COME, LONG EXPECTED JESUS!

Son of God
Day 3   Tuesday

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EXPLORE THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST

For us there is one God, the Father,
from whom are all things and for whom we exist,
and one Lord, Jesus Christ, 
through whom are all things and through whom we exist (1 Corinthians 8: 6).

ISAIAH 9: 6
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

LUKE 1: 30-33 (MARY)
And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

CONSIDER
Imagine how strange this news was to Mary. The God who made her would be born from within her! The one who fashioned her being would be fashioned inside her womb. The God who spoke the world into being would humble himself to speak only infant cries against her breast.

When we confess that Jesus is the Son of God, we do simply mean that he was a child of God like any created human being. We mean that he is the eternal Son of the Father, through whom all things were made, stepping into our world in flesh and blood as Mary’s son. That same person would, when his work was done, return to his Father as the ascended King of all.

Let your mind stagger at such joyful paradox today!

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PRAY THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

Begin with the Jesus Prayer. Pray it reflectively several times, for yourself or on behalf of another. 

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Then pray the day’s prayer slowly and repeatedly for at least a minute (that’s about seven times). Allow the prayer to take you into the meaning of the day’s facet of Jesus’ name. Pray it for yourself and/or on behalf of another. Take your time and trust this process!

Lord Jesus Christ, eternal Son of the Father, 
who came in time as Mary’s son, include me in your Sonship. 

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LIVE INTO THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

He has granted to us his precious and very great promises, 
so that through them you might become partakers of his divine
nature . . . For this very reason, supplement your faith with
virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness,
brotherly affection and love (2 Peter 1: 4-7). 

GALATIANS 3: 26-27
For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

1 JOHN 3: 2-3
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

CONSIDER
Jesus the Son of God became one of us in order to include us in his Sonship!

He took up our humanity so that he could adopt us into his eternal relationship with his Father as he gives us to share in his own Spirit.

Jesus is far, far more than a good man who showed us a good way to live and so came to be called a son of God. He is the eternal one opening up his Triune family to us. We are God’s children through Jesus his Son: right now!

Close by praying (and singing!) this verse from “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.” 

Christ, by highest heaven adored';
Christ, the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold him come,
Offspring of the Virgin’s womb:
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail the incarnate Deity,
Pleased as man with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Immanuel.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King.”

Charles Wesley. Hark! the Herald Angels Sing. 1739.

LISTEN TO TODAY'S HYMN