmother of Christ! How wonderful that God includes Rahab in the story of redemption in such an important way. Praise Jesus that He has given His life that we can be protected from the consequences of our sin! We can find a safe place in Him! Day 14 - Ruth and Boaz Read Ruth 3:9. Who did we read about yesterday? Do you remember the name of Rahab s son? Today we are going to learn about her son Boaz and the woman who would eventually become his wife: Ruth. The whole book of Ruth shows us so many beautiful examples of Christlikeness from all three of the main characters involved. The beginning of the story is so sad because Naomi s husband and two sons (one of whom was Ruth s husband) passed away. Nonetheless, she was constantly concerned about what was best for her daughter-in-law Ruth. Ruth was committed to doing what was best for Naomi and humbly served her by gathering grain from a field after others left it behind. And Boaz, the owner of the field, noticed the poor young woman gathering grain, and he cared for her and eventually married her. Naomi had land that she was allowed to sell to someone she was related to, but if the relative bought the land, that meant he also promised to take Ruth as his wife and to love and care for her all her days. He was called her kinsman-redeemer. He took a sad situation (Ruth s husband dying) and redeemed it, or made it good. He married her and loved her and provided ~! 8~

9 for her, and God gave them a son, Obed. Obed s son was named Jesse, who we learned about on Day 1. And who was Jesse s son? David. And David s great-great-great-great-lots-of-greatsgrandson was Jesus! We see powerful love in the book of Ruth. We see God taking a sad story and making it beautiful. God loves to do that. He has taken the sad story of our lives as we are born dead in our sin, alone and without hope and He has welcomed us into His family and made us His forever. Thank Jesus that He is our redeemer, and that He has made our sad story more full of joy than we could have ever imagined! Day 15 - David Read 2 Samuel 7:11b-16. Did that promise give you some goosebumps? I didn t get too excited when I read it the first time, but now that I know what God is actually saying in this promise, I want to leap for joy! David, the shepherd-boy-and-goliath-defeater who God made king of Israel, wanted to build a huge house or a temple for God, but God said no. He promised that David s son would do it. Sure enough, David had a son named Solomon, and Solomon built a beautiful temple for God. But God made a promise even bigger than that. In verse 13, God says He will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Unfortunately, it wasn t too long until Solomon made some big mistakes, and his children and grand-children who were also kings made some even worse choices, and eventually the kingdom of Israel was split in two pieces and then taken over by various enemy nations. That doesn t sound like forever. But. There is an offspring, or someone who comes from the line of David. He was the Son of God. His kingdom will truly be forever and ever. There will be a day when Christ rules the world and every single person on the earth will bow to Him in worship and love and awe. Have you heard the song Handel s Messiah? (It s the one that says Hallejuah! a bunch of times.) There s one part in there that is taken almost exactly from Revelation 11:15, which says The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. Jesus died among criminals. The soldiers crucifying made fun of him and gave him a crown made of thorns (ouch!) to try to teach Him He wasn t really a king. Even when Christ rose again, there weren t huge festivals celebrating His resurrection and crowds of people handing Him a crown. But Jesus is king. And His kingdom is the only one that will last forever. The kingdom of Israel fell. The Egyptian empire fell. The Roman empire fell. All the major powers in the world have fallen. But Christ will reign forever. Celebrate Him as king today! Day 16 - Light in Darkness Read Isaiah 9:2-7. Have you ever been in total darkness? One time I rode my bike to Baskin-Robbins for ice cream and had a great time, but the sun had set while I was in the store so the ride home was dark. There weren t a lot of streetlights and I could hardly see the sidewalk in front of me. I was 19 years old a grown-up and everything! but I felt so scared. I didn t know if I would trip ~! 9~

10 or someone would attack me or if mosquitoes were biting me. Any time I would pass through a section that was well-lit, I could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Without Jesus, our whole life is in darkness, even if we don t realize it. Sin has made life dark and sad and scary. I know lots of people who are proud that they don t believe in Jesus, and they tell me they are so much happier now that they can do whatever they want to do, but it s quite obvious that living in the darkness isn t as wonderful as they re saying. They re confused. They re hurt. They re lonely. And so is everyone without the Lord. But Jesus promised to be a light for us. By Him can we see all things rightly. In John 3:19 Jesus said, And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. If you shine your flashlight on a raccoon that s eating your garbage, he will skitter away and hide. The light of Jesus has shown us our sin, and we want to run and hide too. But new life in Him means exposing our sin and giving up on the idea that we make up the rules. New life in Him means being freed from sin and holding onto hope in an all-powerful and good God. Just as there was absolutely no light nothing at all, actually until God said Let there be light, the earth had no hope for salvation without Jesus. Praise Him for coming! Day 17 - The Suffering Servant Read Isaiah 53 If someone handed you a piece of paper that had this chapter written on it without showing you where in the Bible it was found, you would very quickly realize who it was talking about (Jesus) and you would likely be surprised that this passage is not a descriptive story from the New Testament but a prophecy from the Old Testament, before Christ was even born. The description of pain and agony truly can only fit one other person in the universe and for all of history, because though other people have died on a cross or suffered horribly, no one has ever paid for someone else s sin. That s something you might ve wondered about before. As we study church history, we will see plenty of Christians who are put to death for their faith, and they re often singing hymns or praises. But Jesus cried out to God on the cross, He said My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me? Christ s suffering on the cross was much worse than what anyone else has suffered because Jesus wasn t just going through physical pain, but He was enduring the wrath of God. When Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see a glimpse into why Jesus s pain on the cross was so difficult. He had talked about his death to His disciples before, but now when He is imagining Himself about to drink a cup of God s wrath, He was sweating and even asking the Father if there was any other way. He submitted to God s will, of course, but seeing the agony of Jesus even before He was on the cross shows us a lot about what He went through to save His people. If you go through Isaiah 53 and underline who was involved in the death of Jesus (especially verses 4-7), you might be surprised. He was pierced for our transgressions. His punishment brought us peace. A theologian has said that it s as if we carry the nails of Jesus in our own pockets. He willingly suffered for us so that we can have new life in Him and enjoy Him forever. Praise Jesus! ~! 10~

11 Day 18 - Jonah Read Jonah 1:7-17. When I was growing up, the only thing I remember learning from the book of Jonah was Don t be like Jonah! If God calls you to something, do it the first time! (And truly, Jonah was disobedient and whiny even in the end! There are better role models in the Bible.) So I was quite surprised when I was reading the New Testament and saw that Jesus mentioned Jonah. We ll get to that in a minute. Of course the sailors who threw Jonah into the sea didn t want to hurt him. Since they didn t know the end of the story, they were probably certain that he wouldn t make it out of the storm alive. So how sad that must have been for them to say farewell and throw Jonah in the water! However, when they cast his body under, the storm of God s anger ceased and there was peace. But three days later he came out victorious! Does this sound familiar at all? In Matthew 12:38-41, Jesus said For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Jesus was buried. He actually died. But on the third day, death spit Him out and He rose victorious! Yesterday we read about how important the death of Jesus is for us. The resurrection of Jesus shows us that the death of Jesus worked. The Father approved of His Son s payment for sin and forgiveness is now available for all who believe in Him. Unlike Jonah, Jesus is not just a messenger or prophet but the actual Word of God. He is God Himself. He does not show us the way to forgiveness and eternal life; He is the way. Praise Jesus for taking our sins so the storm of God s wrath for us can be calmed. And praise Jesus for rising again so we too can have new life! Day 19 - Our Shepherd Read Ezekiel 34:11-16; Have you ever had a pet and forgotten to feed it? You must ve felt awful that you had been given a responsibility and a creature was counting on you to feed it, but you didn t. God uses a similar symbol in the book of Ezekiel to show how He cares for His people even when others have let them down. Earlier in this chapter, God was using the prophet Ezekiel to condemn all the people who didn t care for God s people like they should have. It s like they were shepherds who took really bad care of the sheep (which represented God s people.) They didn t feed the sheep, they didn t care for the sick sheep or the injured. So really, the people were without a shepherd. Can you imagine what it would be like if sheep didn t have anyone to care for them? Alone, unprotected from wolves, no direction or guidance! But God makes a really beautiful promise about the kind of shepherd He is. In verse 23 we read that God will set up the shepherd David over His people; since David had already died by this time, we know that this is the Promised One who would be the great-great-greatgreat-grandson of David: Jesus! Sure enough, in John 10, Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd. He doesn t lose even one of His sheep. If a Christian begins to stray from the flock and find his or her way into danger, Jesus will never let us out of His hand. He will always bring us back. Sometimes that means He uses His rod and gives us some discipline, convicting us of sin and helping us repent. And sometimes it means He makes us lie down and gives us rest in Him. ~! 11~

12 Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He doesn t act selfishly but even laid His life down for the sheep! Wow. Praise Jesus for taking such good care of us! Day 20 - The New Covenant Read Jeremiah 31: I have a question. How many times have you gotten out of bed, looked out your window, and noticed that the sun forgot to come up? Or how about this: how big is outer space? Please tell me how many miles long. We just read that the only time we d have to worry about God backing down on His covenant with His people is if the sun stops rising. The only way it would end is if the sky can be measured. In other words, it s not gonna happen. God is never going to break this covenant. This is very interesting, because remember some earlier covenants or promised agreements we ve read about before? There were rewards for obedience and punishments for disobedience. God still showed much mercy and personal love for His people, but He never made a promise like this. In this New Covenant, God won t just give us a Law and remind us to obey it. But He will write it on our hearts. If you believe in Jesus, the law of God is on your heart. Romans 6:17 says But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed. He has made us a new creation, where our heart actually beats to obey God. We still struggle with sin (and sometimes it certainly feels like sin is winning) but the Holy Spirit doesn t just come upon us like He occasionally did to believers in the Old Testament; He lives inside us. Ezekiel 36:26 says And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Praise Jesus that in this New Covenant, He Himself teaches us how to obey; His Spirit lives in us and gives life to us. Because of Jesus, we can have new hearts! Day 21 - Bethlehem Read Micah 5:2. Can you believe the details in all the prophecies about Jesus being born? God even said what town Jesus would come from!? But the amazing thing is that all these prophecies were indeed fulfilled. In Luke 2 when we learn that Caesar Augustus made a decree that everyone should go to their hometown to be counted, the timing became such that Joseph and his wife Mary (who was pregnant with Jesus) were in Bethlehem when Mary went into labor. We can see how God is sovereign, or in control, over all things. He was in control of Caesar, who made the decree; He was in control of where Joseph s hometown was, and the stories of his entire lineage, which we ve seen little peeks of through this study; He was in control of how many months pregnant Mary was and when she went into labor and even where she went into labor. Also, did you notice that Bethlehem wasn t a special fancy city but a small and quite unspecial town? Usually kings come from impressive places. Sure, this was where King David was born, but nobody would ve expected him to be a king either! But even this, among so many other things, shows us the humility and heart of the Lord. Deuteronomy 7:7-8b says It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and ~! 12~

13 chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you. God loves to choose the small things that everyone else considers unimportant, because this proves that He is what makes things special and great. Some people say there were over 300 prophecies predicting the coming of Jesus. And guess what: he fulfilled every single one of those. The Savior has come! So rejoice in that, praise Jesus that He doesn t see things as the world sees them. Day 22 - Angels Read Isaiah 6:1-5. This is one of the coolest passages in the Bible because it shows us how great God s glory is. These seraphim were a kind of angels so great and powerful that their voices made things shake. The Lord s robe was so long and majestic that it filled the whole temple! And the prophet Isaiah s response after seeing all this was Woe to me! because, after seeing the great majesty of the Lord, he saw his own sin. I m pretty sure that here in this story, Isaiah and the angels were beholding Jesus, because in John 12:41 it says Isaiah saw Jesus s glory and spoke about Him. So we can trust that angels have been celebrating Jesus for all eternity. Angels aren t just the cute flying guys with halos that you might see on your Christmas tree. They are majestic and powerful. The description of heavenly creatures in Revelation is almost terrifying, and whenever we read a Bible story where angels meet people, the angel has to say Do not be afraid! because their presence is so unlike anything we ve seen. So the fact that these magnificent beings are directing their worship towards something even greater than them really helps us see that Jesus is more glorious than we can even understand. You know what else? As great as angels are and as weak and fragile as we are God has not chosen to love angels with the same love that He loves us. In 1 Peter 1 we read that angels long to look into our salvation. They re very interested in God s salvation of mankind. Angels were not made in God s image, but we were. Angels did not need a savior to die for their sin, but we do. Angels do not become new creations and receive the Holy Spirit when they believe in Christ, but we do. What wonderful privileges we get to have if we belong to Jesus! Angels celebrated Jesus on the night He was born. They filled the sky and proclaimed the greatness of his coming. We ll get to that night later. But today we can praise Jesus that He is mightier than the mighty and fully worthy of praise! Day 23 - Wise Men Read Matthew 2:1-12. We re almost done! Tomorrow we will read about the birth of Jesus, but today we read about some of the people who saw Him after He was born. Wise men from far away somehow knew about Jesus, and when God revealed to them that Christ was finally born, they came as quickly as they could and even went to Herod himself asking him where the child was so they could worship him! When they found Jesus (which, by the way, wasn t on the same night he was born), they gave him really fancy gifts. You probably received gifts when you were born some blankets, a rattle, a cute outfit with froggies on the toes but have you ever heard of a normal baby ~! 13~

14 receiving gold? Of course baby Jesus had no use for gold, but by doing this these men were showing that Jesus really is a worthy king. A lot of people say that smart people don t believe in God; if you re smart, they say, then you would know there is no God. But in Psalms it says The fool says in his heart, there is no God. Jeremiah 8:9 says, The wise men shall be put to shame; they shall be dismayed and taken; behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them? If someone is not showing reverence to Christ, it doesn t matter how smart or wise he is. He s missed the whole point of the universe! He might be able to build a rocket ship or she might have earned enough money to buy a rocket ship, but if they don t believe in Jesus, they have less wisdom than a five-year-old little girl from Tampa who isn t too good at reading yet but loves Christ. These wise men prove that you can be really smart and important and study really hard and believe in Jesus. In Matthew 11:25-26, it says At that time Jesus declared, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. Jesus was so excited that God revealed Himself to little children. Praise Jesus that He is a worthy King and that He has shown Himself to us! Day 24 - The Birth of Christ Read Luke 2:1-20. Reflect and celebrate! Day 25 - The Resurrection and Our Future Read Romans 6:4. Merry Christmas! In the past month, we ve looked at several aspects of who Jesus is and how the whole Bible not just the passages that mention Jesus in them points to hope in Him. We re so privileged to be on this side of the Old and New Testaments, so we not only have tiny little glimpses of hope into Jesus coming, but we have all kinds of glimpses from the Old Testament plus all kinds of stories of things He actually said and did. Sometimes we forget that Jesus is a person, not just a character in a story. When we pray, we re not just sending a message to a recording machine but we are talking to a person! What a privilege! The shocking thing about the story we ve been reading this month and hopefully now you ve seen that it s all one big story is that God not only allows us but invites us to be part of this story! Jesus was born, lived a perfect life, died for sin, was buried, and on the third day rose again. And His death and resurrection actually affects us in every way, as we read in today s verse. When He died, the sin of His people was on Him (even though we weren t born yet.) And when He rose, it s like we got a piggyback-ride into resurrected life as well, because now we get to have new life. Eternal life starts whenever we believe in Jesus, because Jesus said in John 17 that eternal life is knowing God. But once we leave our earthly bodies, things get truly great. The book of Revelation shows us some really exciting pictures of what the people of God will be doing for all eternity. Let s read Revelation 21:1-5: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice ~! 14~

15 from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. Praise Jesus that He is the One on the throne making all things new, that our life forever with Him will be full of more joy than we can imagine. If you do not belong to Jesus, I beg that you think about it and truly pray and ask God to help you believe in Him. ~! 15~